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
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
ended not my labour in thy praise O God that hast strengthened and enabled me It is thou whose strength is perfected in our weakenesse it is thou that choosest the lowly and meane to confound the strong and who in the weaknesse of the instruments thou imployest displayest the greatnesse of thy strength not unto us but to thy Name give the glory and the honour for who are we that we should be able to beare so great a burthen and what is our strength to sustaine so great a combat But that very Truth it self which we defend giveth strength to them that defend it and thou deniest not them thy succours that in defending thy cause have no other end but the glory of thy holy Name It 's thou my God who having been favourable to me from the beginning of my dayes wilt not forsake me in my old age and wilt make it yet profitable to the edification of thy Church being beaten with sundrie afflictions plucked from my flock bewailing the pressure of thy People disfurnisht with all necessarie aydes for so great a worke travelled of a sicknesse almost this two yeares which hath brought me within two inches of the graue and having in my ordinary vocation a sufficient taske to take up a whole man yet even against all appearance I have taken in hand this great labour and against my expectation am come to the end thereof through thy assistance I also hope O my God that thou wilt make fruitfull thy servants labor to the end to draw into the right way the minds of those who wilfully go not out of the way and who err but thorow want of instruction Against mine inclination I have imployed a multitude of humane testimonies in this worke for I know that thy Word alone is the rule of our faith and receiueth not men for judges in thy cause and I know well that a word which commeth forth of thy mouth is more worth then all the writings of all men But we are hurried away with the streame and are constrained to give place to the maladie of this age which holding thy word suspected as a dangerous booke searcheth into the writings of men wherwith to arme themselves against divine rules Wee shew unto the advocats of errour that they lose their cause even before the Arbitrators whom they have chosen but O God thou art mighty good to bring forth an age wherein thy Word alone shal be listened unto and whereunto for the sole unfolding and deciding of doubts thy Sonnes mouth shall onely be consulted withall Grant it O God and Father of all mercy and author of all consolation pittie the people that stoupe and stand still in so profound darknes cause to shine forth the brightnesse of thy Word before the eyes of all Nations as for me having traverst and struck through a way ful of thornes and with many infirmities defects which are in me sustained the contradiction of an age contrary to thy Word I am glad perceiving the time to draw nigh of my repose and my task to be so soone finished But thou O God wilt raise up workmen who with better successe shall labour in thy harvest and whom thou wilt cloath with thy Spirit in greater measure to defend thy holy Truth Lord it is thy cause Lord it is for thy sake that we are hated Awake thy jealousie and thine ancient compassions upon the people whom thou hast redeemed that many soules may be saved and thy holy name glorified for Lord though we be worthy to be forsaken and unworthy to be releeved yet ever art thou worthy to be glorified It is indeed a small matter that we are afflicted were it not that amidst our afflictions thy truth is oppressed and thy holy name blasphemed Attend then O God and Father of all consolation and heare and pardon for thine owne sake thou art wise in thy counsels just in thy judgements mighty to execute thy will but withall thou art full of tender compassion and true true in thy words Do then O Lord according to thy promise for thou hast promised not to forsake vs but to bee with us to the end of the world Thou that hast redeemed us from the power of Satan by the death of thy Sonne wilt deliver us also from the hands of those which oppresse us the time commeth and is not long to that out of the ashes of that burning which seeme extinguisht thou wilt cause to come forth a great brightnesse and wilt confound the tongues of Babell and wilt cause to fall outright the seat of the sonne of perdition In the meane time we will possesse our soules in patience whilst the full measure of their iniquitie be heaped up and we expect from heaven our Lord Iesus who will come to examine our cause and to render unto every one according to his workes Amen A Prayer to be said going to the Communion 5. LOrd great God have pitie on me a miserable sinner and grant me grace to lay hold on my Saviour by true faith and that being called to this holy and sacred banquet in the number of thy faithfull and elect and truly repenting of my transgressions and sinnes my soule may receive her spirituall nourishment the true bread of life which giveth salvation to the world looke upon me desiring ever to receive this holy and sacred spirituall meat Amen A thanksgiving after the Communion received 6. O My Saviour and my God I render unto thee humble thanks for the great benefit which thou hast this day bestowed on me as having thy selfe for a ransome for me for having pluckt me out of the pawes of the Divell and out of the depths of hell whither so many enormious sinnes had plunged me guide me by thy Spirit and give me grace that in overcomming the concupiscence of the world and the flesh I may finish the rest of my dayes in thy feare Amen HOLY PRAYERS A Prayer in forme of a Confession 7. LOrd my God and Father Almightie and most gracious to thy children I cast downe my selfe in thy presence acknowledging my selfe a poore and miserable creature guilty of high treason against thy divine Majestie For O my God I came into the world tainted with sinne polluted with iniquitie and through my evill conversation I have thorow the whole course of my life exceedingly augmented the same I have made infinite the number of my transgressions I have beene over unthankfull for so many blessings wherof it hath pleased thy bounty to afford me the fruition too often have I opposed to thy infinite goodnesse extreame ingratitude by my hypocrisie and dissimulation I have made my selfe utterly unworthy of that freedome and faithfulnesse wherewith thou hast entertained me I have beene deafe to thy admonitions have stopped mine eare at thy Word I have estranged my heart from thy instructions the feare of men hath hindred me from making free publike profession of thy Truth I have more feared the world
thou hast so graciously preserved us unto this present houre by reason of our sinnes our life is exposed to an infinitnes of inconveniences and in the mean time we still subsist and are filled with thy good things Our being and our welbeing Lord we should hold it of thee we ow it to thy free grace and meere mercy to thee alone for the same be all glory for evermore But O our most gracious God it is most necessary for us that thou continue thy gracious favours unto us otherwise what thou hast hitherto done for us would turn to our confusion Leave us not then for then we shall perish thou hast created and redeemed us not to destroy us but that we might have eternall life Shed forth then upon us thy more especiall favours and above all the grace of thy holy Spirit Thou that hast washt us from our sins in the precious bloud of thy Sonne Sanctifie also our soules by thy Word and according to thy promise For Lord shall we enjoy Iesus Christ and his benefits without our serving of thee without magnifying of thee And what honour shall we render unto thee or what acknowledgment unlesse thou thy self confer upon us both the will and hability of performance The will and desire to honour thee We already have of thy free grace give us also the power of performance Give it us Lord with efficacy and according to thy good pleasure graunt it unto us and at the most humble and fervent request which we make unto thee for the same Give us not over neither to the malice of our enemies nor to our own perversnes let neither of them hinder us in thy service nor let us not give them any subject of dishonoring thee let our example serve for our conversion That they seeing the holines of our lives may lose their wils to hurt us and may gain an affection to know thee aright to acknowledg thee O God according to thy Truth according to their duty Let us not O Lord abuse our health and present prosperity Grant we may imploy them to the glorifying of thee and to the advancement of thy work with faithfulnes and every one according to his vocation whereunto thou hast called us above all that in the midst of our greatest repose we may prepare our selves for afflictions to the houre of death and for the fruition of our eternall rest When thou shalt visit vs with thy rods that it may be in thy mercy and for our amendment when thou shalt call us that it may be in thy grace and for our salvation whether in prosperity or in adversity whether sound or sick whether living or dying we may evermore confesse thy truth and do nothing which may be unworthy of our profession nothing which not seriously testifies our repentance for our sinnes our desire of thy grace our seeking of thy glory the peace of our soules the comfort of our consciences and the assurance of our salvation in thy welbeloved Sonne IESVS CHRIST In his Name we further pray thee to conferre the same good things on all our kinsfolks and friends call unto thee those that know thee not and strengthen those that already have thy feare Establish maintaine every where and make effectuall the Ministerie of thy Word for the conversion consolation of al thine Elect and for the enlarging of thy glory of the Kingdome