our comfort delight and refuge Let vs then no longer lye weltring in sorrow lest by ouerlong lamenting wee encrease Gods wrath and prouoke him to correct vs with a heauier crosse If a Father should send one of his children into a farre Country to see and learne fashions and the childes brother in the meane while should neuer linne complaining that hee had lost his play-fellow would not this continuall whining at the last out-weary the Father Surely when his words could not herein preuaile with him hee would at the last better instruct him with a rod and so make him to be quiet Therefore let vs also willingly yeeld our necks vnto the yoake of Gods will and in patience possesse our soules Luk 21.19 that our impatience draw not his wrath downe vpon vs. Wee must not like children still cry and whine nor thinke that our loue due to the dead requires it of vs. They themselues would chide vs if our of heauen they should behold our endlesse lamenting for them True loue should giue vs occasion of ioy If ye loued me Ioh. 14.28 ye would reioyce saith Wisdome it selfe because I said I goe vnto the Father We must then bannish our of our hearts by a manly or rather a Christian courage this discomfort and manifest our strength by our patience For as Salomon sayes Hee that ruleth his Spirit Pro. 16.32 is better then he that taketh a Citie The holy Scipture that sayes Let the dead bury the dead Math. 8.22 whose buriall yet notwithstanding was necessary with more reason ought to perswade vs that wee should let the dead bewaile the dead which is not necessary at al. But why doe we still let our thoughts dwell in the graue whither we haue willingly caused the bodies of our best friends to be caried and there to be left Let vs lift our heads higher Let vs erect our hearts toward heauen whither God hath directed their soules There the best part of them is yet liuing There their soules remaine by the operations whereof their bodies did here delight vs. There I say our friends yet liue This wee may learne of Iob to whom God afterwards as the holy Scripture witnesseth gaue twice as much as hee had before To wit for seauen thousand Iob 1.2 Iob 42.12 hee gaue him foureteene thousand sheepe and so forth But in stead of tenne children he gaue him but tenne againe How then were they doubled his liuelesse Cattell were stone dead His deceased children were aliue still in heauen and the ten more giuen him here made them vp twenty Let vs then obserue hence that although our louing parents husbands wiues and children or friends are departed out of this world yet for all that they be not therefore dead but aliue yea that they may still be called ours And what greater comfort or reason then can wee haue to stay or stop our mourning then this Or if we cannot haile our senses out of the graue let vs at least behold and consider their bodies there with the eyes of the true Apostolique faith and wee shall finde them there constantly expecting the resurrection of the body Sym. Apost and life euerlasting And this is that which the Apostle on good ground charges vs 2 Thes 4.18 to comfort one another withall Calling on God And to conclude though wee haue set downe much comfort and diuers remedies against sorrowes yet except the Lord build the house Psal 127.1 they labour in vaine that build it In vaine doe we take in hand to cure the body In vaine doe we instruct the spirit vnlesse God stretch forth his ayding hand All sorrowfull hearts must then fall downe before him in whom is the fulnesse of ioy Psal 16.11 and call vpon him continually to release them of their sorrow Hee can soone scatter through the light of his spirit all those thick clouds of misery which often euen against our owne will doe compasse vs about Let vs take heed onely that with Martha wee be not too much troubled Luk. 10.39 and let vs with Mary rather set our selues at his feete and willingly embrace his comforts Or if we cannot wholy keepe our selues from sorrowing let vs not weepe ouer the dead but with the daughters of Ierusalem weepe for our selues that yet liue Luk. 23.28 Let vs freely mourne for our cōmon sins that brought death into the world and striue to diminish them daily more more by repentance so shall this religious sorrow be comfortable vnto vs and procure vs an eternall ioy Which we entreat that Comforter to grant vnto vs Ioh. 14.16 which our Sauiour promised to send his Disciples Amen A Prayer for the sicke written by Mr. I. KING Minister of Gods word in London ETernall and omnipotent God most kinde and mercifull Father I thy poore creature dust ashes appeare before thy high diuine Maiesty with a hearty confession of my vilenesse and manifold sinnes wherewith in soule and body I am defiled and so wounded that from the sole of my feere to the