as the last of our dayes shal be the first of our rest Yet that the death of the righteous is the sun-set of their woes and the sun-rising of their felicities but herewithall it may be also unto us an example to contemne this world where we do but offend thee to breath after with our whole hearts the celestiall Ierusalem wherein we shall injoy with Iesus Christ our Spouse unspeakeable and eternall pleasures whose excellencies surpasse all understanding according to that holy promise which he hath made us to be gone up thither there to prepare us a place to be with him injoying eternall glory Expecting then that most happy houre when thou wilt call us out of this world and where our salvation which is shut up in hope shal be fully revealed unto us Inable us powerfully to comprehend the excellencie of our Calling and what are the riches of thy glory in that heavenly inheritance of thy Saints and what the excellent greatnes of that power is to us ward that believe thorow operation of the power of thy strength which thou hast effectually exprest in thy Sonne Iesus Christ when thou raisedst him from the dead and madest him sit at thy right hand in heavenly places above all principalitie and power strength and dominion and above every name which is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come To the end that being strengthened and corroborated in the inward man we might walk on as becommeth that Calling whereunto we are called in all humilitie and meeknes and with a patient mind bearing with one another in deare love being carefull to keepe the Vnitie of the Spirit in the Bond of peace seeing we are called into the hope of our Calling To thee O great God Father of all which art above all amongst all and in us all with thy Sonne in the unitie of the Holy Ghost be honour and glory for ever Amen Vnto him that feareth God to die is to be borne FINIS A PRAYER to be said in the Morning at our Vprising O Most glorious God most gracious Father and most mercifull Saviour seeing it hath pleased thee to graunt me the gracious favour to have passed this night and to come unto this present day be likewise graciously pleased to adde herewith also unto me the benefit and abilitie to imploy the same wholly and altogether unto thy service in such sort that I may neither thinke say nor doe any thing but what may bee well pleasing unto thee And comply with the obedience unto thy blessed will and pleasure That so all my words may tend to the glory of thy Name and edification of my neighbours And as it hath pleased thee to make thy Sunne to shine upon the earth to inlighten our bodies so likewise be pleased by the bright beames of thy Spirit to illuminate my understanding â—nd my heart to direct and guide me in the saving way of thy righteousnesse so that unto whatsoever I apply my selfe evermore my principall end and Intention may bee to walk in thy feare to serve and honour thee expecting all my happinesse and welfare from thy onely blessing that so I may take nothing in hand but what is agreeable to thy blessed Will and Commandements As also that so travelling for the body and this present life that I may ever looke further namely unto that heavenly life which thou hast promised unto thy children Yet so Lord that it may please thee both in body and soule to bee my protector strengthening me against all the temptations of the Devill and delivering me from all dangers which may befall mee And because it is nothing to begin well unlesse it be seconded with perseverance Reâ—â—â—â—me not onely for this day into thy sacred protection but even for the whole course of my life coâ—tinâ—e and daily augment and increase in thee thy Heaâ—â—â—ly Grace â—ntill thou hast brought me unto the full fruition of thy Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord who is the true Sunne of 〈◊〉 soules that shineth day and night without end and for ever And that I may obtaine these graces from thee bee pleased to forget all my sinnes past and by thy infinite mercies to forgive mee them as thou hast promised unto all them that by faith in Iesus Christ the Sonne of thy love accompanied with true repentant sorrow for their sinnes heartily seeke thy mercie in the pardon of their sinnes by Iesus Christ to whom with thee and thy Holy Spirit one true and everliving God bee all honour and glory now and for evermore Amen A PRAYER TO 〈◊〉 said before going to bed O Lord God sith it hath pleased thee to create the night for the rest of man as thou hast ordained him the day for his travell Graunt me the grace so to take rest this night in body as that my soule may alwayes watch unto thee and that my heart may be raised up in thy love and that I may so cast off and lay asâ—de all earthly cares that I may bee refreshed as mine infirmitie shall require that I never forget thee but that the remembrance of thy bounty and grace may remaine evermore so deepely imprinted in my memorie that by that means my conscience may have as well her spirituall rest as the body taketh his And withall let not my sleepe bee excessive inordinately to please the ease of the flesh but onely to satisfie the frailtie of nature the better to dispose me to thy service Be also pleased to keep me unpolluted in my body as in my minde And to preserve mee against all dangers that my sleep may bee to the glory of thy Name And seeing there hâ—th not a day passed whâ—â—â— I have not many wayes ofâ—â—â—â—â—â— thee according as I am a poorâ— wretched sinner even as all a now covered by the darkenesse which thou sendest upon the earth graunt likewise all my sinnes may bee buried thorow thy mercy that by them I may not bee deprived of the light of thy countenance Heate mee most gracious God and loving Father for Iesus Christ his sake Amen THE MANNER of questioning those that are to bee received to the Supper of our LORD IESVS CHRIST Question IN whom believest thou Answer In God the Father in Iesus Christ his Sonne and in the Holy Ghost Q The Father the Sonne and the Holy Ghost are they more then one God A. No. Q Must we serve God according to hi◠〈◊〉 or according to the traditions of â—â—n A. We must serve him according to his Commandements and not according to the commandements of men Q. Canst thou fulfill Gods Commandements of thy selfe A No. Q. Who is it then taht fulfill them in thee A. The Holy Ghost Q And when God hath given thee his Holy Spirit canst thoâ— perfectly fulfill them A. No in no wise Q And yet God curseth and reiecteth all those that doe not perfectly and entirely fulfill his Commandements A. It is true Q By what meanes then canst thou be saved and delivered from the curse of God A. By the Death and Passion of our Lord Iesus Christ Q How by the meanes of his Death and Passion A. Because by his Death he hath purchased us life and hath reconciled us unto God his Father Q. Vnto whom prayest thou A. Vnto God Q In whose name prayest thou A. In the Name of our Lord Iesus Christ who is our Mediator and Intercessor Q. How many Sacraments are there in the Christian Church A Two Q. Which are they A. Baptisme and the Lords Supper Q. What is the signification of Baptisme A. It hath two parts For our Lord doth therein set forth unto us the remission of our sins and then our regeneration or spirituall renewing Q. And what signifâ—â—th the Sâ—pper A. It setteth forth unto vs that by the Communion of the Body and bloud of our Lord Iesus Christ our soules are nourished in the hope of eternall life Q What do the Bread and Wine set forth unto us in the Lords Supper A. They set forth unto us that the Body and Bloud of Iesus Christ have such vertue and strength unto our soules as Bread and Wine have unto our bodies Q Conceivest thou that the Body of Iesus â—hrist is inclosed and contained uâ—der the Bread and his Bloâ—d under the Wine A. No Q Where then must we seeke Iesus Christ to have the fruition of him A. In heaven in the glory of God his Father Q What is the meanes to come unto heaven where Iesus Christ is A. It is faith Q. We must then have true faith before we can have the right use of this holy Sacrament A. So we must Q. And how can we come by this faith A We attaine unto it by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in our hearts and assureth us of the Promises of God which are made unto us in the Gospell FINIS
you ask it fervently with a true and lively faith in the name of his welbeloved Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord doubt not but that according to his promises he heares you yea from this very time forward he is neare unto you and fils your soule with holy consolations strengthening you with patience and even solacing you as much as he shall know it to bee necessary for you and by that meanes by so much the more will he oblige you to rejoyce and solace your selfe in his goodnes and to glorifie his holy Name by thanksgiving And this is it which he saith himself unto you and unto whomsoever is afflicted as you are call upon me when thou shalt be oppressed and then will I helpe thee and thou shalt honour me for the same Would you not then have us now addresse our prayers altogether joyntly with you that it would please him to assist you with his grace Yes A Prayer for the sicke in whom there shal be no appearance or signe of death LORD our good God and mercifull Father we prostrate our selves in all humilitie at the feet of thy Divine Majestie to acknowledg that which is but too true that we are utterly unworthy of any grace or mercy from thee and are worthy of the lower-most hell if thou shouldst deale with us in the rigour of thy justice by reason of the numberlesse number of our sinnes and offences wherewith we feele and confesse our selves tainted and guilty before thee But we beseech thee that having regard to thy great and infinite goodnes thou wilt be mercifull unto us poore sinners and be mercifull unto us for thy deare Sonne Christ Iesus sake our Lord looking upon us not in our selves but rather in the person of that Sonne of thy love as members of his body reconciled unto thy Majestie thorow the benefit of his death And as thou art the Father of Mercy and God of all consolation rich in compassion and free grace towards all them that call upon thee and put their trust in thee We beseech thee be graciously pleased to shew unto us thy plenteous mercy both towards us and generally upon us all that now call upon thee for thy grace and particularly towards the person of this thy child and servant lying on this his bed of infirmity Give him to acknowledge in the first place that he is not strucke by any other hand but by thine that he may learne to submit himselfe unto and under the same in all humility and obedience And to this end let him remember that it is a fatherly and a sweet hand which strikes not to destroy but rather to save and who after he hath wounded healeth and quickeneth by the same wounds which he hath made Make him to seele that he is a poore and miserable sinner not onely to be issued forth of that masse of corruption out of which we are all sprung in Adam but also and chiefly because that after it pleased thee to give him the grace to know thee the only true God and him whom thou hast sent Iesus Christ in whom abideth eternall life manifesting unto him by that meanes thy free adoption in thy welbeloved reconciling him to thy self and so having done him the honor to hold the rank and place to be one of the number of thy children and servants in the midst of thy Church he hath not duly acknowledged these abundant riches of thy mercy to love and serve thee with his whole heart as he ought to have done in renouncing the world and in denying himself even as our ingratitudes are infinite by which we fight ordinarily against thy bountifulnes and grace O God and Father touch him then in his heart with a lively sense of all his infirmities and offences that without any way flattering of himself he may escape and be freed from condemnation before thy sacred Majestie may acknowledge that unto thee belongeth justice and to himselfe confusion of face may be altogether displeased at and wholly deny himselfe and may confesse that justly and by good right thou dost lay upon him thy chastisements and that if thou shouldst deale with him according to his deserts thou shouldest utterly overwhelme him under the unsupportable waight of thy justice and shouldst cast him into the bottomlesse depth of eternall death But withall make Lord this acknowledgment to serve onely to humble him and not to precipitate him into the gulfe of despaire