able to separate us from the love of God which he hath shewed us in Iesus Christ our Lord. This same faith bringeth us not a simple opinion or conjecture of our salvation but even an assured knowledge of it according to that which Saint Iohn saith chap. 5. ver 14. We know that we are translated from death to life Also 1. Iohn 10. Wee know that wee are borne of God And I have saith he Ioh. 5.13 written these things unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you might know that you have eternall life This faith gives us to go to the throne of the grace of our God Heb. 4.10 With assurance so saith the Apostle Heb. 10.22 Yea with a true heart and in full certainty of faith As also S. Paul Ephes 2.12 saith that by Iesus Christ wee have boldnesse and accesse in confidence thorough faith which we haue in him This faith is called Heb. 11.1 an hypostasie or substance of things that are hoped for That is to say which maketh to subsist and to have a being in our minds of the things believed and hoped for nor more nor lesse then as if already we were in the actuall possession and fruition of them This faith makes us find peace and rest in our soules and consciences and drives forth of them the feares and terrours which the sense of sin brings into them and the apprehension of the judgment of God according to that which Saint Paul saith Rom. 5.1 That being justified by faith we have peace with God thorough our Lord Iesus Christ by whom also we have beene led thorow faith unto this grace in whom we hold our selves firme and boast our selves of the hope we have of the glory of God The gift of Perseverance assured to the faithfull MOreover these passages propound and set forth unto us this holy assurance of faith not onely for the present but also for the time to come and containe a promise that God will give us to persevere in this faith even unto the end Otherwise where should this assurance be whereof the holy Apostle speaketh not to be able to be separated from the love of God in Iesus Christ Where should be this subsistence and being of things hoped for How should we have in our soules a solid peace with God How should we hold our selves firm in this grace How should we be able to boast and glory in the hope of the glory of God Such then is the incomprehensible bounty goodnesse of this Heavenly Father that he begins not in us the work of our salvation to leave it imperfect according to that which Saint Paul saith to the Philippians and in their presence unto all true faithfull ones Philip. 1.6 I am assured that he that hath begun this good worke in you will perfect it even unto the day of Iesus Christ As besides he saith elswhere Rom. 11.26 That the gifts of God are without repentance that is to say that he never unsayes them nor ever retracts them Against the objection that this assurance of faith is a presumption NOr is there cause why finally this certainty of faith should be censured in us for rashnes and presumption For on the contrary it were extreame rashnes presumption in us if we vouchsafed not to give credit unto so excellent promises of our God and it is humility and obedience both to receive and to rest in them with reverence It is likewise said That he that hath receiâ—â—d the witnesse of God hath 〈◊〉 to his seale that God is true Iohn 3.33 That is to say he hath as it were subscribed and given approbation unto the truth of God which he sheweth in the accomplishment of his promises And on the contrary it is said 1. Iohn 5.10.11 That he that believeth not God hath made him a lyer because he hath not beleeved the record which God hath given of his Sonne And this is the record that God hath given to us eternall life and this life is in his Sonne Two things might make us rash and overweening in this assurance which we take of our salvation The one if we found it upon the worthines and merit of our works Rom. 3.20 For no flesh shal be justified before God by the works of the Law and all they that seeke to bee justified by them are under the curse This saith Saint Paul Galat. 3.10.2 But it is not upon our own righteousnes which is none at all that we found any such assurance but even upon the righteousnesse of him whom God hath made to be sinne for us 2 Cor. 5.21 that is to say a sacrifice for sinne to the end that wee might bee the righteousnesse of God in him and by whose obedience we are made righteous in stead as by the disobedience of Adam wee were sinners Rom. 5.19 The other point which might make us overweening in this behalfe might be this If we presumed to acquire and get any such knowledg of our salvation by the subtilty and acutenes of our owne spirits or wits it being so that the naturall man perceiveth not the things which are of God thus saith Saint Paul 1 Corinth 2.14 But surely we make account to have received as the same Apostle speaketh 1 Corinth 2.12 Not the spirit of the world but the spirit which is of God that wee might know the things that are freely given unto us of God He saith yet further in the same place 1 Cor. 2.9.10 That the things which in regard