shall give us He himself in that place sheweth us that he speaks not that but only to shew us that although our bodies shall rise in the same substance which now they have they shall notwithstanding be changed in quality and glory seeing that this corruption most put on incorruption and that this mortality shall be swallowed up of life and put on immortality 1 Cor. 15. declaring that they shall be these self same bodies in substance but divers in qualities St. Paul saith Phil. 3. Christ will transform this vile body that it may be made like unto his glorious boâ—y according to the power by which he is able to make all things subject unto himself Mat. 27. Whereon followeth that as Jesus Christ rose again in the same body which was crucified for us being cleansed and discharged of all infirmity Luke 24. John 20. also we shall rise again in the same bodies which now we have in this world having in them cold heat hunger and thrist poverty sickness banishment imprisonment and such like adversities Heb. 10. 11. being cleansed and disrobed of all that which by sin did cause us any grief for Justice of God cannot consist without remunerating the bodies of those that have sought for his glory in crowning his graces in them and punishing those which have laboured to offend him Moreover we see that those which the Prophets and Apostles and Jesus Christ himself have raised again Mat. 27. it hath been in the self same bodies in the which the had lived before Who doubts but those that rose again at the death of our Lord did rise in the self same hodies which they had before for otherwise how should they have been known by those to whom they did appear The Apostles puts us out of doubt of it saying 1 Cor. 15. That if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead doth dwell in us he that hath raised up Christ from the dead will also quicken our mortal bodies because his spirit dwelleth in us he saith more over that the body which is sown in corruption shall rise again in incorruption It is sown in dishonour it shall rise again in glory it is sown in weakness it shall rise again in power it is sown a sensual body it shall rise a spiritual body Wherefore we ought to believe that the bodies which now we have shall be the self same which shall rise again in the same substance but the earthly qualities shall be changed into heavenly which is no small consolation seeing that we love our bodies so much although that in this world they be laden with so many miseries The Third point AS concerning the Authour of the Resurrection the Scripture doth declare unto us that God the Father in the beginning made man by his word Gen. 1. 2. which is his son John 1. and having made his body breathed into him a living soul by his spirit Gen. 2. Psal 33. so in the Resurrection of the dead 2 Cor. 4. he shall raise us again by his Son in a quickning spirit And when the Son of justice shall come in judgment for to judge the quick and the dead Mal. 4. the Sun shall wax dark Revel 1. and the Moon shall not yield her light 2 Tim. 4. and the brightness of the Stars shall be seen no more then if they were fallen from Heaven and the vertues which are in the Heavens as the Stars Mat. 24. the Planets and other coelestial creatures with Heaven and Earth shall be shaken Luke 21. Revel 6. then the Sea and her waves shall roar after an unaccustomed manner 2 Pet. 3. and when the order of nature shall be changed those shall be signs of the coming of the Son of man Mat. 16. And when that Jesus Christ the Son of God shall come who took humane nature upon him in the Virgins womb Luke 1. Acts 1. he shall come in the same body wherewith he did converse here below upon the Earth before and after his death as he himself declares calling himself the Son of man sent of God his Father Mat. 24. Mark 13. who gave him power to do judgment in so much as he is the Son of man Luke 24. John 5. set above the clouds at the right hand of the power of God Mark 16.24 1 Thess 4. accompanied with the voices of Archangels and of Angels with Gods Trumpets Rev. 1. and all eyes shall behold him Mat. 24. for he will cause his sign to appear in Heaven 1 Cor. 15. and his voice to be heard the which at the last trump shall be heard of those that have been put into the Sepulchres to the end that first they may rise again 1 Thess 4. and those which shall be found living shall hear it also to the end they may be translated which unto them shall be a kind of death being changed from mortal and corruptible to immortall and incorruptible bodies 1 Cor. 35. and shall rise again and shall be changed in a moment and twinckling of an eye This day shall not surprise the elect that are in the light because it shall be the day which they have so long waited for and wished with the other creatures 1 Thes 5. 