and that he being on the one side beaten downe and dejected to the earth by thy mighty hand not so much by the sense of this sicknes as in the sense and feeling of his sins he may on the other side by the same hand of thine be succoured relieved and raised up againe in firm hope thorow the consideration of this thy incomprehensible mercy out of which thou hast given us so precious so rich a pledge as thy deare Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord whom thou hast not spared but rather hast given him up unto death yea unto the ignominious and accursed death of the crosse to redeeme us from the ignominy and curse of sin Graunt Lord that this thy poore servant may have his whole refuge there excite and strengthen his faith by the which he may seek and find in that death and entire obedience of thy Sonne the expiation of all his sinnes and disobediences and may firmely imbrace and lay hold on his perfect righteousnes with the which being prepared and cloathed he may find peace with thee and boast himselfe in and of the hope of thy glory even in the very midst of his troubles And that thus the sorrowes of the curse wherewith thou visitest him in his body may be sweetened thorow the rest and contentment of his soule that if it be thy good pleasure to raise him up againe from this sicknes and to prolong his dayes as thou doest not thereof as yet bereave him of good hope give him grace to use them aright to thy glory and that perpetually nourishing the memory of this gracious favour received from thee it may serve to consecrate the remainder of his life to serve and honour thee with so much the greater affection and zeale And to this end give him to receive this sicknes as a fatherly chastisement comming from thy hand to awaken and to withdraw him from his sinnes and to make him take up an holy resolution by thy grace all the dayes of his life thorowly to make a deep impression in his memory of his duty and of that obedience whereunto hereby he stands obliged unto thee to walk in thy feare more purely and more affectionately for the time to come then he hitherto hath done Blesse unto him the remedies which thou permittest him to use whereby to receive ease in his disease moderate the sharpnes of his griefs and shorten the course of them if thou knowest it to be expedient for him that thereby he may have a subject of glorifying thee and of rendring
whatsoever we shall ask in his name Receive then his Passion and his obedience for satisfaction for all our sins and in thy contemplation of his intercession be mercifull and favourable unto us give us thy holy Spirit to touch our hearts unto true repentance to enlighten our understanding with thy knowledge and to warme our spirits in thy love so that we may ever have thy glory for our end thy will for our rule thy providence for our guide and thy promises for our comfort And because we are inclined unto incredulitie and distrustfulnesse and are assaulted with diverse temptations strengthen us in faith and imprint in our hearts thy holy promises giving us inwardly a lively sense and feeling of thy love and the witnesse of our election to the end that we may stand against all temptations and may drive away all feares griefes and unprofitable sorrowes by the assurance that thou lovest us and art our Father in Iesus Christ our Lord. And as it hath pleased thee to have kept us this night past conduct us also this day by causing to shine upon us the brightnesse of thy face by directing us in all our actions so that our deeds our words and our thoughts may be conformable to thy holy will Blesse our studies open our understandings preserve our memories prosper our labours strengthen us in our callings wherein let us not have for our end our owne humour but the glory of thy Name nor our owne temporall profite but the salvation of our soules For the effecting hereof give us the grace to set our affections not on earthly things but that we may acknowledge our selves pilgrims and strangers upon earth may use the things of this world as though we used them not and as ready to lose them tending alwayes to the end of our heavenly calling expecting with joy and assurance that last houre wherein thou wilt draw forth our soules out of these bodies to make them partakers of thy heavenly glory And seeing it hath pleased thee to graunt us the favour to be borne in thy Church and hast receiued us even from our infancie into thy sacred Covenant grant us the grace seriously to acknowledge the greatnesse of so inestimable a benefit and to keepe even unto the end our soules unpoluted of all Idolatrie ready to beare the opprobrie of Iesus Christ and to suffer for the defence of thy truth if it shall please thee to call us thereunto To this end give us thy holy Spirit which may guide us and teach us rightly to imploy our time and to husband the occasions of learning by obeying our superiours whom thou hast given us to conduct and teach us that we may at length bring forth fruits which may serve unto thy glorie and may glorifie thee by our works and by our words both in life and in death Have pittie also upon thy Church diversly tossed defend it against the complots of thine enemies and ours repaire her breaches give her increase in thy graces and in the number of persons give us faithfull Pastors whose preaching may be pure and their life holy and Princes which may be nursing Fathers to thy Church Blesse and preserve our King enrich him with Christian and Royall Vertues Guide and direct the Queene be mercifull to our kinsfolks and friends grant both them and us grace to live in thy feare and to die in thy favour and to be received into thy glorie These things we humbly intreat thee for in the prayer which thy Sonne hath taught us Our Father which art in heaven c. I beleeve in God c. EVENING PRAYER 3. O Lord our good God we prostrate our selves before thy holy Majestie offering up unto thee our evening sacrifice in the acknowledgment of thy gracious benefits and of the speciall care which thou hast of us thy poore creatures thou hast kept us and led us forth this day thou hast given us things necessarie for this present life Be graciously pleased O good God to keepe us also this night and give good repose so that in our morning-wakeing wee may be sounder in bodie and fitter for our vocation wherein we pray thee that thou wilt be pleased to guide and direct us by thy holy Spirit making our labour fruitfull unto thy glory and to the edification of our neighbours and unto our owne salvation Whereof be graciously pleased to give a full assurance and to ingrave in our hearts the promises of thy holy Gospell that we being strengthened in saith may overcome all temptations and finish holily and couragiously our begunne course walking on not as before men but as before thee which proovest our hearts And seeing that a great combat is set before us and Satan is strong and the world contrary and we weak and slow and inclined unto evill hold us up by thy succours defend us by thy providence sanctifie us by thy holy Spirit and cloath us with strength from above and let thy Word imprinted in our hearts instruct our ignorance correct our perversity and heat our coldnesse and negligence in thy service give us fervent charity towards our neighbours a pure conscience faith unfained and fervent zeale unto the setting forth of thy glory Drive away from our hearts evill cares earthly sorrowes and unprofitable melancholies teaching us to repose our selves upon thy providence and to trust in thy promises to be sorrowfull onely for having offended thee but comforted in the assurance of thy mercies in Iesus Christ our Lord. Give us also things necessary for this present life not according to our vaine desires but according to thy wisdome what may suffice for the following of our Callings without lett and passe this our race with sobrietie whilst we advance on forward towards that eternall and most happy life which thy Sonne hath purchased for us And whilst we are in this temporall abode grant us the favour to see the kingdome of thy Sonne advanced and thy truth manifested and the ignorant yea even our enemies to be brought to thy knowledge to this end give us faithfull Pastors and Princes that may imploy their government to the establishment of the kingdome of thy Sonne give thy holy Spirit to the king and to the Queene and a good wholesome Councell for the repose and advancement of thy Church Take care of our kinsmen and friends and give them things neâ—dfull both for body and soule and that our iniquities may not stay the course of thy benefits pardon them Lord and blot them out by the precious bloud of thy Son in whose Name we ask these things of thee in the prayer he hath taught us saying Our Father which art in heaven c. I beleeve in God c. Amen A Prayer of Thanksgiving for finishing the Answer made to Mounsieur the Cardinall of Perron by Peter du Moulin 4. O Lord my God and Father I close this travell with thanks giving to thy Soveraigne Majestie I should be ungratefull to thy goodnesse if I
then I have loved heaven I preferred the preservation of my goods before the setting forth of thy glory earthly repose before eternall happinesse Alas Lord what punishments am I worthy of What torments have I deserved For my conscience accuseth me my sinnes call for vengeance against me and surely if the wages of the least of our sinnes be eternall death and if it be impossible for me to number my sinnes or to conceive the enormiousnesse of them how O thou God of vengeance how whilst I consider my selfe in my selfe shall I expect from thee with unspeakeable feare eternall and infinite punishments Yet O gracious God thy word teacheth us and experience witnesseth to us that thou wilt not the death of a sinner but that he turne unto thee and live so also hast thou thy selfe found out in thine eternall counsell the meanes of our deliverance and hast in the fulnesse of time sent into the world the eternall Sonne of thy love thy darling even he in whom thou art well pleased thou hast establisht him a Saviour and Redeemer for all those that hope in him by converting them unto thee He was made for us wisedome righteousnesse sanctification and redemption his bloud cleanseth us from all sinne he was despised to raise us unto glory he hath taken our nature to make us partaker of his he was borne the Sonne of Man to make us the Children of God he was full of sorrow to fill us with happinesse he was wounded for our sins and bruised for our iniquities upon him was laid the penaltie which brought us peace and by his bruises are we healed he came into the world to lead us to heaven he died to give us life he rose againe for our justification To conclude Lord thou so lovedst the world that thou gavest that spotlesse Lamb to the end that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have life everlasting And seeing O my God and Father of mercy that out of thy speciall favour it hath pleased thee in the midst of my errour even in mine infidelitie ingratitude to take pitie on me to give me thy knowledg and the resolution to follow thy Gospell seeing thou hast endued me with true faith in thy Sonne seeing thou hast touched my heart wherefore Lord shall I not have accesse unto thee with confidence Why shall I not approch with assurance to the throne of thy grace to obtaine mercy and to be releeved by thee in due time For though I be miserable art not thou mercifull If I be unrighteous wilt thou not cloath me with the righteousnesse of my Saviour Mine iniquitie amazeth me but thy goodnesse assureth me my unworthinesse estrangeth me from thee but the worthinesse of thy Sonne recalleth me back inviteth me and conducteth me to thee unto thee that art the God of my salvation that hast redeemed my soule from death that hast purchased me life everlasting and most happy O my God how great is my comfort how excellent the joy how precious and unspeakeable the repose which my soule enjoyeth in the meditation of these things Vnto thee onely then it is that I now addresse my selfe as to confesse my sinnes so also to acknowledge thy mercie as to condemne my selfe so withall to find absolution in thy Sonne If to be sorrowfull and to grieve for my sinnes so also to rejoyce and to comfort my selfe in thy bounty who shall lay any thing to my charge Is it not thou which justifiest me Who shall condemne me seeing that Christ died for me Seeing he is risen againe seeing that for me he is at thy right hand making request for my salvation and quest