of us are altogether incomprehensible God hath revealed unto us by his spirit He addeth finally 1. Corinth 2.16 That by this meanes we apprehend the will of Christ. Now by this spirit of God are led all they that are the children of God And this more yet saith the same Apostle Rom. 8.14 And it is called the spirit of adoption and thereby wee crye Abba Father Gal. 6.4 to wit we invoke and instantly call upon God as our Father As also it is the same Spirit saith Saint Paul Rom. 8.11.16 which witnesseth to our Spirits that wee are the children of God The same Apostle yet further saith Ephes 1.13 14. That when we believe the Gospell wee are sealed with the holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance untill the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory teaching us hereby that the record of the Holy Ghost received in our hearts with faith is unto us as a seale which the Holy Ghost imprinteth in our hearts to make us awfull of the promise of God and to assure us that we are his children and that as in contracts which are made betweene men they give somtimes earnest that is to say a part of the price agreed upon as well to begin the payment as to make the match or bargaine irrevocable And to give assurance it shal be firmly and constantly kept Even so the Holy Ghost which by faith begetteth peace and joy in our
drawne dry thy arme is not shortened nor thine eare growne heavie of hearing but our iniquities are they which make this sepation between thee and us which take thou away by thy mercy and by the intercession of our Saviour Iesus Christ It is thou that hast crusht the Dragon and bruised the head of that old Serpent and who by the blood of thy Covenant hast drawne us out of the pit where there was no water having vanquished hell by the death of thy Sonne thou then great God that hast pluckt us from out the talons of the Divell wilt thou not deliver us from the hands of men thou which hast saved us from hell wilt thou not deliver us from the power of the world O Eternall Lord thou wilt do it and wilt not forsake us but rather having chastised us in measure thou wilt make us sensible of thy comforts and wilt cause to shine upon us thy face in ioy and in salvation least wee faint thorow our infirmity and least we be overcome through the length and hardnesse of the temptation for so also Lord hast thou promised and thy promises are certain thy word more firm then heauen and earth thou hast promised us by the mouth of thine own Sonne not to forsake us and to be with us even to the end of the world thou numberest our haires thou receivest our sighes thou puttest up our teares into thy bottles he that toucheth thy children toucheth the apple of thine eye thou causest thine Angels to pitch their camps about them that feare thee deare and precious is their death in thy presence Doe then O God according to thy word and let the Angell of thy face march before us let thy protection be round about us as a wall of fire thou that stillest the waves of the sea and the insurrections of the people and which holdest the hearts of Kings in thine hands as the rivers of waters curbe the furie of the people and give unto our King thoughts of peace estrange farre from him the Counsels of violence frustrate the expectation of our enemies who alreadie have devoured us in hope dissipate their counsels thou that surprisest the wise in their subtilties which knowest the depths of Satan and piercest with thine eyes into the counsels of the sonne of perdition whom thou wilt discomfite with the breath of thy mouth and wilt beate downe all power which opposeth it selfe against thine but if our iniquities beare witnesse against us and make us unworthy to see so excellent a worke do it for thine owne sake for though we be unworthy to be heard thou art worthy to be glorified wherefore suffer not Satan to triumph and reioyce at the dissipation of thy Church and that thy holy Name is without punishment blasphemed Awake then O God thy jealousie and the blustering motions of thy fatherly affections unbare and tucke up the arme of thy holinesse and let the ends of the earth see thy salvation remember thy ancient compassions and thy covenant with thy people Remember the bloud of thy children spilt in abundance which cryeth for vengeance from the earth We confesse indeed that we have need to be humbled and that thy Church hath need to be purged againe and therefore it is that thou takest the fanne into thy hand to repurge thy floore and raisest the wind of persecution which serveth to carry away chaffe and to expell hypocrites But withall O good God amidst this tribulation the weak do faint and the good are oppressed and partake in the affliction and Idolatrie gathereth strength and the night of ignorance groweth thicker and thy holy Name is blasphemed and the doctrine of salvation trampled under foot by thy adversaries Therefore is it that we beseech thee O Father of mercie that if thou wilt afflict us that we may not fall into the hands of men but that we may fall into thine owne hands for thy