of Iesus Christ Keep our King and all His grant Him a long Raigne in thy feare and for the good of of thy Church Let his subjects O Lord and above all we who are instructed by thy Gospell render unto him and unto all our Superiours all obedience unto which thy Word obligeth us Make thine own sensible of the bitternes of thine afflictions rejoyce them also in the sweetnesse of thy comforts so moderate and terminate thy corrections that they may be wholsome unto them Above all we beseech thee for them which have need of thy succours in this Church deny them not thine assistance heare their prayers and ours comfort them and deliver them that they and we may praise thee solacing our selves in thy goodnes And because O God it is onely our sins which are able to hinder us from hoping to receive from thee that which we ask of thee as thou pardonest us our sins in thy Son graunt us grace voluntarily to renounce all iniquitie so shal not the course of thy grace be interrupted so shall we have experience both in our prayers of the Truth of thy promises and in our whole life Yea even unto the last gasp therof the continuance of thy fatherly mercy in the same thy welbeloved Sonne in whose Name c. A Prayer for him who after he hath beene worthily prepared to receive the holy Communion approcheth to the Lords Table 9. O My God O my Father I have had experience of thy mercy in the whole course of my life especially since thou gavest me the knowledge of thy Truth and of my salvation and at this present time Lord thou openest before me the treasure of all thy riches thou presentest and offer'st unto me whole Iesus Christ with all his benefits Seeing then O God of my salvation seeing thou wilt that I should obey thy Word that I should draw neare unto thy Table Alas suffer not nor permit that it shal be to my condemnation But O good God far be it from me that I should admit any such feare For thou hast touched my heart with serious repentance I am right sensible that thou strengthenest my faith and reachest forth unto me thy hand thy selfe to receive me this day thou that art the Authour of my salvation O happy day wherein I protest before thee to detest my sinnes to renounce mine iniquity to be admitted unto the participation of the Sacrament of the New Testament Good God give me now the grace to shew forth the death of my Saviour grant that in his sufferings I may discern how great was thy wrath how exact thy justice against our sinnes seeing that to blot them out thou hast not spared thine owne Sonne Graunt also I may acknowledg thankfully thy infinite mercy towards us in that for us thine enemies thou hast given unto death the just thine onely Sonne But Lord give me to admire the never to be paralel'd love which thy Sonne beareth me in that he hath undergone both my sins and thy wrath to affoord unto me the food of eternall life O how wonderfull art thou in thy bounties Seeing that this day thou wilt by visible and sacred signes augment my joy and present to the view of mine eyes thy celestiall and invisible graces At this instant thou wilt give me an assured pledge of my conjunction with Iesus Christ And by him with thee O my Father as also with thy holy Spirit Now shall I be assured that Christ is in me and I in him O excellent Vnion sith it bringeth to passe that I have peace with thee
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
into thy welbeloved Sonne acknowledg Lord the mark of thine adoption in him We know O God of inestimable puritie that our sinnes drive us back far away from thee But thy deare Sonne who is made for us by thee wisdome righteousnesse sanctification and redemption not only washeth us with his bloud to becom acceptable unto thee but withall maketh giveth us entrance into thy Sanctuary boldnes by his death to approch with assurance to the throne of thy grace to be heard in due time Graunt grace unto this sick person to free the point of death with an holy and Christian resolution Redouble his courage at that present houre that his soule is upon the point to behold thy face wherein is fulnesse of joy And amidst the violent dartings of those sighs which accompanie the last acts of his life give him perfect clearâ—esse of judgement accompanied with calmenesse of spirit evermore to acknowledge his true and only God that drawes him out of the desarts of this world to live happy in the Heavenly Ierusalem and who withdrawes him out of the bottomlesse depths of wretchednes to bring him to live in heaven heaped with eternall blessings Command thy holy Angels which thou incampest round about those that feare thee and which watch for the welfare and safety of thy children that they beare the soule of this thy servant up into heaven the sacred Temple of thy glory most gloriously resplendant with happinesse and honour where he shall clearely see that which his spirit adores here below and where he shall injoy that divine and celestiall harmonie which the blessed Spirits make unto thee uncessantly and the eternall joyes which cannot be valued and where he shall live in continuall admiration of those incomprehensible bounties in the presence of his Spouse thy beloved Sonne Iesus Christ To whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be honour and glory for evermore So be it 4. Another Prayer to bee said when the Sicke is in extremity 37. O Lord our good God and most mercifull Father who being overcome with the bowels of thy tender mercies hast sent down thy beloved Sonne to save sinners and hast been pleased that this thy Sonne was bound to loose us condemned to absolve and free us that he died to give us life yea that he was made a curse to the end that we might be made a blessing of God in him We beseech thee to graunt this grace unto this sick person to repose and relye himselfe on the certainty of faith for the full remission of his sinnes upon that entire and perfect satisfaction which thy deare Sonne whose bloud was once offered up to abolish the sinnes of many hath made unto theâ— upon the Crosse For it is certaine that thou wilt not the death of a sinner but that he be converted and live Thou bruisest not in thy displeasure those that thou hast redeemed by his death thou dost not precipitate into that eternall gulfe those whom thou hast ingrafted and regenerated in that great Mediator and Saviour of the world when as calling upon thy mercy they shal be converted with their whole heart unto thee That when Satan our adversarie who like a roaring Lion goeth about us endeavouring to devoure us maketh himself a party against this sick person in this his last conflict setting before him the checkroule and catologue of his sinnes and thy rigorous judgment to astonish and to precipitate him into despaire give him grace to shield and ward himselfe as with a target and buckler to repell and beat back the fierie darts of that enemie with the truth and assurance that the bloud of thy Sonne Iesus cleanseth from all sinne Fortifie then and animate O God of invincible power and our firme hope this thy child with the strength of thy Holy Spirit at this present houre that his soule being disburdened of the miseries which presse him yea set free from the captivitie of his body is ready to go unto thee And in that houre wherin the earth claimeth in his person what we have borrowed of her have pitie Lord on thine owne image and despise not the works of thy hands Behold Lord the teares the plaints the sighes the groanes and the contrition of the heart of this sicke person and our prayers that we may acknowledge in his person thy clemency the mother of our hope thy succours the source of our life and that indeed thou art our sacred and saving refuge And as for us which remaine in this vale of miserie graunt us this grace that as thy people being captive in Babilon had the comfort to direct and lift up their eyes towards Ierusalem the place wherein thou didst manifest unto them thy glorious and gracious presence that even so amidst the captivitie of this world where we see nothing but confusion and where vice raigneth and thy honour is dis-esteemed we may have our eyes towards thee as on the sole object and subject of our joy and rejoycing seeing in thy face is the fulnes of joy and at thy right hand are perfect pleasures for evermore Even so O thou God of inestimable bounty and goodnes and who hast chosen us out of the world to follow thy holy will we beseech thee that when thou shalt call us out of this world to place our soules in the company of those who by faith have overcome Kingdomes have done righteousnesse and have obtained the promises and who are written in the Booke of Life of the Lamb. In the meane time O Lord arme us with patience and in the midst of our troubles make us sensible by a lively feeling that our light affliction which is transient and soone over produceth in us a waight of glory wonderfully excellent and that leaving by death these visible things which are but of small continuance we shall injoy those that are now invisible to our eyes which are abiding for ever in Iesus Christ and by Iesus Christ to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be honour and glory for ever Amen 5. A Prayer when the sick is in some grievous perplexitie 38. O God and Father of all mercy who art wise in thy counsels true in thy word and admirable in thy works yea who keepest thy deare children as the apple of thine eye In as much as now we see that now it is even at this time that it wil be thy pleasure to withdraw this thy sick child out of this mortall world We beseech thee enter not into account with him to punish him nor reprove him in thy displeasure neither chasten him in thy wrath But remember Lord he hath beene called in thy Church and in the number of thine Elect to be washed and sanctified by thy grace in the name of Iesus Christ thy deare Sonne who took upon him our griefs and hath undergone the burden of our sorrowes that by his wounds we might receive health whereof his baptisme hath beene the badge Wash then Lord who art in