top of my head there is nothing sound in me For in my vnderstanding is nothing but blindnesse in my will nothing but obstinacie against thy commandements my heart is a root of all iniquity my externall members are weapons of vnrighteousnesse yea through my disobedience incredulity ingratitude I haue so farre turned aside from thee and strayed from thy wayes that I am become a slaue to sinne and a childe of wrath whereby I haue deserued not only temporall punishments but euen eternall death and damnation if so be thou shouldest enter into iust iudgement with me But seeing that thou O Father of all comfort doest not reiect those that come vnto thee with true repentance of their manifold sins but hast promised to heare those that call on thee with a broken heart and a deiected spirit I now come vnto thee in confidence of thy bottomlesse mercy which thou hast showne and offered vnto me in thy welbeloued Son my Sauiour Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent into to this world to bee a ransome for all my sinnes And entreate thee O faithfull God and Father that thou mercifully wilt heare my prayer which I offer vnto thee in his name being now visited with a heauy sicknesse Grant that I through this thy fatherly chastising may so feele the greatnesse of my sinnes and heauinesse of the same that yet thereby I may not fall into despaire But that rather through this thy fatherly correction I may be moued to flie vnto thee with whom is much forgiuenes that doest not desire the death of a finner but that he repent and liue Thou that strikest and woundest indeede as a seuere Iudge with the sword of thy law but againe as a spirituall Chirurgion bindest vp and healest with the wholesome oyle of thy holy Gospell that bringest indeede thy children to the vttermost extremity as if it were to the torments of hell
Amos asketh the question If there shall be any euill in a Citie and the Lord hath not done it Amos 3.6 Yet this generall working of God neither maketh God guilty nor excuseth man of any euill It is with God in some sort as it is with a man that throâ—gh the bellowes blowes the winde in the Organ pipes Hee causes false strokes when a bungler is at the keyes as well to sound as the musicall notes when the skilfull Organist playes For without this winde can no bungler either heare his owne vnskilfulnesse or manifest it to others Yet is not he that blowes in fault the bungler vnskilfully abuseth the sound of a good Organ In like manner all the force that our soule hath to moue it selfe or our members to stirre themselues comes onely from God But the peruerting of these to the plotting or acting of euill proceedes from our selues Againe Comfort out of Gods Prouidence is the knowledge then of Gods prouidence and predestination vnprofitable vnto vs This is the onely comfort of wise and godly men For these doe endeauour to obey the reuealed will of God and with great content of minde commit the euent vnto him both of this life and of all their actions in the same Yea they proceede farther If here they enioy a happy life or if they receiue any kinde of benefit or delight here on earth they are the more thankfull because they know it befalls them through the prouidence of the Almighty and reioyce in his fauour If their life chance to be crossed or shortned any kinde of way though they see it lights on them by the hatred of men Yet the more willingly they endure it because they know it is the secret will of their God and louing Father who is onely good and perfectly wise And it sufficeth them that the Lord harkeneth Mal. 3.16 and heareth them Hence also it commeth to passe that in all troubles of life and death in all blindnesse of minde in all weakenesse of faith in all anguishes of spirit they are wont to cast theÌ„selues submisly into the sweet and fatherly armes of this diuine prouidence and so commit their wayes vnto the Lord their God with a stedfast confidencâ— Psal 37.5 that hee will effect all things for their good THE SECOND PART CONCERNING DEATH WHich we intend now to produce endeauoureth to shew that Death is not only not preiudiciall but euen profitable vnto Gods Elect and that therfore it ought to be welcome vnto them For vnto them it is a passage to eternall blisse The which can onely be taught and declared vnto vs by the prescript of Gods word which now must be our onely guide But seeing that sicknesse is commonly a fore-runner of death we will first endeauour to shew how both before and at the time of the approach thereof wee ought to prepare our house our body and our soule Secondly we will enquire how wee may disarme Death of its sting and so arme our selues that it shall not be able to hurt our soules Thirdly wee shall seeke to strengthen the feeble in faith and to