55. 22. For in thee O! Lord the Fatherless findeth mercy Hos. 14. 3. And thoâ— hast said Leave thy Fatherless Children I will preserve them alive and let thy Widows trust in me Jer. 49. 11. And I never saw the Righteous forsaken but his seed is blessed Ps. 37. 25 26. The Generation of the upright shal be blessed Riches shall be in his house and his Righteousness endureth for ever Surely he shall not be moved for ever but shall be in everlasting remembrance Ps. 112. 2 3 6. For when their Father and Mother forsake them then doest thou take them up Ps. 27. 10. Even thou who art the Father of the Fatherless and the Judge of the Widows Ps. 68. 5. And as a Mighty Redeemer wilt plead their cause Prov. 23. 10 11. 3. The Benefit of both And he who thus trusteth in the Lord mercy shall compass him about Ps. 32. 10. Because thou hast made the Lord which is my refuge even the Most High thy Habitation There shall no evil befal thee neither shall any plague come nigh thy Dwelling For he shall give his Angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways Ps. 91. 9 10 11. Behold the Eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him upon them that hope in his Mercy To deliver their Soul from Death and to keep them alive in Famine Ps. 33. 18 19. And the Lord is a strong hold in the day of trouble and he knoweth them that trust in him Nah. 1. 7. He Redeemeth the Soul of his Servants and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate Ps. 34. 22. And they who know thy Name will put their trust in thee for thou Lord hast not forsaken them that seek thee Psal. 9 10. And Trust him 1. To Temper the Sickness and Sorrows to our Infirmities I will not leave thee altogether unpunish'd but I will correct thee in measure and will not make a full end of thee Jer. 30. 11. and c. 46. 28. And when Epaphroditus was sick nigh unto Death God had mercy on him and not on him only but on me also lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow Phil. 2. 27. In his wrath he will remember mercy Habak 3. 2. And to the Vpright there ariseth light in the darkness Ps. 112. 4. For he will not always chide neither will he keep his anger for ever Psal. 103. 9. His Anger endureth but a moment and in his favour is life Weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning Ps. 30. 5. He knows our frame and remembreth that we are dust and pitieth us like as a Father pityeth his Children Ps. 103. 13 14. He remembreth that we are but flesh a wind that passeth away and cometh not again and doth not stir up all his wrath Ps. 78. 38 39. And he is faithful and will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able 1 Cor. 10. 13. 2. To support us under them and help us to bear them The Salvation of the Righteous is of the Lord he is their strength in time of trouble And the Lord shall help them because they trust in him Ps. 37. 39 40. The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing he will make all his bed in his sickness Ps. 41. 3. And we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin Let us therefore come boldly unto the Throne of Grace that we may obtain mercy and find Grace to help in time of need Heb. 4. 15 16. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted he is able to succour them that are tempted Heb. 2. 18. And my Grace is sufficient for thee my strength is made perfect in weakness 2 Cor. 12. 9. I said indeed in mine haste I am cut off from before thine Eyes nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cryed unto thee Psal. 31. 22. Even when my Soul fainted within me I remembred thee and my Prayer came in unto thee Jon. 2. 7. Wait thou on the Lord then be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart Ps 27. 14. For he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee So that we may boldly say I will not fear for the Lord is my helper Heb. 13. 5 6. Yea tho I walk thro the valley of the shadow of Death I will fear no evil For thou art with me thy rod and thy staff they comfort me Ps. 23. 4. 3. To Deliver us from them or make us Gainers by them Call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me Ps. 50. 15. Behold the Eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him upon them that hope in his mercy To deliver their soul from Death Ps. 33. 18 19. He is their strength in the time of trouble And he shall help them and deliver them He shall deliver them because they trust in him Ps. 37. 39 40. We know that all things work together for good to them that love God Rom. 8. 28. And tho' many are the afflictions of the Righteous yet the Lord delivereth him out of them all Ps. 34. 19. For the Lord he kills and he makes alive he wounds and he heals Deut. 32. 39. He bringeth down to the Grave and bringeth up 1 Sam. 2. 6. And that when we have the Sentence of Death in our selves that we should not trust in our selves but in God who raiseth the Dead 2 Cor. 1. 9. Glory be to the Father c. III. They are to be received with Faith in Gods Precious Promises THIS is a Faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the World to save Sinners 1 Tim. 1. 15. If any man Sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous and he is the Propitiation for our Sins 1 Jo. 2. 1 2. O! Death where is thy Sting O! Grave where is thy Victory The Sting of Death is Sin and the Strength of Sin is the Law But thanks be to God which giveth us the Victory thro our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 15. 55 56 57. Who shall lay any thing then to the charge of Gods Elect it is God that Justifieth Who is he that condemneth it is Christ that Dyed yea rather that is risen again who is even at the Right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us Rom. 8. 33 34. And he hath promised I will never leave thee nor forsake thee Heb. 13. 5. He will give the Holy Spirit to those that ask him Luk. 11. 13. He will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able but will with the Temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it 1 Cor. 10. 13. And this is the Promise that he hath promised us even Eternal life 1 Joh. 2. 25. He hath said Repent and
