heavenly Kingdom My-sins had shut the gate of Paradise against my soul but thy Merits have opened it again O let me earnestly desire to enter in for thou art gone thither before â—…e that thou mightest be there ready to receive me and retain me with thy self for evermore Amen 12. Lord when shall this corruptible put on incorruption and this mortal put on immortality that in me may be brought to pass that saying Death is swallowed up in Victory O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The sting of death was sin till sin was expiated The strength of sin was the Law till the Law was fulfilled But thanks be unto God which hath given me the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ both over my sins and over his Law in this great contestation Having imputed my transgressions unto my Saviour that my sin might be expiated and having imputed my Saviours righteousness and obedience unto me that his Law might be fulfilled Therefore being justified by faith I have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom also I have access by faith into his grace and rejoyce in hope that I shall at last have access into his glory 13. O Lord Jesus Christ who art the Resurrection and the Life be unto me Life in Death be unto me Resurrection from the Dead and so guide me through Death that it may be my passage into everlasting Life there to see and to bless and to enjoy thee who art the Redeemer and lover of souls and livest and reignest the King of Saints with the Co-eternal Spirit in the glory of God the Father 14. My soul truly waiteth still upon God and still shall wait upon him for of him cometh my help He verily is my strength and my salvation even in weakness and in destruction He is my defence so that I shall not greatly fall And if through mine infirmity I do fall by his power I shall rise again and be able to stand fast being supported through the Merits and Mercies of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 15. O Lord see the blood of thine immaculate Lamb which taketh away the sin of the world sprinkled on my soul that thou mayest see no sin in it And when thou seest that blood let the destroying Angel pass over me never to return again and let the Comforter come unto me and remain with me for ever 16. O dearest Advocate be pleased to intercede and plead for me and to answer all the accusations which the Devils will alledge and mine own conscience will witness against me in the day of Judgement That I being made the monument of thy Mercy who am the purchase of thy Blood may bless and praise thee among thy Redeemed in the Land of the living for ever and ever 17. O thou Eternal Son of Righteousness who risest with healing in thy wings heal thou me and I shall be perfectly healed Shew me the light of thy countenance to dispell all the mists and clouds which now threaten to bring darkness upon my soul Turn thy merciful eyes towards me that I may see thy glorious face in thy heavenly Kingdom where no tears shall dim my sight no sighing shall interrupt my speech no fears shall disquiet my heart and no sadness nor amazement shall disturb or discompose the blessed rest of my soul with thee the longing desires of my soul to thee and the infinite delights of my soul in thee and in thine All-sufficient Merits and All-saving Mercies for evermore 18. O Saviour of the world save me who by thy Cross and precious blood hast Redeemed me Help me O my God at all times but most especially at this time now I am least able to help my self or my friends to help me Intercede for me by thy precious death and passion in all my distresses but then most when I shall least be able to speak for my self at the hour of Death and in the day of Judgement Be now and then and ever my defence and make me know and feel that there is no other name under heaven given unto men in whom and through whom I may expect health and salvation but only thy Name O my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 19. O Lord God which art the giver of all good things and never repentest of the good gifts which thou hast given give unto me health and ease as long as they shall be blessings from thee and give me thy grace to desire them no longer And when thou most takest from me these or any other comforts of this mortal life then Lord most increase and multiply upon me the joyes and comforts of a blessed Immortality 20. Lord I am desirous to go out of my self and out of this vale of misery that I may come unto Mount Sion and to the City of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels to the general Assembly and Church of the first-born which are written in heaven and to God the Judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect and to Jesus the Mediator of the New-Covenant O thou who hast prepared these immortal joyes for my soul prepare my soul for these joyes that being made a Citizen of thy heavenly Jerusalem I may be able to joyn in consort with the Angels thy first-born there and with the spirits of just men made perfect since them who now both together make but one Quire and are alwaies singing Hallelujah and worshiping him that liveth for ever and ever 21. O