conservation Nothing O my God shall separate me from the love thou bearest me and seeing thou hast loved me in thy Sonne I shall in all things be more then victorious But what shall I render unto thee O Lord unto thee that hast delivered my soule from death mine eyes from teares and my feet from sliding Vnto thee O Lord that hast loosed the bands of death which compassed me about Vnto thee that hast converted and turned into joy the sorrowes of the grave which had overtaken me What shall I render unto thee O Eternall Lord for all thy benefits conferred upon me I will take the cup of salvation I will call upon thy Name I will pay my vowes before the people I am thy servant thou hast unloosed my bands I will sacrifice unto thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving I will offer unto thee the fruit of my lips I will confesse thy Name thou hast purchased me with a price I will glorifie thee in my body and in my soule I am thine unto thee therefore will I present my selfe as a lively and holy sacrifice that may be pleasing and acceptable unto thee To this end O my God I crave strength from thee the conduct of thy Spirit thou hast already given me a will to serve thee produce O Lord in me not onely the will but withall perfect it with efficacie and according to thy good pleasure Of my selfe I can do nothing to thy glorie I perceive not the things which are of thy Spirit all the imaginations of the thoughts of my heart are altogether continually evill the wisdome the desires of the flesh is enmitie against thee It will not it cannot be subject to thy Law and yet by thy Spirit thou hast already given me the beginning of my regeneration Yet Lord though I will the thing that is good yet find I not the meanes to performe the same I do not the good that I would but I do the evill that I would not do It is to thee then that I have my recourse thou art the Author of every good gift the fountaine of life lyeth in thee in thy cleare light we see clearely and from thee onely is all our sufficiencie illuminate me by thy Spirit that being directed by the same I may render unto thee the service which I owe in the acknowledgment of all thy benefits Give me grace that to serve thee I may do nothing but what may be acceptable to thee that I may frame my selfe not unto mine owne fancie but according to thy will that I may do not what seemes good unto my selfe but what thou approovest that I may performâ— not mine owne designes but thy will not mine owne intentions but thy commandements not my will but thy Word Graunt I may propound unto my selfe for my end not the vanitie of the world but thy glory not my reputation but the manifestation of thy holy Name not my establishment on earth but the advancement of thy truth and of thy Church Give me to serve thee not unwillingly and by constraint but freely and with a good heart that I may be pricked forward not by the rigour of Menaces and the chastisements of thy Law but incited by the sweetnesse of the promises and benefits of thy Gospell that I may be not possessed with the Spirit of
thou hast begun from their enemies and thine that thy children may be comforted and confirmed in their faith and hope and that the wicked may learne to cease from their blaspheming of thee And that they may know that thou art the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords Lord be mercifull unto us poore and miserable sinners Give gladnesse unto our soules give succours unto thy Church for it is time O God which art the God of Peace and of comfort give us that true peace which is the repose of our consciences In the meane time reforme our disorders and confusions as it shal be expedient for thy glory and our salvation so that avoiding the surprises and practises which may be made against us by our enemies we may serve thee in all security and tranquillity according to thy holy will All the which things we aske and most humbly crave of thee in the Name and for thy beloved Sonne our Lord Iesus Christ his sake praying unto thee as it hath pleased him to teach and shew us how to call upon thee saying Our Father which art in heaven c. An Evening Prayer 13. O Lord God eternal and Almighty Father who hast made formed us with thine owne hands that knowest of what matter we are fashioned and made and reservest to selfe as Lord and Master the prerogative of sounding and searching of the hearts of thy creatures even unto their most retired thoughts We cannot denie before thee this truth namely that we are poore sinners conceiv'd and born in iniquitie and corruption inclined to do evill unprofitable unto every good work and that thorow our vitious disposition wee transgresse continually and without ceasing thy holy and heavenly Commandements in doing wherof we purchase to our selves thy just judgment our utter ruine and destruction Yet Lord we are grieved in our selves for the same O Lord God who hast created the day for our travell and the night for our rest pardon us if we have not imployed the day to thy service in performing thy holy will and ordinance and grant we may passe the night without offending thee even that we may remaine unpolluted both in body and soule to the end that in the morning for our first work we may praise thee and give thanks unto thee and dispose our selves unto thy service And because Lord that in the night season our afflictions presse ordinarily more then in the day and we have lesse succors from men re-inforce Lord thy Guard over us and behold with pitie and compassion all thy poore afflicted persecuted and oppressed ones especially for thy Word deliver them O good God as thou hast begun from their enemies and thine that thy children may be comforted and confirmed in their faith and hope and the wicked may learn to blaspheme thee no more but that they may know that thou art the King of Kings and Lord of Lords Lord be mercifull unto us poore and miserable sinners give joy to our soules give relief to thy Church for it is high time O God which art the God of peace and consolation give us that true peace which is the repose of our consciences In the meane while remedie our disorders and confusions as shall be expedient for thy glory and our salvation So that avoiding the surprises and deceitfull practises which may be made against us by our enemies we may serve thee in all security and tranquillity according to thy holy will All the which things we ask and crave of thee most humbly in the Name and for the sake of thy welbeloved Sonne our Lord Iesus Christ according as it hath pleased him to informe and teach us to pray unto thee saying Our Father which art in heaven c. The blessing of our gracious God and Father the peace and grace of our Lord Iesus Christ remaine evermore with us in the Communion of the Holy Ghost Amen Another Morning Prayer 13. O Lord God and most gracious Father I thy poore creature that naturally am wrapt in darknesse durst not lift up mine eyes towards thee that inhabitest inaccessible light were it not that thy deare Sonne who is the brightnes of thy glory hath made way for me to the Throne of thy Grace by the effusion of his precious bloud And now my God I acknowledge that it is a great benefit that I that am unworthy to live upon the face of the earth and have deserved by my sins to be cast for ever into utter darknes have this happines to see the light of the day and of the Sun and to behold the works of thy hands with the fruition of the good things of the earth which thou hast given me But because O gracious God thy Sun shines as well on the bad as on the good and that this light is but to guide my body be pleased O God that the brightnes of thy face may shine upon me in blessing me and enlighten my understanding by regenerating and sanctifying me that I may walk in the way of thy Commandements that in my Calling I may in such sort carry my self as that all my words deeds and thoughts may be correspondent to thy honour and glory and to the edification of my neighbours Lord thou hast drawne me out of the darknes of idolatrie and ignorance thou hast taken away the vaile of superstition from before myne eyes thou hast also even in my time caused to shine forth and as it were lighted againe that lamp of the preaching of thy Gospell But suffer me not that having eyes not to see with them But Lord inlighten all the parts of my soule and graunt that what ere is in me may be imployed to give thee all honour and obedience that in my Calling thy feare may before mine eyes And because thou esteemest not thy selfe to be loved of us unlesse we love our neighbours imprint in me a faith working by love in such sort that with confidence I may have a good conscience doing nothing to any other but what I would should be done to my selfe Let me have a mercifull and a relenting heart let not my bowels be straitened towards the needy and poore Lastly that seeing the shape of this world to passe away I may use it as a passenger remembring ever that my freedome is in heaven Give me peace in my family give a blessing upon my labour contentment to my mind repose and comfort to the poore afflicted and full deliverance to thy Church by thy Sonne Iesus Amen Another Prayer for the Evening 15. O Lord God thy People Israel offered unto thee Evening and Morning Sacrifices in token of acknowledgment unto thee that keepest us both morning and evening but what more acceptable sacrifice can we offer unto thee then our contrite hearts and tongues to praise and blesse thee Wherefore Lord in all humility and reverence I present my self before thy face beseeching thee thou wilt be pleased not to enter into account nor into judgment with
me thy poore creature for whether thou lookest upon the first or on the second Table of thy Commandements thou wilt find that I have offended thee many wayes Yet as the child hath alwaies recourse to his father I have my refuge and my retrait unto thee O Lord which art slow unto anger and of great compassion beseeching thee by thy goodnes to cover my sins as all things are covered thorow the darknes spread over the earth Alas my God I know Satan goeth round about us as a roaring Lion I know he is the governour of the darknes and Prince of this world But withall if thou be for me who shal be against me It is thou that hast thousands of Angels that are encamped round about us It is thou that hast created the Sun begetting heat and the Moone affording coolenes It is thou that governest the whole frame of nature and never slumberest Be pleased then to graunt me the favour to take my rest this night in peace not to suffer a sleepe unto the things of the earth but more and more to acknowledg thankfully thy goodnes untill thou callest me unto that so greatly to be desired rest which thou hast prepared for us O how sweet and amiable will that dwelling be to us when in our graves we shall heare the voice of thy Sonne to raise us up unto glorious immortalitie But in the mean time whilst we expect that last comming we commend unto thee O heavenly Father the peace and preservation of thy Church our Superiours and Magistrates and all them that have need of thy succours beseeching thee that in this decrepit age of the world wherein all the kingdomes of the earth do stagger thou wilt be the prop and shoare of thy poore people and in stead of the so many dolorous dayes and yeares which we have seen we may see some rest in the midst of thy Church Raise up Lord some nursing father and some retrait for thy children that an over-violent oppression trample them not under foot and this for thy beloved Son our Lord Iesus Christ his sake in whom I trust and on whom I repose my selfe Amen A Prayer in the time of the Plague 16. LOrd whose infinite power seemeth small being compared to thy mercy turne thine eye of pitie upon us and amidst the dangers of this pestilent infection which threatneth us on every side retaine and uphold our languishing lives which without thy grace would vanish to nothing and be turned to corruption in a moment With the same mercy wherewith thou hast cleansed our soules consecrating them to thy service by the badge of sacred Baptisme repurge and cleanse our bodies to serve as cleane vessels unto our soules and to co-operate in the mysterie of thy praise Thou drewest light out of the bottomlesse deep by thy power thou drawest away the darkenesse which obscured the earth Purge away now again by the same light the noisomnes and corruption of the ayre and in such wise powre forth thy grace that we may breath to our safety and preservation