the said Church being composed of many quarters and it not being possible for me to be with them all necessitie required that they often supplie my absence in the visitation of the sicke whereunto they required my assistance by this small President my purpose was to cause some few copies to bee printed to put into their hands and by that meanes to give them that assistance with more ease and with more conveniencie But when it was further alleaged unto me it might serve also for the use of others either in regard of their obligation therunto by the same charge or for that they were so mooved out of their Christian zeale imployed themselves in that pious and charitable dutie of visiting and comforting the sicke And that moreover and besides the reason hereof would not bee unprofitable to any of the faithfull in particular who even in his best health should ever prepare himselfe for sicknesse and death I yeelded to make it publique with this word of information which I suppose will arme thy ingenuitie to acquit me of all blame I doubt not but thou wilt excuse the plainenesse of the stile having respect both to the nature of the subject withal unto whom and for whom it was directed As for them that shall think good to make use of it I intreat them to beare with the length of it Which I could not well avoid as I desired in a subject so fertile and so hard to be contracted This remedie there is for it that this writing being composed of many disjointed parcels and accomodated to the sundry dispositions of the sicke they may be contented to cull out of them sometimes one sometimes another as they shall be adjudged more for their purpose according to the circumstances of the persons they visit A FAMILIAR Instruction to comfort the Sick When the sicknes shall not as yet have any probabilitie to be mortall there may be said to the sicke for his comfort that which here followeth SIR You must first of all know that this sickenesse came not to you casually nor by chance but rather by the wise government of the providence of God our Creatour and Father who so disposeth of prosperity and adversity of health and of sicknesse towards his children that he never sendeth them either the one or the other but it is for his owne glory and for their good and salvation Which the Apostle Saint Paul setteth forth Ro. 8.28 That to them that love God all things worke together for good Now hee there speakes expresly of afflictions in the ranke whereof are sicknesses Now they love God who first of all are beloved of him and as the same Apostle saith called according to his determinate purpose That you are of this number you have occasion to take your assurance thereof by the faith he hath given you in making you to believe that he is your Father and Sauiour in his welbeloved Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord and causing you to receive his spirit of adoption which is he that giveth testimonie and beareth witnesse with our spirit that we are the children of God his heires and co-heires with CHRIST Rom. 8.11.16.17 Hereof ought you to take yet further assurance from the sanctification of his Spirit thorough the which you are led and guided in his obedience For they that are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God Now unto them that are such the Apostle Saint Paul saith that all things worke together for good afflictions sicknesses death it self All are turned unto them by the grace of God unto their great good and profit to serve unto the furthering of their salvation There are three speciall fruits which God causeth us to reape from our sicknesses and afflictions The first is the amendment of our life awakening us out of our sinnes In health and in prosperity it is a thing too ordinary with us to flatter and to lull our selves asleep in our sinnes by reason of the great corruption of our nature which maketh us inclinable unto all evill and unprofitable unto all good Very necessary then is it for us to be awakened and to be made sensible of our sinnes to be displeased with them and to recover our selves out of them All which is wrought by the meanes of sicknesses and other adversities of this life which are the issues of sinne and oftentimes are sent unto us from God to chasten and correct us for our sinnes And therein our gracious heavenly Father sheweth how he loveth us withholding us by this meanes that we perish not in our dissolutions as a good Father and one that loveth his children he chastiseth them and gives them the rod when need requires it to stay them they run not upon their owne destruction This is it which Saint Paul saith 1. Cor. 11.32 That when we are afflicted wee are chastened of the Lord that wee should not be condemned of the world And elswhere he saith Hebr. 12. ver 6.7 11. That the Lord chasteneth him whom he loveth and scourgeth every childe he approoveth if you suffer chastisement saith the Apostle God presenteth himselfe unto you as unto his children For what sonne is he whom the Father correcteth not And although all chastisement for the present time seemeth not to bee joyous but grievous neverthelesse afterward it yeeldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousnes unto them that are exercised thereby Wee must then in the first place gather this excellent fruit of our sicknesses to have a sensible apprehension by them of our so many and so grievous delicts and offences whereof we stand guilty before God to the end to crave pardon for them with repentance and humility and to make unto him an holy protestation to mâ—ke better performance of our duties hereafter to walk in his obedienee and feare thorough the assissance of his grace and conduct of his Spirit Which we must ask of him by our fervent prayers with faith and assurance to be heard according to his promisâ—s And so shall we be able to say to him with David that excellent sâ—rvant of God Psal 119.67 72. Ere thou didst touch mee with thy rod I er'd and went astray But now I have thy holy Word And make it all my stay And also O happy time may I well say When thou didst me correct For as a guide to know thy Lawes Thy Word did me direct And behold how the maladies of our bodies are unto us thorough Gods grace good and wholesome medicines for our soules The second benefit sicknes brings us is to unloose and pluck up our hearts from the earth to lift them up unto heaven Experience shewes us that our hearts remaine over much fastened and rooted here below whilst we are here in health and at our ease we could be content never to budge hence Nay we could be content our felicity were here assigned us and our soveraign happines so farre are wee blinded But God who hath ordained us for a
Ap 21 New Ierusalem The prayers of the Saints Reuel 8 4. Prayer breakes through all Act. 12.7 The prayer of faith shall saue the sicke Iam 5.15 Wisedome cryeth in the streetes Proue 1.20 THE RIGHT WAY to Heauen Prayers and Meditations of the Faithfull Soule with the Spirituall morning Sacrifice and Consolations for the Sicke By Peter D. Mâ—â—lin These were strangers and pilgrimes in the earth Act. 1â— 13 London Printed for George Edwardes and are sold in the Old Baily in Greene Arbor at the Angell 1630. TO THE RIGHT Worshipfull truly religious and vertuous Lady Mary Crooke wife to the Right Worshipfull Sir George Crooke Knight one of His Majesties reverend and learned Iudges of the Kings Bench. Madame AS Speech is the Character of man that is the image of his heart and mind and be the Image of God so silence whilst it is a seasonable and discreet suspension thereof becomes a man in its time and place unseasonable use of either offensive and obnoxious to censure The excesse is branded for a nullifier of Religion whilst it makes it vaine The seeming defect finds some approbation in moralitie Nam nulli racuisse nocet nocet esse locurum I was dumbe and opened not my mouth because thou didst it this untun'd not this sweete singer yet made him fall upon a large rest which it served not to impeach but rather to improve his spirituall melodie Often suddaine and unexpected accidents produce semblable effects Zacharias silenc't for his want of faith yet after Ward enabled both with his heart and tongue to praise God and to sing a Benedictus That Saepe taccâ—s vocem verbaque vultuâ— habet Who holds his peace hath yet a voice that bewrayes him and his countenance beares words with it Yea a delinquent in the one or an offendor in the other as farre as either are exempt from the mixture of the leaven of malice deserves an indulgent construction and exemption from all imputation either of surquedrie or sullennesse as different circumstances may accordingly induce dissimilitude as of affect in one so of affection in another Hac ego si compellar imagine This plaine yet true version of these sacred expressions Holy Prayers and Meditations of a faithfull soule so truly stiled by their Author so well knowne to all to be a reverend and worthy Divine of the French reformed Church I present and dedicate to your Ladiship The end herein proposed to my selfe being the same with that of my Authors which none can justly either question or quarrel at to wit the advancement of this part of Gods worship so ' much languishing in the cold if not frozen deuotions of many and opposed by the giddie