compassions are great for men hate us not for that we have offended thee but because wee defend thy quarrell and because thy Name is called upon by us and renouned upon us the blood-suckers thirst after our blood not to ease the patient but to satisfie their lust Above all things O God and most gracious Father continue unto us thy word and afflict us rather with all other manner of affliction in this life then to take from us that light sith it is the testimonie of thy favor towards us our priviledge amongst all people and the way to come to thy kingdome that our children may be instructed therein and mâ—y be heires of thy Coveâ—â—nt after us and that our dayes may be finished in thy favour may be followed with an age wherin thy truth may shine forth againe and the kingdome of thy Sonne Iesus Christ may take a great increase and by preserving unto us this preaching of the Gospell in the purity thereof give it efficacie in our hearts and breake not in thy anger the strength of this spirituall bread Rather Lord make the feare of this light incite and rowse us up to make our profit thereof and to redeeme the time and to further and carrie us on forward in this way whilst we have the light and let evils wherewith thou visitest us be wholesome remedies unto us and an instruction for our soules and let them serve to recollect our faith and to draw from out our hearts fervent prayers and that the deliverance which it shal please thee to graunt us may make us know thy fatherly love towards us which shall accompanie us the rest of our dayes till we be retired out of this vale of miserie to put us in possession of thy kingdome that we may leave after us thy Church peaceable the breaches of thy house repaired and thy service purely establisht to the glory of thy great Name and the salvation of many by thy Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen Es c. 26. v. 12. 13. Lord thou wilt ordaine peace for us for thou also hast wrought all our workes in us O Lord our God other Lords besides thee have had dominion over us but by thee onely will we make mention of thy name Ver. 20. Come my people enter thou into thy chambers and shut thy doores about thee hide thy selfe as it were for a little moment untill the indignation be overpast Morning Prayer 2. O Our good God and gracious Father we thy poore creatures present our selves before thy face acknowledging that we are great sinners who cease not to offend thee in thought word and deed ingratefull for thy benefits full of diffidence and incredulitie more affectioned to the things of this world then unto thy service But there is mercie with thee for thou lovest not the death of a sinner but that he should convert and live and hast given us thine own Sonne that we beleeving in him might not perish but have life everlasting Thou hast commanded us to call upon thee with promise to give us
thanks unto thee for the same But if it be thy will yet to continue any longer or even to augment unto him this sicknes grant it may be alwayes for his good and give increase of strength and of constancie to be able to beare these thy trials with a calme and meek mind without any impatiencie or grudging and that thus in these truly christian testimonies of his faith and Patience thou maist be glorified and his neighbours edified and comforted And that even he also by this experience had of the miseries of the world and of this life may be taught to wean his heart and affections from them to raise them up heartily unto the meditation and diligent search of that repose and incomprehensible happines which is set before us in heaven and in everlasting life Grant also Lord the like graces unto all others that are sick and afflicted Comfort them and strengthen them as thou knowest shal be needfull for them and above all give them power evermore with a true and lively faith to embrace thy mercy in Iesus Christ therein to find matter of consolation Heare us Father of grace for the same thy deare Son Iesus Christ our Lord his sake as we humbly beseech thee in that forme of prayer which he himselfe hath commanded us to offer up unto thee Our Father which art in heaven c. And because Lord that without faith we cannot please thee we beseech thee so to increase the same in this thy servant and in us that he may be enabled even unto the last gasp of his life and we with him to persevere in the same and to be evermore readily disposed thereof to render unto thee a pure confession both with heart mouth as we now do I beleeve in God c. Such is his faith Lord and also ours give us grace both to live and die in the same thorow Iesus Christ thy Sonne our Lord who in the unity of the Holy Ghost liveth raigneth with thee GOD eternally When there is some likelihood that the sickenesse will be mortall there must be added other consolations such as these following SIR You must ever be of good courage in the midst of this affliction wherewith God continueth to visit you in your body then you must know that he sends it you and continues it unto you but for your good and for the salvation