Lord thou hast justly suffered for the punishment of our sins this poison and contagious venome to raigne with power over our bodies But seeing thy deare and onely beloved Sonne hath blotted out with his bloud the sin which had provoked thee he should withall have drowned the scourges appointed for the punishment We fall againe every day into the gulfe whereout thou hast drawne us we renounce by our evill life the grace thou hast given us It is true Lord that if thou wilt judge us in thy justice we have but to be silent and to suffer but we implore thy mercy greater yet then all our sins thy mercy Lord which cannot bee invoked in vaine It sufficeth that we lift up our eyes unto thee it sufficeth that we sigh turne our heart unto thee so soone as we feele thee present and neare unto us But without thee Lord we cannot move towards thee Take us then my God and inspire into us this wholsome motion In the sequell whereof we shall undoubtedly have what ere we crave of thee in the name of thy precious Son our Saviour Iesus Christ Sith then that in his name we ask of thee the health of our bodies preserve them my God from the danger wherein they are make the ayre we breath the water we drink the victuals we use the garments wherewith we cloath our selves may be instruments of health to our life remove farr from us in every thing what is impure and pestelent fortifie the spirits that animate our bodies to the end to be able to resist all the infection they may encounter to overcome and surmount the same Give us firme and undaunted courage to wit relying and resting on thy grace thorough the which we may be enabled to passe without apprehension the dangers amidst the which it pleaseth thee that we live and make us continually sensible of thy comfort by which we may be guided with a quiet mind thorough the midst of these worldly miseries maintaining evermore that lively hope in our hearts that giving thee the glory which is due to thy holy Name we may arrive in the end to that which thou hast promised to thine Elect. Amen A Prayer upon the Creation 17. LOrd God who hast created all for thy glory especially man to be the principall instrument thereof and hast moreover received him unto the greatest honour assuring him that he shall obtaine what ere he shall ask of thee in true faith and charity raise up my thoughts purifie my heart sanctifie my tongue to the end I may sing worthily thy praises render unto thy bounty the thanksgivings which are due thereunto and ask that which is necessary for my salvation and convenient and meet for the advancement of thy glory This Lord I cannot do but thorough thy favorable assistance Not onely all good commeth forth from thee but even the hability to ask it As then with fierie tongues thou openedst the lips of thine Apostles purge now this of a poore humble sinner and instruct my heart to ask of thee what may be pleasing unto thee Give me a new spirit which may know how to conceive that good which is to be praied for from thee which therin may take content which may therin confirm and entertaine it selfe not floting and wavering but firme and surely anchored in the faith of thy promises and assurance of thy goodnes as in that safe and calm haven whither ought to be steared the whole equipage of all our desires looking alwayss for our most assured star the merit of thy most deare Sonne our Lord Iesus Christ by the intercession of whom we cannot fall from any of our hopes unto him I say be glory and honour for ever and ever Amen A Morning Prayer 18. O Light of lights which hast dispersed the darknesse to bring light into the world and to give man for a mirrour the beauty of thy works and the elegant
varietie of formes wherewith thou hast distinguisht them and as thou now bringest upon the earth the brightnes of the day and of the Sun bring also Lord upon my soule the brightnes of thy holy Spirit that according to the mesure that my arms shal be imployed for the maintenance of my body the thoughts of my soule may be engaged in the invocating of thy holy grace thorow the conduct wherof wee may walke so on thorough the wayes of this sensuall and corruptible world that I may not go astray from the celestiall and incorruptible That if my senses deceived by the pleasing baites and delicious objects which offer themselves in the world would seduce my reason hold them back Lord by the hope of pleasures infinitely greater which are proposed to them which live according to thy holy will and by the feare of the paines 〈◊〉 number 〈◊〉 â—â—out measure which 〈◊〉 them that forsake the way of thy commandements to follow that of their flesh And seeing that to lead me to thy mercy thou hast been pleased that the Author of light that eternall wisedome came downe upon earth and there abode for a time that he might converse amongst us to light the lamp of our soules by the fire of thy holy Word Infuse Lord by the same bounty the cleare light which thou hast put therein by the operation of thy holy Spirit that in thy wedding day we finding our selves adorned with the wedding garment of thy grace we may be led into the participation of thy celestiall glory A Prayer for the Evening 19. LOrd in as much as thine unsearchable wisdome hath been pleased to divide our whole life into labour and rest and every one of our dayes into light and darknes and yet appointest them both to serve thy glory Now at this houre that it hath pleased thee to shut in this day and to call me from my labour to sleepe I lift up my hands unto thee and offer unto thee for an Evening Sacrifice my heart and my tongue and revolving and ruminating in my thoughts that favour wherewith thou hast from morning unto this evening sustained my life conducted my actions guided my steps directed my hands governed my thoughts turned away the temptations of the world I forme in my voice in the best manner I am able a thanksgiving and song of praise to thy infinite goodnesse And therefore albeit I know well that in my works there is a great deale more want then good yea not to file upon the account but that which proceedeth from my self the whole must needs be damnable I conjure thy sacred mercy that it will make them acceptable by powring forth on them that infinite grace which thy deare Son hath purchased for the world which alone giveth perfection and sanctification unto all the actions of men Now that I go to yeeld my eyes unto sleepe graunt my body may take rest in bed my soule withall may repose in the bosome of thy Son Iesus Christ And thy Holy Spirit watching over me may remove far away froÌ„ me all unclean concupiscences foolish imaginations and uncouth dreames and deliver me from all feare saving from that of thy sacred and severe judgment and so moderate the course of my sleep that repairing my strength of body it may not lull it asleep in idlenes but let me awake at a fit houre and exercise my self in holy prayer thus all the dayes of my life sliding on one after another untill it shall please thee to change this temporall into an eternall rest thorow the intercession of him that hath purchased as with the price of his bloud our SAVIOVR IESVS CHRIST Amen A Prayer for our finall obtaining of victorie by Iesus Christ. 20. O Almighty God sith we are filled with so many concupiscences which must needs pollute the pure and sacred gifts of thy Holy Spirit graunt we may take in good part the chastisements which thou sendest us to tame and bring under the said concupiscences and that as we acknowledg thee to be our shepheard we may yeeld up our selves to be governed by thy shepheards staffe profiting daily under thy chastisements and tasting in thy severitie of thy bounty that we may not be discouraged but walking on forward thorow mis-reports and disgraces yea even thorow the midst of death for thy Names sake that we may rejoyce in thee esteeming all things losse for the price of the knowledge of thy Sonne who giveth the same Spirit that hath sanctified us which also strengtheneth us That being partakers of that unction of the Holy Ghost we may withall be partakers of the victorie of thy Sonne IESVS CHRIST A Prayer for the preservation of the Church 21. ETernall Lord God strong pitifull mercifull slow to anger abundantly plentifull in thy free mercy and truth keeping Covenant to a thousand generations taking away iniquity transgression and sin We beseech thee that we may find favour before thine eyes pardon our iniquities and our sins and possesse us fill us with thy Spirit in wisdome in understanding in knowledge teach us that which we are to do so that we may apply our hearts to thy Word and may not hold on our course of sinning nor follow the multitude to do evill But that we may seriously obey thy voice keep thy covenant may be ranked amongst all people thy most precious jewell although all the earth is thine and we are unto thee a kingdome of Priests and an holy Nation dwell thou in the midst of us and be our God Preserve our houses and when thou shalt passe thorow the countrey â—o strike and to exercise judgement let there be no wound unto destruction among us bedeaw with the bloud of the Lamb our threshold and both our doore-posts look upon that bloud and passe by the doore and suffer not the destroyer to enter into our houses to strike that we may know thou puttest a difference between the Egyptians and the Israelites Graunt thy children may grow and increase into exceeding great abundance may be multiplied and reinforced mightily so that even the earth may be replenished with them and the more it shall afflict them the more they may multiplie in all abundance Be moved with compassion towards them which sigh and crie let their crie come up unto thee looke downe upon their affliction Another Prayer for the Church 22. LOrd thou takest no pleasure in the death of a sinner but hadst rather that he should turne from his way and live Powre not forth thy furie upon us heape not thy wrath upon us judge us not after our wayes but let thine eye spare us and have compassion upon us for we are thy sheep the sheep of thy pasture and thou art our God Hide not then thy face from us but powre forth thy Spirit upon us Graunt we may have all but one heart and put into us a new spirit Take from us our heart of stone give us a heart of flesh that we may walk in
foolish and hurtfull lusts Wisdom 5. Which plunge men into destruction and ruine Which the Wiseman knowing made his prayer unto God not to give him riches but only his daily bread And withall what are all other things but most vaine vanity Which not so soon have taken their being as they are glided away and passed by as if they had not beene at all Nor is there any more appearance left of them then of a bird that hath flowne thorow the ayre whose track cannot be found flying away from him who so greedily and with all carefulnes had heaped them up together or if not he himselfe leaves them by death and unto whom Surely he knowes not as saith the Prophet Psalme 39.6 He heapeth up riches and knoweth not who shall gather them But when this should obtaine some continuance wouldst thou so abastardise and curtall thy felicity as therin to limit thy soveraign good Tell me how many yeares thou hast already passed and what a portion of thy age is glided on which is no more to be reckon'd on then when thou beginnest therin to take pleasure and if it were not so but rather that man might rejoyce in and enjoy his pleasure even from the day of his birth wouldst thou then esteeme it a profit that for to possesse even the whole world he should lose his soule Hearken unto and consult with Iesus Christ in this question Matth. 16.26 We shall know that whosoever seeketh after and loves these things cannot please God For there is his heart and not with the Lord and therfore let us contemne them Matth. 