practice of mothen a good many that so farre nauzeate Prayer publike especially that in their unkindly and misguided zeale they endeavour by one Ordinance of God to shoulder out another Prayer by Preaching God hath stiled his House the House of Prayer Now what my well meant paines herein cals mine I wish may finde acceptance with you as I do humbly tender resigne the same unto you not so much for supply of a supposed want in your own particular of these Spirituall helps to devotion as for a testimony of observance and due respect Where my obligation is so great When I plowed with mine own heifer a smiling autumn failed not to crown those weaker performances with a plenteous lasting crop for after-use But to usher in these Holy Prayers and sacred expressions of a faithfull Soule into the approbation and use of all that know their Author or his works His name as I suppose will suffice And hence is it Madame that I presume of your good allowance for them to beare your name in their Frontispice that thereby others may be excited and induced to the perusall and use of them in the frequent practice both of this sacred duty and of the works of mercy whereunto the other subsequent Tractates annex't do invite The perusall of which as in order they stand rankt with like good affection I commend to those your Olive branches that stand about your table to whom any tie of precedent relation may iustly claime my respect All which I shall not faile to second with continuance of my daily prayers for your Ladiships health and happinesse both in your stemme and branches and will ever rest At your Ladiships service and command RICHARD BAILY A Table of the Matters contained in this present Book in order as they stand A 1. A Prayer and Meditation of the faithfull Soule 2 A Prayer for the Morning 3 A â—raâ—er fâ—â— the Evening 4 A Prayer of Thanksgiving for the accomplâ—shmeâ—t of his Ansâ—er made to Mounsieur the Cardinall of Perroun 5. A â—rayer in â—orme of a Confession 6. Another â—raâ—er 7 A Prayer fâ—r he Communion 8. A Thankâ—giving after the Communion 9 A â—onfession 10. A Prayer fâ—r the Morning 11. A â—rayer for the Evening 12. Another Prayer for the Morning 13. Another Prayer for the Evening 14. A Prayer in the time of the Plague 15 A Prayer touching the Creation 16. A Morning Prayer 17 An Evening Prayer 18. A Prayer for the obtaining of victorie 19. A Prayer for the Preservation of the Church 20. Another Prayer for the Church 21. A Prayer to have our hearts set on Spirituall things and to renounce the world 22. A Thanksgiving and a Prayer on the same Subject 23. A Prayer to be filled with charitie 24. The Kings Prayer 25. Another Prayer of the Kings Chron. 1. 26. The Peoples Prayer for the King 27. A Prayer of the faithfull who fervently desireth to be made partaker of the publâ—ke exercises whereof he was deprived 28. Another Prayer out of the 2 Epistle of S John 29. The Holy Spirituall Morning Song 30. A Consolation for the Sicke 31. A Prayer for the Sicke in whom there is no appearance of death 32. A Prayer for the sicke in whom there shal be a likelihood of death 33. Another Prayer for the sicke 34. A singular Prayer for a person greatly afflicted with sicknes which seemeth to approach neaâ—er unto death then to life 35. A Prayer against the apprehension of death 36. A Continued Sequell or an Vnintermitted Course of Comforts and Prayers for the sicke and therein these Prayers 37. A Prayer when the sicke is in perplexitie 38. A Prayer when the sicke is neare unto death 39. Another Prayer in distresse 40. Another Prayer when the sicke iâ— in some grievous perplexitie 41. A Prayer the sicke being in extremitie 42. Another Prayer unto Iesus Christ the Great Soveraigne Shepheard of our Soules for the sicke in his extremitie 43. A Prayer for Divine assistance to the sicke 44. A Prayer after the sicke hath given up the Ghost for the comfort of the by standers Whereunto is added A Morning Prayer An Evening Prayer A short Catechisme to prepare People for the receiving of the Lords Supper THE PRAYER AND MEDITATION of the
whatsoever we shall ask in his name Receive then his Passion and his obedience for satisfaction for all our sins and in thy contemplation of his intercession be mercifull and favourable unto us give us thy holy Spirit to touch our hearts unto true repentance to enlighten our understanding with thy knowledge and to warme our spirits in thy love so that we may ever have thy glory for our end thy will for our rule thy providence for our guide and thy promises for our comfort And because we are inclined unto incredulitie and distrustfulnesse and are assaulted with diverse temptations strengthen us in faith and imprint in our hearts thy holy promises giving us inwardly a lively sense and feeling of thy love and the witnesse of our election to the end that we may stand against all temptations and may drive away all feares griefes and unprofitable sorrowes by the assurance that thou lovest us and art our Father in Iesus Christ our Lord. And as it hath pleased thee to have kept us this night past conduct us also this day by causing to shine upon us the brightnesse of thy face by directing us in all our actions so that our deeds our words and our thoughts may be conformable to thy holy will Blesse our studies open our understandings preserve our memories prosper our labours strengthen us in our callings wherein let us not have for our end our owne humour but the glory of thy Name nor our owne temporall profite but the salvation of our soules For the effecting hereof give us the grace to set our affections not on earthly things but that we may acknowledge our selves pilgrims and strangers upon earth may use the things of this world as though we used them not and as ready to lose them tending alwayes to the end of our heavenly calling expecting with joy and assurance that last houre wherein thou wilt draw forth our soules out of these bodies to make them partakers of thy heavenly glory And seeing it hath pleased thee to graunt us the favour to be borne in thy Church and hast receiued us even from our infancie into thy sacred Covenant grant us the grace seriously to acknowledge the greatnesse of so inestimable a benefit and to keepe even unto the end our soules unpoluted of all Idolatrie ready to beare the opprobrie of Iesus Christ and to suffer for the defence of thy truth if it shall please thee to call us thereunto To this end give us thy holy Spirit which may guide us and teach us rightly to imploy our time and to husband the occasions of learning by obeying our superiours whom thou hast given us to conduct and teach us that we may at length bring forth fruits which may serve unto thy glorie and may glorifie thee by our works and by our words both in life and in death Have pittie also upon thy Church diversly tossed defend it against the complots of thine enemies and ours repaire her breaches give her increase in thy graces and in the number of persons give us faithfull Pastors whose preaching may be pure and their life holy and Princes which may be nursing Fathers to thy Church Blesse and preserve our King enrich him with Christian and Royall Vertues Guide and direct the Queene be mercifull to our kinsfolks and friends grant both them and us grace to live in thy feare and to die in thy favour and to be received into thy glorie These things we humbly intreat thee for in the prayer which thy Sonne hath taught us Our Father which art in heaven c. I beleeve in God c. EVENING PRAYER 3. O Lord our good God we prostrate our selves before thy holy Majestie offering up unto thee our evening sacrifice in the acknowledgment of thy gracious benefits and of the speciall care which thou hast of us thy poore creatures thou hast kept us and led us forth this day thou hast given us things necessarie for this present life Be graciously pleased O good God to keepe us also this night and give good repose so that in our morning-wakeing wee may be sounder in bodie and fitter for our vocation wherein we pray thee that thou wilt be pleased to guide and direct us by thy holy Spirit making our labour fruitfull unto thy glory and to the edification of our neighbours and unto our owne salvation Whereof be graciously pleased to give a full assurance and to ingrave in our hearts the promises of thy holy Gospell that we being strengthened in saith may overcome all temptations and finish holily and couragiously our begunne course walking on not as before men but as before thee which proovest our hearts And seeing that a great combat is set before us and Satan is strong and the world contrary and we weak and slow and inclined unto evill hold us up by thy succours defend us by thy providence sanctifie us by thy holy Spirit and cloath us with strength from above and let thy Word imprinted in our hearts instruct our ignorance correct our perversity and heat our coldnesse and negligence in thy service give us fervent charity towards our neighbours a pure conscience faith unfained and fervent zeale unto the setting forth of thy glory Drive away from our hearts evill cares earthly sorrowes and unprofitable melancholies teaching us to repose our selves upon thy providence and to trust in thy promises to be sorrowfull onely for having offended thee but comforted in the assurance