of your soule To teach you by this meanes to come to a true knowledge of your selfe as being a poore sinner to detest more and more your sins to despise the world to lift up your selfe wholly unto God and to call upon him so much the more fervently with assurance to be heard according to his holy promises and to obtaine from him Christian constancie which is necessary for you in this triall The assurance of Gods mercy in Iesus Christ the foundation of all comfort NOW that which ought most to comfort you and to strengthen you with courage and patience which is that assurance which you must evermore take that God for his welbeloved Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord his sake embraceth you in his love and free gracious good will hath pardoned your sins hath adopted and received you into the number of his children to make you an heire of the kingdome of heaven by vertue of that purchase which Iesus Christ hath made for you by his death Such an assurance will ever make you certaine that nothing can befall you be it in life or be it in death which shall not be unto you a favour and a blessing from your heavenly father and which by consequence shall not be an helpe and a meanes ordained by his wise providence to advance and lead you unto a happy life This assurance comes from Faith TRue it is that this assurance we cannot take of our selves but it is this our good God who gives it us when by the power of his Holy Spirit and by his Word he creates in our hearts a true and a lively faith with the which we receive and appropriate to our selves the promises of his grace which he addresseth unto us in the preaching of his holy Gospell These promises briefly import thus much That God so loved the world that hee hath given his onely Sonne to the end that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Iohn 3.16 If then God give you the grace to believe in his only Sonne and to embrace and lay hold on him for your Redeemer and Saviour as we gather you do by the profession you hitherunto have made thereof and do still make the same in the midst of his Church you may and ought to take from thence an holy assurance that God according to the infallible truth of his Word hath received you into his love that you shall not perish but you shall have eternall life Now this being so what can you be afraid of Rom. 8.30 31. If God bee for us who shal be against us He who hath not spared his onely Sonne but hath given him for us how shall he not also give us all other things with him He hath given us the greater namely his owne Sonne shall he denie you then the lesse to wit what ere may be necessary and expedient to keep you and to uphold you against all manner of evills both corporall and spirituall as well in life as in death Faith applieth unto every faithfull one the promises of the Gospell NOw this application I spake of which you ought to make of the promises of the Gospell to draw from them such an holy assurance it is necessarily to be looked for in faith For to believe in Iesus Christ is not to believe onely in the grosse that there is a Iesus Christ and that he that believeth in him hath eternall life and it is not enough to believe that the promises of the Gospell are true in general and out of us The Devill himselfe believeth indeed all this and yet hath no true faith for all that But to believe in Iesus Christ it is when the faithfull believeth that there is salvation in Iesus Christ for himself which the Devill cannot believe And true justifying faith and by which the just liveth consists properly in this that we apply unto our selves and that every one of us appropriate in his owne particular to himself the promises of salvation to be able to say every one in his owne behalfe that which Saint Paul said in the person of every faithfull man and woman Gal. 2.20 I live in the faith of the Sonne of God who hath loved me and who gave himselfe for me Also Tim. 1.2 I know in whom I have believed and am perswaded that he is able to keepe that which I have committed unto him even unto that day And againe Rom. 8.37 38. I am assured that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things to come neither height nor depth nor any other creature shal be
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
thy mercy for his sins and true righteousnes in the obedience of the same thy deare Son Iesus Christ our Lord who was delivered up unto death for our sinnes and rose againe for our justification Yea ascended into heaven to take possession thereof in our name and by that meanes give us accesse and entrance thither whence sinne had banished us Imprint in his heart by the Power of thy holy Spirit a full certainty of all these thy graces that thereby he may be enabled to repose himself peaceably in thy mercy and to overcome happily all temptations and crosses which Satan and his owne flesh would lay before him to trouble the serenitie and cleerenesse of his faith and the tranquillitie of his conscience Let not his sinnes then plunge him into despaire seeing they have been so fully