comfort the troubled consciences in their assaults And lastly we hope to make it manifest that we ought to long for the end of this life by reason of sundry honours and ioyes that expect vs after it Which foure points wee purpose in order as they follow to discusse Sicknesse from God Whether then sicknesse doe fasten on vs through an externall bad ayre or some internall distemper of blood by the sword or by the infection of other men or the sting or furie of wilde beasts by dead palsies by miscarryings or vnfortunate childe-birthes or by any other meanes or mischance whatsoeuer wee must vnderstand that God maketh these and all other manifested meanes his seruants to execute on vs his secret will Sicknesse through sin The cause for which diseases are sent is our sinne as it is set downe at large in the fifâ— booke of Moses Deut. 28. and is confirmed by St. Paul where he saith to the Corinthians For this cause many are weake and sickly among you 1 Cor. 11.29 because they take the Lords supper vnworthily Yet is it not thus alwayes For the blindnesse of that man that Christ gaue sight vnto befell him not either for his owne or his Parents sinne Ioh. 9.3 but that the workes of God should be made manifest in him But generally he that sinneth before his Maker must fall into the hands of the Phisitian saith Ecclesiasticus Ecclus. 3â— 15. But what ought wee to doe when sicknesse assaileth vs 1 Point Preparation of our house Yea what ought wee at all times to doe that Death may not be hurtfull vnto vs We must prepare our selues well against the same This did Ezechias the King learne of that Prophet that said vnto him Es 38.1 Set thy house in order for thou shalt die and not liue If so be that God commanded him for to set his house in order who had yet fifteene yeares to liue we can by no meanes procrastinate it without great danger who each houre may expect to heare with the rich man in the Gospell Luk. 12.20 This night shall thy soule be required of thee Wherefore to conceiue this aright we must vnderstand that this preparation is three-fold to wit of our houshold and earthly possessions of our body principally of our soule Touching our houshold or heires wee are not onely bound in duty to keepe them in good order and peace while we liue but likewise so to fore-cast all things that we may leaue peace with them after our departure If any prouide not for those of his owne house saith St. Paul he is worse then an Infidell 1. Tim. 5.8 Therefore is euery one of vs bound at all times but especially in the time of sicknesse to striue to end all quarrells and suites with his aduersaries to reueale all doubtfull things to his friends and besides to make a plaine and lawfull partition of his goods by his last will And he must not deferre this till hee waxe olde Gen. 2â— 1 as Isaac did who stayed till he was blinde and so at the instant could not perceiue the deceit of his wife And much lesse till he be sicke or at deaths dore For this last time will busie a sicke man enough in reconciling his soule to God Hee that first goes about to take leaue of his friends when the ship is putting off doth oftentimes loose his vovage by it And hee that at the last paspe is encombred with the world stands in danger of forgetting heauen The woman that was carefull for Sodome when shee could walke to the place of her safety Gen. 29.26 remained standing by the way And that Achitophel 2 Sam. 17.23 who set his house in order but iust before the houre of his death as the Scripture telleth vs had no great leasure to thinke on
call the righteous Math. 9.12 13. but sinners to repentance for sayes he the whole neede not the Physitian but they that are sicke Let vs only earnestly runne after him Call on him by faith as did the sick the blinde the lame as St. Mathew hath distinctly set downe and wee may yet be cured with them Yea rather before them for our Sauiour came into the world to heale the sicknesse of the soule and did but heale their bodily diseases thereby to moue them to giue him leaue to take their soules in hand And by these externall things he would haue vs to feele his infinite loue Salomons words indeed befit him well who telleth vs that Lone couereth all sinnes Pro. 10.12 Sinne indeed is so strong that it did hinder man from entring into heauen into which as yet hee neuer had set foote But the loue of God was of farregreater might that caused him to send his onely begotten Sonne into the world out of heauen 1 Ioh. 4.9 where he was in all glory and that to this end that euen the feeblest might liue through him This incomprehensible loue St. Paul termeth the riches of his grace Eph. 1.7 These riches then and this infinite treasure of his loue is the true wedding grament Mat. 22.12 that will hide all our sores at