of thy mercies in Iesus Christ our Lord. Give us also things necessary for this present life not according to our vaine desires but according to thy wisdome what may suffice for the following of our Callings without lett and passe this our race with sobrietie whilst we advance on forward towards that eternall and most happy life which thy Sonne hath purchased for us And whilst we are in this temporall abode grant us the favour to see the kingdome of thy Sonne advanced and thy truth manifested and the ignorant yea even our enemies to be brought to thy knowledge to this end give us faithfull Pastors and Princes that may imploy their government to the establishment of the kingdome of thy Sonne give thy holy Spirit to the king and to the Queene and a good wholesome Councell for the repose and advancement of thy Church Take care of our kinsmen and friends and give them things neâ—dfull both for body and soule and that our iniquities may not stay the course of thy benefits pardon them Lord and blot them out by the precious bloud of thy Son in whose Name we ask these things of thee in the prayer he hath taught us saying Our Father which art in heaven c. I beleeve in God c. Amen A Prayer of Thanksgiving for finishing the Answer made to Mounsieur the Cardinall of Perron by Peter du Moulin 4. O Lord my God and Father I close this travell with thanks giving to thy Soveraigne Majestie I should be ungratefull to thy goodnesse if I
not God because to denie God and to denie his justice is all one Indeed appeares it not that the most of them who at the beginning but fainingly shall adhere to Idolaters at length become wholly Idolaters or fall into that blindnes that there 's no longer any religion at all in them having altogether forgotten God and live as though there were no God of whom many that would have men esteem better of them do as the Cameleon and according to the object they encounter they resemble one while one thing another while another And unto such the Prophet Elias cryeth out saying How long will yee halt between two opinions on both sides If God be God why do you not follow him If Baal Baal But if they have yet any sparke of knowledge that there is a God a God terrible to be feared in his judgments given in his anger shall they not be astonisht to heare the Lord say to them in his displeasure Apoc. 3.16 That because they are neither hot nor cold but luke-warme that he will vomit them out of his mouth And hearing that by his Prophet Ieremie Ieremie 48.20 Hee curseth him that doth the work of the Lord negligently for what is there more fearefull saving the execution O you the best of these that say you consent not in mind to that you do Lamentably wise fooles whose wisdome consists in folly know you not that he who is the Creator of the soule is also of the body Can we serve God with the one and Mammon with the other Dan. â— If you can carry your selves in that manner why then did not Daniel to avoid casting into the Lions den following the decree of King Darius dissemble and faine to obey that was enjoyn'd him Why did not Sidrach Miâ—aâ—â— and Abednego outwardly at least yeeâ—d and submit to what Nebuchâ—dnezzar required of them rather then to cause him to cast them into the fire Why have not so many Martyrs spoken your language and made some faire shew to be delivered from that infinitenes of horrible torments and even from death it self But who by reason of many of whom sometimes there was no more required but a yea or a nay without any further profession of Religion sollicited by them that thought to doe them a friendly office for their escape chose rather death and forsooke their life No no we must aâ— Saint Paul saith not only believe with the heart to justification Rom. 10.10 But also confesse with the mouth unto salvation for God require to the inward parâ—s with the outward and will have our light so shine before men that they seeing our good works may therupon glorifie him It is the instruction of our Saviour Iesus Christ Cease then and leave off this evill custome seeing God by his Holy Spirit saith yet repent you Math. 5.16 Who addeth for otherwise I wil come against you speedily Apo. 1.16 and will fight against you with the sword of my mouth And let us say all henceforth with David Psalm 34. Henceforth shall our tongues sing aloud the righteousnesse of the Lord and the lowly minded shall heare that we boast our selves of the Lord and shall bee glad thereof Even as Saint Paul exhorteth us 1. Corinth 6.20 Let us glorifie God not onely in our spirits but also in our bodies which are Gods And in emulation one of another let us give testimonie to every one of the adoption which we have in Iesus Christ that all may know and take notice that thorow him we are heires of the kingdome of heaven let us boast of this glory a glory to be paralel'd by no other being a speciall benefit which is unvaluable That our pietie may shine forth singularly to the instruction of our families Let us not be so luke-warme in following of Christ And let us not a little cherish the riches of his opprobries as to take our chiefest care to make them capable of sharing in the vanities of the world For if we have no other care of their salvation we are the executioners of their soules worse then the bruit beasts that are carefull for the good of their young no lesse lewd then they that sacrificed their children to Baal yea if say I we consent that they be brought up with the milk and poison of the spirituall strumpet as much as in us lyeth to make them one day partakers of all the curses of the Lord as if we had vowed to be instruments to deliver them over our selves unto Satan This we shall witnesse to be thus if against our science and conscience we bring them not up in the wayes of the Lord. Let us then herein place all our studie dealing in such sort that they whom God shall have committed to our guidance may be as it were trumpets by their good and holy conversation to publish unto every one the truth of our profession as the thing wherewith wee account our selves most honoured I pray you where is he who being descended of some illustrious and noble familie is not jealous unto the end to be held and known by every one to be issued of that race What Lord of some goodly possession doth not divulge his titles beareth not willingly his coats of Armes Yea doth he not set them up in sight on the highest places to be so much the more conspicuous and better discerned A thing neverthelesse buâ— of small continuance and which in very deed when all comes to all is but meere vanity and whereof there can no comparison be made to this so loftie a title and so full of glory the highest pitch of all honour this title say I of Child and Servant of God Coheire with Christ A quality O the noblest and most magnificent which maketh happy Monarchs not for a season but eternally in comparison of which surely all other even the greatest and the most precious that are under the coap of heaven and compasse of the earth are lesse then nothing yea most wretched if these be not adjoyned unto them And then if a Noble Personâ—ge so much affect his ancient scutchions of armes for so small fruit if he would not endure that ought should be detracted or any thing added lest his linage might either be questioned or unknowne How much more carefull ought we to be to take good heed we do not any act which may not suit with those that are truly the children and servants of God And in contempt of the world to enforce our selves to walk in that integrity and uprightnesse we ought to be by so much the more remarkably such Seeing otherwise especially we exclude and shut out our selves from his grace Rom. 1.16 Let us not then be ashamed of the truth of the Gospell of Christ which is the power of God unto salvation unto all that believe For alas if it be so that we are so brutish and beastly that to possesse the world to please it or for feare of it we dissemble the knowledg we