goodnesse most compleat his soule in the innocent bloud of thy deare Sonne in whose wounds and merits we inclose our present and future happines that being made cleane he may keep thee eternally in his sacred celestiall Temple Gracious Lord and full of tender compassion shew not forth thy strength at this time against a languishing body arme not thy selfe unto vengeance against one that can do nothing Crush not in thine indignation him whom thou hast in thy goodnesse created after thine owne image but rather returning thy gracious countenance towards his sorrowes make him powerfully sensible of thy clemencie the mother of our hope and thy love the source of our life Drive away Lord by thy power all dreadfulnesse all distrustfulnes and doubts which Satan our adversarie can present unto this sick person leave not at randome as prostituted unto that roaring Lion this thy creature regenerated and born anew in that great Saviour of the world but rather establish and comfort his soule Strengthen his faith redouble upon him in this last houre of his the forces of his Spirit that with a truly Christian courage he may repell and beat backe thorough thy strength all the assaults and temptations of the enemie by the merit of thy deare Son who was made man to save man and whose soule was heavie even unto death to deliver us from the hell of eternall fire and from the horrour of the deep O God of incomparable bounty the fountaine of joy and of eternall happines ravish the mind of this sick person even unto the heavens and shew unto him the share of those inestimable graces which thy Son our Redeemer hath purchased for us with thee give him grace to die in the hope of the future resurrection of our bodies and powerfully to comprehend how the resurrection of thy Sonne is the bud of our blessed immortality yea the speciall gage of eternall life and of our holy glorification And unto us that shall yet remaine in this world give grace that expecting our last day which shal be the first of our rest and the end of our miseries that our contentment may not be elswhere then under the covert of thy grace let our soules breath nothing but the sweetnes of thy love and let the continuall desire of living in the admiration of the contemplation of thy divine beauties which thou hast reserved for thine Elect. Let it be the fervent desire and the sole vote of our hearts that daily dying in Adam by the mortifying of our flesh to be borne anew in Iesus Christ we may feele more and more by thy grace our carnall concupiscences repressed our faith inflamed and our hearts cheered by thy singular blessings which thou powrest out daily with a hand more then liberall upon them that feare thee Which we crave of thee in the name of thy deare Son O our Father which 〈◊〉 in heaven c. 6. A Prayer directed unto Iesus Christ the Great and Soveraigne Shepheard of our Soules for the Sick that is in extremity 39. LOrd Iesus our sole and only Redeemer who lovest thine with an eternall love and who camest downe from heaven to raise us up to heaven who tookest our humane nature upon thee to make us the children of God Who borest upon thy back the burthen of our sins to discharge us of them and who as a celestiall Pelican after thou hadst pierced thy sides with the edge of thy love to make thy Vermilian Bloud distill forth to heale our mortall wounds and to drowne our sins in the sea of thy mercies callest us to come unto thee promising to ease all those that are heavie laden and travell assuring them they shall find rest for their soules We beseech thee from the bottome of our hearts O Soveraigne Physitian of our soules who camest not for the whole and the righteous but for the sicke and for sinners to strengthen the faith of this thy sick child redoubling the strength of his Spirit to overcome all feares to vanquish all dangers and to repell the Alarums of Satan and all the assaults of his temptations And seeing that the desire of this sicke person is before thee and that his sorrowes are not hid from thee forsake him not and be not farre from succouring of him but turning thy mercifull countenance towards his griefs make him powerfully sensible of thy succours in joy and in salvation that he may dispose himselfe and we also when it shall please thee to call us to die to thee to live againe in thee O God of our deliverance We confesse O thou Soveraigne Redeemer that our sins were infinite because Adam had offended against thee Infinite We likewise acknowledge that for the same there was requisite an infinite satisfaction which neither Angels nor men nor any finite creature could accomplish But thy bloud O Saviour of the world who by thy eternall Spirit offered thee unto God thy Father thy selfe without all blemish and who art of an infinite price art alone able to cleanse our consciences from dead works to serve the living God And seeing that by this inestimable redemption thy Name is unto thy faithfull ones a perfume spread forth abroad and powred out and that thy divinitie joyned unto our humanitie in one person is our sole comfort and the certain pledge of our union and reconciliation with God We beseech thee to present unto thy Father as a sweet odour for this sick person the merits of thy Passion seeing that thy righteousnes wherewith thou justifiest sinners is not only of inestimable vertue to sanctifie us but also thy death is incomparably admirable to quicken us And in as much as the death of thy beloved ones is precious before thy Father when he looketh upon thee We beseech thee to blesse the death of this our brother covering him with the mantle of thy protection a mantle farre more excellent then that of Elias that securely he may passe the torrent and violent streame of this life to come unto thy holy mountaine and to drink of that spirituall sweetnesse with thine Elect of the fountaine of life in heaven O Saviour of the world the lively brightnes of the eternall glory of the Father who camest downe from the highest pitch of the celestiall mountaines to seek the lost sheep and to inclose him after thou hadst found him in the parks of thy sacred custody save now and protect the soule of this thy sheep to the end the infernall wolfe devoure him not but accomplish thine owne desire touching those whom the Father hath given thee seat it and bestow it with thee in the place of consolation to the end that with all the happy spirits which have imbraced the merits of thy Passion it may behold that eternall glory which the Father who loveth thee and who alwayes heareth thee hath given thee before the foundation of the world To thee then the Redeemer of the world with the Father in the unitie of the Holy Ghost be
honour and glory for evermore So be it 7. Another Prayer wherein supplication is made unto God to assist with his holy Spirit the Sick in his agonie 40. O Lord God and most gracious Father when we enter into a serious consideration of our estate certaine it is that we are in this world as upon a rough and tempestuous sea and that the winds and storms of temptations advance themselves and arise every minute against us and therefore is it that we humbly beseech thee that in this perillous passage thy Spirit may conduct and strengthen our brittle vessell that by the assistance thereof at the last we may happily arive at the haven of eternall salvation And especially we beseech thee for this thy sicke child to the end it may please thee to imprint by the effectuall power of thy Holy Spirit more and more in his heart charity and the love of thy Sonne in whose name we have remission of our sinnes that Persevering with invincible constancie unto the end in the faith and confession of the Name of his Saviour he may find undoubtedly in him whatsoever is requisite unto his assured blessednes Let that thy Spirit which inflameth that which is cold which erecteth what is fallen which giveth breath unto that which is weary cheare up by his vertue the feeblenes of this sick person and produce in him ardent sighs Which may be dissolved into the sweet raine of teares fruitfull unto his soule Let the Same thy Spirit be unto this sick person that which it was unto Elias the whirle-wind and the chariot of fire wherein he may be carried up to heaven Let it be the same that was the New Starre to the Wisemen of the East that by the guiding thereof he may come unto Iesus Christ not laid in the manger not any more passible but glorious and risen againe sitting at thy right hand above all powers and principalitie victorious over death triumphant over hell and Head and Consummatour of our faith And as thou shewedst unto three of thy Apostles in the mountaine when as thy Sonne was transfigured having his face shining as a radiant Sun a skantling and patterne of the glory and celestiall beauty which they should injoy whom thou hast chosen and incorporated into thy said Son So we beseech thee that during the small time which remaineth for us to passe the course of this life it may please thee to give us a continuall tast of that heavenly happinesse and an holy sense of thy glory with a firme and an assured peace of conscience founded upon thy love to walke in the strength of this consolation unto thy holy mountaine For in as much as this world is but a pilgrimage and a way wherein there is nothing to be found firme and wherein the more that men digge to build in it the more do they find unstable sand and unconstant agitations Where ought we Lord to seeke for the true foundation of our expectation and hope but in heaven And seeing that where the body is thither gather together the Eagles We beseech thee to raise up aloft the heart of this sicke person and ours unto thee that thy love may be a precious