1 John 1 for to those who have overcome Satan by the blood of the Lamb 1 Cor. 1. and by the word of their testimony Rom. 8. and have not loved their lives to death 1 John 2.4.8.5 it shall bring unto them an unspeakable joy Rev. 12.21 making them lift up their heads aloft seeing their perfect deliverance come For their Saviour shall send his Angels with great sound of Trumpets to gather them together Esay 35. how far in sunder soever they be from the four winds Zach. 9. from the end of the earth to the end of heaven Luc. 22. Rom. 8. and then they shall be altogether caught within the clouds to meet the Lord in the Air 2 Thes 4. for to be joyned with their head as members of his body and shall be always with him who will separate them from the reprobates as the Shepheard doth the Sheep from the Goates Mat. 25. to put them both in body and soul in full possession of the everlasting heritage and happiness by them so long hoped for The Estate of the Elect that are Risen again THen their bodies which shall be risen again in triumph shall be changed not in substance but in quality being discharged of the earthly heaviness for to be made spiritual bodies 1 Cor. 15. to the end to be fit for the heavenly habitation where they have no need of meats which do corrupt Rev. 7. for they shall be no more hungry nor thirsty and they shall dye no more but shall use the heavenly food which is the word of God Luc. 20. they shall also be delivered from the bondage of sin for to serve evermore to Justice For these are the two principal things which hinder man from beholding the face of God this heavy earthly body
we now see them and to infer thereupon that being of the same power and efficacy in all other things nothing is impossible nor uncertain of all that which God doth say and promise unto us And therefore as St. James saith Receiving His holy Word by Faith in our Hearts and the Promises which He hath made us to give us Eternal Life we ought to assure our selves of it and take away all fear and apprehension of Death What was the cause of the ruin of us and our Fore-fathers Was it not because they did decline from the Word of God to follow their own Fancies and the Counsel of Satan If then on the contrary we will cleave to it without leaning any jot either to the right hand or to the left we shall live by it and in it Hearken unto Me saith GOD speaking by Isaiah and your Soul shall Live And Zachary in his Song He hath given us a knowledge of Salvation And St. Peter speaking to Jesus Christ Thy Words are Words of Eternal Life If GOD the Prophets and Apostles do assure us that the Word of God received by a true Faith in our Hearts doth there quicken keeping and retaining it What occasion have we then to fear Death Moreover by Faith we dwell in Jesus Christ and have him dwelling in us who having Life in himself as his Father doth quicken us and all those unto whom he doth communicate himself Wherefore then being his Members Flesh of His Flesh and Bone of His Bones in brief being one with him shall we fear Death Hath not He power over it and not only for Himself but also for us He saith S. Cyprian who hath once overcome Death for us will always overcome it in us Hath not he beat down dispossessed chased and spoiled Satan the Prince and Lord of Death Hath not he accomplished the Law and by this perfect Obedience which he hath born to God his Father appeased his Anger satisfied his Will and abolished the malediction of the Law which is nothing else but Death Did not he die to make it die when he rose again Hath not he broken and dissipated all the Torments plucked down the Gates of Hell and triumphed over her and all her Power Say not henceforth faith St. Paul who shall go up into Heaven or who shall descend into the depths for to bring Life unto us For Jesus Christ is dead and risen again from the dead for to deliver us from death and risen again to restore us to Life He is our Pastor and for this Reason we ought not to fear that any Creature should snatch us by Violence out of his Hands or can hinder him from giving us Eternal Life He is our Advocate we ought not then to fear to be overthrown in Judgment nor that by Sentence we should be condemned to death He is our Mediator we need not to fear the Wrath of God He is our Light we not fear Darkness He is our Shadow and our Clouds we ought not then to fear the heat of the Fire Eternal no more than did the Children of Israel the heat of the Sun in the Wilderness being hidden under the Pillar Let us then for these Reasons forsake and cast behind us all Fear of Death which having had no Power nor Advantage over the Head shall have no Power over his Members Again By Faith we have with Jesus Christ God his Father and are allied and joined together with him as he saith by his Prophet I will marry thee if thou wilt promise me thy Faith And Jesus Christ in St. John He that loveth me will keep my word and I and my Father will come and dwell in him For this Reason we are also called his Temples because we are consecrated and dedicated unto