Paul saith Rom. 8.14 Courage then Sir say boldly with that holy Apostle in the midst of your combats I am assured that nothing shal be able to separate me from the love of God which he hath shewed me in Iesus Christ our Lord To assure the sicke against the temptations and terrors of conscience FOure things there are indeed which in this spirituall combat may give you terror stagger your faith and trouble the peace of your conscience Namely the sense of your sinnes the apprehension of death the feare of the Devill and the horrour of the judgement of God before whom we are to appeare at our going forth of this life But against the feare of al these things the goodnesse of God in the benefits of Christ and in the testimonies he gives us in his Word furnisheth you with good and sufficient remedies thorowly to assure and establish you in invincible constancie Against the terrors proceeding from the sense of his sinnes FIrst for the regard of your sinnes it is indeed very necessarie to have a thorow sensible apprehension and lively feeling of them to humble you before God But in as much as you protest you have a true and serious repentance of them and do seek and lay hold of by faith the satisfaction and expiation of them in the bloud of Iesus Christ assure your self they can in no sort hinder the effect of your salvation If you be a sinner why Iesus Christ also came into the world to save sinners 1. Tim. 1.15 He is that Lamb of God that takes away the sinnes of the world Iohn 1.29 It is his bloud which cleanseth us from all iniquitie 1 Ioh. 1.7.9 And whosoever shall believe in him shall receive remission of his sins thorow his name Act. 10 43. For this cause is it that there should be preached in his name repentance and remission of sinnes Luke 24 47. Yea he himselfe invites us to himselfe to endow us with the fruition of such a good come unto mee all yee that labour and are heavie laden and I will give you rest Matth. 11.28 Go you then unto him if you feele your selfe overwhelmed with the burthen of your sinnes in assurance to find remedie and rest to your soule And for this selfe same cause performes he yet still dayly the office of an Advocat with the Father for us If we have sinned saith Saint Iohn ch 2. ver 1 2. We have an Advocat with the Father to wit Iesus Christ the righteous who is the propitiation for our sinnes Against the feare of death NOW as touching death why should you feare it seeing your sinnes are not imputed unto you For by sin it is that death entred into the world thus saith Saint Paul Rom. 5.12 and by consequent where there is no sinne there can be no death And indeed as for eternall death which the Scriptures call the second death you have from it a full and a perfect release by the meanes of this faith which God hath given you Verily saith the Son of God Iohn 5.24 I say unto you that hee that heareth my Word and believeth in him that sent me he hath eternall life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death vnto life And as for the death of the body whereunto we remaine still subject it is not unto the faithfull a testimonie of Gods anger upon them as it is ever such unto the reprobate but rather a great and singular favour of his bounty and which bringeth them an infinitenes of excellent commodities First of all it delivereth and setteth us free from all manner of evils and dangers putting an end unto such a number of miseries vexations and griefs which exercise and disquiet us uncessantly both in our bodies and in our mindes during the course of this miserable life or rather of this continuall death wherein we languish here below and by drawing us out of this corrupt world imbrued in malignitie with the corruption wherof we cannot chuse but be infected as with a contagious ayre to see our selves brought to this unhappy necessity of offending daily the goodnesse of our heavenly Father so many wayes as we do Secondly corporall death is an entrance to us into a true life by the benefit of Iesus Christ who hath himselfe passed thorow this death to make the passage happy and dangerlesse unto us it is a safe bridge unto us to passe us and convay us out of the world unto God from earth to heaven and out of the calamities of this transitorie life unto the incomprehensible blessednesse of life eternall unto that fulnesse of joyes which is as David saith Psal 16.11 in beholding the face of the Lord. This is the happinesse which your soule shall injoy even from your very instant departure out of this body And as for your body which shal be put into the earth this shall not be for it there to perish for ever but rather there to rest only for a time in expectation of a blessed resurrection For this cause is it that the death of the faithfull is called a sleepe in the Scriptures and they are called they that are asleepe in regard of their bodies which at the last day shal be awakened and raised up out of the dust to possesse together with their soules glorious immortality being made conformable unto the glorious body of our Lord Iesus Christ Philip. 3.21 He is the head and they are the members And therefore it must needs be that the members be made like and conformable to their head What do you then find now in death which should astonish or affright you seeing it will deliver and set you free from all evill and will mount you up to the highest pitch of all happinesse But rather you shall find in it nothing which makes not fâ—â— your comfort and to settle and warrant you and which for that cause ought not to make you wait for it with resolution and repose of spirit yea to breath and long after it with all your heart when the houre therof shall come And to say with Saint Paul My desire tendeth and endeavoureth to go hence to be with Christ Against the feare of the Devill AS for the feare you may have of the Devill you see now how you have no great subject to fearâ—â—im seeing that death cannot hurt you but by that death whereof he hath the empire and power thereof Now the Apostle witnesseth that Iesus Christ hath not onely by death destroyed death but also him that had the power of death to wit the Devill Heb. 2.14 Our Lord saith himself that the Prince of this world hath nothing in him Nor then hath he ought in those that â—ire his members of the number of whom by the grace of God you are one Besides for us and for our profit it was that the Son of God fought with and hath vanquished and overcome him upon the Crosse upon the which he hath as Saint Paul speaketh
are the enemies of our soules But following the Apostles counsel to obtaine the victorie in this Spirituall battell we must resist constantly by faith For the victorie which overcommeth the world it is our faith which is a certaine and assured knowledge of the love of God towards us according as by his Gospell he declareth himselfe to be our Father and Saviour by the meanes of Iesus Christ Having then such a firm faith for your principall foundation know ye and confesse unfainedly before the Majestie of God that you are a poore and a miserable sinner conceived and borne iniâ—niquitie corruption prone unto the doing of evill unprofitable unto every good thing and that by your sinnes you have transgressed without end and uncessantly the holy commandements of God In the committing whereof you have purchased and brought by his just judgement ruine and destruction upon your selfe Notwithstanding you are sorry and grieved in your selves for having offended him and do condemne your selves and your sinnes with true repentance desiring that Gods grace may help and relieve your calamitie Pray then in this firm faith if you cannot with mouth speak it in your heart that God our most gracious and most mercifull Father enter not into judgment nor into an account with you but would be pleased to have pitie on you in the name of his Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord and that he would blot out your sinnes and blemishes by the merit of the death and passion of the same Iesus Christ in whose Name offer up unto him his holy Prayer which he hath taught us saying from your heart Our Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdome come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as wee forgive them that trespasse against us and leade us not into temptation but deliver us from evill For thine is the kingdome the power and the glory for ever ever AmeÌ„ F. S. N. Acknowledge from the bottome of your heart your unrighteousnes be sorry for your sinnes repent uncessantly and the kingdome of God will draw neare unto you Acknowledge there is no righteousnesse no innocencie nor any good works of yours nor in you But rather as the children of wrath conceived and born in the sinne of old Adam you deserve death and eternall damnation Notwithstanding let not this nor all the sinnes of the world when you should have committed them affright you For Iesus Christ the true Sonne of the eternall God is made true man conceived by the Holy Ghost borne of the holy Virgin to sanctifie and cleanse you He suffered under Pontius Pilate many afflictions injuries and outrages making himselfe a servant and captive to set you in full libertie Iesus Christ was crucified as accursed upon the tree of the Crosse to deliver you from the eternall curse Iesus Christ died shedding forth his bloud his precious bloud to wash you to redeem you to deliver and wholly set you free from the death of hell and from the power of Satan Iesus Christ was buried in the grave to burie all your sins which he tooke away and blotted out Iesus Christ descended into hell insuffering extreame sorrowes to free you from all the paines and sorrowes of death Iesus Christ rose againe from the dead to cause you to rise againe in your owne body and unto glorious immortalitie Iesus Christ ascended into heaven to make you to ascend up thither after him Iesus Christ sitteth at the right hand of God his Father Almighty being your Advocate and Intercessor towards him and the attonement of all your sinnes We look for his comming to judge the quick and the dead to render unto every one according to his works But unto his faithfull ones that believe in him he will not impute their sinnes but having entirely justified them by his grace will make them raigne with him in his heavenly throne for ever F. S. N. Such is the great mysterie of our redemption which by the working of the grace of the Holy Ghost you mâ—sâ— firmly believe was wroughâ— for your salvation And doubt not but that by the merit of Iesus Christ the head of his Church you are a member incorporated into the same returning him thanks in great humilitie that he hath been