6.9 And following the instruction of Iesus Christ Let us lay up our treasures in heaven where neither the rust nor moath corrupt and thinke on those things which are above and not on these that are here below for whosoever is not ready to forsake all he hath in the world and which he possesseth on earth as he himself saith he cannot bee one of his Now if this be once found in us surely then we will seek rather to glorâ—fie God then to possesse the goods which oftentimes the very wicked injoy We will prefer the riches of the opprobries of Christ Heb. 11. before the treasures of Egypt after the example of Moyses nor will we commit such an errour as to deprive our selves of the hearing of Gods Word and of the meanes to serve him according to his already known will thereby the more commodiously to heap up wealth as we are wont to do But we had rather as David Psal 48. dwell simple doore-keepers in the house of the Lord then to enjoy the delights of the flesh Yea by so much the more willingly if as we hold them happy that dwell in the house of God praise him without ceasing And on the contrary for most miserable those that are estranged far from it Amos 8.11 There being no greater evill then to have a famine of the Word of the Lord. It remaines to satisfie more particularly him who doth not already see himselfe closely pursued with misery but hath his eye fixt on those by the meanes of whom he thinketh to live that regardeth nothing more then to conforme himselfe to their humour even to the turning of his back unto God for-feare of disgrace preferring this temporall life before eternall life having more care of the body then of the soule as one that makes more of his apparell then of himselfe Yet such a one in truth is brought to some tryall by reason of the defects which are in man thorow his infirmitie and basenes when as he hath not yet tasted of the promises of God but that he may commit a thing yet more horrible nothing more detestable and which may make more for his condemnation no And say we what we will to palliate such sinne so it is that to speak properly we must know that we set man in Gods place For wee make lying man true and God who is power it selfe a lyer Man that is meerely impotent we make powerfull and God who is power it selfe impotent in reposing our trust ordinarily as in this behalf upon man and on his promises And on the contrary there is nothing but diffidence and distrustfulnesse in that which is promised us from God do we relie more upon him in our need Is not this his voice Mat. 6.25 Take no thought for your life what you shall eate or what you shall drinke nor for your bodies what you shall put on If God saith Iesus Christ feed the birds of the ayre and cloath the grasse of the field will he not much more do it for you O you of little faith Aske then saith he and seeke you first of all the kingdome of God and the righteousnesse thereof and all these shal be ministred unto you withall and be not carefull for to morrow This is the Word of God these are his promises and yet in stead of retiring our selves unto him and towards him who hath promised never to leave us and never to forsake us whence Saint Paul Heb. 15. Drawes an argument to bid us to be content with things present we turn our selves unto men and hope from them as from them that which we want if any man mighty in possession hath made us protestation of friendship and hath promised us his purse shall be open to us in our need forthwith we make an account of it as of a thing most certaine and which cannot faile us and we so cherish this in such sort that we take good heed in no wise to displease such an one Yea with the dispence even of Gods honour as he whom we leave out as he of whom we had not received ought and from whom we could not hope for any benefit and what is this but with marvelous and detestable ingratitude to accuse God of impotencie or of want of will to make good that which he hath promised and so to make him a lyar A thing infinitely as the offence is infinite horrible to think onely And on the contrary setting man in his place by attributing unto him what appertaineth unto God alone Psal 42 1.50.12 Yea we so preferre maâ— before God him whose all things are that brings the wealthy to beggerie and raiseth up the poore untâ— glory making him abounâ— in wealth It seemeth that heâ—â— some may say we will cease then henceforth to take paines and trample upon all care trusting and reposing our selves wholly upon the promises of God Now know we that this would be truly to tempt him which makes us not these promises to make us carelesse to employ our selves in that wherunto we are calâ—ed by him and which our calling requires seeing he himselfe hath ordained for a badge and by reason of our sin that we shall eat our bread in the sweat of our browes Gen. 3.19 all the time of our life Which made Saint Paul say that he that labours not if he be able to do it ought not to eat
1 Thes 3.10 This is it also why the Psalmist considering we are necessitated unto action saith speaking of him that feareth God and walketh in his wayes Psa 127.128.2 Blessed art thou that fearest God and walkest in his way For of thy labor thou shalt eat happy art thou I say But the end of these promises is to the end wee should not be dismayd when by the providence of God we shall be destitute of all possessions and even deprived of drawing any fruit from the labour we can undergo labour truly vaine unlesse he extend his blessing to the same without which in vaine wake we late and rise up early Psalm 146. and that we might know that from mans industrie his wealth proceeds not but from God onely who advanceth and casteth downe when he pleaseth From him I say that knowes no want to give provision whereof to live unto them that need And that thus we might be led on forward to walk in his obedience and feare as of him on whom we wholy depend yea even the mightiest and highest that are amoÌ„g the creatures But let us returne let us yet further discover our owne filthines Luke 21.18 Appeares it not that albeit that God assures us that no man shal be able so much as to pluck a hayre from our head without his will which is the same St. Paul sayes Rom. 8.3 If God be for us who shall be against us and although he say he will keep his people as the apple of his eye seeming to expresse himselfe after our imperfect manner to make us the better to comprehend his love yet for all this how great are our diffidences and distrusts That if it happen that we be threatned with banishment or otherwise to make any attempt upon our persons by reason of the confession of the Name of God and of his Truth we be altogether appaled with feare and terrible apprehensions even to the renouncing of him and to be disposed to speake such language And to be short to do that which they would do that in appearance shal have strength in their hands Yea the greater part of them which follow the great and broad way Ma. 7.13 of destruction and who as they say houle when others yell wil follow the fashion be it never so vile do not they act it before they see it out of a foresight of the feare they have thereof Howsoever for a matter of this nature following our SAVIOVR CHRISTS teaching we ought not to feare them that can kill the body Mat. 10.28 and are not able to touch the soule but rather and only to feare him who is able to destroy the soule and to send the body to hell Matth. 10.19 Having elswhere said unto us that whosoever will save his life shall lose it But he that for Gods sake shall lose it shall save it And what shall we say Is not this all one as if one should affirme the promises of God were every one vaine Could we make lesse reckoning of them then of some poore begger destitute of all meanes who had promised to lend us at our need a great sum of money even thus fares it with the confidence we repose in man a thing execrable If we be not now sufficiently convinced to lead us to passe the sentence of condemnation upon our selves let us put the case hâ—re some miserable fellow had offended one that was greater then himselfe who had the will to be revenged on him if he that hath offended findeth grace and credit with the Prince in common both to him and to the offended and that the Prince promise him with all true affection to stay his evill willer that he do him no hurt declaring in processe of time unto all his subjects that he loves that person will keep and cherish him as himselfe will we not then say such an one is well assured of a good Protector shall we not think him exempt from all occasion of feare For shall we not acknowledg that Prince of power easily to protect him And that great God who is the Prince of Princes who hath power above all the powers much more soveraignly without all comparison then hath the greatest Monarch of the earth over the most forlorn and most desolate of all his Dominion Rom. 13.1 there being none of them in the world but by divine dispensation by Gods appointment unto whom nothing is impossible true of his word unchangeable cannot he keep us What So great and so many numberlesse benefits which we have received and daily do receive from him fulfilling his promises should it not be sufficient to carry us to put our whole trust and confidence in him and not to doubt in any wise of the certaine effect of his Word O perverse diffidence and disobedience more then ingratefull to have preferred the prop and protection of men before that of God to have had more feare of their displeasure then of him 2 Pet. 21. Yea so much as to have turned their backs unto him for their respect to follow Baal as Balaam who for the wages of unrighteousnesse turned from the right way Many will not confesse the debt but will say although their conscience speak to the contrary without feare of the curse pronounced by the Lord Esay 5.20 against them that will make evill to be believed to be good and good to be evill that they walk according to God and in all integritie without dissimulation who to palliate by so much the more their hypocrisie will take heed to observe even unto the grossest superstitions and notorious abhominable idolatries they wil be very glad to make knowne unto every one they omit nothing of what is required to be done by him that is such as they counterfeit themselves to be namely to the end men might not doubt of them and to make them believe they have sincerity in their course they which have children make them suck in this poison and will nourish them and bring them up with this venome for which they shall answer one day before God they will freely and openly make warre against the truth See how from these impieties and wickednesses they fall into other which at last do plunge them into a reprobate sense Wisdom 11.15 Man being punished by the same things where in he sinneth Thus is it as it happeneth and falleth out with them that think to mock God 4. Esdr 16. That knoweth the inventions of men what they thinke in their hearts when in sinning they would hide their sinnes 2 Peter 21. O how farre better would be the condition of such people that they had never knowne the way of righteousnesse and of the truth seeing after they have so knowne the same they turne backe from the holy commandement Esay 1.14 A sinfull people loaden with iniquitie malignant seed corrupt children thus to forsake the Lord to provoke in that manner the Holy One of Israel Alas What wil be the retribution for such lewdnes They that