DEATH MADE Comfortable OR The Way to Dye Well Consisting of Directions for an Holy and an Happy Death Together with An Office for the Sick and for certain kinds of bodily illness And for dying Persons And proper Prayers upon the Death of Friends By IOHN KETTLEWELL a Presbyter of the Church of England LONDON Printed for Robert Kettlewell And are to be sold by Sam. Keble at the Turks head over against Fetter-Lane in Fleet-street MDCXCV THE PREFACE EVery Person who comes into this World under the Guilt of Sin is a Debtor to Death And this Debt sooner or later all must pay even they who fence themselves about with the strongest Armies or heap up Riches as if they were always to possess them or whose daily Business it is to drown all Thoughts of Death in the Noise of Mirth and Pleasures In the midst of all their Care and Labour to avoid him Death will surely meet them and spoil all their Glory and Iollity and that commonly when they least expect him And then he makes them see their own Vanity and the Vanity of all earthly things which nothing else could teach them to consider of For he shews us the Shame of our Bodies and makes the Pride of Human Greatness to become an easie Conquest and inglorious Prey for Worms and brings all earthly Hopes and Projects to end and hide themselves in Dust. This is a thing which all Men know and all Men fear And they who study most to keep the Thoughts of Death far from them do yet certainly know that it will come And happy then is he whose Mind is so well prepared and â—ortified that it can neither fright nor hurt him who has disarmed this King of Terrors and made this great Enemy of Nature to become a Friend All this Religion will do if we will make a right use of it For the sting of death is sin and true Repentance takes that out And if we take care that our Life contain nothing terrifying our Death need not And the compleatest Victory over Death is Eternal Life and the same Repentance secures us thereof And Trust in God fortifies us against Fear and Patience makes our Pains lighter So that whilst by true Devotion we are spending our selves in these Exercises we are dressing our Souls in Armour which will not only sustain the Shock of Death but conquer it with all its Strength and Terror And the business of these Papers is to furnish out thoughts for all those who are willing and dâ—sirous to use the same whereby all this may be done And whereby we may receive Sickness and meet Death so as at the same time to have enough under them to support and comfort us and in the end to be made better by both And all this I treat of not as a man who is preaching to men at ease who must be diverted and entertained with nice inquiries and fine discourses and speculations about Death But as one who is called to sick and dying Persons who desire to be helped and directed in things of use and told those matters which are fit to support and ease their weary Souls and to dress them in such habits as are the best defence both against the sting and terror of their approaching Enemy I have first according to the best of my skill given them directions what to do and wherein to spend their care thro all the steps and progress of their sickness from its first seisure to their departure I show them what will render their sick-bed carriage rewardable and its Sorrows â—olerable and comfortable How they are like to be most easie to themselves and may most profitably chuse or improve the Company and employ and receive the services and kind Offices of others What they are to do that they may dye well and be happy and full of Comfort in their Death and after it and how it is fit for them to part with all men and take a decent and a Christian leave of this World And in regard Devotion is the chief work and the best support of sick and dying Persons to these directions I have added Offices of Devotion In these I have made collections of select and proper Scriptures upon the several duties and necessities of sick or dying Persons which I have ranged and put in order the best I can for their comfort and instruction And these they may resort to as a Storehouse of Divine Sentences fit to direct their practice in the virtues and to cheer and revive their Spirits under all the sorrows of their Affliction How forceable are right words says Job under the bitterness of his sorrows Job 6. 25. And heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop but a good word maketh it glad says Solomon Prov. 12. 