so gracious unto you to have graunted you the happines to have lived in the communion and company of his faithfull ones for having fed you with his Word with his Body and Bloud acknowledging as being fully assured the great mercy of God in the remission of all your sinnes which is made over unto you in Iesus Christ who will raise you up againe at the last day to make you raigne with him in life everlasting which he hath promised unto all those which believe in him being baptised into his name Now F. S. N. seeing you have this faith doubt you not to receive the promise of Faith for God is true he cannot lie as man Sooner shall heaven and earth perish But the Word of God shall abide for ever God is your Father and Creator you are his creature and the worke of his hands He hath not made you to destroy you for he is the Saviour of all men and will not the death of a sinner but rather that he be converted and live Wherefore I declare unto you in the Name of God that out of his great goodnesse and mercy he gives you full pardon and forgivenesse of all your sins thorow the sole merit of his Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord in the shedding of his precious bloud for he is the propitiation not only for all your sins but for all the sins of the world F. S. N. Iesus Christ saith with his own mouth that all things are possible unto him that believeth Believe then without doubting at all that Iesus Christ putting on our flesh was made true man wherin he died for you having taken upon him all your sinnes in his body to abolish and blot them out Set before and present unto God the precious death of his Sonne Iesus Christ and for the merit of the same death and Passion ask his mercy in saying from the bottome of your heart in great humilitie and repentance O Lord God Almighty be mercifull unto me a poore and miserable sinner for thy deare Sonne my Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ his sake and by the merit of his Death and Passion be graciously pleased to receive my soule which I commend into thy hands F. S. N. Put your whole assured trust and confidence in God For seeing he is for you none shal be against you for Iesus Christ who is the Lamb without spot or blemish hath overcome all for you He offered up himselfe once for you and by the same sole oblation hath wholly abolished all your sinnes He hath abrogated made void and forcelesse your follie unrighteousnesse abomination and obligation With this good Lord Iesus Christ God the
thou hast broken rejoyce As then thou didst that favour unto the Israelites even then when they were in the desarts to make them to tast of the fruits of the terrestriall Canaan to the end to incourage them to make them to walk on forward with boldnesse towards the Land of Promise So Lord give unto this sick person and unto us that are in the wildernesse of this world an assurance of the forgivenes of our sins in the bloud of thy Welbeloved who was wounded for our trespasses and bruised for our iniquities peace in our consciences a continuall acknowledgment of thy favours a firm reliance on thy love and joy in our soules which are the fruits of the Celestiall Canaan to the end that relishing that sweetnes we may aspire with zeale and courage towards the end of our Spirituall Calling in Iesus Châ—â—st to be filled not with 〈◊〉 and hony but with 〈◊〉 beams of thy glorious 〈◊〉 and with the rivers of thâ— pleasures with thee for evermore For in possessioâ— of thee great God we shall possesse all things and in thee and thorow thee we shal be all radiant with thy glory and shining as the brightnes of the firmament and as the Sun which shineth in his strength And during this small time which remains for us to live in this world give uâ— grace that thorow good works we may make sure 〈◊〉 Vocation and Election to the end that thus doing 〈◊〉 â—ntrance into the eterâ—â—â—â—â—ingdome of our Saviour Iesus Christ may be abâ—ndâ—ntly accommodated unto us bearing evermore in â—â—nd those words of thy Sonne Iesus Christ that he that shall persevere and shall overcome shal be clothed with white garments and I will not blot his name out of the booke of life But I will confesse his name before my Father and before his Angells And to the end we may receive death which is the end of our miseries in good part make us seriously to think on the future resurrection of our bodies for as this day according as thy Prophet Amos teacheth us shal be a day of darknes not of brightnes of heavines not of joy of destruction not of salvation to the wicked so shall it be the acceptable day of the Lord for the good for as thy Son our Saviour teacheth us we ought to lift up our heads and to rejoyce in that day because our redemption is neare In that day shall it be according to thy Prophet Malachie that the register or book of remembrance which is written before thee of them which think of thy Name shal be opened If King Assuerus had in his Palace a Booke of the worthy exploits of his subjects wherein he found written the good deeds of Mardochâ— to recompence it and shalt not thou have O great King by whom the Kings of the earth raigne Thy book of life and retribution wherin are writ the names of thy children whom by a singular prerogative thou hast adopted for such in thy Son Iesus Christ David surely knew this mysterie when as in his sorest afflictions he said unto thee Lord thou tellest my wanderings my tears are in thy bottle are they not in thy Book Now to the end we may bee acceptable to thee whilst we are incompassed with this mortall flesh graunt us the grace to live in this present world soberly justly and religiously expecting that happy day of the last resurrection and appearing of thy deare Son our Saviour Iesus Christ who in the same shall transforme our vile bodies to the end they may be made like to his glorious body according to the effectuall power wherby he is able to subdue all things unto himself Vnto thee O great God thorow thy Son Iesus Christ in the Vnity of the Holy Ghost be honour and glory for ever and ever Amen 2. Another Prayer when the sicke is neare unto death 35. O Lord our good God and Father who out of thy great goodnes daily showrest downe upon us a sea of bounty and blessings and who hast in thy hand rest and labour health and sicknes life and death We poore sinners setling our selves upon the assurance of thy goodnes which is continually ready to relieve those that resort thereunto in the interim of their grievous assaults unto the blessed haven of thy sacred mercy We are bold in the name of this sick person who fighteth against death to lift up our hearts and our eyes towards thee to the end that thy favour and grace may serve unto him for a starre of light and a guide in that voyage which his soule maketh from earth to heaven and from this mortall life unto the immortall to persist firmly in the faith even unto the end without being terrified or shaken by temptation illusion or by any other stratageme of the enemie Thou art O great God the light of all them that hope in thee and who leddest thy people Israel thorow the ghastly wildernes by a pillar of fire in the dark night therfore we beseech thee to enlighten with thine assistance and holy protection this thy childe in the darkesome passage of death And surely Lord experience shewes us that when humane means seeme most to faile us then is it that thou keepest nearest unto thine to comfort them with thy right hand handling them with thy helpfull hand with gentle and cherishing fomentations and that thou makest them sensible that the point of their extreame need is the opportunitie of thy succours And therefore is it that now the heart of this sicke person sobbeth that his eyes are duskish and heavy his eares deafe his mouth dry and juycelesse and as the outward man falleth in him it would please thee to give him strength in his inward man and to fill his soule with gladnes and joy in that last conflict making him powerfully to relish those celestiall gifts which are laid up for us in heaven by the merits of thy deare Sonne our Saviour who to make us to live againe in heaven after he had by his death reconciled us unto thee ascended into heaven there to prepare a place for us In the interim then of this small time which remaines for this thy child to live in this world give him grace that his spirit may alwayes acknowledge thee that his heart may adore thee whilst he shall breath that he may be assured stedfastly that in the end of his mortall sweat he may find unspeakable happines with his bride-groome Iesus Christ unto whom with thee in the unitie of the Holy Ghost be honour and glorie for ever Amen 3. Another prayer in distres 36. LOrd God and Father of all mercy that sentest from heaven an Angell to comfort thy Son when in the depth of his Passion bearing our sorrowes and loaden with our griefs wounded for our offences and bruised for our iniquities his soule was heavie even unto death We beseech thee from the bottome of our hearts to comfort this thy sick child whom thou hast regenerated and incorporated