payed and satisfied unto thy justice not by gold or silver but by the precious bloud of thy Christ as by that Lamb without spot and blemish Let not death affright him seeing that sinne being destroyed and abolisht in him which is the sting of death it may remaine unto him disarmed and without power to hurt him Yea that his soule being separated from his body by corporall death it shal be to go unto thee victorious and freed from the captivity of sin therby to tast thorow the fruition of it that blessed life which he hath not tasted of in this world but by hope leaving indeed his body in the earth but not for ever but rather to be refined transformed and made in due time conformable to the glorious body of his head by the benefit of his resurrection Let not Satan daunt him any more seeing he cannot hurt him but by sinne and death the dominion whereof he hath lost in his behalfe Assure him in the end that in vain that accuser shall lay ought to his charge at the throne of thy justice seeing that he being already absolved and justified by thy grace there is no Iudge that can condemn him Let it be thy good pleasure also O good God to shew thy fatherly mercy unto all other sicke persons comfort and strengthen them according as thou knowest they have need thereof And above all graunt them the grace to embrace evermore with a true and a lively faith thy mercie in Iesus Christ that therein they may find all matter of comfort Graunt also unto us all that grace Lord that by this example we may profit and learne to renounce the world and our selves to imploy those few dayes we have here below to live to meditate on thy wisdome to walk carefully in thy feare to weane our hearts from the vanities of this life to raise them up to the meditation and expectation of the celestiall life And to this end to be alwayes prepared and in a readinesse to appeare before thee in assurance to be entertained and received in thy great mercie even for thy deare Son Iesus Christ our Lord his sake In whose Name we beseech thee O Father of mercie to heare us and in all other which thou knowest better then we our selves to be necessarie for us and this for thy poore servant as we pray unto thee in that forme of prayer which he himselfe hath commanded us to offer up unto thee Our Father which art in heaven c. Lord increase that faith which thou hast planted in the heart of this thy servant and child defend him with it as with a strong shield wherewith he may be inabled to quench all the fierie darts of the evill one And graunt that persevering constantly in the same unto the last gaspe of his life he may evermore at the least in heart make thereof unto thee a pure and Christian confession as we will presently do both with heart and mouth I believe in God the Father Almighty c. Such is his Faith Lord as also ours give the grace to live and die in the same thorough Iesus Christ thy Sonne our Lord who in the unitie of the Holy Ghost liveth and raigneth with thee God eternally Amen If the sicke person continue long time and yet alwayes with appearance of danger of death it shal be good to repeate unto the sicke now and then some of the aforesaid consolations but especially those which serve to assure him and to strengthen him against the temptations and combats of conscience And if happily the sicke person bee troubled with raving and fond imaginations or otherwise be not of perfect memorie and good understanding to heare any long discourse in a continued speech there shal not be used unto him other then short sentences such short questions as these here following also such as these or others the like And but talking to him by respits and some pauses interposed SIr you must take a good heart It is the fatherly hand of God which visits you for your good and welfare For unto them that love God all things do work together for their good Lift up your heart unto God to confesse unto him your sinnes and offences and to imbrace by faith his mercy in Iesus Christ which he hath promised unto all those that repent and believe in him Have you not alwayes a good assurance in the mercie of God and a stedfast faith in Iesus Christ your Saviour Yes Do you not believe that Iesus Christ died for your sinnes and rose againe for your justification Rom. 4.25 Yes Believe you not that he hath been made unto you by the Father wisdome righteousnes sanctification and redemption 1. Cor. 1.30 I do Do you not believe that you are freely justified by the grace of God thorow the redemption which is in Iesus Christ Yes According to your faith doubt not but God will free you and securely protect you from perdition and give you everlasting life For God gave his Sonne that whosoever shall believe in him shall not perish but rather have everlasting life Iohn 16. Feare not death seeing by faith you imbrace Iesus Christ who is your life I am saith he the resurrection and the life He that believeth in me although he were dead he shall live and whosoever liveth and believeth in me he shall never die Iohn 11.25.26 If your sinnes trouble and disquiet you have recourse ever by faith unto Iesus Christ and you shall find rest for your soule Come unto me saith he Matth. 11.28 you that labour and are heavie laden and I will ease you Feare not the rigour of Gods justice For there is no condemnation to them that are in Iesus Christ So saith the Apostle S. Paul Rom. 8.1 And who is he saith he Rom. 8.32.33 who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It is God that justifies who is he that shall condemne It is Christ which died or rather which is more which is risen againe who also is at the right hand of God and who maketh intercession for us Be not loath to leave this miserable life which as S. Iames saith chap. 4.14