him by his Holy Spirit that he should dwell in us Now seeing God is with us we have the Original the Fountain the Cause the Beginning and the Author of Life we have the great Jehovah of whome all things depend by whome all things are and move in whome the Angels Archangels Principalities the Heavens and all the Elements consist we have him from whome all Creatures Visible and Invisible take their Life and their Being by the Participations which they have with him We have him who is the most Perfect and most Soveraign Work-man of all things who by his breath doth quicken and make them to Live and by his power infinite doth preserve them We have to make short Him who only can fatisfie and by his Presence cause that of Life and of all other good things we shall have and think we have enough Shall we then fear Death in such company If as St. Augustine saith God is the Soul of our Soul we cannot die but by being separated from him the which David doth confirm in one of his Psalmes saying Those shall perish O Lord who do depart and go from thee which being considered let us strive only to keep him with us by Faith and Obedience and besides let us take away all the fear which we may have of Death Again by Faith we have the Spirit of God You are not Carnal saith St. Paul writing to the Romans but are Spiritual for who hath not the Spirit of God is none of his And else-where speaking to the Galathians Have you not the Spirit of God by Faith Now this Spirit is the Spirit of Life if God withdraws it from his Creatures they die they perish and come suddenly to nught On the contrary when he pleaseth to send and pour it upon them he raiseth and restoreth them in an instant even as we see a Hen brooding of her Eggs by a secret vertue doth disclose and bring them to Life albeit that before they were without sence or feeling Even so doth the Spirit of God all Creatures by his Divine Power He giveth testimony and doth assure us in our Hearts that we are the Children of God to the end that from him as from our Father by a certain and assured hope we should wait and look for Life He is a pledge unto us for fear lest we should doubt Having therefore such earnest of Life having testimony from him who being the Spirit of Truth cannot lie nor abuse having him himself who is the preserver of all Creatures shall we fear Death It is as much as who should fear the darkness at noon-day the Spirit of him who hath raised again Jesus Christ and who hath up-held him because he should not be overcome of Death being in us will quicken us also saith Saint Paul and will preserve us from it let us then put away all fear of it Faith also causeth that God doth adopt and repute us for his Children you are all Children of God by faith saith St. Paul and St. John he hath given power to all those that shall receive him and believe in his Name to be made the Children of God then being Children we are the Heirs and Co-heirs with
Jesus Christ and we are by the means of this adoption certain once to come unto Life unto the rest and unto the glory wherein we shall Reign Eternally with his Father Moreover being Children of God we are of his Houshold and it is not in his House where Death dwelleth it is in Hell in the Devil's House in Heaven and the Place where God abides there is an unspeakable Light so great a Beatitude and Happiness that in the Contemplation thereof David crying out said O how they are happy that do inhabit and dwell in thy House And elsewhere In this consists all my good Lord that I may be near unto thee Again being Children we are at Liberty free from Sin free from Death free from the Condemnation and Rigour of the Law freed from Service and Force of the Devil what do we fear being then Children of God and consequently Brothers of Jesus Christ Is it possible that he can ever deny or abandon his Flesh and Blood or suffer them to die having Power to save them Therefore being the Children of God our Father he loveth us with a Love unseigned and Fatherly And if as saith St. Paul during the time that we were his Enemies he had such a care over us that not sparing his only begotten Son he hath delivered him over to Death to preserve us from it and to reconcile us unto himself now that we are his Friends and in his Favour will he not save us Who is that Man who considering these Reasons will not presently assure himself and cast away all fear which he had of Death That which also ought to assure us against Death and take away all fear which we have of it and of the Horrour and Anguish prepared for the reprobate and damned is our Calling that God of his Grace hath vouchsafed to withdraw us out of the Darkness wherein we were and to illuminate us by his Holy Spirit teaching us by his Holy Word wherein we ought to trust and wherein lyeth our Salvation and so what we ought to do to please and obey him to the end that walking in his Law and serving him in all Justice and