into thy welbeloved Sonne acknowledg Lord the mark of thine adoption in him We know O God of inestimable puritie that our sinnes drive us back far away from thee But thy deare Sonne who is made for us by thee wisdome righteousnesse sanctification and redemption not only washeth us with his bloud to becom acceptable unto thee but withall maketh giveth us entrance into thy Sanctuary boldnes by his death to approch with assurance to the throne of thy grace to be heard in due time Graunt grace unto this sick person to free the point of death with an holy and Christian resolution Redouble his courage at that present houre that his soule is upon the point to behold thy face wherein is fulnesse of joy And amidst the violent dartings of those sighs which accompanie the last acts of his life give him perfect clearâ—esse of judgement accompanied with calmenesse of spirit evermore to acknowledge his true and only God that drawes him out of the desarts of this world to live happy in the Heavenly Ierusalem and who withdrawes him out of the bottomlesse depths of wretchednes to bring him to live in heaven heaped with eternall blessings Command thy holy Angels which thou incampest round about those that feare thee and which watch for the welfare and safety of thy children that they beare the soule of this thy servant up into heaven the sacred Temple of thy glory most gloriously resplendant with happinesse and honour where he shall clearely see that which his spirit adores here below and where he shall injoy that divine and celestiall harmonie which the blessed Spirits make unto thee uncessantly and the eternall joyes which cannot be valued and where he shall live in continuall admiration of those incomprehensible bounties in the presence of his Spouse thy beloved Sonne Iesus Christ To whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be honour and glory for evermore So be it 4. Another Prayer to bee said when the Sicke is in extremity 37. O Lord our good God and most mercifull Father who being overcome with the bowels of thy tender mercies hast sent down thy beloved Sonne to save sinners and hast been pleased that this thy Sonne was bound to loose us condemned to absolve and free us that he died to give us life yea that he was made a curse to the end that we might be made a blessing of God in him We beseech thee to graunt this grace unto this sick person to repose and relye himselfe on the certainty of faith for the full remission of his sinnes upon that entire and perfect satisfaction which thy deare Sonne whose bloud was once offered up to abolish the sinnes of many hath made unto theâ— upon the Crosse For it is certaine that thou wilt not the death of a sinner but that he be converted and live Thou bruisest not in thy displeasure those that thou hast redeemed by his death thou dost not precipitate into that eternall gulfe those whom thou hast ingrafted and regenerated in that great Mediator and Saviour of the world when as calling upon thy mercy they shal be converted with their whole heart unto thee That when Satan our adversarie who like a roaring Lion goeth about us endeavouring to devoure us maketh himself a party against this sick person in this his last conflict setting before him the checkroule and catologue of his sinnes and thy rigorous judgment to astonish and to precipitate him into despaire give him grace to shield and ward himselfe as with a target and buckler to repell and beat back the fierie darts of that enemie with the truth and assurance that the bloud of thy Sonne Iesus cleanseth from all sinne Fortifie then and animate O God of invincible power and our firme hope this thy child with the strength of thy Holy Spirit at this present houre that his soule being disburdened of the miseries which presse him yea set free from the captivitie of his body is ready to go unto thee And in that houre wherin the earth claimeth in his person what we have borrowed of her have pitie Lord on thine owne image and despise not the works of thy hands Behold Lord the teares the plaints the sighes the groanes and the contrition of the heart of this sicke person and our prayers that we may acknowledge in his person thy clemency the mother of our hope thy succours the source of our life and that indeed thou art our sacred and saving refuge And as for us which remaine in this vale of miserie graunt us this grace that as thy people being captive in Babilon had the comfort to direct and lift up their eyes towards Ierusalem the place wherein thou didst manifest unto them thy glorious and gracious presence that even so amidst the captivitie of this world where we see nothing but confusion and where vice raigneth and thy honour is dis-esteemed we may have our eyes towards thee as on the sole object and subject of our joy and rejoycing seeing in thy face is the fulnes of joy and at thy right hand are perfect pleasures for evermore Even so O thou God of inestimable bounty and goodnes and who hast chosen us out of the world to follow thy holy will we beseech thee that when thou shalt call us out of this world to place our soules in the company of those who by faith have overcome Kingdomes have done righteousnesse and have obtained the promises and who are written in the Booke of Life of the Lamb. In the meane time O Lord arme us with patience and in the midst of our troubles make us sensible by a lively feeling that our light affliction which is transient and soone over produceth in us a waight of glory wonderfully excellent and that leaving by death these visible things which are but of small continuance we shall injoy those that are now invisible to our eyes which are abiding for ever in Iesus Christ and by Iesus Christ to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be honour and glory for ever Amen 5. A Prayer when the sick is in some grievous perplexitie 38. O God and Father of all mercy who art wise in thy counsels true in thy word and admirable in thy works yea who keepest thy deare children as the apple of thine eye In as much as now we see that now it is even at this time that it wil be thy pleasure to withdraw this thy sick child out of this mortall world We beseech thee enter not into account with him to punish him nor reprove him in thy displeasure neither chasten him in thy wrath But remember Lord he hath beene called in thy Church and in the number of thine Elect to be washed and sanctified by thy grace in the name of Iesus Christ thy deare Sonne who took upon him our griefs and hath undergone the burden of our sorrowes that by his wounds we might receive health whereof his baptisme hath beene the badge Wash then Lord who art in
goodnesse most compleat his soule in the innocent bloud of thy deare Sonne in whose wounds and merits we inclose our present and future happines that being made cleane he may keep thee eternally in his sacred celestiall Temple Gracious Lord and full of tender compassion shew not forth thy strength at this time against a languishing body arme not thy selfe unto vengeance against one that can do nothing Crush not in thine indignation him whom thou hast in thy goodnesse created after thine owne image but rather returning thy gracious countenance towards his sorrowes make him powerfully sensible of thy clemencie the mother of our hope and thy love the source of our life Drive away Lord by thy power all dreadfulnesse all distrustfulnes and doubts which Satan our adversarie can present unto this sick person leave not at randome as prostituted unto that roaring Lion this thy creature regenerated and born anew in that great Saviour of the world but rather establish and comfort his soule Strengthen his faith redouble upon him in this last houre of his the forces of his Spirit that with a truly Christian courage he may repell and beat backe thorough thy strength all the assaults and temptations of the enemie by the merit of thy deare Son who was made man to save man and whose soule was heavie even unto death to deliver us from the hell of eternall fire and from the horrour of the deep O God of incomparable bounty the fountaine of joy and of eternall happines ravish the mind of this sick person even unto the heavens and shew unto him the share of those inestimable graces which thy Son our Redeemer hath purchased for us with thee give him grace to die in the hope of the future resurrection of our bodies and powerfully to comprehend how the resurrection of thy Sonne is the bud of our blessed immortality yea the speciall gage of eternall life and of our holy glorification And unto us that shall yet remaine in this world give grace that expecting our last day which shal be the first of our rest and the end of our miseries that our contentment may not be elswhere then under the covert of thy grace let our soules breath nothing but the sweetnes of thy love and let the continuall desire of living in the admiration of the contemplation of thy divine beauties which thou hast reserved for thine Elect. Let it be the fervent desire and the sole vote of our hearts that daily dying in Adam by the mortifying of our flesh to be borne anew in Iesus Christ we may feele more and more by thy grace our carnall concupiscences repressed our faith inflamed and our hearts cheered by thy singular blessings which thou powrest out daily with a hand more then liberall upon them that feare thee Which we crave of thee in the name of thy deare Son O our Father which 〈◊〉 in heaven c. 6. A Prayer directed unto Iesus Christ the Great and Soveraigne Shepheard of our Soules for the Sick