Selected quad for the lemma: authority_n
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A37135
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The Dying man's assistant, or, Short instructions for those who are concern'd in the preparing of sick persons for death being also no less worthy the consideration of all good Christians in time of health, as shewing the importance of an early preparation for their latter end, with regard as well to their temporal, as eternal state ...
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1697
(1697)
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Wing D2954; ESTC R17100
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52,686
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145
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too great Love of this Life SOME there are who afflict themselves too much at the approach of Death through an over-great fondness of this Life the grief they conceive of parting with it being such that they cannot submit themselves to the Pleasure of God but die much against their Wills Which ill disposition produces in the Heart of a Sick Person these three dismal Effects I. That by how much the greater his reluctance is so much the more he is troubled and confounded with the apprehension of Death according to the Son of Sirach's Saying O Death how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that liveth at rest in his possessions II. That by this Reluctance of his he not only deprives himself of the Comfort he would receive from his voluntary Resignation to Death but runs a great risque of offending God III. That he does not prepare himself as he ought for Death nor can resolve to think of his Eternal State And the Condition of such a One is so much the more deplorable in regard no body dares speak to him of Dying But on the contrary they are apt to turn their Discourse upon the hopes of his Recovery for the sake of entertaining him in an agreeable idea though in the end most pernicious to him by reason of its diverting him from the thoughts of his Salvation As therefore they tender his Eternal Welfare let both the Minister and his Friends take heed that he be not thus dallied with when his Condition is become dangerous but that he be in a prudent manner apprised of the same to the end he may examine the State of his Soul making him sensible that his Preparation for Death will be no impediment to his Recovery if it pleases God to spare him longer in this Life But if he cannot resolve to die let the Minister endeavour to bring his mind over by Arguments Examples and Words in Form of Ejuculatory Prayers First By Arguments which the Minister is to ground as much as he can on the Holy Scripture to the end they may be not only in themselves the stronger but of more Authority and Force with the Patient For Example he shall with St. Paul tell him That it is appointed for all Men once to die That on this condition it is we are born and wherein no distinction is made between Princes and Subjects That we all die soon or late and flow like the Waters into the Bowels of the Earth yea we are like Water that is spilt on the ground from whence it cannot be gathered up He shall also represent to him that though he should recover his Health he may in a little time relapse again and not have the means he now has for his Preparation That he ought to look upon himself as a Pilgrim travelling through this World as through strange Regions in his Way to Heaven which is his Native Country That he should consider the many Tokens God has given him of his Love and that which he at present gives him in assisting him with his Grace That God now calls him to Himself in order to the making him happy and that a longer Life here might be ruinous to him by the snares and inticements of this Sinful World That Death is not terrible to the Righteous but meerly a Passage to Eternal Glory And better is the day of our Death than that of our Birth forasmuch as we are born to die and do only die to live forever In short That Christ assures us in his Gospel that whosoever believes in him shall have Everlasting Life and that his Death shall be but the beginning of his Eternal Happiness Moreover let the Patient be induced to reflect on the Miseries of this present Life Let him as much as he is able call to mind the whole Course of his Life from his Infancy to this very moment and consider before God whether he has pass'd one day of it without affliction That we are to expect here nothing but Sufferrings God having set us in this World as in a Valley of Tears to live in a constant State of Penitence That therefore we ought not to be grieved when God is pleased to remove us from the Place of our Exile into our own Country and far from wishing our selves Citizens of this World we should with St. Paul remember that here we have no continuing City but are to look for one that is to come which will abide for ever Let him further consider that being now under the Gospel we should be so much the more desirous to die because Jesus Christ has by his Merits open'd Heaven to us That Death is both the End of a false and perishable Life and the Entrance into a Happy and Eternal State That God is not the God of the Dead but of the Living That a Christian ought to raise himself above the things of this World and solely to fix his Thoughts and Hopes upon his Saviour That this Life is a continual Warfare with our Lusts and Passions and Death the welcome End of this War and Beginning of our Rest That the Spirit of God declares those and those only to be happy that die in his Grace because they are going to enjoy an Everlasting Peace In a word let the Minister omit nothing that may conduce to the perswading him to receive his Death with Submission making him sensible that how averse soever he be to it yet die he must and that since neither Life nor Death are within his power or disposal he can never be at rest till he submits himself with all humility and resignation to the Will and Pleasure of Almighty God Secondly The Minister may perswade the Sick Person to a willingness to die by laying before him several Examples of this kind carrying force and authority with them and in the first place that of Christ himself who in the Garden of Olives foreseeing the Torments that were waiting for Him at Jerusalem was seized with fear and pray'd to the Father to deliver Him therefrom but immediately after submitting himself to Him added these Words Not as I will but as Thou wilt That he ought to imitate this Sacred Model of Self-resignation by a free Offering of his Life to God notwithstanding the terror he has of Death and all the reluctances of Nature thereto Let him also be put in mind of David who finding himself over-whelm'd with the Miseries of this present Life us'd frequently to cry out to God in terms like these Wo is me that I am constrained to dwell with Mesech and to have my Habitation among the Tents of Kedar My soul has long dwelt with them that hate peace Many are my Persecutors and mine Enemies Consider my affliction and deliver me I long for thy Salvation O Lord Whereto he may add the words of St. Paul O wretched Man that I am Who shall delive me from this body of Death I ardently desire to be dissolved that I may