for me As accursed upon the tree of the Crosse to free me from the curse eternall wherunto Adam had obliged me This my Saviour Iesus Christ was truly buried to burie all my sinnes with him to the end they might not be imputed unto me before God It is my Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ which went downe into hell suffering extream temporall anguish to deliver me from the eternall The Minister All this that you have now confessed of Iesus Christ was it sufficient to save you The Sicke No According as the holy Scriptures ought in every thing to be fulfilled For what had it profited me that Iesus Christ was borne crucified dead buried and went downe into hell for me only unlesse he had risen againe Wherefore I believe and confesse that my Lord my Head and Saviour Iesus Christ is risen againe from the dead to make me to rise againe with him as one of his meaner members unto life eternall The Minister Consequently it is written that he ascended up into heaven being now set downe at the right hand of God his Father But what doth this his ascention benefit you The Sicke My Lord my Head and Saviour Iesus Christ is ascended up into heaven to cause me to ascend thither after him for where the Head is there are the members also And I believe that being set downe at the right hand of God his Father he is my Advocat intereessor and onely Mediator with him assuring me exceedingly that none can hurt me seeing that Iesus Christ is my Advocate and Iudge both together Wherfore I have no occasion to feare the day of his judgment when he shall come to judge the quick and the dead For I believe and confesse in stedfast faith that there is neither judgment nor condemnation to them that are faithfull members of Iesus Christ The Minister Who hath given you the grace to understand and know all these things The Sicke It is by the grace of the Holy Ghost one only God with the Father and the Sonne by whose means we receive all the goods and gifts which are offered us in Iesus Christ The Minister Seeing you have already confessed that you are a member of Iesus Christ it thence followeth that you are withall incorporated into his Church which you must believe to be Holy Catholique and Vniversall The Sicke I do assuredy believe the Holy Catholique Church washâ— and cleansed with the Precious Bloud of Iesus Christ for the which in the greatest humility I render him thanks that he hath affoorded me the grace to be one of the meanest members of his Church being baptized into his Name he hath made me to live in the communion unity and love of the same by having instructed me in his holy Word and fed me with his true Body steeped in his precious Bloud into the hope of eternall life The Minister Well go to seeing you are so well founded upon the lively Rocke which is Iesus Christ in knowing so well your selfe you must confesse and acknowledge the principall good which you have received from this good Iesus Christ The Sicke It is very reasonable for I would not be ingratefull in not acknowledging the goods and gifts which I have received from God Wherefore I confesse that I poore miserable sinner have offended without end and without ceasing the goodnesse and justice of God having transgressed all thy holy Commandements In the doing wherof I have deserved death and eternall damnation Neverthelesse appealing to Gods mercy I cry him mercy and do believe and confesse without all manner of doubt or wavering that full and perfect forgivenes of all my sinnes is graunted me by the sole merit of the Death and Passion of my Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ in the effusion of his precious Bloud wherein I assure my self to be sufficiently and entirely washed and purged which is the most transcendent good and contentment that I could ever have received and such is my faith wherein I will live and die by the helpe of the grace of Gods Holy Spirit The Minister Seeing you have received so great a good from God by the means of his Sonne Iesus Christ it is fitting also that you do his commandement For even as he hath pardonned you and remitted all your sinnes in like manner must you pardon heartily all those which may have offended you Otherwise you walk not according to God Sick In this thing I have knowne the Law of Iesus Christ to be the singular sacred and perfect Law commanding us to love our neighbours friends and enemies as our selves