Holiness we might after we have a little suffered in this World be faithfully glorified with him in the end for that which God beginneth he will accomplish and when he hath determined to call any one to him and to save him he never changeth his Counsel neither doth repent himself of the good that he will do unto him He us Unchangeable and so stedfast in his Purpose and Determination that that which he once Wills and Ordains he doth execute without being turned from it If then we feel in our selves that God hath given us the Grace to hear to believe and to love his Word and to fly from and reject all that which is contrary to it and to have an Affection to observe that which he commandeth us and a dislike if haply by infirmity or otherwise we chrnce to commit any thing against his Law Let us not doubt but we are regenerate elected and predestinated to Eternal Life and consequently out of danger of Death Let us then take away all fear and let us say with St. Paul What shall separate us from the Love and Charity of God What shall make us to think that he hath not a will to save us It shall not be Pain Affliction Hunger Persecution nor Adversity nor Death nor any Creature whatsoever shall make us to doubt that he doth not love us in the favour of Jesus Christ and that having chosen called and justified us in him but that finally he will also glorify us by him The Sacraments which Jesus Christ hath left us for the Confirmation of our Faith ought likewise to assure and strengthen us against the Fear of Death First Baptism by the which we are buried and die with Christ that we may rise again with him in the which we are washed from all our sins and clothed with his Innocency to the end that presenting our selves to the Father so adorned and covered with the Robe of our Elder Brother we may receive his Holy Blessing and be saved from the Deluge wherein all the Infidels perish as Noah was in his time by the Ark. Having then the Promises of God as we have said before and over and above his Sign and Seal by the which he has bound himself to render that Life to us which we havelost by our Sin wherefore then do we fear Death doe we think that he will revoke or that he will deny and disavow his own Sign and Seal Secondly The Lord's Supper where we take the Bread and the Wine for to be received into the Communion and Participation of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ and by Consequent into the Fruits of them that is to have part in his Obedience in his Justice in his Satisfaction and Redemption in the Testament and new Alliance and generally in all the promises of God the which by his Death have been ratified It remaineth now to conclude our purpose and to infer upon the precedent things that if we fear Death it is for want of considering them or if we do consider them it is for want of believing them for there is no man so timerous being firmly perswaded of that which is spoken but will take away all fear of Death and will say with David I shall not die but always live to declare perpetually the Works of the Lord and praise him And who will not scorn at it with St. Paul and insult upon it saying O Death where is thy Victory Where is thy Sting Where is thy Strength Where is thy Terrour and Fear which Men had of thee Jesus Christ our Saviour perceiving the time of his Death draw near said that in short time he should pass from this World to go to his Father calling Death a Passage which should greatly comfort us We have almost all this opinion rooted in us and it is that which doth so Discourage us that it is a dangerous passage and uneasie Now for to take it from us and to stir up our Hearts he would needs pass it before us and as it were sound the depth to the end that we seeing that he did not stick at it should take Courage As also we see before and after him the Prophets Apostles Martyrs and other Holy Persons have done it who having passed it without any apprehension of Danger and being escaped safe and well do now rejoice with God that they are gotten to the Land and to the Port where they did aspire Shall we then be such Cowards shall we be so faint hearted and of such tender and effeminate Courage as to fear to go by a place so frequent and a way so great and beaten that Men go it as said some of the Ancients Blindfold Likewise we see that not one alone of those that trusted in God calling upon his aid that put themselves