ointment to make us run and aspire after thee If David in the midst of his great riches thought himselfe a stranger and a forraigner as his Fathers if he said that his dayes were as a shadow upon the earth wherein there is no stay if he looked upon his Royall Pallace as upon an Inne whereout he was every houre to dislodge if he looked upon his Throne as upon a seat which he must leave and resigne over to another And if looking upon his Crowne as on a thing which was subject to fade in these terrestriall places he breathed after an incorruptible Crowne of glory how much more ought we out of the midst of the dust of this world to desire and to breathe after that glorious eternall Crowne where our heavines shal be turned into gladnes our poverty into eternall riches and our ignominie into incorruptible honours Graunt us this grace then O great God not only to despise the things which the world admires but also make us to take patiently the afflictions which invirone and assault us whilst we run this our mortall race For seeing thou hast ordained that they whom thou hast chosen should be made like to the image of thy Sonne not only in suffering but also in glory graunt us grace firmely to be sensible of in this world and truly to injoy in the other the effect of this holy promise which thy Sonne who is holy and true hath made unto those that partake in his afflictions namely that he will give unto him that shall overcome to sit with him upon his Throne so as he also that hath overcome sitteth upon the Throne of his Father For it is certaine if we beare here below the Crosse of his Son we shall weare also the Crowne of glory with him in heaven That if we drink gall and vinegar out of the cup of his Passion we shal be watered and thorowly moistened with the rivers of his pleasures and if we beare in our bodies the mortification of the Lord Iesus even so also the life of the Lord Iesus shal be manifested in our mortal flesh then al of us casting forth bright beams of glory and shining with splendor we shal be not only like unto Angels but even withall we shal be like unto thee to injoy thorow thee and with thee that thy glory and felicitie the which because our words fall farre short of our thoughts yet shorter of the greatnesse therof eye cannot behold eare cannot heare nor heart comprehend Graunt us these things O God who art goodnes it self love it self holines it self who givest us what ere we have wilt give us out of thy bounty and mercy the fruition of what ere we hope for in all eternity thorow thy deare Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be honor and glory Our Father which art in heaven c. A prayer to be said after the sicke hath rendred his soule unto God for the comfort of the by-standers 41. O God and most merciful Father who hast created all things without necessitie who governest them without labour and who changest them thou thy selfe being unchangeable and whose sacred and perfect will is daily done on earth as in heaven We thank thee for this that it hath pleased thee to withdraw unto thee the soule of our brother making us to know in his death what our infirmity is and making us to behold as in a glasse the accomplishment of thine irrevocable sentence by which dust must returne to dust and the soule goe to heaven to him that gave it Graunt us this grace that this death may serve to make a serious impression in our thoughts not onely how his day is this day to die ours shal be tomorrow and that
most assured that I am unworthy of thee I will love thee O my God and give me grace to put my whole trust and confidence in thee onely and so to repose and relie upon thy goodnesse and holy providence that from thee onely almighty and most gracious I may hope for and expect patiently whatsoever is expedient and necessary for me Cursed be the man that trusteth in man that maketh flesh his arme and whose heart withdraweth it selfe from the Lord It is better Lord to cleave unto thee then to trust in the Princes of the people Let worldlings and the reprobate live full of diffidence and distrust let them be bereau'd of judgement in their adversitie let them be daunted and forlorne in the first difficultie that befalls them let them have recourse to unlawfull meanes and those that are forbidden by thy Word As for me O God of my salvation in thee only will I place my hope that I may not be confounded Yea rather thus beholding with a setled and fixed eye what ere shall come to passe I shall abide stedfast as the mountaine of thy holines But O my God horrid should my condemnation be if I hoorded up in my heart the precious gift of thy knowledge how inexcusable my proceeding if I should boast of thy feare of thy love without my testifying thereof in my outward actions I beseech thee then so to strengthen me that I may shew forth by an holy conversation that it is thou Lord that sanctifiest me by thy spirit Touch my soule worke so in my heart and in my conscience that I may be freed from hypocrisie that my religion may not be a cloke to vaile from men the irregularitie of my passions the violence of mine affections but that being well ordered in my mind from thence as out of a purified fountaine may flow forth the streames of all sorts of good works agreable to thy Word meet for thy glory and profitable to my neighbours befitting my Vocation and unto my salvation To this end O Lord I beseech thee that thou wilt be pleased to give me courage to testifie what I have in my heart by my outward actions that I may glorifie thee every where and upon all occasions in making free and publike profession of thy Truth That I may not be ashamed of thy Word that I may not passe by thy bountie in silence but that I may shew forth thy strength even from thee Lord that hast called me out of darknesse into thy marvelous light that with my mouth I may give unto thy works praise conformable to the judgment and approbation I have already made of them in my soule that I may never cease to magnifie thee and that my heart may take no other pleasure but to see thee glorified in the world For if even the livelesse creatures celebrate thee why should I thorow ingratitude be mute in the acknowledgment of thy benefits Wherefore Lord hast thou given me a tong but chiefly to serve as an instrument to blesse and praise thee And that I may speak nothing but what may tend to thy glory Let me not take thy Name in vaine nor give my self to evill speaking nor detraction let no rotten speech go forth of my mouth but let all my talke tend to edification Moreover O Lord give and enable me to confesse not only in prosperity and whilst all things smile upon me according to the world but even in the greatest adversity that even in the midst of persecution if it please thee not to exempt me from the same I may answer alwayes with meeknes and reverence every one that shall demaund of me a reason of the hope that is in me I know Lord that very great is my weaknesse but is thy hand shortened or lesse strong for me then for the rest of thy children Is it thou that art pleased to perfect thy strength in our weaknes and infirmity Thou wilt give me then the constancie and that perseverance which shall be necessary for me that without feare and without being troubled I may be happy in suffering for righteousnes Give me grace also that all my actions may be void of vanity and presumption accompanied and seasoned with humility and reverence that I may humble my selfe under thy mighty hand that the world may see I wholly depend on thy goodnes and mercy that I hold my life being and all things of thee only that thou only hast the power to do with me thy poore and miserable creature what shall seem good unto thee And seeing thou hast given me to feare thee and to love thee give me also the strength to do what thou hast commanded me to avoid what thou hast forbidden me enable me to order my life according to thy commandements thou hast given us in thy Law As also Lord in that which displeaseth thee it may be seen that I have thy feare and that I have thy love whilst I do that which thou requirest of me Thy feare shall estrange me from that familiarity which hath no place but amongst companions and shall containe me within that respect which I ow unto thee and thy love shall exempt me from that feare which shall euer ceaze upon thine enemies Lastly O my God above all the things which in all humility I desire of thee I beseech thee that often thou wouldst often graunt the leasure and desire to call upon thee as thou now hast done Thou dost familiarly speak to me by thy Word graunt that I may confidently speak to thee by my prayers that often I may withdraw my selfe apart that I may shut my self up in my closet to impart unto thee my griefs to confesse unto thee my sinnes to bewaile before thee my poverty and my miserie and to implore from thee thine assistance and thy mercy For Lord prayer wil be unto me an unspeakable comfort as an evident testimonie that thou hast not left me to my self that I am in the number of thy children that thou wilt blesse me and powre forth upon me thy mercy and after I have called upon thee I shall carry my self in my vocation with much more zeale standing upright with thee I will not feare the world having discharged my conscience in thy presence I will march with my head born aloft having carefully recommended my self unto thy guidance I shall have rest in my soule and shal be most assured that notwithstanding the rage and subtilty of all mine enemies which are also thine thou wilt give me to continue faithfully my life in thy feare and end it in thy holy favour even then when out of this vale of misery thou wilt receive me into thy glory unto everlasting and most happy rest Another Prayer 8. O Lord our gracious God and almighty Father as thou hast alwaies thy hand opē to do us good thy wil is that our mouthes likewise should be so heartily to render unto thee thanksgiving Now then we praise and blesse thee for that