25. But the good words which God himself speaks to us do leave a much stronger impression and give more ease and do more revive and make glad the Heart than any others And after these collections of Scriptures I have furnished them with variety of fit and proper Prayers upon their several Duties or Needs in that condition And as I was able I have stored those Prayers with such proper thoughts and considerations as may serve at once both to express and put up to God the several bounden duties and tempers required of us and also to ingenerate and increase the same in our own minds And to these for sick and dying Persons I have annexed like Devotional helps for Women with Child or in Child Birth and for some other cases of Bodily distempers and Calamities And to conclude all I have added Devotions on the Death of Friends and made particular Prayers for those cases which usually are most affecting and provided them with such considerations as seem to me to be most proper and of greatest force to support and comfort us under such mortifying and afflictive losses And in all these Prayers I have taken care to be as instructive as I can in the several States and Cases they refer to that we may see what our work and wants are under them and know what we have to mind and do therein better than we knew before And so likewise in the several duties which the Prayers are made upon For I have endeavoured therein especially in the Prayers about Trust in God and about Patience which are the virtues most tryed on sick-beds and indeed of most general use thro the whole course of our lives to set off the several Acts wherein we are to exercise and show forth those Graces and the most proper and important helps and considerations whereby we are like to be most quickened and best assisted in our performance of them And therefore when any are desirous to encrease knowledge and improve their understandings therein they may read the Prayers or have them read to them tho not in way of Devotion but as Discourses upon them And these Offices for sick or dying Persons should
not be neglected or thrown aside by men in Health as if they were a Study and Employment only for sick-beds For living men must think of Death and prepare for it as well as dying and if whilst health and strength lasts we throw these Thoughts and Preparations by when it comes it will be like to find us unready And then we can neither dye comfortably nor safely For when once the Bridegroom is come as our Saviour tells us in the Parable of the wise and foolish Virgins they that are ready go in with him to the Marriage And if any want Oyle in their Lamps and need to seek it when they should go out to meet him he will enter without them and then the door is shut and will not be opened again for them If they are ready with Oyle in their Lamps when the Cry of the Bridegroom comes they may fall to trim them but they must not have their Oyle to seek or the virtues of a death-bed to learn when they are called forth to show and take comfort in them Besides Repentance and Reconciliation and satisfaction for injuries and settling ones worldly affairs are a work most fit and proper for the best days of life And resignation and trust in God and patience and thankfulness the great virtues and employment of sick-beds are all Duties as necessary and acceptable in Health as they are in sickness Death it self is but the last Act and end of Life And those spiritual exercises which make us at last to dye well and happyly are but the last Acts of those Duties which had made us live well and Holily before Defer not therefore as the wise Son of Syrach says untill Death to be justified But humble thy self before thou be sick and in the time of sins shew Repentance Before Judgment examine thy self and in the day of visitation thou shalt find mercy Ecclus. 18 20 21 22. But when we come to be sick then are we most especially to make such Offices our Employment and to seek to them as our chiefest comfort And each one may pick out Prayers for himself on one Head or another according as those wants shall require which at that time are most pressing upon his body or his spirit or which in the present temper of his Soul he is best disposed for And he may use sometimes more of them and sometimes fewer according as he finds his strength and time will bear And these when he is in strength and circumstances fit for it he may read himself but at other times they may be read to him for his spirit to repeat and send up to God by some religious Friend who attends about him Or they may be read to him as a Chapter of seasonable and needful Doctrine and Direction which will lay such considerations before him as are fit to guide and comfort him in that condition when he is less able to bear the Fatigue and expensive pains of Devotion As for some distempers they are slow and chronical and carry us off by lingring degrees And in these men have time enough to employ if they have but the Will and Heart to employ it in these or such like Offices which teach them both how to sustain sickness and how to prepare for Death Other Distempers indeed are more violent and acute which both carry us off suddenly and whilst we are strugling with them leave us little mental vigor or ability And under these there is less to be done in this way But something may be done tho more short and broken and with more application and liveliness when it pleases God they have intervals of ease or any recruit of spirits And they have great need to make the best of these opportunities and to do as much as they can in their condition and spend as many thoughts in such Devotions as they have leisure and strength for And as for the great defectiveness in exercising these Death-bed Graces which will unavoidably attend this case it will be best provided for by their making these thoughts their great business and familiarizing the same to their minds in time of Health