blessed Jesus thou only comfort of miserable and distressed sinners consider my distress Look upon mine adversity and misery and forgive me all my sin O thou blessed Mediator betwixt God and man intermediate for me Let the unspotted righteousness of thy life be an acceptable sacrifice for the multiplyed unrighteousness of mine And let the bitter pangs of thy death keep from me all the bitterness of the temporal and much more the pangs and horrours of the eternal Death Thou didst taste the gall and vinegar when thou gavest up the Ghost therefore I beseech thee keep me from tasting it Thou didst seem to be forsaken of thy God O let not me bâ—… forsaken of thee But grant that I putting my whole trust and confidence in thy Merits and in thy Mercies â—…ay from henceforth most chearfully serve thee in all holiness and pureness of living and most faithfully persist in thy service by a resolved constancy contentedness and patience of dying That I may yet more and more know thee and the power of thy Resurrection and the fellowship of thy sufferings being made conformable to thy death that so I may attain to a joyful Resurrection of the dead to give praise and thanks unto thy holy Name world without end 22. O thou Eternal Son of God who didst take upon thee the nature of man that thou mightest lead a miserable life and undergo a shameful death I beseech thee sweeten unto me
throws him into prison to keep him from starving Jer. 37. 21. for by thaâ—… means he had a piece of Bread when many others had not even till all the bread iâ—… the City was spent He keeps him in prison to keep him from being butchered by the sword of the Chaldeans Jer. 38. 28. Finds out an Ethiopian to be his preserver when the Princes of Judah were his persecutors ver 7. more charity in one Prâ—…selite then in many Apostates yet woulâ—… not let Ebedmelech prevail for his enlargement lest the Prophet should have loâ—… his life as the rest did when the City waâ—… taken by gaining his liberty Carcer 〈◊〉 obsonio pro Asylo quid ni mors 〈◊〉 lucro When his prison was his Granaâ—… and his Dungeon his security tell me whâ—… could be his loss for sure Death woâ—… have been his gain Do your worst theâ—… O ye ravenous Wolves that seek to dâ—…vour the flock of Christ Well you 〈◊〉 deny them a place to live but sure yoâ—… cannot deny them a place to die And thâ—… look upon the troubles and afflictions 〈◊〉 their life as so many Calls or Summons 〈◊〉 Death For God saith unto them moâ—… particularly as he did to his Propheâ—… Jer. 18. 2. Arise and go to the Potters House and there I will cause thee to hear my words They are sent to the Potters House that â—…s they are bid to consider their own frailâ—…ty and mortality that so they may the more attentively hear Gods Word The Word of Piety and Patience that he is preaching unto them and the more benefit by hearing it For many a man that will not hear Gods Word in Gods own House will hear it in the Potters House when he shall consider that his body is no other but a polished Potsheard to day a very weak and brittle and to morrow perhaps a broken Vessel For Theophilus lib. 2. ad Antol. gives us this very similitude As a Vessel in the hand of a Potter when it is faulty in the making is therefore broken that it may be fashioned and formed again till he make it perfect and compleat So is the Vessel of mans body broken in pieces by the hand of God because it is now quite out of order that it may be formed and fashioned again and by that means become a glorious and an incorruptible and an immortal body wherefore it is not amiss going to the Potters House not only for Gods sake but also for our own For we need not fear being broken by that hand which alwayeâ—… mends in the marring Mans hand often mars in the mending brings a Deformation instead of a Reformation but Gods hand alwayes mends in the marring What then have you else to do in this world but to live innocently and to die comfortably that so you may live in the Faith and die in the hope of a better world The day will come when a little innocency will go further with you then the greatest Patrimony therefore keep your Innocency though you lose your Patrimony Facile contemnit omnia qui credit jam se esse moriturum saith St. Hierom He that thinks himself a dying man will be sure to keep himself an Innocent man and will rather forsake all here then carry guiltiness away from hence He can easily contemn the smiles of this world and therefore cannot fear the frowns of it For he believes that Rule of the Casuist to be true though not pleasing Divinity Mortem potius ferre debet quam consentire mortali peccato That he is bound rather to suffer death then to consent to any deadly sin The reason is plain for that the death of the body is as nothing to the death of the soul All death is the privation of some life The corporal death is the privation of the life of nature the spiritual death is the privation of the life of Grace the eternal death is the privation of the life of Glory yet is the Eternal Death not called the third but only the second Death because the spiritual Death is indeed no other then the Inchoation of the Eternal and awaits onely the corporal Death to be its completion Apoc. 20. 6. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first Resurrection on such the second death hath no power But it hath a power on the rest though it hath not yet the exercise of that power The second death hath power on a wicked man whiles he lives though not the exercise of that power till he dies Therefore the wicked and ungodly man hath great reason to fear the first because he cannot but expect the second Death But whosoever hath his part in the first Resurrection and it is our shame if we have not a part in it for let every one that nameth the Name of Christ depart from iniquity 2 Tim. 2. 19. is blessed and holy and blessed in that he is holy His holiness being to him the Inchoation of blessedness and the life of Grace the beginning of the life of Glory such a man hath little reason to fear the first death because on him the second death hath no power and not having power on him while he lives shall much less have power on him when he dies yet do not Divines think it necessary to exempt the most righteous man that is from the fear of death They onely think it necessary that he be furnished with comforts greater then his fears Comforts enough to conquer his fear though not enough to expell it Suarez is of opinion that the blessed Virgin her self received extream Unction and Fillieucius saith positively that if you will suppose a man by special priviledge preserved from all sin yet it will not follow that he should not need extream Unction because he is capable of the principal effect of it which is Confortatio contrâ—… mortem a comforting and strengthening against Death And though many Divines do much doubt whether there be any sucâ—… aertue in extream Unction as to comfort â—…gainst Death yet none do doubt but even â—…he most righteous may need such comâ—…orts Our Saviour himself had an Angel strengthening him Thou hast need of more and blessed be his goodness he hath given thee more Thou hast his Spirit God the Holy Ghost to strengthen thee Nay thou hast his death to comfort thee in thine and that 's the onely reason why when Christ himself so much feared death yet many Christians have willingly embraced it because death was not conquered to him but it is now conquered by him to us yet Not my will but thy will be done is the greatest degree of perfection we can rationally expect when this bitter cup shall come to be tasted For certainly that could not but relish very ill to any mortal palate had not the Saviour of the world himself tasted it and by tasting the bitter Potion therein sweetned the Cup to those that should tast it after him Solus Christus sensit amaritudinem
wilt come to be my Judge who hast already come to be my Saviour and I therefore pray thee to help thy servant whom thou hast Redeemed with thy most precious blood O Lord in thy Justice when thou shalt be most ready to condemn me remember the Mercy whereby thou didst come to save me and hear thine own precious blood crying out to thee for my salvation and hear not my grievous sins crying out against me for my condemnation for what wilt thou do with thy Mercy which moved thee to shed thy blood if thou wilt not forgive sinners what wilt thou do with the Merit of thy blood that hath been shed if thou wilt not save sinners O Lord I appeal unto this Mercy which hath promised forgiveness of sins and to this Merit which hath purchased salvation for sinners and in this Mercy and in this Merit I cannot but hope to stand in the Judgement 31. If the Lord himself had not been on my side now may my soul say if the Lord himself had not been on my side when the Devils and mine own conscience rose up against me they had swallowed me up quick when they were so wrathfully displeased at me Yea the waters had drowned me and the stream had gone over my soul but praised be the Lord which hath not given me over for a prey unto their teeth My soul is escaped even as a bird out of the snare of the Fowler the snare is broken and I am delivered My help standeth in the Name of the Lord which hath made heaven and earth and which hateth nothing that he hath made 32. O Lord Jesus Christ which upholdest all things in heaven and in earth make me evermore to put my whole trust in thee in the state of health and prosperity to trust in thee for preservation in the state of sickness and adversity to trust in thee for deliverance and relief in all states to trust in thee for grace and benediction That in the distresses of my body I may be comforted for the salvation of my soul in the distresses of my soul I may be comforted for the mercies of my Savioâ—… Let me submit my soul to thee in piety by doing righteously that thou mayest not punish me and having failed of that let me submit my soul to thee in patience by suffering contentedly when thou dost punish me for my sins Let me not despair of thy Mercy when I have most provoked thy Justice that thou mayst in Justice remember Mercy and in Mercy remember me Let me never say in my heart through impatience or infidelity There is no God Let me never wish in my heart through impenitency that there were none Let me not say in my