commit these impieties may deceive men but God they cannot who is the sole searcher of the heart Act. â— 44 And from whom nothing is hid Hee will disclose them in due time for there is nothing so secret Matth. 10.26 which when he please shall not come to light and be published even upon the house tops yea when there is the least appearance And he will one day say unto them it may be much nearer then they think if they repent not speedily no longer abusing his mercy Matth. 25.41 Goe ye cursed into eternall fire which is prepared for the Devill and his angels And in vaine then shall they cry Lord Lord Esa 2. For he will answer them I never knew you you workers of iniquitie that have loved better the praise of men then of God O how fearefull a thing is it to fall into the hands of the living God he who not only sees our actions but also is judge of our intentions and in a word he unto whose eyes all things are knowne and open let us not defer then to repent let us seek to do good as having to walk before the Lord Psal 44. Who beholdeth all our actions yea who searcheth our reines and examins our thoughts Proverb 21. there being no wisedome strength prudence hid retired nor shrouded from him knowing that it shall not be any deale the better for us for having our iniquities concealed from men which ordinarily seemeth to suffice us and so we take no further care And in all feare let us apply and imploy our our members unto righteousnesse and according as Saint Paul exhorts us Rom. 12.1 Let us offer up our bodies a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God which is our reasonable serving of him Let us not any longer remaine asleepe in our vaine conversation from the which we were redeemed neither with gold nor with silver but by the most precious bloud of the Son of God And let us awake up let us awake I say unto holines of life lest it prove the sleep of eternal death let not the world nor the things of the world any longer retaine our affections to enforce us any longer to continue in this horrible hypocrisie being content with that condition whereunto it shall please the Lord to call us seeing all things turne to the good of them that feare God Rom. 5. And so then that poverty make us not afraid when it shall find us that persecution daunt us not when as for the Name of the Lord it must be undergone but let us suffer chearefully with Christ that we may raigne with him Heb. 11. Wisd 2. Let the dis-reputation and dishonour wee shall reape from worldlings grieved because we will not follow their traine be sleighted of us To conclude let nothing no not the losse even of life it self make us warpe or decline from the wayes of the Lord For the sufferings of the time present are not to be paralelâ—d with the good things to come which are laid up for us in Christ Philip. 1.21 Who iâ— gaine unto us not only living but even also in death And in our necessitie let us have recourse no more unto unlawfull meanes to shelter our selves under but unto God alone who giveth both good and evill to wit the evill of punishment life and death poverty and riches Eccles 11.14 Vnto him I say who having so much loved us as to give his onely begotten Sonne unto death for us Rom. 8.31 Will not let us want any thing though never so small as farre forth as shal be expedient for our good Yea hee Whose ever watchfull eyes O're his beyond all hope Their needfull wants in time supplies His feare his glory is their guide their scope He still their life exempts From what even death it selfe attempts And fils them with the things they want When times of famine brings them scant And by his bounty still recals The Lord his owne backe from their falls To wait on him in their distresse To him to make their firme adresse Who ever is sure castle prop and stay To those that wander not from out his way And let us remove farre away from us all vanitie let us strip and quite disvest our selves of this foolish and cursed confidence and reliance which we ordinarily have in the arme of man and in riches And henceforth for the remainder of our course of this earthly pilgrimage let us not seeke but to glorifie God to the edification of others and in him let us place our whoâ—e expectation for as David saith Psal 40. Thrice happy hee his trust doth place In God the giver of all grace And him alone his refuge makes And not vaine man for patron takes Renouncing our owne wisdome Esa 5.21 which is but foolishnes Besides the Spirit of God pronounceth a curse upon those t at are wise in their owne eyes and prudent in their owne conceits And let us not any more imagin our happines to consist in affoording our selves the fruition of our carnall lusts the totall of bruit beasts whose bodies and soules both die together For there is a soveraigne eternall happines for him that walks in the feare of God let us value it above aâ—l things knowing that the world and the concupiscence thereof passeth away And that all the glory of man is fallen Psalm 62. But that the Word of God abideth for ever And therefore let us say with David That our soule resteth onely in God for in him onely is our salvation Remembring daily this prayer Psal 90.12 Instruct us Lord to know and trie How long our dayes remaine That thus we may our hearts apply True wisdome to attaine Then teach us so our dayes Our wasting yeares to count That wisedome true our thoughts toward thee Our endlesse end may mount Attending and expecting to be fully endowed and possest of all the benefits which are purchased for us by the death and resurrection of Iesus Christ unto the participation of that eternall blessednesse and of that union which we have thorow him with God To whom only wise onely good onely mighty infinite and true our Creator and gracious benefactor be all glory and honour for evermore thorow the same Iesus Christ his Sonne our onely Saviour who in the unity of the holy Ghost liveth and raigneth with him eternally Amen A FAMILIAR INSTRVCTION to comfort the Sicke With many Prayers on the same subject Philip. 1.21 For to me to live is Christ and to die is gaine LONDON Printed by G. MILLER for GEORGE EDWARDS dwelling in Greene-Arbour without New-Gate at the signe of the Angell 1630. To the Reader COurteous Reader impute not unto my rashnes either the Title or Subject of this Booke as if I undertooke to give instruction to those from whom I ought to receive the same I had not writ it at first but in the behalfe of my deare brethren the Elders of the Church unto the guiding of whom God hath called me In regard
the said Church being composed of many quarters and it not being possible for me to be with them all necessitie required that they often supplie my absence in the visitation of the sicke whereunto they required my assistance by this small President my purpose was to cause some few copies to bee printed to put into their hands and by that meanes to give them that assistance with more ease and with more conveniencie But when it was further alleaged unto me it might serve also for the use of others either in regard of their obligation therunto by the same charge or for that they were so mooved out of their Christian zeale imployed themselves in that pious and charitable dutie of visiting and comforting the sicke And that moreover and besides the reason hereof would not bee unprofitable to any of the faithfull in particular who even in his best health should ever prepare himselfe for sicknesse and death I yeelded to make it publique with this word of information which I suppose will arme thy ingenuitie to acquit me of all blame I doubt not but thou wilt excuse the plainenesse of the stile having respect both to the nature of the subject withal unto whom and for whom it was directed As for them that shall think good to make use of it I intreat them to beare with the length of it Which I could not well avoid as I desired in a subject so fertile and so hard to be contracted This remedie there is for it that this writing being composed of many disjointed parcels and accomodated to the sundry dispositions of the sicke they may be contented to cull out of them sometimes one sometimes another as they shall be adjudged more for their purpose according to the circumstances of the persons they visit A FAMILIAR Instruction to comfort the Sick When the sicknes shall not as yet have any probabilitie to be mortall there may be said to the sicke for his comfort that which here followeth SIR You must first of all know that this sickenesse came not to you casually nor by chance but rather by the wise government of the providence of God our Creatour and Father who so disposeth of prosperity and adversity of health and of sicknesse towards his children that he never sendeth them either the one or the other but it is for his owne glory and for their good and salvation Which the Apostle Saint Paul setteth forth Ro. 8.28 That to them that love God all things worke together for good Now hee there speakes expresly of afflictions in the ranke whereof are sicknesses Now they love God who first of all are beloved of him and as the same Apostle saith called according to his determinate purpose That you are of this number you have occasion to take your assurance thereof by the faith he hath given you in making you to believe that he is your Father and Sauiour in his welbeloved Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord and causing you to receive his spirit of adoption which is he that giveth testimonie and beareth witnesse with our spirit that we are the children of God his heires and co-heires with CHRIST Rom. 8.11.16.17 Hereof ought you to take yet further assurance from the sanctification of his Spirit thorough the which you are led and guided in his obedience For they that are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God Now unto them that are such the Apostle Saint Paul saith that all things worke together for good afflictions sicknesses death it self All are turned unto them by the grace of God unto their great good and profit to serve unto the furthering of their salvation There are three speciall fruits which God causeth us to reape from our sicknesses and afflictions The first is the amendment of our life awakening us out of our sinnes In health and in prosperity it is a thing too ordinary with us to flatter and to lull our selves asleep in our sinnes by reason of the great corruption of our nature which maketh us inclinable unto all evill and unprofitable unto all good Very necessary then is it for us to be awakened and to be made sensible of our sinnes to be displeased with them and to recover our selves out of them All which is wrought by the meanes of sicknesses and other adversities of this life which are the issues of sinne and oftentimes are sent unto us from God to chasten and correct us for our sinnes And therein our gracious heavenly Father sheweth how he loveth us withholding us by this meanes that we perish not in our dissolutions as a good Father and one that loveth his children he chastiseth them and gives them the rod when need requires it to stay them they run not upon their owne destruction This is it which Saint Paul saith 1. Cor. 11.32 That when we are afflicted wee are chastened of the Lord that wee should not be condemned of the world And elswhere he saith Hebr. 12. ver 6.7 11. That the Lord chasteneth him whom he loveth and scourgeth every childe he approoveth if you suffer chastisement saith the Apostle God presenteth himselfe unto you as unto his children For what sonne is he whom the Father correcteth not And although all chastisement for the present time seemeth not to bee joyous but grievous neverthelesse afterward it yeeldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousnes unto them that are exercised thereby Wee must then in the first place gather this excellent fruit of our sicknesses to have a sensible apprehension by them of our so many and so grievous delicts and offences whereof we stand guilty before God to the end to crave pardon for them with repentance and humility and to make unto him an holy protestation to mâ—ke better performance of our duties hereafter to walk in his obedienee and feare thorough the assissance of his grace and conduct of his Spirit Which we must ask of him by our fervent prayers with faith and assurance to be heard according to his promisâ—s And so shall we be able to say to him with David that excellent sâ—rvant of God Psal 119.67 72. Ere thou didst touch mee with thy rod I er'd and went astray But now I have thy holy Word And make it all my stay And also O happy time may I well say When thou didst me correct For as a guide to know thy Lawes Thy Word did me direct And behold how the maladies of our bodies are unto us thorough Gods grace good and wholesome medicines for our soules The second benefit sicknes brings us is to unloose and pluck up our hearts from the earth to lift them up unto heaven Experience shewes us that our hearts remaine over much fastened and rooted here below whilst we are here in health and at our ease we could be content never to budge hence Nay we could be content our felicity were here assigned us and our soveraign happines so farre are wee blinded But God who hath ordained us for a