pleases to lay upon us Which Arguments the Minister may greatly inforce by inculcating to him the Examples of Job the Holy Apostles Martyrs and Confessors and CHRIST Himself Crucified especially by displaying to him the excessive Torments of the Cross and at the same time proposing to his Meditation by way of Prayer and Self Resignation these Words of St. Austin's Lord burn me cut me into pieces scourge me and correct me in this World so Thou pardon me in the next Or these O God who chastisest those whom Thou do'st love admit me I beseech Thee after my Death into the Number of Thy Blessed Children since Thou makest me to endure thy Corrections in this Life My God! and my Father Who art my only Refuge and Defence succour me in all my Afflictions and Miseries either by asswaging and moderating them or giving me strength to sustain the same without repining I thank Thee O Merciful Father for the troubles Thou hast laid upon me Thou that knowest my weakness vouchsafe to fortifie and support me so as I may not fall into impatience and murmur but that I may truly humble my self under Thy Afflicting Hand and wholly submit to Thy Chastisements To which the Minister may still add what other Words of the like kind he shall judge convenient with regard to the Condition of the Sick Person CHAP. XII How those Persons ought to be managed that lie under Temptations against the Faith OF Persons tempted against the Faith there are two Sorts Either they are such as have not a clear apprehension of all that is necessary to be believed in the Law of Grace whom how to instruct we have shewn in the First Chapter Or they are such as are tormented by Satan who is continually endeavouring to cast Doubts into their Minds about their Faith in general or some particular Article of it The former of which Cases being as we have said provided for in the First Chapter we shall here need only to speak to the latter Which the Minister perceiving to be the Sick Person 's shall advise him not to dispute with the Devil whose sole aim is to destroy his Faith Without which as the Apostle tells us it is impossible to please God but humbly to implore the Holy Ghost so to inlighten him as that he may never fall into Infidelity nor the Enemy have any advantage over him Let him cry out with the Prophet Lord thou seest how I am tempted be thou pleased to answer for me Adding thereto if occasion be what is before mentioned in the Fifth Chapter and making an humble Confession of that Faith which is founded not upon human Reasons but the Eternal Truth Which will secure him against all the ill suggestions wherewith the Devil may labour to assault and disturb him and set him entirely at liberty to think of those things that will administer pleasure and comfort to him such as the unspeakable Joys of Heaven which he is hoping for the infinite Love of God towards him and Spiritual Graces He has confer'd upon him And for a yet further diversion of those Temptations he finds himself obnoxious to it may be convenient for him to speak sometimes to those that are present But if notwithstanding all these Precautions he shall still perceive his Faith to be wavering let him first pray to God to help his Unbelief and then protest before Him and all the Standers by that he resolves to die in that Faith which Jesus Christ is the Author of and the Martyrs have sealed and attested by their Blood And here if the Patient's illness will permit it the Minister may offer him some general Reasons to confirm him in the Christian Faith and Religion as that it flows directly from the Divine Wisdom and is not like others grounded only upon Human Arguments but the Authority and Truth of God himself who has been pleas'd to reveal it to his Church But at the same time he must be very cautious of descending to any particular Point least it should provoke the Sick Person to Disputation a thing most dangerous on such an occasion unless he desires to be inform'd about some of the Mysteries of our Religion Which is to be done too in as few words as may be Let him be shewn that the Christian Faith is establish'd upon no less than the Testimony of the Eternal Father who said of Christ He is my beloved Son hear ye him Than the Word of Jesus Christ himself who assures us that his Father and He are but One God and commanded his Apostles to Preach these Truths throughout the World saying that they who believe shall be saved and that there is no Salvation but in Him For the reasonableness thereof he may be refer'd to the Jews themselves who though the very Enemies of Christ gave sufficient Testimony to his Divinity when being astonish'd at the Miracles wrought by Him they openly profess'd that unless a stop was put thereto by securing his Person and forbidding his Doctrine all Nations would believe in Him Nor have their Historians alone but other Unbelievers also own'd the Christian Religion to be of all others in the World the best theirs only excepted which they 〈◊〉 before it either through ignorance or prejudice For indeed what Religion could ever shew such Marks and Tokens of the Hand of God as this of the Christian through the whole Course of its Propagation In its first Institution by how many Miracles was it confirm'd As we find them recorded in the Holy Scriptures by those who were Eye-witnesses thereof and whose plainness and simplicity apparent in all their Relations of the same is proof sufficient of their Sincerity Nor is it less to be admired how succesfully it was Preached and Established by Persons of neither Learning Eloquence nor Authority but on the contrary destitute of all outward Accomplishments exposed to Poverty and the Contempt of all Mankind Who yet by the meer force of Truth reduced both Learned and Unlearned whole Empires and Nations to the same Christian Faith and under which by the special Providence of Almighty God they have for so many Ages been preserved notwithstanding its containing not only Mysteries above the Reach but Precepts again the Inclinations and Passions of Men's Minds In a Word That he need not doubt of believing that which those Blessed Spirits so divinely proclaim'd who foretold the Birth of Jesus Christ and published it with Songs of Rejoycing giving Glory to God and promising Peace to all Men Who also were Witnesses of his Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven That which so many Saints and Holy Men and Women enlighten'd by God have profess'd which such vast Numbers of the Faithful in all Ages have by their Mortification and Self-denial sacrificed the Pleasures of this World to and through the midst of so many cruel Persecutions maintained at no less a Price than that of their Blood as knowing what sure Grounds they were on even the Authority as we have