that which we purpose Is it not our Rest Why do we gather Goods with a thousand troubles and as many dangers Why do we Study Why do we Fight Why do we Labour Why do we all other things Is it not by that means to come to ease and to a rest which we pretend and seek as a soveraign good VVhat is the principal reward which God doth promise to his People and to all those that serve him Faithfully Is it not a perpetual rest where into he himself is entred since the Creation of the VVorld VVhen we do Pray unto Him that His Kingdom come Is it peace and rest Finally what we do hope for at his Hands Is it not that Then the rest which God hath promised us which we demand of him which we wait for and which we do purpose as the end and conclusion of all that we do and undertake is given us by no other means but by Death Some seek for it in their Goods which they love supposing there to find it others in Study others in Voluptuousness and wordly Pleasures But all this is but an abuse for it is found no where but in Death which we ought more to Love for this reason than the Wordling doth his Pleasure the Covetous Man his Treasure the Scholar his Books or the Ambitious his Humours by reason that in one Hour it putteth into our hands and gives us the enjoying of Goods which they cannot find by great Labour all their life time in the aforesaid things Furthermore Death causeth that by it we are content fatisfied and very happy Happy are those which depart in the Faith of our Lord saith St. John Then is this Blessedness the soveraign good where unto we aspire and which we cannot find in this World where we are never content If we have Goods we desire Knowledge if we have Knowledge we desire Honours if we have Honours we desire Health if we have Health we desire to be Young Briefly we always want something which we seek after and when we cannot get it that is a cause of grudging and discontentment But then shall we be fully satisfied as saith David When by Death we are come to the Kingdom of God and his Glory hath appeared unto us In it are all things it is the Soveraign good which doth comprehend all other therefore when we shall have it our appetite and desire shall rest in it we shall rest there without going any further without demanding or seeking for any thing else Then shall be accomplished that which Jesus Christ hath promised to all his Faithful who believing in him with an entire Faith and such a one as God requires in his Word will raise up in their Hearts a Spring of Water of Life springing to Life Eternal We shall no more fear any thing being no more in danger we shall desire nothing having all in our possession we shall hope for nothing for all Promises shall be accomplished we shall no more ask any thing for we shall have no more need God shall be all in all If we will be rich we shall then have Him that doth in rich all those that call upon His Holy Name if we will be wise we shall have the Heavenly Wisdom if we will be mighty we shall have the Almighty if we desire to be good we shall have the only excellent Good if we will be fair we shall have the great Architect and perfect Workman of all things If we will be healthful and live long we shall have the Eternal All our Senses shall be ravished with the greatness of the Pleasures which they shall have and feel Our Eyes seeing the great sumptuous and magnificent Pallace of our God seeing the perfect and soveraigne Beauty of His bright shining Face Seeing the Sun of Justice the Fountain of Water of Life the Tree of Life the Paradice that is to say the pleasant Garden of our GOD His fair and noble company of Angels of Apostles Patriarchs Martyrs and of all the blessed Spirits And if the only sight of Jesus Christ transfigured in the Mountain was of such great power that St. Peter all other things forgotten in an instant was thereby transported out of himself and desired so to remain perpetually What may we think of the joy and pleasure that he receives who seeth Jesus Christ glorified and with him his Father his Holy Spirit and all the aforesaid Assembly Eye hath not seen Ear hath not heard Heart hath never conceived the good the pleasure the rest and the contentment prepared for those which God hath Elected to Salvation Our Ears shall likewise be ravished hearing the Discourses and Sermons of the incomprehensible Wisdom of our God Again the good Musick the sweet and pleasant accords of the Angels and Saints reigning with Him which Sing without ceasing To the Holy Holy Holy God of Hosts be Honour and Glory for ever and ever Selomon upon the Earth ravished the People and made them astonished at the great Wisdom and Knowledge that was in him So did Jesus Christ also when He Preached What can he then now do in Heaven where all the great treasures of his divine Eloquence are unfolded and laid open When Aeschines had repeated to the Rhodians the Oration of Demosthenes for the which he was Banished seeing that they marvelled at it What would you have done said he if you had heard him pronounce it We also that are so ravished only with the reading of the Holy Scriptures when we shall hear Jesus Christ pronounce them and with open Mouth discourse continually with us shall we not stand before him In the like extasie as was S. Paul being ravished into the third Heavens Shall we not have our Eyes setled with continual looking upon our Master and our Ears always attentive to hearken unto him Plato gave God