In these matters tho many and the most important things are common to all sick or dying Persons yet some are particular to each and all have not the same wants or complaints And therefore whilst a Prayer descends to particulars to suit and serve one persons case it may contain some clauses or expressions which are not suitable to anothers But in this the Readers themselves are to have and use a discretion and must omit such passages as do not belong to them making use only of the rest which do And think that altho these passges are not for their use yet hitting the case of others who are touched and afflicted in those particulars they may be received and used by them with great thankfulness This Treatise I had begun and had made some considerable progress in it but had laid it aside again by reason of some hindrances But afterwards being brought my self into a state of more uncertain Health and Life by the most wise and good ordering of Almighty God I resumed it and made such haste as the needful attendacne of my health would allow to finish it For I was desirous to have some benefit and help thereby my self whilst I live as well as to leave it to be some way helpful unto others and come in by this means to hear some part of their Burdens if it please God at whose wise and good choice I am and desire to be that I dye of this illness And if any devout Readers receive any comfort or spiritual improvement from this Poor Labour of Love to my Blessed Master and to them as they have the offer of my pains I hope they will vouchsafe me the benefit of their Prayers and that God will have the Glory of all From my House in London August 17. 1694. DIRECTIONS FOR AN Holy and Happy Death In very Particular but Brief instructions how to order and carry our Selves under Sickness and the Several Tryals and Accidents thereof and at the Approach of Death CHAP. I. Of the Sick mans thoughts of leaving the World and setting his Affairs in Order and of the care of his Body WHen God arrests us with Sickness 't is time to think of leaving this World Not that every Man who falls Sick must presently give himself up for Dead but because Sickness puts Life in hazard and brings a Man to Resign himself into the Hands of God whether he shall dye thereof or no. To think of leaving the World is not only profitable but needful at all times For the Great Business we have to do here is to prepare for an happy Departure And if we do not think of it we are like to be very ill prepared for it In our dayes of Health and Pleasure we must call these thoughts to us but when Sickness comes it calls
us to them and Naturally imprints the same And it is our truest wisdom to entertain them in our Sickness For if we dye we shall all judge it was the best way we had to employ our thoughts and that of all things Death should not be met unthought of And they render us fitter to Live if God spare us They make Death Safer but do not hasten or bring it sooner and are no hindrance to our Living longer but a great help if we recover to our Living better In this Preparation to leave the World the Sick Persons first care is to seperate himself from worldly cares and incumbrances of Business Let him look upon himself as one call'd off from the conduct of these matters to the giving a strict account of â—â—â—m And who has work enough cut out for his thoughts and prepare to take a decent leave of this World and to trim up his Lamp and 〈◊〉 his Soul for a better His business now is how to meet Death with most safety and comfort to himself if he dyes as for ought he knows he may dye of this Sickness and to commit no Errors therein because he is to dye but once and cannot afterwards amend them The work and worldly Cares of Life are to be left to those who think of living but how to dye is the Business that lyes before him To cast off these worldly Cares 't is fit he first settle them And that is by setting his House in order and making his â—ill This methinks should be done with great consideration and Men are wanting in that Prudence and Care which they usually shew in their affairs thro all their Lives if this is left to be clapt up in haste at their Deaths When they dispose of a little parcel of Land or of a moderate sum of money they consider well of it before they part with it And if they are thus considerate when they dispose of any single Branch of their Estate must that be left to be the only hasty and unconsidered act when they are to dispose of all When a Person has his Worldly Estate to give away it will take much thought to do it like a wise Man and a good Christian. To consider what Portions are fit to be given to Dependants as Recompence of Diligence and good Services What to Benefactors as respectful tokens of Gratitude for Favours and obligations What to particular Friends and acquaintance as Memorials of Love and Dearness What among Kindred in Declaration of natural Affection for their nearness their deserts or their wants And what to himself for so I more especially call that which is given to Religious or Pious uses since these works follow him and these layings out go along with him to be recompenced and repaid in a better place Such as are all gifts of Restitution when he had wrong'd or defrauded any Persons of equitable compensation where he has taken too great advantage of other Peoples wants or weakness and been too hard upon them and made too great advantage of them in Bargaining or Dealing of Charity or Piety in Gifts or Settlements on the Poor