that is in extremity 39. LOrd Iesus our sole and only Redeemer who lovest thine with an eternall love and who camest downe from heaven to raise us up to heaven who tookest our humane nature upon thee to make us the children of God Who borest upon thy back the burthen of our sins to discharge us of them and who as a celestiall Pelican after thou hadst pierced thy sides with the edge of thy love to make thy Vermilian Bloud distill forth to heale our mortall wounds and to drowne our sins in the sea of thy mercies callest us to come unto thee promising to ease all those that are heavie laden and travell assuring them they shall find rest for their soules We beseech thee from the bottome of our hearts O Soveraigne Physitian of our soules who camest not for the whole and the righteous but for the sicke and for sinners to strengthen the faith of this thy sick child redoubling the strength of his Spirit to overcome all feares to vanquish all dangers and to repell the Alarums of Satan and all the assaults of his temptations And seeing that the desire of this sicke person is before thee and that his sorrowes are not hid from thee forsake him not and be not farre from succouring of him but turning thy mercifull countenance towards his griefs make him powerfully sensible of thy succours in joy and in salvation that he may dispose himselfe and we also when it shall please thee to call us to die to thee to live againe in thee O God of our deliverance We confesse O thou Soveraigne Redeemer that our sins were infinite because Adam had offended against thee Infinite We likewise acknowledge that for the same there was requisite an infinite satisfaction which neither Angels nor men nor any finite creature could accomplish But thy bloud O Saviour of the world who by thy eternall Spirit offered thee unto God thy Father thy selfe without all blemish and who art of an infinite price art alone able to cleanse our consciences from dead works to serve the living God And seeing that by this inestimable redemption thy Name is unto thy faithfull ones a perfume spread forth abroad and powred out and that thy divinitie joyned unto our humanitie in one person is our sole comfort and the certain pledge of our union and reconciliation with God We beseech thee to present unto thy Father as a sweet odour for this sick person the merits of thy Passion seeing that thy righteousnes wherewith thou justifiest sinners is not only of inestimable vertue to sanctifie us but also thy death is incomparably admirable to quicken us And in as much as the death of thy beloved ones is precious before thy Father when he looketh upon thee We beseech thee to blesse the death of this our brother covering him with the mantle of thy protection a mantle farre more excellent then that of Elias that securely he may passe the torrent and violent streame of this life to come unto thy holy mountaine and to drink of that spirituall sweetnesse with thine Elect of the fountaine of life in heaven O Saviour of the world the lively brightnes of the eternall glory of the Father who camest downe from the highest pitch of the celestiall mountaines to seek the lost sheep and to inclose him after thou hadst found him in the parks of thy sacred custody save now and protect the soule of this thy sheep to the end the infernall wolfe devoure him not but accomplish thine owne desire touching those whom the Father hath given thee seat it and bestow it with thee in the place of consolation to the end that with all the happy spirits which have imbraced the merits of thy Passion it may behold that eternall glory which the Father who loveth thee and who alwayes heareth thee hath given thee before the foundation of the world To thee then the Redeemer of the world with the Father in the unitie of the Holy Ghost be
honour and glory for evermore So be it 7. Another Prayer wherein supplication is made unto God to assist with his holy Spirit the Sick in his agonie 40. O Lord God and most gracious Father when we enter into a serious consideration of our estate certaine it is that we are in this world as upon a rough and tempestuous sea and that the winds and storms of temptations advance themselves and arise every minute against us and therefore is it that we humbly beseech thee that in this perillous passage thy Spirit may conduct and strengthen our brittle vessell that by the assistance thereof at the last we may happily arive at the haven of eternall salvation And especially we beseech thee for this thy sicke child to the end it may please thee to imprint by the effectuall power of thy Holy Spirit more and more in his heart charity and the love of thy Sonne in whose name we have remission of our sinnes that Persevering with invincible constancie unto the end in the faith and confession of the Name of his Saviour he may find undoubtedly in him whatsoever is requisite unto his assured blessednes Let that thy Spirit which inflameth that which is cold which erecteth what is fallen which giveth breath unto that which is weary cheare up by his vertue the feeblenes of this sick person and produce in him ardent sighs Which may be dissolved into the sweet raine of teares fruitfull unto his soule Let the Same thy Spirit be unto this sick person that which it was unto Elias the whirle-wind and the chariot of fire wherein he may be carried up to heaven Let it be the same that was the New Starre to the Wisemen of the East that by the guiding thereof he may come unto Iesus Christ not laid in the manger not any more passible but glorious and risen againe sitting at thy right hand above all powers and principalitie victorious over death triumphant over hell and Head and Consummatour of our faith And as thou shewedst unto three of thy Apostles in the mountaine when as thy Sonne was transfigured having his face shining as a radiant Sun a skantling and patterne of the glory and celestiall beauty which they should injoy whom thou hast chosen and incorporated into thy said Son So we beseech thee that during the small time which remaineth for us to passe the course of this life it may please thee to give us a continuall tast of that heavenly happinesse and an holy sense of thy glory with a firme and an assured peace of conscience founded upon thy love to walke in the strength of this consolation unto thy holy mountaine For in as much as this world is but a pilgrimage and a way wherein there is nothing to be found firme and wherein the more that men digge to build in it the more do they find unstable sand and unconstant agitations Where ought we Lord to seeke for the true foundation of our expectation and hope but in heaven And seeing that where the body is thither gather together the Eagles We beseech thee to raise up aloft the heart of this sicke person and ours unto thee that thy love may be a precious ointment to make us run and aspire after thee If David in the midst of his great riches thought himselfe a stranger and a forraigner as his Fathers if he said that his dayes were as a shadow upon the earth wherein there is no stay if he looked upon his Royall Pallace as upon an Inne whereout he was every houre to dislodge if he looked upon his Throne as upon a seat which he must leave and resigne over to another And if looking upon his Crowne as on a thing which was subject to fade in these terrestriall places he breathed after an incorruptible Crowne of glory how much more ought we out of the midst of the dust of this world to desire and to breathe after that glorious eternall Crowne where our heavines shal be turned into gladnes our poverty into eternall riches and our ignominie into incorruptible honours Graunt us this grace then O great God not only to despise the things which the world admires but also make us to take patiently the afflictions which invirone and assault us whilst we run this our mortall race For seeing thou hast ordained that they whom thou hast chosen should be made like to the image of thy Sonne not only in suffering but also in glory graunt us grace firmely to be sensible of in this world and truly to injoy in the other the effect of this holy promise which thy Sonne who is holy and true hath made unto those that partake in his afflictions namely that he will give unto him that shall overcome to sit with him upon his Throne so as he also that hath overcome sitteth upon the Throne of his Father For it is certaine if we beare here below the Crosse of his Son we shall weare also the Crowne of glory with him in heaven That if we drink gall and vinegar out of the cup of his Passion we shal be watered and thorowly moistened with the rivers of his pleasures and if we beare in our bodies the mortification of the Lord Iesus even so also the life of the Lord Iesus shal be manifested in our mortal flesh then al of us casting forth bright beams of glory and shining with splendor we shal be not only like unto Angels but even withall we shal be like unto thee to injoy thorow thee and with thee that thy glory and felicitie the which because our words fall farre short of our thoughts yet shorter of the greatnesse therof eye cannot behold eare cannot heare nor heart comprehend Graunt us these things O God who art goodnes it self love it self holines it self who givest us what ere we have wilt give us out of thy bounty and mercy the fruition of what ere we hope for in all eternity thorow thy deare Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be honor and glory Our Father which art in heaven c. A prayer to be said after the sicke hath rendred his soule unto God for the comfort of the by-standers 41. O God and most merciful Father who hast created all things without necessitie who governest them without labour and who changest them thou thy selfe being unchangeable and whose sacred and perfect will is daily done on earth as in heaven We thank thee for this that it hath pleased thee to withdraw unto thee the soule of our brother making us to know in his death what our infirmity is and making us to behold as in a glasse the accomplishment of thine irrevocable sentence by which dust must returne to dust and the soule goe to heaven to him that gave it Graunt us this grace that this death may serve to make a serious impression in our thoughts not onely how his day is this day to die ours shal be tomorrow and that