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
thy statutes may keep thy ordinances may do them and be thy people and thou our God So shalt thou make known the Name of thy holines in the midst of us shalt be sanctified in us in the presence of the Nations and we will consider in our hearts will regard and look on with our eyes will hearken unto with our eares what ere thou speakest unto us concerning all thy ordinances and thy Lawes Save thy flocke that it may not become a prey raise up Pastors thy servants that may feed it with wholsome food And let them whom thou hast set for watchmen in thine house hearken to the words of thy mouth and give warning from thee Give them a mouth opened amongst us that the sheep which are dispersed thorow the want of a shepheard and which are exposed to be devoured and they which err and are strayed out of the way over the whole surface of the earth may be drawn home and gathered in and that thou maiest feed them and give them rest seek out that which is lost bring back that which is driven away bind up that which is broken strengthen that which is sick and those that are afarr off amongst the Nations and those that are scattered upon the earth be thou unto them a safe Sanctuarie in the countries wherein they are Sanctifie thy great Name which hath been prophaned among the Nations let them know that thou art the Lord that thou maist be sanctified among them and that the earth may shine abroad with thy glorie A Prayer to be affected with Spirituall things and to renounce the world 23. LOrd we are rebellious against thy Truth and have not been obedient to thy righteousnes nor have put in practise thy Law whence our condemnation is just Yet Lord saith was imputed to Abraham for righteousnes Graunt it may be so also imputed to us and that we may obtaine mercy Seeing Christ died for us and he is the end of the Law righteousnes unto all beleevers and that whosoever beleeveth in him shall not be confounded And for that they that are according to the flesh are affectioned to the things of the flesh but they that are according to the spirit unto the things of the spirit And in as much as the affection of the flesh is death but the affection of the spirit is life and peace Let thy Spirit dwell in us and let us put on the Lord Iesus Christ and let us not be carefull for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof Knowing that Christ being risen againe from the dead dieth no more death hath no more dominion over him For in that he died he died once for sinne but in that he liveth he liveth unto thee Also we summe up thus our account that we are dead unto sin but live unto thee in Iesus Christ our Lord and that we shall appeare all before his judgment-Seat and that every one of us shall render an account for himself Let then thy feare be before our eyes having in horror all evill cleaving unto that which is good that we lay no stumbling block or occasion of falling before our brother but may walk in charity loving our neighbor as our selves being fervent in spirit serving thee joyfull in hope patient in tribulations persevering in prayer That we may offer up our bodies as living sacrifices holy and pleasing unto thee which is our reasonable service and let us not fashion our selves unto this present world But let us be transformed by the renewing of our understanding that we may search out what thy good pleasant and perfect wil is And be it that we live we may live unto thee be it wv die we may die unto thee that whether we live or whether we die we may be thine For therefore died Christ and rose againe and returned unto life that he might have dominion both over the dead and over the living We commend unto thee all thy Churches let the weak in faith be strengthened grant there may be the obedience of faith thorow out all nations Let every knee bow before thee and let every tongue give thee praise Let all nations praise thee Lord and let all people celebrate thee Relieve the poore and afflicted and make them partakers of spirituall good things Furnish them with the things of this life assist them in every thing they stand in need of thorow Iesus Christ Grace be with us and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Iesus Christ A Thankesgiving and a Prayer on the same subject 24. O Our God and Father which raisedst from the dead Iesus Christ who gave himselfe for our sinnes to the end that according to thy will he might withdraw us out of this evill world To thee be glory for ever and ever Amen 'T is thou Lord that hast called us by thy grace and hast revealed unto us thy Sonne who hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law when he was made a curse for us that we might receive the promise of the Spirit by faith knowing that man is not justified by the works of the Law but onely by faith in Iesus Christ in whom we have believed that we might be justified by faith Give us to obey thy Truth furnish us with thy Spirit which may produce thy vertues in us And because we are thy children send the Spirit of thy Sonne into our hearts crying Abba Father so that being thy children we may be thine heires thorow Christ and that we may walk according to the spirit not fulfil the lusts of the flesh because what a man soweth that shall he reape also For he that soweth to the flesh shall reape of the flesh corruption But he that soweth to the Spirit he shall reape of the Spirit life eternall That we may live by the Spirit and may walk also in the Spirit the fruit whereof is love joy peace patience gentlenes goodnes faithfulnes meeknes temperance And as they which are Christs have crucified the flesh with the Iusts thereof that we may be crucified with Christ and may live not now we but that Christ may live in us and that what we now live in the flesh we may live in the faith of thy Son who hath loved us and gave himselfe for us that it might not happen unto us to glory in any thing save in the Crosse of our Lord Iesus Christ by whom the world may be crucified unto us and we unto the world And that in him we may be new creatures not growing carelesse of well doing seeing we shall reape in due season if we grow not slacke Wherefore whilst we have time let us do good unto al men but especially unto the houshold of faith And all they that shall walk according to this rule peace be upon them and mercy and upon thy Israel O God Work with efficacie by those unto whom the preaching of the Gospell is committed That they which know thee not and who serve those that
have of him the Son of God himself tels us That as we have denied him before men hee will denie us also before his Father and will bee ashamed of us and that worthily Luk. 9.26 Let us hold then the confession of our hope without varying for any thing whatsoever According as Saint Paul teacheth us Heb. 10. And with him we say Neither that which is present nor that which is to come nor height nor depth poverty nor nakednes persecution affliction nor death nor life shall separate us from the love of Christ Rom. 8.34 Prepare alwaies in every place and before all men to give a reason and an account to every one of the hope that is in us Peter 1.3 Yea as true faithfull ones let us take especially our neighbours by the hands saying to them let us go up let us ascend up to the mountaine unto the house of the God of Iacob and he will teach us his wayes Esa 4. And let us stir up one another unto charity and to good works Mic. 2. Not forsaking the assembly of the faithfull For as Saint Paul saith if we sin willingly after we have received the knowledge of the truth Heb. 10. There remaines no sacrifice for that sin but a fearfull expectation of judgment and the vengeance of fire which shall devoure the adversaries Setting before us that if any one had despised the Law of Moyses he was put to death without any mercy and thence concludes how much more grievous torments shall he deserve that shall esteem the bloud of the Sonne of God as a thing of no holines thorow the which he had been sanctified and had done injury to the Spirit of Grace Yea but what say you to this that by making open profession of this knowne truth men shall deprive themselves of the favour and good will of the great ones It is a course that will bring an untimely issue to our best designes and we shall run a hazard to fall from our honours yea we shall be in danger to be brought to the lowest ebb of the greatest misery the ordinary condition of those that will be followers of Iesus Christ and some will say more they who earne me the bread which my family eats will not henceforth serve me and what shall then my condition be how shall I live It is here high time to sound the alarum the combat is at hand but before we give the on-set let us take better notice of our enemies to wit the world and the flesh Shall we demaund of him that maketh warre upon us the things that are fit to destroy him No no this were all one as if we should cast flax into fire to quench it To shelter our selves then from the first encounter of the assault let us set our selves in battell-array with Daniel Sidrach and Abednego let us march forward in their steps and use the same weapons with the Martyrs Ephes 6.11 Let us have our loynes girt about with truth and have on the brest-plate of righteousnes and let us have our feet shod with the preparation of the Gospell of Peace and above all let us take the shield of Faith and the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God Let us deny our selves to follow Christ as every true Christian ought so shall we passe thorow the greatest conflict which shall present it selfe if he encounter himself and we shall remaine conquerors as they have done that have known and withall have followed the will of the Lord and not the