thanks unto thee for the same But if it be thy will yet to continue any longer or even to augment unto him this sicknes grant it may be alwayes for his good and give increase of strength and of constancie to be able to beare these thy trials with a calme and meek mind without any impatiencie or grudging and that thus in these truly christian testimonies of his faith and Patience thou maist be glorified and his neighbours edified and comforted And that even he also by this experience had of the miseries of the world and of this life may be taught to wean his heart and affections from them to raise them up heartily unto the meditation and diligent search of that repose and incomprehensible happines which is set before us in heaven and in everlasting life Grant also Lord the like graces unto all others that are sick and afflicted Comfort them and strengthen them as thou knowest shal be needfull for them and above all give them power evermore with a true and lively faith to embrace thy mercy in Iesus Christ therein to find matter of consolation Heare us Father of grace for the same thy deare Son Iesus Christ our Lord his sake as we humbly beseech thee in that forme of prayer which he himselfe hath commanded us to offer up unto thee Our Father which art in heaven c. And because Lord that without faith we cannot please thee we beseech thee so to increase the same in this thy servant and in us that he may be enabled even unto the last gasp of his life and we with him to persevere in the same and to be evermore readily disposed thereof to render unto thee a pure confession both with heart mouth as we now do I beleeve in God c. Such is his faith Lord and also ours give us grace both to live and die in the same thorow Iesus Christ thy Sonne our Lord who in the unity of the Holy Ghost liveth raigneth with thee GOD eternally When there is some likelihood that the sickenesse will be mortall there must be added other consolations such as these following SIR You must ever be of good courage in the midst of this affliction wherewith God continueth to visit you in your body then you must know that he sends it you and continues it unto you but for your good and for the salvation of your soule To teach you by this meanes to come to a true knowledge of your selfe as being a poore sinner to detest more and more your sins to despise the world to lift up your selfe wholly unto God and to call upon him so much the more fervently with assurance to be heard according to his holy promises and to obtaine from him Christian constancie which is necessary for you in this triall The assurance of Gods mercy in Iesus Christ the foundation of all comfort NOW that which ought most to comfort you and to strengthen you with courage and patience which is that assurance which you must evermore take that God for his welbeloved Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord his sake embraceth you in his love and free gracious good will hath pardoned your sins hath adopted and received you into the number of his children to make you an heire of the kingdome of heaven by vertue of that purchase which Iesus Christ hath made for you by his death Such an assurance will ever make you certaine that nothing can befall you be it in life or be it in death which shall not be unto you a favour and a blessing from your heavenly father and which by consequence shall not be an helpe and a meanes ordained by his wise providence to advance and lead you unto a happy life This assurance comes from Faith TRue it is that this assurance we cannot take of our selves but it is this our good God who gives it us when by the power of his Holy Spirit and by his Word he creates in our hearts a true and a lively faith with the which we receive and appropriate to our selves the promises of his grace which he addresseth unto us in the preaching of his holy Gospell These promises briefly import thus much That God so loved the world that hee hath given his onely Sonne to the end that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Iohn 3.16 If then God give you the grace to believe in his only Sonne and to embrace and lay hold on him for your Redeemer and Saviour as we gather you do by the profession you hitherunto have made thereof and do still make the same in the midst of his Church you may and ought to take from thence an holy assurance that God according to the infallible truth of his Word hath received you into his love that you shall not perish but you shall have eternall life Now this being so what can you be afraid of Rom. 8.30 31. If God bee for us who shal be against us He who hath not spared his onely Sonne but hath given him for us how shall he not also give us all other things with him He hath given us the greater namely his owne Sonne shall he denie you then the lesse to wit what ere may be necessary and expedient to keep you and to uphold you against all manner of evills both corporall and spirituall as well in life as in death Faith applieth unto every faithfull one the promises of the Gospell NOw this application I spake of which you ought to make of the promises of the Gospell to draw from them such an holy assurance it is necessarily to be looked for in faith For to believe in Iesus Christ is not to believe onely in the grosse that there is a Iesus Christ and that he that believeth in him hath eternall life and it is not enough to believe that the promises of the Gospell are true in general and out of us The Devill himselfe believeth indeed all this and yet hath no true faith for all that But to believe in Iesus Christ it is when the faithfull believeth that there is salvation in Iesus Christ for himself which the Devill cannot believe And true justifying faith and by which the just liveth consists properly in this that we apply unto our selves and that every one of us appropriate in his owne particular to himself the promises of salvation to be able to say every one in his owne behalfe that which Saint Paul said in the person of every faithfull man and woman Gal. 2.20 I live in the faith of the Sonne of God who hath loved me and who gave himselfe for me Also Tim. 1.2 I know in whom I have believed and am perswaded that he is able to keepe that which I have committed unto him even unto that day And againe Rom. 8.37 38. I am assured that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things to come neither height nor depth nor any other creature shal be
Paul saith Rom. 8.14 Courage then Sir say boldly with that holy Apostle in the midst of your combats I am assured that nothing shal be able to separate me from the love of God which he hath shewed me in Iesus Christ our Lord To assure the sicke against the temptations and terrors of conscience FOure things there are indeed which in this spirituall combat may give you terror stagger your faith and trouble the peace of your conscience Namely the sense of your sinnes the apprehension of death the feare of the Devill and the horrour of the judgement of God before whom we are to appeare at our going forth of this life But against the feare of al these things the goodnesse of God in the benefits of Christ and in the testimonies he gives us in his Word furnisheth you with good and sufficient remedies thorowly to assure and establish you in invincible constancie Against the terrors proceeding from the sense of his sinnes FIrst for the regard of your sinnes it is indeed very necessarie to have a thorow sensible apprehension and lively feeling of them to humble you before God But in as much as you protest you have a true and serious repentance of them and do seek and lay hold of by faith the satisfaction and expiation of them in the bloud of Iesus Christ assure your self they can in no sort hinder the effect of your salvation If you be a sinner why Iesus Christ also came into the world to save sinners 1. Tim. 1.15 He is that Lamb of God that takes away the sinnes of the world Iohn 1.29 It is his bloud which cleanseth us from all iniquitie 1 Ioh. 1.7.9 And whosoever shall believe in him shall receive remission of his sins thorow his name Act. 10 43. For this cause is it that there should be preached in his name repentance and remission of sinnes Luke 24 47. Yea he himselfe invites us to himselfe to endow us with the fruition of such a good come unto mee all yee that labour and are heavie laden and I will give you rest Matth. 11.28 Go you then unto him if you feele your selfe overwhelmed with the burthen of your sinnes in assurance to find remedie and rest to your soule And for this selfe same cause performes he yet still dayly the office of an Advocat with the Father for us If we have sinned saith Saint Iohn ch 2. ver 1 2. We have an Advocat with the Father to wit Iesus Christ the righteous who is the propitiation for our sinnes Against the feare of death NOW as touching death why should you feare it seeing your sinnes are not imputed unto you For by sin it is that death entred into the world thus saith Saint Paul Rom. 5.12 and by consequent where there is no sinne there can be no death And indeed as for eternall death which the Scriptures call the second death you have from it a full and a perfect release by the meanes of this faith which God hath given you Verily saith the Son of God Iohn 5.24 I say unto you that hee that heareth my Word and believeth in him that sent me he hath eternall life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death vnto life And as for the death of the body whereunto we remaine still subject it is not unto the faithfull a testimonie of Gods anger upon them as it is ever such unto the reprobate but rather a great and singular favour of his bounty and which bringeth them an infinitenes of excellent commodities First of all it delivereth and setteth us free from all manner of evils and dangers putting an end unto such a number of miseries vexations and griefs which exercise and disquiet us uncessantly both in our bodies and in our mindes during the course of this miserable life or rather of this continuall death wherein we languish here below and by drawing us out of this corrupt world imbrued in malignitie with the corruption wherof we cannot chuse but be infected as with a contagious ayre to see our selves brought to this unhappy necessity of offending daily the goodnesse of our heavenly Father so many wayes as we do Secondly corporall death is an entrance to us into a true life by the benefit of Iesus Christ who hath himselfe passed thorow this death to make the passage happy and dangerlesse unto us it is a safe bridge unto us to passe us and convay us out of the world unto God from earth to heaven and out of the calamities of this transitorie life unto the incomprehensible blessednesse of life eternall unto that fulnesse of joyes which is as David saith Psal 16.11 in beholding the face of the Lord. This is the happinesse which your soule shall injoy even from your very instant departure out of this body And as for your body which shal be put into the earth this shall not be for it there to perish for ever but rather there to rest only for a time in expectation of a blessed resurrection For this cause is it that the death of the faithfull is called a sleepe in the Scriptures and they are called they that are asleepe in regard of their bodies which at the last day shal be awakened and raised up out of the dust to possesse together with their soules glorious immortality being made conformable unto the glorious body of our Lord Iesus Christ Philip. 3.21 He is the head and they are the members And therefore it must needs be that the members be made like and conformable to their head What do you then find now in death which should astonish or affright you seeing it will deliver and set you free from all evill and will mount you up to the highest pitch of all happinesse But rather you shall find in it nothing which makes not fâ—â— your comfort and to settle and warrant you and which for that cause ought not to make you wait for it with resolution and repose of spirit yea to breath and long after it with all your heart when the houre therof shall come And to say with Saint Paul My desire tendeth and endeavoureth to go hence to be with Christ Against the feare of the Devill AS for the feare you may have of the Devill you see now how you have no great subject to fearâ—â—im seeing that death cannot hurt you but by that death whereof he hath the empire and power thereof Now the Apostle witnesseth that Iesus Christ hath not onely by death destroyed death but also him that had the power of death to wit the Devill Heb. 2.14 Our Lord saith himself that the Prince of this world hath nothing in him Nor then hath he ought in those that â—ire his members of the number of whom by the grace of God you are one Besides for us and for our profit it was that the Son of God fought with and hath vanquished and overcome him upon the Crosse upon the which he hath as Saint Paul speaketh