the wedding of the King and will richly adorne all wretched and forlorne soules notwithstanding any estate of pouerty or misery that their sin haâ—h brought them to if onely they can sit it vnto themselues by faith Therefore if the deuill assaile vs Iam. 4.7 let vs resist him saith the Apostle and he will flee from vs. If hee doe obiect and testifie against vs that we haue not with Maries zeale chosen the better part Let vs constantly hope that neuerthelesse Ioh. 11.5 seruing Christ with Marthas vprightnesse wee may notwithstaÌ„ding be beloued of him If he shall suggest vnto vs that we must not thinke to see that vnspeakeable ioy of the third heauen which was shewed Paul to that Elect vessell of God Luk. 23.46 yet let vs constantly trust that we shall enioy that blisse in Paradise which was granted to the Thiefe on the Crosse If hee tempt vs with the text of Holy writ that GOD doth not heare the prayers of sinners Mich. 3.4 let vs answere him with Holy writ againe Math. 4.10 Depart from me Sathan God sweares by himselfe Ezech. 33.11 that hee hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked man turne from his way and liue yea there is more ioy in heauen ouer one sinner that repenteth Luk. 15.7 then ouer ninety and nine iust persons which neede no repentance Therefore let vs turne our hearts to God Rom. 8.25 hope for that we see not and expect it with patience Doe we not heare from Christ himselfe that Iamentable voyce My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee Luk. 23.48 Yet presently after that Father into thy hands I commend my spirit Wee must also know that this our trembling for feare of Gods wrath is a token that wee doe not with worldlings carelesly neglect our sinnes or seeke to hide them from Gods sight But that we feele them with Dauid and doe confesse them vnto him and therefore may hope with him that the Lord forgiueth vs our transgressions Psal 32.5 Wee haue with the Prodigall serued the world and the deuill but now in our pouerty and agonie wee cry out with him Father I haue sinned against heauen and in thy sight Luk. 15.20.21 and am no more worthy to be called thy Sonne wherefore wee must expect that our heauenly Father will be moued with compassion and receiue vs with a kisse This straying Prodigall childe when hee so spake knew not whether his Father would receiue him into fauour againe or not yet hee found good successe with it Wherefore let vs for whose instruction and encouragement this is recorded assuredly hope that if we doe the like God will likewise receiue vs. For to haue compassion on his children is the true nature of a father which that we may assure our selues to finde in God our Lord Iesus Christ to our great comfort puts this name in our mouth in the very beginning of our prayers Let vs then cry out without ceasing Math. 6.9 Our Father forgiue vs our trespasses deliuer vs from euill and wee doubtlesse in him shall finde the right affection and effects of a Father Let vs obserue also the two Disciples that had in a manner lost both faith and hope and trauailing towards Emaus were troubled in their soules concerning the death of Iesus Christ who they had hoped as they complained should haue deliuered Israell Luk. 24.21 but now seemed to haue lost that hope And out of the aboundance of their heart their mouth vttered these things vnto a stranger in the field Now what befell them Did the Lord reiect them because they told him this euen to his face No hee tooke pitty rather on their infidelity and was with them ere they thought on him And so let vs hope beyond hope that our Redeemer mercifully now stands and beholds our perplexity though we see him not And that he in due time will very kindly and assuredly let vs feele his compassion and ayde Yea if God sent the Prophet Nathan 2 Sam. 12.7 to that King that priuately by adulterie and murther had sinned against him and if he prepared a crowing Cocke Math. 26.75 for that Apostle that publiquely had denied him and beheld them both with the eye of his compassion before euer they thorowly perceiued their owne sins or euer thought of repentance O may not we then beleeue that he will haue mercy on vs who haue our heart harder prest downe by our sinnes then if a milstone lay on it and lie now sighing to be releast Yea we must beleeue it when the Sauiour of the world himselfe saith it Behold hee is so mercifull vnto those whose hearts are sore opprest with the burthen of their sinnes that he doth not stay till they finde him But hee seekes them and cries out himselfe with a loude voyce Come vnto me all yee that labour and are heauie laden Math. 11.28 To what end to oppresse them no certainly I will giue you rest saith he Let a man obserue this well and ruminate priuately on it and his heart shall be forced to powre out secretly before the Lord either these or the like words A comfortable meditation O Lord Iesu Almighty God the onely Sauiour of the world doest thou call mee wilt thou refresh me Thou thy selfe in whose power onely the sauing and condemning of my soule doth consist Doest thou promise me this who art truth it selfe and that because I finde my selfe loaden wiâ—h many sins O Lord what or whom neede I then to feare I come I come I am he whom thou callest Behold I