sensualitie of the flesh and the world A gift of God which he giveth to them that aske it in faith without wavering Iames 1.6 They know that the Almighty curseth the man that maketh flesh his arme and that trusts in man Ieremy 7.2 That surely men of high degree are vanitie Psal 62.9 and a lye and that he that shall put into the ballance the grandes of the earth against nothing shall find them yet lighter then nothing Wherfore they have not expected salvation from any other but from the highest relying wholly and trusting in him only And see we not also indeed that there is no Monarch so great but God when he pleaseth out of hand brings him to nothing Want we proofs for the uncertainty of the performance of mans promises Now when it was in his owne power to perform which he never hath but as it is given him from above shall there be any found that saith he hath not found as much by expâ—rience The thing is too too frequent So also do we not see that not only it is in vaine but withall draweth down the wrath of God upon himself that depends on man how great or mighty soever he be in appearance Let us then forgo for ever such a thing Psalme 60.11 Give us helpe from trouble for vaine is the helpe of man And following Davids counsell let us ever put our trust in God alone he is good and gracious to will what shall bee expedient for vs mightie in his power true and immutable in his promises to accomplish them And let every one of us say with him Psal 28.7 He is my shield and fortitude my buckler in distresse My hope my help my hearts reliefe my song shall him confesse To dive yet deeper into this matter Thou that fearest thine honours and art afraid that thy earthly goods will leave thee after the which thou so breathest and barkest thou verifiest that which cannot but be most true That it is impossible that a man should serve God and riches Luke 16.14 He which is truth it self spake it But it shall not be amisse to set a glasse before thee that thou maist see how thou art disfigured and that thou mayst know thine own deformity if thou hast sight enough to discern it O foole that seekest after and prisest at so high a rate the glory and treasures of the earth as if therin consisted thy happines horrible Idolatrie If thy soule be required of thee this night what shall become of the totall And put the case thou livest the longest age of man that length is but a moment What profit have they gain'd by it whom thou hast seen go before thee who are now in the grave Psalme 90. thinkest thou they are much more happy therby Alas the danger is great 't is contrary Luke 18.24 For it is a very hard thing for the rich to enter into the Kingdome of heaven What hope therof wilt thou draw from out of that which St. Iames saith ch 5.2 Weepe you rich men howle for your miseries which shall come upon you your riches are corrupted your garments moath-eaten your gold and silver is cancred and the rust of them shall be a witnesse against you and shall eat your flesh as it were fire Tim. 6 9 Then what shall make thee desire abundance For they that will be rich fall into temptation into the snares of the Devill and into many
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
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
hearts is given us for earnest of our celestiall inheritance Rom. 14.17 to assure us by this beginning of the spirituall goods which God hath promised to his children that he holdeth us for his purchased possession unto the praise of his glory and without ever revoking his promises he will gather us finally into the full fruition of this heavenly inheritance There must if it be possible bee drawne from the mouth of the sicke a confession of his sinnes of his repentance and of his faith And if happily he have not the use of speech but yet of understanding he must be exhorted to answer by some signe NOw then M. it is now your part to be of good courage and to apply unto your selfe soundly and heartily this holy doctrine for the comfort of your soule This doctrine hath been addressed and declared unto you by the preaching of the Gospell in the bosome of the Church of God whereof you have the honour to be in the number it hath been also confirmed unto you by the use of the Sacraments in which you have communicated Have you not received them with faith Yes Do you not believe according to the same that God is not only your Creator but that sinne having made you a cast-away he is your Saviour in Iesus Christ Yes Acknowledge you not that you are a poore and miserable sinner and confesse you not that should he enter into a reckoning with you to impute your sinnes unto you you should of necessitie and unavoidably perish in death and eternall damnation Yes Do you not protest you are exceeding sorrie and much grieved for having so offended him and that you do repent the same with all your heart I do Do you not utterly renounce all conceit and confidence in your owne righteousnes to settle entirely and wholy your hope in the sole mercy of God by the which he justifieth and saveth us in his beloved Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord Yes Believe you not that he hath received you in this his mercy that he is appeased and at peace with you and hath reconciled you into his favour and grace with him in regard of and thorow the obedience and merit of the same Iesus Christ his Sonne whom you firmly believe died for your sins and rose againe for your justification Yes I do Now I beseech God to be pleased to establish you and to increase in you more and more this faith according to the which you must take a full assurance of being justified and saved seeing God hath given you this grace to believe with the heart unto righteousnesse and with your mouth to make this confession unto salvation Rom. 10.10 To induce the sicke person to set up his rest and to resolve bee it for life or be it for death according to the will of God BEing thus supported and sustained by the firme foundation of faith you must take up an holy resolution and expect constantly without all feare such issue whatsoever it shall please God to send unto your sicknes with a setled perswasion that it cannot chuse but be profitable and wholsome for you be it that it please him to cause you to injoy yet longer life here below or be it it shal be his pleasure to withdraw you hence to make you more happy If it shal be his pleasure to returne and restore you to health as he is almighty to fetch even the dead out of the grave and to make them to live againe This shal be if he please to give give you to serve yet further to his glory yea more affectionately then ever hitherto for which you have to pray unto him for the grace But if his will be to lead you by this sicknes unto the end of your course it shal be to receive you into the fruition of that perfect happinesse which the Sonne of God hath so dearly purchased for you by the price of his bloud And therefore go you unto him with an holy cheerfulnes in the assurance of his grace and favours cheere up your self and rejoice in the happy exchang which you shall make of the earth with heaven of this miserable and short life for one that 's most happy and permanent for evermore from these wretched and perishing goods unto goods celestiall and eternall which eye hath not seene nor eare heard and which farre surmount the thought of man which God hath prepared for them that love him Are you not then well resolv'd to conforme in all this your will unto the will of your Father in heauen To the end that be it whether you live you live to the Lord or be it that you dye you dye to the Lord Rom. 14.8 Being well assured that Christ shal be unto you alwayes gaine both in life and in death Yes God graunt you that grace To comfort and assure the sicke in the weaknesse of his faith IN the meane time I am not ignorant that your faith how great and strong soever it may be may yet for all that be small and weake in you For during the infirmities of this life the Holy Ghost is but given you in a certaine measure according to the which we know but in part and our spirituall renovation is but yet here begun Certaine it is we cannot attaine here below unto the perfection of faith And therefore I doubt not but your faith yet is infirme and weake and cannot chuse but be tossed with sundry temptations and skirmished with divers assaults of doubts and distrusts But you must not therefore shrinke or bee crest-fallen in courage For this combat you feele in yourselfe it is the fight which as Saint Paul saith Galat. 5. ver 17. is in the soule of every faithfull one between the flesh and the spirit and therefore it is unto you an assured testimonie that you have faith For as the flesh fighteth in you by distrust the spirit also fighteth in you by faith and this faith will never yeeld it selfe being backt and sustained by the spirit of God which will make it victorious And how imperfect soever it be God will make it sufficient unto you unto salvation For it is not said he that shall believe perfectly shall be saved but rather simply he that shall believe Besides as you feele in your self your faith weak and imperfect so I doubt not but you therewith feele an holy desire that it might be strengthened and increased and that your heart prayeth and maketh request unto God for the same Is it not true Yes it is Now sith it is so this faith this desire that it might be increased and this prayer you make for it unto God are not these fruits of the spirit and not of the flesh And seeing they are the fruits of Gods Spirit produced in you is not this a sure testimonie that you are led by the same and by consequence the child of God For all they that are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God as Saint