Father hath given you all things F. S. N. Be strong in Iesus Christ who calls and inuites you by his Prophets Apostles and Evangelists to resort and freely to make towards him saying you that thirst come unto the great fountaine come unto me all you that travell and are heavie laden and I will ease you F. S. N. Believe stedfastly that Iesus Christ hath discharged and set you free from all your sins and hath reconciled you unto God his Father Vnto whom in all humilitie and repentance say from the bottom of your heart LOrd God Almighty have mercy upon me a poore miserable sinner for thy Sonne Iesus Christ my Lord and Saviour his sake and by the merit of his death passion be pleased to receive my soule which I commend into thy hands F. S. N Bee of good hope For assuredly he will receive your soule as his for his Sonne Iesus Christ our Lords sake who is the Saviour and Redeemer of all those that believe in him Moyses and all the Prophets have testified that all Nations shall receive salvation and blessednes by Iesus Christ The Apostles and Evangelists do testifie that Iesus Christ came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance and to give his life for the redemption of many for he hath shed his bloud for the remission of sinnes Believe then and doubt not in any wise for Iesus Christ hath made you cleane from all your sinnes having promised that all they that shall believe in him and in his Father that sent him shall have eternall life and shall not come into judgement but shall passe from death unto life Well then F. S. N. take a good courage in Iesus Christ For he hath loved you and washed you from your sinnes in his bloud Have then this stedfast faith to fight valiantly against the adversarie use no other buckler to defend your selfe withall but this precious bloud of Iesus Christ which by vertue of his Death and Passion hath reconciled you unto God his Father unto whom in great humility and repentance offer up this Prayer O Lord God Almighty have mercy upon me a poore miserable sinner for thy Sonne Iesus Christ my Lord and Saviour his sake and by the merit of his Death and Passion be graciously pleased to receive my soule which I commend into thy hands F. S. N. Let this be your hope stedfast faith that that good God full of all mercy will receive your soule as his into his hands for his Sonne Iesus Christs sake For there is no other Name under heaven given unto men wherby we must be saved nor is there salvation in any other but in Iesus Christ Arme your self then indeed with this gracious Iesus Christ for he hath done all for you he hath fulfilled the Law for you he hath overcome all for you Well then F.S.N. cheer up your self in God be you ever unmooveable in this lively faith follow and imitate you the holy Patriarks Prophets and Apostles who are all saved in this faith who assure you all of them that the adversarie can no wayes hurt you For your suit is won by Iesus Christ who is both your Iudge and Advocat together Wherfore say evermore in this stedfast faith that though I should walke thorow the midst of the shadow of death yet would I feare no manner of evill For thou Lord God art with me F. S. N. Also cease not to say from the bottome of your heart in great humility and repentance LOrd God Almighty have mercy upon me poore miserable sinner for thy Sonne Iesus Christ my Lord and Saviour his sake and by the merit of his Death and Passion let it please thee to receive my soule which I commend into thy hands So be it A singular Prayer for a person greatly afflicted with sicknes which seemeth to approach nearer to death then to life With a short Catechisme purposely made to instruct the sicke and to make him contemplate by faith the great mysterie of our redemption Eccles c. 18. v. 19.20 Vse Physicke ere ever thou be sick before judgement examine thy selfe and in the day of visitation thou shalt find mercy NOw the Lord admonisheth us to pray continually especialy when we are touched with his rods wherefore all kinsfolks and faithfull friends that visit the sick person ought not only to visit and be carefull for the body but withall to seek and ask for the spirituall physick for his Soule This must he do by good prayers confession of sinnes and Christian exhortation according to the Word of God without which man cannot live and to this end that all things may be done in good order and with zeale First of all it is meet to cast downe himselfe before the Majestie of God and to call upon him by beginning Our helpe is in the Name of the Lord c. Then to present unto him the generall confession of sinnes and consequently this present prayer as it followeth O Lord God Almighty and Father of mercy we are here assembled together in the Name of thy welbeloved Son our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ thorow whom we are bold to present our selves before thee to call upon thy holy Name having our sole refuge unto thy Soveraigne and transcendent goodnes which we not only desire to be sensible of and to tast in our selves but also in the necessitie of thy poore creature here afflicted with corporall sicknes and with the affliction and calamity of mind We know Lord that justly thou visitest and chastnest him with thyrods to make him to understand thy fatherly affection But thy great mercies which thou hast used towards our fathers are not extinguisht nor exhausted For thou art that great eternall God gracious and mercifull that never changest with whom there is no variablenes nor shadow of change Thy holy Word teacheth us most evidently that the whole earth is full of thy mercies which are farre above thy justice Wheâ—fore Lord mitigate thy rigour towards thy creature have pity and compassion on him for thy Sonne Iesus Christ our Lords sake Looke not upon his sins but looke upon the face of thy Christ who hath fully satisfied thee for him by offering up unto thee that great sacrifice of his body upon the Crosse We beseech thee then O most gracious God full of mercy to make him sensible of thy grace which thou hast never denied to thy children And because thou art our eternal Father well knowing whatsoeveâ— is needfull and expedient for our salvation We pray not unto thee to lengthen unto him his life or to abridge it for we repose our selves upon thy holy will whereunto onely we desire to be conformable Thou art wise without counsell to dispose of thy creature according to thy good pleasure That if it shal be thy pleasure to call him hence who is he that shal be able to resist thee But if it be thy good pleasure to send him health againe who is he that shall reprehend
then this which is eternall Wherfore I pray you in the Name of God that you disquiet not your selfe for any affection you may have to this world For here we are all but strangers as our fathers when as then the Lord God shall have ordained and decreed that you must dislodge flit and go before us will not you conform your self unto his holy will and ordinance As on the other side if he see it expedient for your salvation to prolong unto you your life as he did to that good King Ezekias would you not content your selfe with whatsoever it shall please him to do with you Yes assuredly for he is Lord and Master you are but his servant He is your Creator you are his Creature and the work of his hands For this cause then will he dispose of you according to his will Vnto the which alone you ought to conforme and humble your selfe saying from your heart LOrd God thou knowest my necessitie if it shal be thy good pleasure to prolong and lengthen my life thy will be done if it be thy good pleasure also to call me hence unto thee even thy will be likewise done For thy creature Lord hath no other will but thine Now brother comfort your selfe with God who if he hath ordained to call you your Calling shall be happy For you must believe and hope in firme faith that he will make you rise againe in your owne body unto glorious immortalitie to make you raigne with him in life eternall which is purchase and given you by the vertue of the precious Bloud of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ In whose name the Lord God blesse and protect you and make his face to shine upon you and be mercifull unto you The Lord turn his face towards you and preserve you in all happines Amen THis done if it appeare he growes worse and worse and draweth on towards death and tending to his appointed end forthwith in his deadly agonie we must not faile to repeate with a lowde voice before him the Christian Consolation which is heere below promised This doing GOD graunt him grace well and and faithfully to die in him Amen HEB. XIII Remember them that are afflicted as being your selves of the body of the Church and subject to undergoe the like afflictions A PRAYER AGAINST the Apprehensions of Death PSAL. XVIII IIII The sorrowes of death compassed mee round about and the flouds of the ungodly men made me afraid O Lord my gracious Saviour when sorrowes presse us and death threatens us we looke up unto thee that art our life Death thought to have daunted thee in the garden of Geth-semane in such sort that thou knowest well what the distresses are which it brings unto men But as thou haâ—t vanquisht and overcome it graunt me also the grace to vanquish overcome it to beare patiently affliction to submit my selfe to the will of my heavenly Father Thou hast seene how the wicked did compasse thee about as the flouds of waters But now thou art in the happy haven of thy celestiall glory But being there on high despise not â—or sleight nor thy Church which is as yet in the midst of the waves and stormes of the world Gather us also unto that happy life draw us unto that wished port still the furie of the winds which trouble the earth for Lord thou art our Lord we are thy people A Continued Sequell OR An Vnintermitted Course of Comforts MOunsieur d' Ambesaignes a Domestique Gentleman of the late Mounsieur the Marquesse of Moussay being sicke in the Castle of Plouer in Bretagne Madame the Marquesse of Moussay sent to fetch Mounsieur Pallory of Richelieu Pastor and Author of this Booke to be comforted by him and as they expected from houre to houre his death for hee was in an agony from Munday evening the ninth of March 1626. Vntill the morning of Thursday the tenth in that sort that hee was required after diverse consolations to redouble during the space of that night prayers hourely and oftener for him And because there are but two prayers in this preceding Booke to be said when the Sicke is in anguish the first whereof is in the leafe 231. The other in the leafe 344. To satisfie the devotion of certaine good men the Authour hath caused to bee added these prayers following which he then said unto this second Edition to serve hereafter unto the comforters who shall assist the Sicke COMFORTS for the Sicke 1. A Prayer to be said when the sicke is in perplexitie 34. O Lord our good God and gracious Father the onely comfort of our soules the gladnes of our hearts our sole solace and refuge yea our singular sweetnesse amidst the sharpest bitternesses and anguishes which oppresse us we beseech thee to cast thy sweet and mercifull eyes upon this sicke person which hath received this honour together with us by thy speciall favour to bee delivered from the power of darknesse and to be transported unto the Kingdome of the Sonne of thy love having opened his heart as ours to receive the Word of life which alone can save our soules And as thou hast given him the wil to do wel grant unto him and unto us also this happines to give him to perfect the same according to thy good pleasure and to finish his course in thy feare that persevering in the confession of thy holy Name thy light and thy truth may lead him and bring him into the mountaine of thy holinesse O Heavenly Shepheard that hast sent thy deare Sonne to seeke the lost sheep and who repellest not the languishing soule that casts it selfe into thy bosome accomplish in such sort thy strength in the weaknesse of this sicknes that he may say with his whole heart the Lord is my portion and my succour therefore will I hope in him unto the end And seeing thou hast engraven and imprinted the seale of thine election upon the soule of this sick person Yea sith thou hast sealed him with the seale of thy Spirit for the Day of redemption purchased unto the glory of thy Name And seeing thy comforts are welcom to good soules give unto this sicke person amidst the anguishes he suffers in his body a vigorous and a constant soule sweetly bedewd from the springs of sweet comforts in the midst of the hot fits of his disease and the which may make to flie up and to sparkle forth the flames of a sacred desire even unto the Sanctuarie of thy Holines there to behold with the eyes of his mind the ineffable love thou bearest to thine Elect and the glory inestimable which thou keepest in heaven for thy children And to this end give him a gracious refreshing repaire his enfeebled forces wasted and spent by the violence of his disease quicken his heart by the sweetnes of thy grace kindle afresh his zeale inflame his prayers animate his sighes restore unto him the joy of his salvation and let the bones which