heart â—…efore I sin There is no God least I sin with greediness Let me not wish in my heart there were no God after I have sinned lest I sin without Repentance But make me set thee alwaies before me both in thy Majesty as coming to Judge me that I sin not and in thy Mercy as willing to save me that I despair not when I have sinned And be thou alwaies with me by thy special grace that I perish not in my sins O thou which art the joy of Angels be also the joy of my sinful soul speak salvation to me who can speak nothing but damnation to my self Be unto my sinful soul sanctification from sin that thou mayest be to my sanctified soul salvation from death That I may at last stand with that great multitude who shall stand before thee cloathed with white robes and palms in their hands to cry with a loud voice saying Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever ever Amen 33. O Lord who art so merciful unto sinful man as to vouchsafe to be his Guide and Governor and so constant in thy Mercies as to guide and govern him all his life even unto death I beseech thee to be my Guide in this my greatest perplexity now that my body is as it were bitten with fiery Serpents and my soul dwelleth among Scorpions Now that torments and tumults are without me temptations and discontents are within me O be thou â—…igh at hand that none of all my outward â—…r inward vexations may either disturb my â—…fety or betray my innocency Let God â—…ise in my heart and let all his enemies â—…ere that is all my impatient thoughts 〈◊〉 scattered Like as smoke vanisheth so 〈◊〉 them vanish at the presence of God â—…nd my soul be joyful in the Lord it shall â—…ejoyce in his salvation 34. O God thy Charets are twenty thouâ—…nd even thousands of Angels O set â—…me of them compass me about as they â—…d thy servant Elisha whiles I am living â—…nd let others of them carry my soul into â—…brahams bosom when I shall die as they â—…d thy servant Lazarus That these thy â—…inistring spirits which are sent forth to â—…inister for them who shall be heirs of salâ—…tion may also minister for me thy most â—…worthy servant not only in my sickâ—…ss to succour and defend me but also in â—…y death to direct and convey my soul 〈◊〉 by thy appointment they have brought â—…e to those everlasting mansions where I â—…all together with them alwaies behold â—…e face of my Father which is in heaven â—…men 35. O Lord thou hast commanded me tâ—… break off my sins by repentance but I havâ—… broken off my soul from thee by sin anâ—… widened that breach by my impenitency Wherefore it is but just that I who have sâ—… often grieved thy Spirit should now at 〈◊〉 grieve mine own For I have often reâ—…turned to those sins which by mine owâ—… mouth had so terribly accused me and bâ—… mine own default so grievously woundeâ—… me But I beseech thee to fill my heaâ—… with Repentance which I have so ofteâ—… filled with sin and let me have that sorroâ—… here which may keep me from confusioâ—… hereafter For if thy servant Peter weâ—… three whole daies nay all his life long fâ—… denying thee thrice out of a sudden passâ—… on What tears what repentance is neeâ—… ful to the washing away of my sins whâ—… have so often denyed thee upon deliberâ—…tion If Mary Magdalen wept so griâ—…vously for seven Devils shall not I muâ—… rather for seventy seven more unclean spâ—…rits She was not then thy servant whâ—… she entertained those impure guests I haâ—… been a long time thy friend thy brotheâ—… thy son and yet have given these thiâ—… enemies my best entertainment She 〈◊〉 â—…ot in the Devils again after they had â—…een cast out but I have swept and garnishâ—…d the room for them make me therefore â—…ood Lord all my life long to wash thy â—…et with my tears that thou mayest wash â—…y soul with thy blood and so at last preâ—…nt it without spot and blemish before â—…he heavenly Father in thine eternal and everlasting Kingdom Amen 36. Lord let me often find the influence of thy grace in heavenly
no profit but I beseech thee cause me to know thy hand and thy might and take not away thy peace from me even loving-kindness and Mercies Jer. 16. v. 19 21 5. 54. O Lord the Hope of Israel let no distress whatsoever make me forsake that blessed Hope which thou hast given me for all that forsake thee shall be ashamed and they that depart from thee shall be written in the earth because they have forsaken the Lord the Fountain of living waters O Lord I have often forsaken thee by my sins yet let me not be ashamed because I return again to thee by my Repentance O Lord I have often departed from thee by my transgressions yet let me not be written in the earth because I now at last thirst for thee the Fountain of living waters Heal me O Lord and I shall be healed save me and I shall be saved so shalt thou be my praise now and for evermore Jer. 17. 13 14. 55. O Lord my soul is heavy and my body is sick unto the death But do thou bring me health and cure and reveal unto me abundance of peace and truth cleanse me from all mine iniquities whereby I have sinned against thee cause my captivity to return and have mercy upon me according to thine infinite mercies in Jesus Christ Jer. 33. 