and Needy or for the encouragement and promotion of piety To settle Accounts in Dealing what he ows or what is owing unto him what he has in his hands in trust for others and what he has left in their hands or in trust with them For this disposal he must remember is the Farewel he takes of all the World And when he is parting with Kindred and Relations Friends and Benefactors Servants and Dependants Chapmen and Customers Poor and Rich Sacred and Secular Persons a Wise and Good Man who has carryed it well towards them all his Life should think of continuing to do the same and supplying of former Defects at his Death and study to take a fair and Friendly and decent leave of all Especially to carry it as becomes him towards God and in this great disposal of all his Goods to look at him the Soveraign Donor of them And to do all this with discretion and to a Man's satisfaction will require consideration And therefore is like to be best dispatch'd whilst the Person hath both Ability and Leisure for it And accordingly is always most providently and is like to be most perfectly settled in time of Health However in the beginnings of Sickness e're Nature is weak and Time is short or a Disease is come to Extremities When all his Worldly cares and concerns are thus settled and laid aside having taken this leave of the World he may give himself up to the Will and good Pleasure of Almighty God to dispose of him either in Life or Death and make his Sickness end either in Health or Heaven as he sees will make most for the Sick-mans good and for his own Glory If the Physitians are called in to take care of his Body 't is fit he receive their advice with meekness and thankfulness and willingly follow and submit himself to their wholesome and Reasonable Directions A Prudent and Compassionate Physitian will be tenderly and conscientiously careful of his ease so far as that is consistent with the Care of his Health Especially he will consider well how he proposes and much more how he presses any Medicine which the Patient has an Antipathy against and which is found greatly to disorder him tho' it generally relieve others And when he sends for him he must put his Body into his Hands under God and willingly take such Medicines and submit to such Rules and Restraints as he Judges needful for his Safety or for the Recovery of his Health and not order and tell his Physitian what he shall prescribe to him nor weary him out with importunities to let him have what he himself fancies tho' the other thinks it would be to his prejudice And these prescriptions of the Physitian he must use with looking up to God in the first place for the good effect of all Medicines and without fretfulness and accusations of the means and methods if by the pleasure of God the Disease increase and grow more troublesom in spight of all Remedies and without being too eagerly desirous of Life or ease unless God please thanking his Physitian for the ease which he studies but at the same time submitting to God for the Pains which he sends And let him still remember to make fervent Prayers one ingredient in all his Medicines considering that since it is God who works cures Prayers are as necessary thereto as any thing else He must not like Asa set God a side when he seeks to the Physitians but expect all the Cure from Gods blessing and when it comes give him the chief Honour and Praise for the same and acknowledge that the Prayers of pious Friends have been among the powerfullest of his Medicines If it be thought needful or profitable for the body some times at intervals especially in slow and languishing diseases to divert his spirits
or any others which his own mind or their Discourses shall supply him with And let the sweet name of Jesus be often in his mouth but oftner in his Heart and let him think that the Blessed name of a Saviour cannot be to much upon the Soul or too deep in the desire of a lost Sinner Let him therefore say Jesu have mercy on me Jesu Thou art the Rock of my Hope Thou art my Love and my Life and the Chief object of my desire Lord Jesu thou alone art my Saviour And that he may still be stored with matter for such devout thoughts and Ejaculations when he is not fit to read himself let them read to him either some of the Scriptures Hymns or Prayers hereafter discribed for the use of Sick Persons or some conveuient Portion out of the Penitential Psalms or something about the Sufferings of our Saviour or some part of any profitable Discourse concerning Repentance or Patience or Trust in God or Thankfulness or concerning Death and Judgment Heaven or Hell Let their Discourses also be Savory and minister thoughts fit for the Seriousness or for the Comfort or Service of men who look upon themselves as taking leave of this World and going to meet their Lord. Let them seek to Spiritualize accidents and take occasion from all that happens to raise up the Sick mans thoughts to devout and Profitable Reflexions So that he may not want the offer of a good thought as oft as he is free and ready for it If he awakes more easie let them Bless God for the ease and observe how Tenderly he proportions Tryals to our weakness considering what we can bear as a Tender Father doth How seasonably he sends Relief and how sweetly we relish it after sharp Sorrows and how from their Experience of the Seasonableness of his Succour in this case they should learn to trust him if he sends upon them more Agonies and quietly to wait for him hoping he will not stay then more then