thanks for Three things for that he was a Man for that he was a Grecian for that he had been so happy as to hear Socrates And shall not we give him thanks for that we are Christians for that we are Heavenly and for that by the means of Death we hope Eternally to hear the Wisdom of God We have said what we shall see and hear and now what shall we taste We shall be set at the Table of our Lord where we shall have abundance of all good things It shall be covered with meats that he hath prepared and reserved a long while since for that banquet we shall there be fed with the bread of Angels we shall be made to drink in Brooks of Pleasure we shall be filled with all good things we shall be always at Nuptials and in an instant we shall forget all the delights of the Earth having tasted those of Heaven as did the Companions of Vlysses all other meats when they had eaten Lotos so celebrated by Homer It is an other manner of Manna than that of the Children of Israel for they waxed weary of it and were sorry
is endued with understanding with reason and with judgment to know the soveraign good which is God to love him to adhere and unite our selves unto him that we may have part of his immortality and happiness Now we forsake and contemn this great good for to grovel upon the earth and to go down into the pit of carnal desires applying the vigour of our understanding and judgment to things that are not worth the pains that we employ in them We bury our selves quick of heavenly we become earthly and of men created for eternal life we endeavour as much as in us lieth to set our selves in the rank of brute Beasts God doth not forsake us nevertheless although that our ingratitude hath well deserved it but calls us unto him by his word presents unto us infinite testimonies of his grace continues it daily he supports exhorts counsels chides and fatherly chastiseth us Nevertheless we continue blind deaf and negligent despising his goodness or use it not as we should or indeed abusing it nay which is worse we love vain and transitory things better and have our minds too much fixed and setled upon them God stretcheth forth his hand to conduct us we draw back ours and fly when he calleth us If he put us into the way of salvation we grudge and repine for the world we look behind us deferring and remitting our amendment till to morrow Let us awake then let us not always stick in the mire let us strengthen our selves in the vertue of him that supports and succours us let us a little undertake to despise corruptible things and to desire those that are truly good and everlasting When God calleth us let us hearken if he guids us let us follow him that we may come to his house let us receive his good things and himself too for he gives himself unto us in the person of his Son He shews us the means to get to Heaven let us then desire of him to give us the will and courage by faith repentance charity and hope to aim thither and that he would maintain his grace in us until the end to sigh in this mortal life and to wait through the assurance of his mercy for our departure out of this world and our last day which shall be the beginning of our true life Prayers and Meditations HOW great are the illusions and impostures of the enemy of our salvation He sheweth us afar off things that are ridiculous and vain and perswades us that it is all good and happiness he scares us with things that we ought not to fear and makes us to fly from those things which we ought to imbrace He calleth inticeth and flattereth us by the means of our desires if that will not serve he roars and storms and endeavours to astonish us within and without O eternal Light and Verity O Lord and merciful Father disperse those clouds of ignoranee and error illuminate our understanding and do not suffer us to come near to that which thou hast commanded us to flie from and which is hurtful and pernicious unto us let us not desire but what is truly to be desired to wit thy self who art the spring-head of all goodness of our life and of eternal happiness All flesh is grass and the glory of the man is like the flower of the field cause then that we may seek for our firmness and contentment in the grace which thy Son hath brought us let our life lye hid in him so that at the day of the separation of our souls from our bodies we may find it holy in Heaven waiting with assured rest and joy the happy Resurrection of this flesh in which all corruption infirmity and ignominy being abolished and death being swallowed up of victory we shall live eternally with thee in an incomprehensible happiness in thee by the which thou shall be glorified Maintain then thy Children O Lord in this faith and hope finishing thy work in us until they be altogether with thee for to enjoy the inheritance and the glory which thine only Son hath by his Merit purchased for them Amen Prayer OLord Jesus Christ Creator and Redeemer of Mankind