6 8 26. 56. O Lord thou hast added grief to my sorrow for I have fainted in my sighing and I find no rest yet dost thou forbid me to add sorrow to my own grief and to say wo is me now because that which thou hast built thou hast broken down and that which thou hadst planted thou hast plucked up even this whole Land Therefore thou forbiddest me to seek great things for my self for behold thou hast brought evil upon all flesh and how shouldst thou not bring evil upon my flesh which is the most sinful of all O then suffer me not to be a seeker of mine own discontents rather then of thy redresses whiles I look after great and good things in such miserable and wretched times but make me thankful that thou hast hitherto given me my life as a prey unto me in all places whether I have gone that remembering what thou hast given me I may not repine for what others have taken from me assuring my self that there is yet another life to come which thou wilt give me not as a prey that I should fear losing it but as an inheritance that I should long to possess it in thee and with thee for ever Amen Jer. 45. 3 4 5. 57. O Lord bring my soul out of this prison of the flesh and the shackles of sin and misery that I may wholly and entirely give thanks unto thy holy Name for all thy Mercy and great Deliverances and most especially for this the greatest of all That thou wilt deliver me from my self from the burden of mine own flesh from the bondage of mine own corruption from the thraledom of mine own body And wilt set me at liberty that I may do nothing else but serve thee whose service is perfect freedom and whose wages are life and light and joy in beholding thy presence for evermore for I earnestly desire only those Mercies wherein thou dost infinitely delight who lovest to shew Mercy to penitent sinners in the Son of thy love our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 58. O Lord pour not out thine indignation upon me blow not against me in the fire of thy wrath but deliver me from this brutish and burning disease or if thou wilt in thy Justice make my body as fewel for the fire yet in mercy deliver my soul from the everlasting burnings Ezek. 23. 31 32. 59. Grant Lord that I being risen with Christ may seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God that I may henceforth set mine affection on things above not on things in earth alwaies remembering that I am dead and my life is hid with Christ in God and alwaies rejoycing that when Christ who is my life shall appear then shall I also appear with him in glory Col. 3. 1 2 3 4. 60. Lord make my tongue sing of thy praises whiles I have breath and when I shall be breathless make my heart bear two parts to fill up that blessed Harmony that my soul may praise thee whiles it is in the state of union with my natural body and much more when it shall be in the state of separation from it and shall be joyned in consort with the holy Angels and with the beatified spirits And most of all when it shall be in the state of re-union again with that same body being made spiritual That I being at last all spirit both in soul and body neither my heart may be wearied in thinking nor my tongue in speaking thy praises to all eternity Amen 61. I will thank thee O Lord my God with all my heart and I will praise thy Name for evermore for great is thy Mercy towards me and thou hast delivered my soul from the neathermost hell and wilt receive my soul into the highest heavens there to give thee thanks and praises for evermore 62. All the daies of my appointed time will I wait till my change come Job 14. 14. Lord grant I may so wait that I may receive my wages and that my change may come seasonably speedily and happily A seasonable change not to find me unprepared for it A speedy change to deliver me from the pains of sickness and from the pangs of death And a happy change to let me in to the fruition of thy glory and eternal life Amen 63. By thine unknown sufferings O my blessed Redeemer intercede for me in all my pains and sufferings that I may find Mercy and obtain Relief And make me alwaies remember and confess that my sins are far above my sufferings so shall I suffer patiently and that thy Mercy is far above my sins so shall I suffer comfortably and hope for a joyful end of all my sufferings 64. Lord grant that my conversation may from henceforth be in heaven that my soul may be prepared to go thither and know how to busie it self there that I may with joy look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ from thence who shall change my vile body that it may be like his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself Phil. 3. 2. O Lord work that blessed change in my soul to subdue all its carnal affections by a heavenly conversation before thou workest that miserable change in my body to subdue its natural constitution by an unnatural destruction And according to that mighty working whereby thou art able even to subdue all things unto thy self in the first place subdue all my sinfulness 65. Lord speak the word only and thy servant shall be whole speak the word of comfort in my distress and the greatest comfort in my greatest