as the last of our dayes shal be the first of our rest Yet that the death of the righteous is the sun-set of their woes and the sun-rising of their felicities but herewithall it may be also unto us an example to contemne this world where we do but offend thee to breath after with our whole hearts the celestiall Ierusalem wherein we shall injoy with Iesus Christ our Spouse unspeakeable and eternall pleasures whose excellencies surpasse all understanding according to that holy promise which he hath made us to be gone up thither there to prepare us a place to be with him injoying eternall glory Expecting then that most happy houre when thou wilt call us out of this world and where our salvation which is shut up in hope shal be fully revealed unto us Inable us powerfully to comprehend the excellencie of our Calling and what are the riches of thy glory in that heavenly inheritance of thy Saints and what the excellent greatnes of that power is to us ward that believe thorow operation of the power of thy strength which thou hast effectually exprest in thy Sonne Iesus Christ when thou raisedst him from the dead and madest him sit at thy right hand in heavenly places above all principalitie and power strength and dominion and above every name which is named not only in this world but also in that which is to come To the end that being strengthened and corroborated in the inward man we might walk on as becommeth that Calling whereunto we are called in all humilitie and meeknes and with a patient mind bearing with one another in deare love being carefull to keepe the Vnitie of the Spirit in the Bond of peace seeing we are called into the hope of our Calling To thee O great God Father of all which art above all amongst all and in us all with thy Sonne in the unitie of the Holy Ghost be honour and glory for ever Amen Vnto him that feareth God to die is to be borne FINIS A PRAYER to be said in the Morning at our Vprising O Most glorious God most gracious Father and most mercifull Saviour seeing it hath pleased thee to graunt me the gracious favour to have passed this night and to come unto this present day be likewise graciously pleased to adde herewith also unto me the benefit and abilitie to imploy the same wholly and altogether unto thy service in such sort that I may neither thinke say nor doe any thing but what may bee well pleasing unto thee And comply with the obedience unto thy blessed will and pleasure That so all my words may tend to the glory of thy Name and edification of my neighbours And as it hath pleased thee to make thy Sunne to shine upon the earth to inlighten our bodies so likewise be pleased by the bright beames of thy Spirit to illuminate my understanding â—nd my heart to direct and guide me in the saving way of thy righteousnesse so that unto whatsoever I apply my selfe evermore my principall end and Intention may bee to walk in thy feare to serve and honour thee expecting all my happinesse and welfare from thy onely blessing that so I may take nothing in hand but what is agreeable to thy blessed Will and Commandements As also that so travelling for the body and this present life that I may ever looke further namely unto that heavenly life which thou hast promised unto thy children Yet so Lord that it may please thee both in body and soule to bee my protector strengthening me against all the temptations of the Devill and delivering me from all dangers which may befall mee And because it is nothing to begin well unlesse it be seconded with perseverance Reâ—â—â—â—me not onely for this day into thy sacred protection but even for the whole course of my life coâ—tinâ—e and daily augment and increase in thee thy Heaâ—â—â—ly Grace â—ntill thou hast brought me unto the full fruition of thy Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord who is the true Sunne of 〈◊〉 soules that shineth day and night without end and for ever And that I may obtaine these graces from thee bee pleased to forget all my sinnes past and by thy infinite mercies to forgive mee them as thou hast promised unto all them that by faith in Iesus Christ the Sonne of thy love accompanied with true repentant sorrow for their sinnes heartily seeke thy mercie in the pardon of their sinnes by Iesus Christ to whom with thee and thy Holy Spirit one true and everliving God bee all honour and glory now and for evermore Amen A PRAYER TO 〈◊〉 said before going to bed O Lord God sith it hath pleased thee to create the night for the rest of man as thou hast ordained him the day for his travell Graunt me the grace so to take rest this night in body as that my soule may alwayes watch unto thee and that my heart may be raised up in thy love and that I may so cast off and lay asâ—de all earthly cares that I may bee refreshed as mine infirmitie shall require that I never forget thee but that the remembrance of thy bounty and grace may remaine evermore so deepely imprinted in my memorie that by that means my conscience may have as well her spirituall rest as the body taketh his And withall let not my sleepe bee excessive inordinately to please the ease of the flesh but onely to satisfie the frailtie of nature the better to dispose me to thy service Be also pleased to keep me unpolluted in my body as in my minde And to preserve mee against all dangers that my sleep may bee to the glory of thy Name And seeing there hâ—th not a day passed whâ—â—â— I have not many wayes ofâ—â—â—â—â—â— thee according as I am a poorâ— wretched sinner even as all a now covered by the darkenesse which thou sendest upon the earth graunt likewise all my sinnes may bee buried thorow thy mercy that by them I may not bee deprived of the light of thy countenance Heate mee most gracious God and loving Father for Iesus Christ his sake Amen THE MANNER of questioning those that are to bee received to the Supper of our LORD IESVS CHRIST Question IN whom believest thou Answer In God the Father in Iesus Christ his Sonne and in the Holy Ghost Q The Father the Sonne and the Holy Ghost are they more then one God A. No. Q Must we serve God according to hi◠〈◊〉 or according to the traditions of â—â—n A. We must serve him according to his Commandements and not according to the commandements of men Q. Canst thou fulfill Gods Commandements of thy selfe A No. Q. Who is it then taht fulfill them in thee A. The Holy Ghost Q And when God hath given thee his Holy Spirit canst thoâ— perfectly fulfill them A. No in no wise Q And yet God curseth and reiecteth all those that doe not perfectly and entirely fulfill his Commandements A. It is true Q By what meanes then canst thou be saved and delivered from the curse of God A. By the Death and Passion of our Lord Iesus Christ Q How by the meanes of his Death and Passion A. Because by his Death he hath purchased us life and hath reconciled us unto God his Father Q. Vnto whom prayest thou A. Vnto God Q In whose name prayest thou A. In the Name of our Lord Iesus Christ who is our Mediator and Intercessor Q. How many Sacraments are there in the Christian Church A Two Q. Which are they A. Baptisme and the Lords Supper Q. What is the signification of Baptisme A. It hath two parts For our Lord doth therein set forth unto us the remission of our sins and then our regeneration or spirituall renewing Q. And what signifâ—â—th the Sâ—pper A. It setteth forth unto vs that by the Communion of the Body and bloud of our Lord Iesus Christ our soules are nourished in the hope of eternall life Q What do the Bread and Wine set forth unto us in the Lords Supper A. They set forth unto us that the Body and Bloud of Iesus Christ have such vertue and strength unto our soules as Bread and Wine have unto our bodies Q Conceivest thou that the Body of Iesus â—hrist is inclosed and contained uâ—der the Bread and his Bloâ—d under the Wine A. No Q Where then must we seeke Iesus Christ to have the fruition of him A. In heaven in the glory of God his Father Q What is the meanes to come unto heaven where Iesus Christ is A. It is faith Q. We must then have true faith before we can have the right use of this holy Sacrament A. So we must Q. And how can we come by this faith A We attaine unto it by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in our hearts and assureth us of the Promises of God which are made unto us in the Gospell FINIS