who hast said I am the way the Truth and the Life I do bessech thee by this unspeakable Charity which thou hast shewed in yielding thy self to Death for us that I may never stray any jot from the who art the way nor that I doubt of thy Promises seeing thou art the Truth and dost accomplish that which thou promisest Cause that I may only take pleasure in thee who art the Eternal Life beyond the which there is nothing to be desired neither in Heaven nor Earth Thou hast taught us the true and only way to Salvation because we should not abide erring like stray'd Sheep in the lost ways of this World shewing us clearly that which we ought to believe to do to hope and wherein we ought to yield and settle our selves It is thou that hast given us to understand how cursed we are in Adam and that there is no way to escape from this Perdition in the which we are plunged but by Faith in thee Thou art that true Light which dost appear to those that walk in the desert of this Life and who having drawn us out of the darkness of the spiritual Egypt hast driven away the darkness of our Understanding and dost enlighten us to the end we may tend towards the promised Inheritance which is the Life Everlasting into the which the Unbelievers does not enter but those that have assuredly relied upon thy holy Promises O what a Goodness is it that thou hast vouchsafed to descend from thy Fathers-Bosom and from the Everlasting Throne to the Earth to put on our poor Nature of Master to become Servant to the end that by thy Doctrine thou mightest do away the darkness of our Ignorance to guide our feet into the way of Peace and to make plain the way of Salvation unto us which if we follow we cannot stray nor wax weary seeing that thy Grace and Power do accompany us therein all the days of our Life Moreover by thy Spirit thou dost strengthen us in it and double our Courage Thy word is Bread which nourisheth us therein thy promise is the staff which upholds us Thou thy self by thy secret and incomprehensible vertue dost bear and maintain us in it in an admirable manner to the end that both in fair and foul weather we may walk with all Alacrity unto thee And as in preserving us thou hinderest that we do not fall into the snares of Satan and the World also seeing thou art the Truth thou takest away all doubts scruples and mistrusts which may trouble and let us or turn us during our course thou causest us to behold the supernal Vocation the misery and vanity of the World the frailty of this present Life the Gate of Death and the most happy Life which is beyond that And as thou art
and most affectionate Children It is enough for me to be among of the least of thy House amidst the greatest sinners that have obtained pardon of thee and that have some shelter in thy Palace where there are so many Dwellings That even in thy House I may be as little as thou shalt please provided that thou wilt preserve me thine for ever O Merciful Father I beseech thee that for the love of thy well beloved Son my only Saviour thou wouldst give me thy holy Spirit which may puriâ—â—e my heart and strengthen me in such sort that I may always dwell in thy House there to serve thee in Holiness and Justice all the days of my Life Amen Prayers WHat do we in this world but heap sins upon sins So that the morrow is always worse then the day before and we do not cease drawing thy indignation upon us But being out of this world in thy heritage we shall be altogether assured of our perfect and eternal felicity the miseries of the bodies shall be abolished the vices and filthiness of the Soul shall be done away O Heavenly Father increase our Faith in us for fear lest we should doubt of things so certain Imprint thy Grace and thy Love in our Hearts which may lift us up to thee and strengthen us in thy fear And because thou hast lodged us in this World there for to remain as long as it shall please thee without declaring unto us the day of our departure the which thou alone knowest I do beseech thee to take me out of it when thou in thy mercy pleasest and then to do me that good that I may acknowledge the same that in the mean while I may fit my self thereuuto as thou hast appointed by thy holy Name through Jesus Christ our blessed Saviour and Redeemer Amen Another THis body is the Prison of the Soul yea a dark Prison narrow and fearful we are as it were banished men in this world our life is but woe and misery on the contrary Lord it is in thy heavenly Kingdom that we find our Liberty our Country and our perfect Contentment A wake our Sould by thy word to the remembrance and apprehension of such a good imprint in our Hearts the love and the desire of the Everlasting good things and only to be wished for give unto our Consciences some taste of that joy wherewith the happy Souls which are in Heaven are filled that I may hold as dung and filth all that which the Worldlings find so fair and covet so much which so