Wherefore I also intreat all those to whom I have done wrong or said wrong to pardon me as heartily as I pardon all them that have offended me desiring to do them all good offices of love and kindnes as to my good brethren and friends The Minister Now sith it is ordained by God that all men shall die we cannot resist his ordinance rather we ought evermore to conforme our selves to his holy will Wherefore my brother you must not think it strange if I declare unto you the same which the good Prophet Esay declared unto King Ezechias saying unto him from the Lord Set thy house in order for thou shalt die not live This good advice ought to stirre you up thorowly to set your selfe in good order spiritually in your conscience And that is first of all to convert and turne you unto God to bewaile your sinnes as that good King did To implore his mercy in begging pardon at his hands and saying alwayes in your heart Lord God be propitious and mercifull unto me poor miserable sinner for thy Sonne Iesus Christ his sake my Lord and Saviour And then you must not forget your house and familie which you ought so well to set in good order and so to dispose of by a good testament and last will that it may remaine in peace and tranquillitie after you But the better to give you to understand how to dispose aright and to set in order your house it is that you give unto every one what belongeth unto him without defrauding of any man that you leave your wife endow'd with what is due to her your children and kinsfolkes in good agreement and charitie that after your decease they may have no occasion to fall to dissention and division This being done you must quite forget all worldly eares and affection to the world which passeth away withall the concupiscence thereof But he that doth the will of God abideth for ever Touching your children you are only their naturall father for a time but God is perpetually their Spirituall Father having them in his holy keeping and protection to preserve and sustaine them to keep and deliver them from all evill whilst they will but walk in his wayes Besides in that you are a Christian regenerate in the holy Sacrament of Baptisme long since you knew that we have not here any Citie of continuance for we looke for a better
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
then I have loved heaven I preferred the preservation of my goods before the setting forth of thy glory earthly repose before eternall happinesse Alas Lord what punishments am I worthy of What torments have I deserved For my conscience accuseth me my sinnes call for vengeance against me and surely if the wages of the least of our sinnes be eternall death and if it be impossible for me to number my sinnes or to conceive the enormiousnesse of them how O thou God of vengeance how whilst I consider my selfe in my selfe shall I expect from thee with unspeakeable feare eternall and infinite punishments Yet O gracious God thy word teacheth us and experience witnesseth to us that thou wilt not the death of a sinner but that he turne unto thee and live so also hast thou thy selfe found out in thine eternall counsell the meanes of our deliverance and hast in the fulnesse of time sent into the world the eternall Sonne of thy love thy darling even he in whom thou art well pleased thou hast establisht him a Saviour and Redeemer for all those that hope in him by converting them unto thee He was made for us wisedome righteousnesse sanctification and redemption his bloud cleanseth us from all sinne he was despised to raise us unto glory he hath taken our nature to make us partaker of his he was borne the Sonne of Man to make us the Children of God he was full of sorrow to fill us with happinesse he was wounded for our sins and bruised for our iniquities upon him was laid the penaltie which brought us peace and by his bruises are we healed he came into the world to lead us to heaven he died to give us life he rose againe for our justification To conclude Lord thou so lovedst the world that thou gavest that spotlesse Lamb to the end that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have life everlasting And seeing O my God and Father of mercy that out of thy speciall favour it hath pleased thee in the midst of my errour even in mine infidelitie ingratitude to take pitie on me to give me thy knowledg and the resolution to follow thy Gospell seeing thou hast endued me with true faith in thy Sonne seeing thou hast touched my heart wherefore Lord shall I not have accesse unto thee with confidence Why shall I not approch with assurance to the throne of thy grace to obtaine mercy and to be releeved by thee in due time For though I be miserable art not thou mercifull If I be unrighteous wilt thou not cloath me with the righteousnesse of my Saviour Mine iniquitie amazeth me but thy goodnesse assureth me my unworthinesse estrangeth me from thee but the worthinesse of thy Sonne recalleth me back inviteth me and conducteth me to thee unto thee that art the God of my salvation that hast redeemed my soule from death that hast