he has done now past the due Time Or if he awakes under more pain and disturbance let them fuggest to him that if t is great 't is like to be the shorter that God knows best how much and how long we can bear that he is in good and merciful hands whilst he is in his and should be quiet under them that he must wait on God who loves to be waited on and Loves to try Faith and Trust before he recompence it with the desired Blessing On all occasions of any Benefits received either by Food or by Physick or by Sleep and likewise on any want of them or on any occurrence or discourse that comes before them they will be acceptable and useful Friends indeed if they can shew dexterity in raising up the Devout Sick mans mind to some Pious thoughts or virtuous Resentments or desires about the same to make him reflect on the Power the Patience the Mercifulness or the Faithfulness of God or upon the Wickedness and Folly of men the vanity of worldly things the Serviceableness of Religion and Holy affections the Happy end of Trust in God the Temptations and Dangers of health and ease the advantage of Sickness the Blessed fruits of Patience and the Recompences that shall crown it at the last And if at any time he Receives not their Discourses or their other Services with that Willingness and Easiness which they would expect from him let them wait another opportunity and not slacken their good Offices but only Study how to time them better or make them more agreeable to him on the next occasion not taking things ill from him in this condition but pitying what would provoke them at another time Or if he seems troubled as ingenuous and kind Natures are apt to be that his Disease makes him so troublesome as he is to his Friends let them suggest to him that Friends are born for Adversity and to bear a part of each others troubles And that the same wise orderer who sends him the trouble of his Pains and Sickness sends them also the Trouble of their Attendance and doth equally expect a willing and cheerful Reception of their Respecttive Troubles from both And in the Visits they pay the Sick let not the Desire they have of seeing him make them any ways incommodious or uneasie to him Sometimes Sick Persons can ill bear noise or would be troubled not relieved by the Presence of others or when their Spirits are a little freer and more refreshed having but little time or free thoughts left they woud have them to themselves and can ill Complement them away to please others And 't is not for wise and kind Friends to break in upon them when they would be alone but only when their company would be acceptable or may be Helpful to them And besides all the Prayers and devout Thoughts which he puts up thus for himself let him also desire the Prayers of others Let him send to desire the Prayers of the publick Congregation And if he send Almes at the same time good prayers will be more like to prevail for him And when he takes his leave of any Friendly Visitants let him desire them to remember him in theirs shewing thus on all occasions that his Eye is unto God in all his sickness and that he looks to reap most benefit from good prayers And by such ways and thoughts as these may the sick person set himself to this second part of his Task viz. The bearing of his Pains and Weakness with Patience Resignation of himself Thankfulness and Trust in God and such Resentment of things and Reflections on them as are fitting for a sick Bed CHAP. V. Of his Carriage in his last Extremities and under the near Approach of Death AND when sickness goes on to Extremities and Death approaches that calls louder to him to Trim up his Lamp and dress his Soul to meet the Bridegroom but 't is only with the same Habits whereof I have been hitherto speaking A Dying Man is not distinguished from a sick Man by the difference of his Habits but only by a greater care and exactness in putting of them on The same Thoughts and Desires befit him but when he is expiring he would be glad if his strength will serve to send them up in a brighter and a hotter flame So that when he comes to die he must hold on the same Exercise of Repentance Patience Faith Thankfulness Devotion and the like but only seek to put forth more Zeal and Fervour in them if he has bodily strength enough so to do or else be content and rest satisfied to do it as his strength will serve him And let him welcome Death when God sends it and say Lord my times are in thy hand and thou knowest best when 't is fit for me to depart this World And thy time shall be mine and I am now willing to come to thee since thou seest fit to call me Amen I willingly
improve my Spirit And oh that this succession of my Losses may serve to perfect me in Patience and to wean me more thoroly from all earthly Supports Oh! that it may temper my worldly Complacencyes and guard me against all excess therein And call me to take Delight and seek Comfort in thee instead of seeking it in them and to look more at the joys of thy Kingdom where our Comforts shall succede one another infinitely faster than our Sorrows do here and where we shall for ever injoy thee thro Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen For supplying the want they have of their departed Friend by other ways of Gods good Providence they may use the two Prayers for the Widow and Orphans c. p. 158 156 and 157. 