obstinately they retain and do adore with such fervency Cause that finding taste but in thy verity and grace I may wait for calling upon thee the day of my perfect deliverance thro' Jesus Christ thy Son to whom with thee and the holy Spirit be glory Everlasting Amen Another O Lord Jesus the only Salvation of the Living Life everlasting of the dead I submit my self to thy holy Will whether it be thy pleasure yet to suffer my Soul to be some space within this body for to serve thee or that it please thee to take it out of prison being assured that what thou keepest cannot perish I am content with all my heart that my Body return into the Earth from whence it was taken believing the last Resurrection which shall make it immortal incorruptible and full of Glory I do beseech thee to fortifie my Sould against all temptation environ me with the buckler of thy Mercy to beat back the darts of Satan As for me I am weakness it self but I rely upon thy strength and goodness I cannot alledge any good thing before thee whereof to boast on the contrary alas my sins infinite in number accuse and torment me but thy merit assures me that I shall be saved for I hold for certain that thou wert born for me that thou wert tempted that thou hast obeyed to God thy Father that thou hast taught and brought Life Everlasting for me seeing thou hast given thy self to me with all these good things let not such a gift be unprofitable let thy blood wipe out the filth of my faults thy Justice cover my Iniquities thy Merits make me to find Grace before the heavenly Throne If my Evils do increase augment thy Grace in me so that Faith Hope and Charity may not dye but rather wax strong in me that the apprehension of Death do not daunt me but that even after this body shall be as it were dead cause that the Eyes of my Soul may lift themselves up to Heaven that the Heart may then cry fervently unto thee Lord I commend my Soul into thy Hands fulfil thy work for thou hast bought me I am thine by the Gift of thy Father to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be Everlasting Glory Amen The Humble Suit of a Sinner for the Pardon of his Sins O Most just and dreadful God equitable in all thy Judgments who sufferest no Sin to pass unpunished either in this Life or in the Life to come Let me have with Job this Consolation That afflicting me thou wouldst not spare me here to punish me hereafter Here rather burn here cut that hereafter thou mayest spare me That Union O God which thou didst put at my Creation betwixt my Soul and my Body I have not employed for to serve thee therefore I will that henceforth it be dissolved For too great affection I had to Riches and for my ill employing of them I will deny my self of all things under the Sun and will have no more but a Sheet Coffin and an hole to lye in and wait for thy Coming For the too great love I carried to my Husband Wife Children Parents Friends Companions Conversation and Company I will now willingly abandon them all and their Embracements and kindly Usage I will also have an end put to all my Senses that henceforth I neither See Hear Touch Taste nor Smell any thing for not having ruled them nor shut them up by mortification when the Devil was seeking entry into my Soul From henceforth Lord I will put silence to this wicked Tongue of mine which hath been so great an Instrument of Impiety swearing lying cursing defaming backbiting detracting and breaking forth so often in impure dishonest and injurious Speeches against thee and my Neighbour For the too great mind I had to run go and walk in the ways of the wicked For the too frequent impure postures gestures and motions of my Body I will lye dead in the Grave and desire that henceforth none do so much as name me or speak a word of me by reason I was too desirous to be in every ones mouth and to be praised and conserved in their Memories and because I did so much affect Honour Dignity and the things of the Earth and did so much search after delicate fare soft bedding and good cloathing and did nourish and pamper this flesh of mine with too great care for honour I will lye in abjection and for that I aspired to have others bowing their heads to me and to be lifted above them I will have them to trample over me For my love to the Earth I will return to it for my Food I will have the Worms to crawl in and out at my Mouth for my Bed I will have a Grave for my Garments a Sheet and for thy dainty usage of my Body I will henceforth turn all my Beauty into Corruption Receive then O just God all these things in Punishment of my many Offences for so this being thy just Will it is also mine Only O god of Justice let my Punishment be here in this Life that I may find thee to be a God of Mercy in the Life to come for thou hast declared by thy Servant David that thy Mercies are above all thy Works Grant this O Lord for the Merits of thy only Son my Saviour Jesus Christ Amen FINIS