Holy Name The good of my Neighbour and the Eternal Welfare of my own Soul O let me not dare to sin against thee for the sake of any thing in the World but grant that with a constant resolution of serving and pleasing thee and by a lively Faith in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ I may be always provided for an happy departure out of this life Ah! Merciful Lord let not a sudden death overtake me unawares but â—nable me to War a good Warfare to keep Faith and a good Conscience that so wheresoever or whensoever it shall please thee to call for me out of this World I may follow thee chearfully and without delay and joyfully stand before the Tribunal of my Redeemer Jesus Christ and receive that Crown of Righteousness which is laid up for all those that love his appearing O Father of mercies and God of all Consolation let thy Holy Spirit never depart from me especially when I am yielding up the Ghost but vouchsafe me his Divine help and Assistance to vanquish all the difficulties of this World and all the Temptations of the Flesh and the Devil Grant me grace to fix my mind on nothing but thee thy goodness and mercy and to put my Trust and Confidence in the alone Merits of thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ to the last breath of my life and then O Lord receive my Soul Into thy hands I commend my Spirit O Father Son and Holy Ghost O Blessed Trinity O Eternal Unity save and defend me in this life and at the hour of Death O do not leave me nor forsake me CHAP. XVIII Of the more special and particular preparation for Death HAving now treated of the general preparation for Death which is to be performed the whole course of our life even whilst we are young and in our greatest health and vigour We now come to that more special and particular preparation which is necessary to be done when we are worn out with old Age or taken with any sudden and dangerous Disease so that we think the time of our departure is at hand For Death when we look on it at a distance only doth not much affect us but when we find it making its approaches near us we are then very pensive and disturb'd with the thoughts of it When ever therefore O Man any Disease seizeth on you think that sickness is the Harbinger of Death and that you are now admonished from Heaven as Hezechiah once was by the Prophet to set thine House in order Isa 38.2 for thou shalt die And rather look for Death than life For the event of sickness is very uncertain though at first it may seem but a light indisposition and it often happens that the Disease gaining more and more strength doth unexpectedly deprive a Man of the use of his Reason and of all serious Thoughts So that as soon as ever you find your self ill prepare your self for Death for if you should soon be well again yet your Care and Labour would not be in vain but if Death should come upon you before you are provided for it you run the hazard of losing your Soul for ever Heb. 9.27 For it is appointed unto Men once to die but after this the Judgment It is a most false and foolish opinion which hath obtained amongst some that the sick person will most certainly die if he makes his Will and receives the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ This hath no doubt been suggested by the Devil and spread abroad by ill Men that by this means they might frighten Men from fitting themselves for an happy Death Now this pre-paration consists in two parts the first thereof respects the dying Man and the other his Neighbour As to the first the dying Man is to take great care to reconcile himself to God whom he hath offended and to arm himself against all those Temptations which usually happen at that time To this end it will be necessary for him to search into his own Heart and examine over his whole life from the beginning to confess and bewail all his sins to God to pour out most Ardent Prayers and Sighs by the Assistance of the Holy Spirit for the obtaining pardon of his sins and Reconciliation with God in Christ our Saviour Examples of such Prayers may be found in the Penitential Psalms the prayer of Manasses and the like And although the sick Man ought chiefly to conless his sins to God against whom they were committed yet it is fit by the advice of the Apostle St. James James 5.16 that he should confess his faults to his Brethren to the Ministers of the Church and word of God to whom Christ hath committed the keys of binding and absolving Of remitting and retaining sins And chiefly let him confess those Crimes which most trouble his mind and with which Satan most disquiets him such let him repose in their Bosoms who are ready to assist him and to Administer suitable Consolations for sick Mens minds are many times not sedate enough for Divine Thoughts and Meditations and the Devil is very ready to divert those that offer themselves 'T is therefore the part of the Minister of Gods Word and his Friends to pray for the sick person that he may obtain pardon of his sins and not be overcome by the Temptations of the Devil It often happens that when Satan cannot drive Men to despair he then puts on another disguise and puffs them up with an opinion of their Merits This Temptation is diligently to be withstood For Satan exalteth those whom before he could not sink down that so he may cast them headlong with a more grievous fall Therefore O Man if ever such thoughts as these flatter thee consider that it is owing to Gods grace and not to your self if you are innocent from such and such offences and remember how many other ways you have offended him Or if you have been diligent in the performance of many good deeds and these come into your mind say with the Apostle 1 Cor. 15.10 By the grace of God I am what I am it was not I but the grace of God which was with me Ps 115.1 And not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name give glory Remember that Admonition of our Saviour Luk. 17.10 When ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you say we are unprofitable Servants we we have done that which was our duty to do 1 Eph. 1.8 And that of St. John if we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us As also that of St. Vae omni laudabili vitae hominum si remota misericordiâ eam discutias Domine Cons lib. 9. Cap. 13. Augustin Wo to the most perfect life of Man if thou Lord shouldest lay aside thy mercy and examine it If we read the Histories of dying Men or the