for me As accursed upon the tree of the Crosse to free me from the curse eternall wherunto Adam had obliged me This my Saviour Iesus Christ was truly buried to burie all my sinnes with him to the end they might not be imputed unto me before God It is my Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ which went downe into hell suffering extream temporall anguish to deliver me from the eternall The Minister All this that you have now confessed of Iesus Christ was it sufficient to save you The Sicke No According as the holy Scriptures ought in every thing to be fulfilled For what had it profited me that Iesus Christ was borne crucified dead buried and went downe into hell for me only unlesse he had risen againe Wherefore I believe and confesse that my Lord my Head and Saviour Iesus Christ is risen againe from the dead to make me to rise againe with him as one of his meaner members unto life eternall The Minister Consequently it is written that he ascended up into heaven being now set downe at the right hand of God his Father But what doth this his ascention benefit you The Sicke My Lord my Head and Saviour Iesus Christ is ascended up into heaven to cause me to ascend thither after him for where the Head is there are the members also And I believe that being set downe at the right hand of God his Father he is my Advocat intereessor and onely Mediator with him assuring me exceedingly that none can hurt me seeing that Iesus Christ is my Advocate and Iudge both together Wherfore I have no occasion to feare the day of his judgment when he shall come to judge the quick and the dead For I believe and confesse in stedfast faith that there is neither judgment nor condemnation to them that are faithfull members of Iesus Christ The Minister Who hath given you the grace to understand and know all these things The Sicke It is by the grace of the Holy Ghost one only God with the Father and the Sonne by whose means we receive all the goods and gifts which are offered us in Iesus Christ The Minister Seeing you have already confessed that you are a member of Iesus Christ it thence followeth that you are withall incorporated into his Church which you must believe to be Holy Catholique and Vniversall The Sicke I do assuredy believe the Holy Catholique Church washâ— and cleansed with the Precious Bloud of Iesus Christ for the which in the greatest humility I render him thanks that he hath affoorded me the grace to be one of the meanest members of his Church being baptized into his Name he hath made me to live in the communion unity and love of the same by having instructed me in his holy Word and fed me with his true Body steeped in his precious Bloud into the hope of eternall life The Minister Well go to seeing you are so well founded upon the lively Rocke which is Iesus Christ in knowing so well your selfe you must confesse and acknowledge the principall good which you have received from this good Iesus Christ The Sicke It is very reasonable for I would not be ingratefull in not acknowledging the goods and gifts which I have received from God Wherefore I confesse that I poore miserable sinner have offended without end and without ceasing the goodnesse and justice of God having transgressed all thy holy Commandements In the doing wherof I have deserved death and eternall damnation Neverthelesse appealing to Gods mercy I cry him mercy and do believe and confesse without all manner of doubt or wavering that full and perfect forgivenes of all my sinnes is graunted me by the sole merit of the Death and Passion of my Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ in the effusion of his precious Bloud wherein I assure my self to be sufficiently and entirely washed and purged which is the most transcendent good and contentment that I could ever have received and such is my faith wherein I will live and die by the helpe of the grace of Gods Holy Spirit The Minister Seeing you have received so great a good from God by the means of his Sonne Iesus Christ it is fitting also that you do his commandement For even as he hath pardonned you and remitted all your sinnes in like manner must you pardon heartily all those which may have offended you Otherwise you walk not according to God Sick In this thing I have knowne the Law of Iesus Christ to be the singular sacred and perfect Law commanding us to love our neighbours friends and enemies as our selves Wherefore I also intreat all those to whom I have done wrong or said wrong to pardon me as heartily as I pardon all them that have offended me desiring to do them all good offices of love and kindnes as to my good brethren and friends The Minister Now sith it is ordained by God that all men shall die we cannot resist his ordinance rather we ought evermore to conforme our selves to his holy will Wherefore my brother you must not think it strange if I declare unto you the same which the good Prophet Esay declared unto King Ezechias saying unto him from the Lord Set thy house in order for thou shalt die not live This good advice ought to stirre you up thorowly to set your selfe in good order spiritually in your conscience And that is first of all to convert and turne you unto God to bewaile your sinnes as that good King did To implore his mercy in begging pardon at his hands and saying alwayes in your heart Lord God be propitious and mercifull unto me poor miserable sinner for thy Sonne Iesus Christ his sake my Lord and Saviour And then you must not forget your house and familie which you ought so well to set in good order and so to dispose of by a good testament and last will that it may remaine in peace and tranquillitie after you But the better to give you to understand how to dispose aright and to set in order your house it is that you give unto every one what belongeth unto him without defrauding of any man that you leave your wife endow'd with what is due to her your children and kinsfolkes in good agreement and charitie that after your decease they may have no occasion to fall to dissention and division This being done you must quite forget all worldly eares and affection to the world which passeth away withall the concupiscence thereof But he that doth the will of God abideth for ever Touching your children you are only their naturall father for a time but God is perpetually their Spirituall Father having them in his holy keeping and protection to preserve and sustaine them to keep and deliver them from all evill whilst they will but walk in his wayes Besides in that you are a Christian regenerate in the holy Sacrament of Baptisme long since you knew that we have not here any Citie of continuance for we looke for a better
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
is but a vapour which appeareth for a short time and then vanisheth away sith in exchange therof there shal be given you life eternall and therein the height of happines so transcendent and incomprehensible that neither eye hath seene nor eare hath heard nor hath entred into the heart of man that which God hath prepared for them that love him When it shall appeare that the sicke doth notoriously draw on unto death or seemeth indeed readie to give up the ghost there may be yet further added if need require and repeated this briefe consolation with the prayer following COurage Sir you draw neare now unto the end of the combat which cannot but be happy for you as you are assured of the victorie by the meanes of your faith which is the victorie which overcommeth the world and the Prince of the world Iesus Christ your head and Saviour stretcheth out his arme unto you and stayeth attending you at the end of the fight to present unto you the incorruptible Crowne of glory which he hath purchased for you by the price of his bloud Commend and commit your selfe then unto him with your whole heart go unto him with cheerfulnesse cast your selfe into his armes and say unto him my soule into thine hands I come to yeeld for thou hast redeemed me ô God of truth Psa 31. We will beseech God againe that he will give you grace so to doe A Prayer O Lord Father of mercy and God of all consolation and comfort unfold plenteously in this exigencie thy mercies and boundlesse comforts upon the person of this thy poor servant and child Give him to reape now and to apply unto himselfe an abundant and excellent fruit and profit from those holy lessons which thou hast during the course of his life taught him in thy schoole Give him an invincible faith in this combat arme him with thy whole Spirituall armour that he may be able to stand against all the temptations and ambushes of Satan and having vanquisht them all he may abide stedfast If thy justice astonish him let thy mercy establish and comfort him if his sinnes accuse him let the obedience of thy beloved Sonne excuse and justifie him If the apprehension of death trouble him make him behold the gate of eternall life Open unto him wherunto thou goest to give him entrance Thou hast given him thy Sonne make good unto him such a gift that it may not be vaine nor unprofitable He is one of the sheepfold of that great shepheard let none take him out of thy hands Thou hast begun in him his salvation let not thine owne work remaine unperfect And seeing thou hast led him on forward to the end of a painfull course receive now his soule into thy hands and carrie it into thy celestiall paradise to that height and full accomplishment of rest and blessednesse in the companie and fellowship of thy blessed Angels and of all the holy soules of thine Elect which thou hast already gathered thither there jointly to injoy together for ever the fulnesse of joy which standeth in the beholding of thy face Heare us Father of grace for the sake of thy deare Son Iesus Christ our Lord who in the unity of the Holy Ghost liveth and raigneth with God eternally Amen A briese consolation to give unto the neare friends of the deceased person of whether sex soever especially afther their returne from the funerall DEare friends in