but bringest them out againe Cast all my sinnes behinde thy backe Drowne them in the depth of the Sea neuer to remember them againe Nayle them on the Crosse of thy Sonne my Sauiour wash them in his blood Couer them with his righteousnesse that they neuer may appeare in account before thee Grant me also that fauour that I hartily may forgiue my neigbour that I may by a true loue witnesse that I am a true Disciple of Christ and borne of GOD. Let me feele O mercifull God and Father that this my weakenesse is no signe of thy wrath my sinnes but rather a testimonie of thy mercy that thou correctest me as a Father that I may not run into perdition with the wicked world Moderate O Lord my paines and mercifully release me out of the same that I may haue fresh matter to praise and giue thankes to thy holy name and to walke before thee in vprightnesse of heart in true holinesse and righteousnesse all the dayes of my life Grant that my life may be nothing else but a mortification of the olde man and viuification of the new that I dayly considering that man borne of a woman hath but a short time to liue and besides is full of sorrow that his life is but a shaddowe and his dayes bee vanity that he fades away as a flower in the field and continueth not at any stay may withdraw my heart and cogitations from the vanity of this world Grant O Lord that I may number my dayes that I may apply my heart vnto wisedome that I may mortifie the lust and euill concupiscences of the flesh and may by little and little bee renewed and become conformable to the image of thy Sonne Separate O Lord my sinnes from mee before they separate me from thee Grant that this my life may be nothing else but a longing for my Sauiour that I beholding him with the eyes of faith may say with the ancient Simeon Now lettest thou thy seruant depart in peace for mine eyes haue seene thy saluation Yet if it be thy good will to try me any longer with this thy fatherly rod grant that I may submit my selfe in all obedience vnto thy holy will being confident that thou that art faithfull in thy mercifull promises wilt lay no more on me then thou knowest that my weakenesse is able to beare But if it be thy fatherly will to call me away out of this troublesome life Grant mee grace to be willing and ready to forsake this earthly Tabernacle worke in mee a true faith whereby I being fastned vnto Christ my head as one of his members I may be assured that as I am partaker of his person being flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone so shall I also bee partaker of all his benefits so that I may say with St. Paul Christ hath loued me and hath giuen himselfe for me Arme me also with the same faith as with a strong shield against all temptations that I may couragiously fight against the world my own flesh yea against the deuill himselfe being assured that there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ And that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any creature shall be able to seperate me from the loue of GOD in Iesus Christ my Lord O mercifull God in whose hand is life and death assist me constantly in this conflict Though the flesh be weake and could be content to say Father if it be possible let this cup passe away from me Yet let the Spirit be willing and say not my will but thy will be done Helpe mee to conquer the terrours and panges of death which through Christ is become vnto me a passage to eternall life say vnto my soule I am thy saluation strengthen mee in the stedfast hope of the glorious resurrection wherein my humbled body shall bee made like vnto the glorified body of Christ Turne my paines and anguish into that eternall ioy that shall be in the blessed vision of thy face receiue my soule vnto thee remoue her out of this vale of misery to the company of holy Angels and to the congregation of thy Elect. Come Lord Iesu come quickly All these necessaries that I stand in neede of I begge and entreate of thee O most mercifull God and Father in the name of my onely Sauiour concluding my petition with that absolute prayer that Iesus Christ himself hath taught his Disciples and all the faithfull saying Our Father which art in heauen hallowed be thy name thy Kingdome come thy will be done on earth as it is in heauen c. FINIS