good thing for to will is present with me but how to perform that which is good I find not For the good that I would I do not but the evil which I would not v. 24. that I do c. O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death None can be wholly freed from this corruption of the flesh in this life but after death we shall be altogether deliver'd from it and they who shall be thought worthy to enter into the blessed life above shall sin no more And farther a great trouble and misery it is to pious Men that they are forc'd to live and sojourn amongst so many wicked Persons Psal 120.5 like Sheep amongst Wolves this made David cry out Wo is me that I am constrained to dwell with Mesech and to have my Habitation among the Tents of Kedar Besides our Salvation is exposed to the greatest dangers the Devil as a Roaring Lyon 1 Pet. 5.8 walketh about seeking whom he may devour The World is daily exciting us to Sin by evil Examples and fair Promises the Snares wherewith Satan and the World endeavours to intrap us are every where laid for us in Riches in Meat and Drink in our Eyes and in our Ears in our Words and in our Actions now Death wholly frees us from the Temptations of the World the Flesh and the Devil And not only from these but also from all the Calamities and Misfortues which so usually happen to Mankind in this Mortal Life That this Life is full of troubles there needs not many words to prove since both Sacred and Prophane Authors complain of the Miseries of Humane Life Job 14.1 whilst they teach that Man that is born of a Woman is of few days and full of Trouble And that the very name of Man imports all miseries This truth we all daily experience For how lamentable is our Nativity To how many evils is our Infancy exposed Our youth to how many injuries and dangers is it obnoxious With how many cares is our Manhood distracted And how is our old Age Surrounded with Calamities What reason then we have to fear death which at once frees us from all these miseries which is the only safe Haven to us who sail on this Stormy and Tempestuous Sea Nor doth death only deliver us from Sin and all the Troubles of this World but is also the gate through which we are to pass into Eternal Life wherein the just shall enjoy the most delightful Society of God the Father of Christ our Saviour of the Holy Ghost the Comforter and of all the Angels and Blessed Spirits How great this future Happiness and Beatitude is the mind of Man cannot conceive nor words express And although our Bodies shall rot in the grave or be other ways dissolved yet is there no danger that we shall be separated from Christ to whom we are joyned by the Bond of the Spirit but the dead shall remain united to Christ both in their Bodies and in their Souls and in the last Judgment their Souls and Bodies being made one shall arise together to Eternal Glory Hence in Holy Writ Death is called a Sleep and the Grave a Bed or Dormitory For all these reasons the True Christian is so provided that not only death but sudden death also doth not affright him men indeed do usually not without cause dread sudden death but if we duly consider it a wicked life spent without Repentance is much more to be fear'd than a sudden death nor is a sudden death bad because it is sudden but because for the most part it overtakes Men unprepar'd and impenitent and so casts them headlong into Destruction whereas if it finds us ready a sudden death is not evil but rather a more speedy passage from this to an Happy and Eternal Life The Prayer MOst Merciful Father open and enlighten the Eyes of my Mind to see and rightly consider the Misery and Vanity of this present life that I may not set my affections on the World nor the things in it but may with my whole Heart long after the Joys of Heaven O Lord excite in me an ardent Desire after the Celestial Life and vouchsafe me some fore taste of it by the sweetness whereof the bitterness of death may be so allay'd that I may be daily ready to leave this World and desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ our Lord Amen CHAP. X. The Duty of a Christian THE third Head of the Preparation for a Blessed Death Non potest malè mori qui bene vixerit de discipline christiana cap. 12. was to live holily and to enter into such a course of life as becomes a Christian for as St. Augustin says No Body can die ill that hath liv'd well Now he lives well that performs the Duties of a Christian He therefore who is mindful of his Eternal Salvation must diligently consider what the Duty of a Christian is or what way of living may best conduce towards the attaintment of everlasting life after this For he who would die like a Christian must live as a Christian But he who lives wickedly shall die wickedly and shall arise and be condemned with the Wicked Now although there be many Duties which belong to Christians in common with other Men yet are they not peculiar to a Christian but are ordained for the preservation of Humane Society and honest Behaviour in the World One kind of Duty there is which properly belongs to a Christian which only is needful and which whoever performs it will be well with him hereafter for evermore And what that duty is the very name of a Christian doth sufficiently intimate For whereas the Sects of all Philosophers and Religions have received their Names from their Author and Master whose Precepts Ordinances and Institutions they follow in like manner Christians are so called because they only imitate Christ and as much as in them lies tread in his steps and obey his command and moreover what cannot be said of any other Religion a Christian is one who doth not live himself but Christ liveth in him by Faith Gal. 2.20 so that Christ is the life of Christians who thenceforth manifests himself in all their actions It is then chiefly requisite a Christian should know who Christ is whose Name he bears and to whom he gave up himself in the Sacrament of Baptism what he hath done for our Salvation and what he requires of us to do To this end first we are to remember that Man was Created by God after his own Image Gen. 1. that is as the Apostle explains it Gal. 4.24 in true Holiness and Righteousness so that his understanding was comformable to God and gave to him alone all Honour and Glory Him alone he lov'd reverenced and worshipped and with Him hereafter he should have enjoy'd an immortal eternal and most blessed life Secondly 'T is to be remark'd