6. A Prayer for Learning by these Losses to sit more loose to the World and to fix our Hearts more on the Love of God THou hast sent me this Thorn in the flesh O! Blessed Lord to cure my inordinate Fondness for fleshly Delights and to keep me from being too much exalted with them For I pleased my self too much with worldly Comforts and to take my Heart off from them thou hast now embitter'd them to me with these Sorrows And Oh! doe thou teach me thereby to Delight more in thy self and less in Earthly things Enable me to make a Good Conscience and a comfortable sense of thy Love and Hope of thy Promises and of Heavenly joys my most beloved pleasures And Lord let me never call my self unhappy whilst I can injoy thee But make me account the Loss of all things else to be made up to me in thy Love and never repine or complain of other wants whilst thou art left me and I can comfortably look up to thee as my Bosom Friend and my tender Father as my Life and my Health my Rest and my joy thro Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen â— A Prayer when a Friend is taken away in his Prime THou art pleased to Cut off my Dear Friend O! most Righteous Lord in the midst of his Days before he had passed thro the several stages of Life and accomplished the Number of his Years But I will remember O! my God that it is not the Lenth of Life but the Goodness of it which thou lookest at And that he has lived long enough who has lived to be fit for thee and to Dispose his Soul for thy Mercy The blessed Mansions above are infinitely the best place to prolong and injoy Life in And therefore if thou O! Father art graciously pleased as I hope thou art for the Merits of our Dear Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to accept of the innocence and obedience of his Life neither he nor we have any cause to complain of the shortness of it And if we who are left behind him may have the Grace first to live holily we will thankfully think and own to thee that we have lived long enough whensoever thou seest it Time we should Dye And as my Dear Friend is taken away in the Prime of his Strength soe I must Consider O! Lord that he is taken away withall in the Hight of his Toyls and out of the greatest Hurry of his Busyness and Temptations Thou hast thereby kept him from trying how strong he could be to bear Sorrows and Vexations and from lamenting to finde his Strength too often turn'd into weakness And oh that we who survive him may at lenth attain by thy Grace to have all our temptations end in a perpetual security and undisturbedness to have all our Sorrows turned into joys and our Days of Labor happily exchanged for Days of Rest and Peace for the Merits and Mediation of our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen 3. Prayers when a Friend is taken away by a violent untimely Death I. A Prayer whilst the Person yet liveth to be said either by himself or by his Friends for him O! Allmighty Lord thou art pleased by a violent and hasty Stroke to hurry me thy unworthy Servant out of this World For thou didst Deliver me into the Hands of him that Smote me and how unjustly soever my Death comes from him yet it is most just from thee I fully justify thee and freely forgive him and oh that he may truely repent thereof in Time that thou mayest freely forgive him too But as I am like to be snatched away thereby from hence in hast O! my Dear God Give me Great strength of Grace to do much towards finishing my Peace with thee in a little Time If thou art pleased to shew it thy Grace can perfect my Repentance in few hours yea in a few minutes as well as in many It wrought it in the Thief upon the Cross in his last Agonies And some who had tarryed till the last hour of the Day are made acceptable thereby in thy Service Oh! let it be mighty towards me in this my necessity as it was towards them in theirs and take me not hence till it has made me a Penitent fit for thee to accept of Oh! Remember not my great and manifold Sins in Wrath but only to send Grace sufficient to Cure them and to shew Mercy on me for the same And as I am hereby Chastned for their Cause Lord let it be that I may not be Condemned with the World Let all my Punishment or Portion of Pains be here but Give me Peace and Favour with thee hereafter And Spare me a little Good Lord Spare me if it may seem Good to thee that I may recover some Strength and Dress my Lamp and supply the Great Defectiveness of my Duty towards thee before I 〈◊〉 But if thou hast otherwise Decreed and I must Dye suddenly then magnifye thy mercy O! my God inâ—escueing me from the near approacâ— of Eternal misery and let thy Displeasure end in my Death but after that receive me among the meanest of thy Servants to Everlasting Life thro the merits of my Blessed Saviour and Redeemer Jesus Christ Amen 2. A Prayer of his Friends after his Death O! Blessed Father it has seem'd Good to thy wise Providence to tear this Dear Friend from us by violence and to send him untimely to his Grave I own thy Justice herein and Dâ—sire to shew Reverence instead of murmuring because it is thy Doing And my Hope is O! Lord that thou doest and wilt remember the Pious Study and bent of his former Life in mercy and graciously accept him as one Dying in thy Fear And whilst I have this Hope to Comfort me I will not Complain of any violence or Accidents which hurryed him away from us to injoy thee When it has been the business of a mans Life and his dayly Study and Care O! God to serve thee tho Death comes on the sudden yet it will not come too soon for him And I will consider allsoe that if thou surprizest him with the suddenness of his Death thou sufferest him not to be