this exigent it is that you are to call to mind that holy and Christian instruction which you have received in the schoole of Iesus Christ to make your profit thereof by bearing patitiently your affliction and resting with humilitie and with a quiet mind in the will of God whereunto evermore ours must conforme and submit it selfe Our nature indeed in such accidents carrieth us to nothing but to teares to plaints and sorrowes But the Spirit of God the author of all new-birth teacheth therein to keepe meâ—sure and not to grieve after the manner of those that are without hope 1 Thess 4.14 If we be men in mourning we must withall shew that we are Christians adorn'd with Faith and with Hope to assure us that this corporall death is unto the faithfull children of God by the benefit of Iesus Christ nothing else but a doore to enter by into everlasting life Iohn 5. vers â—8 29 and that for the regard even of their bodies themselves that the earth receiveth them but a pledge they shall heare one day the voice of the Lord that shall cause them to come forth of their graves into the resurrection of life that the partie deceased he or she may there be of the number of the children of God the witnesses and the mirks and badges that God hath given him thereof by the good profession of pietie and integritie which he practised in the midst of his Church unto the last gasp of his life ought not hereof to leave any scruple or doubt in us He lived to the Lord and he is dead to the Lord by consequent he is happy resteth from his labours Apo. 14.13 by the heavenly witnes of the Spirit of God himselfe You have then no subject matter to weepe over him in regard of his estate which is not to be bewailed he being every way most happy He hath likewise a great advantage above us that remaine still in the world after him for he is arrived at the haven of happines whereas we are still tossed under the storme and tempest of the troublesome and dangerous Sea of this miserable world And therfore farre better is it for us to breath after our going to him then to wish him here againe with us As for the regard of your selves who in that which may concern this life may receive some inconvenience by his absence you must consider that God who gave him you abideth for evermore for you who is sufficient for us without all other things whereas all other things are nothing without him He it is who will continue evermore over you the care of his Fatherly Providence if you continue alwayes to walke in his feare I beseech him to give you the grace so to do and that he will therein strengthen you with an holy resolution and with constancie Consolation for the sicke extracted out of the holy Scriptures to prepare them unto death F. S. N. HE that is of God heareth the Word of God and he not only heareth it but keepeth it and bringeth it into practice For all things shall come to an end and shall wax old as a garment but the Word of God shall abide for ever Now seeing it is so that by one man sinne came into the world and by sinne death and consequently all afflictions and adversities do thereon depend upon just occasion the life of man is but a continuall battell upon the earth in like manner the flesh fighteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Devill the world and the flesh Which
are the enemies of our soules But following the Apostles counsel to obtaine the victorie in this Spirituall battell we must resist constantly by faith For the victorie which overcommeth the world it is our faith which is a certaine and assured knowledge of the love of God towards us according as by his Gospell he declareth himselfe to be our Father and Saviour by the meanes of Iesus Christ Having then such a firm faith for your principall foundation know ye and confesse unfainedly before the Majestie of God that you are a poore and a miserable sinner conceived and borne iniâ—niquitie corruption prone unto the doing of evill unprofitable unto every good thing and that by your sinnes you have transgressed without end and uncessantly the holy commandements of God In the committing whereof you have purchased and brought by his just judgement ruine and destruction upon your selfe Notwithstanding you are sorry and grieved in your selves for having offended him and do condemne your selves and your sinnes with true repentance desiring that Gods grace may help and relieve your calamitie Pray then in this firm faith if you cannot with mouth speak it in your heart that God our most gracious and most mercifull Father enter not into judgment nor into an account with you but would be pleased to have pitie on you in the name of his Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord and that he would blot out your sinnes and blemishes by the merit of the death and passion of the same Iesus Christ in whose Name offer up unto him his holy Prayer which he hath taught us saying from your heart Our Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdome come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as wee forgive them that trespasse against us and leade us not into temptation but deliver us from evill For thine is the kingdome the power and the glory for ever ever AmeÌ„ F. S. N. Acknowledge from the bottome of your heart your unrighteousnes be sorry for your sinnes repent uncessantly and the kingdome of God will draw neare unto you Acknowledge there is no righteousnesse no innocencie nor any good works of yours nor in you But rather as the children of wrath conceived and born in the sinne of old Adam you deserve death and eternall damnation Notwithstanding let not this nor all the sinnes of the world when you should have committed them affright you For Iesus Christ the true Sonne of the eternall God is made true man conceived by the Holy Ghost borne of the holy Virgin to sanctifie and cleanse you He suffered under Pontius Pilate many afflictions injuries and outrages making himselfe a servant and captive to set you in full libertie Iesus Christ was crucified as accursed upon the tree of the Crosse to deliver you from the eternall curse Iesus Christ died shedding forth his bloud his precious bloud to wash you to redeem you to deliver and wholly set you free from the death of hell and from the power of Satan Iesus Christ was buried in the grave to burie all your sins which he tooke away and blotted out Iesus Christ descended into hell insuffering extreame sorrowes to free you from all the paines and sorrowes of death Iesus Christ rose againe from the dead to cause you to rise againe in your owne body and unto glorious immortalitie Iesus Christ ascended into heaven to make you to ascend up thither after him Iesus Christ sitteth at the right hand of God his Father Almighty being your Advocate and Intercessor towards him and the attonement of all your sinnes We look for his comming to judge the quick and the dead to render unto every one according to his works But unto his faithfull ones that believe in him he will not impute their sinnes but having entirely justified them by his grace will make them raigne with him in his heavenly throne for ever F. S. N. Such is the great mysterie of our redemption which by the working of the grace of the Holy Ghost you mâ—sâ— firmly believe was wroughâ— for your salvation And doubt not but that by the merit of Iesus Christ the head of his Church you are a member incorporated into the same returning him thanks in great humilitie that he hath been so gracious unto you to have graunted you the happines to have lived in the communion and company of his faithfull ones for having fed you with his Word with his Body and Bloud acknowledging as being fully assured the great mercy of God in the remission of all your sinnes which is made over unto you in Iesus Christ who will raise you up againe at the last day to make you raigne with him in life everlasting which he hath promised unto all those which believe in him being baptised into his name Now F. S. N. seeing you have this faith doubt you not to receive the promise of Faith for God is true he cannot lie as man Sooner shall heaven and earth perish But the Word of God shall abide for ever God is your Father and Creator you are his creature and the worke of his hands He hath not made you to destroy you for he is the Saviour of all men and will not the death of a sinner but rather that he be converted and live Wherefore I declare unto you in the Name of God that out of his great goodnesse and mercy he gives you full pardon and forgivenesse of all your sins thorow the sole merit of his Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord in the shedding of his precious bloud for he is the propitiation not only for all your sins but for all the sins of the world F. S. N. Iesus Christ saith with his own mouth that all things are possible unto him that believeth Believe then without doubting at all that Iesus Christ putting on our flesh was made true man wherin he died for you having taken upon him all your sinnes in his body to abolish and blot them out Set before and present unto God the precious death of his Sonne Iesus Christ and for the merit of the same death and Passion ask his mercy in saying from the bottome of your heart in great humilitie and repentance O Lord God Almighty be mercifull unto me a poore and miserable sinner for thy deare Sonne my Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ 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. Put your whole assured trust and confidence in God For seeing he is for you none shal be against you for Iesus Christ who is the Lamb without spot or blemish hath overcome all for you He offered up himselfe once for you and by the same sole oblation hath wholly abolished all your sinnes He hath abrogated made void and forcelesse your follie unrighteousnesse abomination and obligation With this good Lord Iesus Christ God the