Come unto me all ye that labour Joh. 1.29 and I will give you rest Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world And that your sorrow for your sins may not exclude all hopes of mercy call to mind the examples of many grievous sinners who obtain'd pardon from God 2 Sam. 11. 2 King 21. such were David a Murderer and an Adulterer Manasses a very great sinner Matth. 26. the Apostle Peter who denied Christ Luk. 5. Matthew a publican sitting at the receit of custom Zacheus Luk. 19. Joh. 8. which was the chief among the publicans Mary Magdalen a sinner and an adultress the thief on the cross the Apostle Paul a persecutor of Christ who writes thus of himself This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acception that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting But if you should still be tempted to think that you are a grievous sinner and that therefore your sorrow for your sins cannot be sufficient to obtain your pardon against this temptation consider that the greatness of the Divine Mercy is not founded in your sorrow but in the merits of Christ and remember what our Lord saith Mat. 11.28 29. Come unto me all that labour and are heavy laden and I will resresh you and ye shall find rest unto your souls and Joh. 9 37. Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out To this purpose St. Chrysostome speaks very well Ne suae confidas paenitenti sâ—a namque paenitentia tantaâ—equit peccata delere sâ— sola foret poenitentia jure timeres Sed postquam cum paenitentia commiscetur Dei misericordia conside quontam vicit tuam nequitiam Multum enim est misericors Deus tantum clemens ut neque filio pepercerit ut ingratos servos reaimeret Hom. 8. â—d Popul Do not rely on your own repentance for alas your repentance can never blot out so many sins if you had nothing to trust to but your own repentance you might well be afraid But for as much as the mercy of God is joyn'd to your repentance be of good courage for that hath overcome your wickedness For God is very gracious and so merciful that he hath not spared his own Son that he might Redeem his ungrateful Servants If any objection should disturb you of a partial Redemption or of Gods absolute Decrees let his universal promises confirmed by an Oath comfort you Isa 53 6. Col. 1.19 20. God hath laid on Christ the iniquities of us aâ—l It hath pleased the Father by Christ to reconcile all things unto himself T it 2.14 Joh. 3.16 Christ gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity So God loved the World that whosoever believeth in his Son 1 Joh. 2.2 should not perish He is the propitiation for the sins of the whole World 2 Pet. 3.9 The Lord is long suffering not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance He would have all Men to be saved There is one God and one Mediator between God and Men the Man Christ Jesus who gave himself a Ransom for all Seek then for your Election in Christ and do not frighten your self with any absolute Decrees of Reprobation since the Father with an Oath the Son with Tears and the Holy Ghost by the voice of the Apostles have all testified that they desire the Salvation of all even of those that perish It is your part not to hinder the workings of the Holy Spirit by the Word and Sacraments either by obstinately refusing his grace when it is offer'd you or maliciously casting it away when it is confer'd so shall ye be certain for the future of the love of God towards you through the Merits of Christ received by Faith and cannot doubt of your Election And now do not by any means mistrust the grace of God but confirm and strengthen your Faith by receiving the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ For when you spiritually eat the Body of Christ and drink his Blood you may be assured that you are thereby made a partaker of all the benefits which Christ purchased for you on the Cross by his torn Body and his Blood poured out and that now by the satisfaction of Christ you are in favour with God have your sins pardon'd and have received the earnest of Eternal Life and Salvation This Divine Banquet is the Medicine of Immortality the Antidote against Death the preservative of life in God through Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ep. 11. ad Eph. Isa 42.3 as Ignatius speaks Nor let the sence of your own unworthiness deter you from partaking of so great a Treasure but rather remember that our Saviour hath promised not to break the bruised Reed nor to quench the smoaking flax That he will receive him that is weak in the Faith Rom. 14.1 And pray with Christs Disciples Lord increase my Faith Luk. 17.5 And with the Father of the Lunatick Mar. 9.24 Lord I believe help thou my unbelief And then with a full Trust and Reliance on God say with the Apostle 2 Tim. 1.12 I know whom I have believed and I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day Lastly When the Devil hath tryed all other Temptations in vain he may perhaps raise doubts in your mind concerning the truth of the Christian Religion and so by ruining the Foundation endeavour to overthrow the whole Superstructure of your Faith Which if Satan doth do not enter into a dispute with him but consider well the weakness of Humane understanding and its ignorance even in natural things And on the other hand the infinite Wisdom and Power of God far exceeding our Apprehensions and his Eternal Truth which cannot deceive nor be deceived Call to mind the Sacred Mysteries of our Religion which were revealed unto us by the Prophets and Apostles and confirmed by Miracles more especially in the life of our Blessed Saviour all which receive with a firm Faith without any doubtfulness and pray unto God that he would please to Aid and Assist the Infirmities of your Faith and assure you by the inward Testimony of his Holy Spirit that the Sacred Scriptures are Divinely inspired by his word which with the Sacraments are a means of begetting and confirming this belief in you After the sick Person is thus Reconciled unto God and by a firm trust in the Mercies of God and the Merits of Christ hath arm'd his mind against sin the Devil and other Temptations it will be fitting farther to strengthen himself against some others which often happen to dying Persons Which will be