purchased me life everlasting and most happy O my God how great is my comfort how excellent the joy how precious and unspeakeable the repose which my soule enjoyeth in the meditation of these things Vnto thee onely then it is that I now addresse my selfe as to confesse my sinnes so also to acknowledge thy mercie as to condemne my selfe so withall to find absolution in thy Sonne If to be sorrowfull and to grieve for my sinnes so also to rejoyce and to comfort my selfe in thy bounty who shall lay any thing to my charge Is it not thou which justifiest me Who shall condemne me seeing that Christ died for me Seeing he is risen againe seeing that for me he is at thy right hand making request for my salvation and quest conservation Nothing O my God shall separate me from the love thou bearest me and seeing thou hast loved me in thy Sonne I shall in all things be more then victorious But what shall I render unto thee O Lord unto thee that hast delivered my soule from death mine eyes from teares and my feet from sliding Vnto thee O Lord that hast loosed the bands of death which compassed me about Vnto thee that hast converted and turned into joy the sorrowes of the grave which had overtaken me What shall I render unto thee O Eternall Lord for all thy benefits conferred upon me I will take the cup of salvation I will call upon thy Name I will pay my vowes before the people I am thy servant thou hast unloosed my bands I will sacrifice unto thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving I will offer unto thee the fruit of my lips I will confesse thy Name thou hast purchased me with a price I will glorifie thee in my body and in my soule I am thine unto thee therefore will I present my selfe as a lively and holy sacrifice that may be pleasing and acceptable unto thee To this end O my God I crave strength from thee the conduct of thy Spirit thou hast already given me a will to serve thee produce O Lord in me not onely the will but withall perfect it with efficacie and according to thy good pleasure Of my selfe I can do nothing to thy glorie I perceive not the things which are of thy Spirit all the imaginations of the thoughts of my heart are altogether continually evill the wisdome the desires of the flesh is enmitie against thee It will not it cannot be subject to thy Law and yet by thy Spirit thou hast already given me the beginning of my regeneration Yet Lord though I will the thing that is good yet find I not the meanes to performe the same I do not the good that I would but I do the evill that I would not do It is to thee then that I have my recourse thou art the Author of every good gift the fountaine of life lyeth in thee in thy cleare light we see clearely and from thee onely is all our sufficiencie illuminate me by thy Spirit that being directed by the same I may render unto thee the service which I owe in the acknowledgment of all thy benefits Give me grace that to serve thee I may do nothing but what may be acceptable to thee that I may frame my selfe not unto mine owne fancie but according to thy will that I may do not what seemes good unto my selfe but what thou approovest that I may performâ— not mine owne designes but thy will not mine owne intentions but thy commandements not my will but thy Word Graunt I may propound unto my selfe for my end not the vanitie of the world but thy glory not my reputation but the manifestation of thy holy Name not my establishment on earth but the advancement of thy truth and of thy Church Give me to serve thee not unwillingly and by constraint but freely and with a good heart that I may be pricked forward not by the rigour of Menaces and the chastisements of thy Law but incited by the sweetnesse of the promises and benefits of thy Gospell that I may be not possessed with the Spirit of
hearts is given us for earnest of our celestiall inheritance Rom. 14.17 to assure us by this beginning of the spirituall goods which God hath promised to his children that he holdeth us for his purchased possession unto the praise of his glory and without ever revoking his promises he will gather us finally into the full fruition of this heavenly inheritance There must if it be possible bee drawne from the mouth of the sicke a confession of his sinnes of his repentance and of his faith And if happily he have not the use of speech but yet of understanding he must be exhorted to answer by some signe NOw then M. it is now your part to be of good courage and to apply unto your selfe soundly and heartily this holy doctrine for the comfort of your soule This doctrine hath been addressed and declared unto you by the preaching of the Gospell in the bosome of the Church of God whereof you have the honour to be in the number it hath been also confirmed unto you by the use of the Sacraments in which you have communicated Have you not received them with faith Yes Do you not believe according to the same that God is not only your Creator but that sinne having made you a cast-away he is your Saviour in Iesus Christ Yes Acknowledge you not that you are a poore and miserable sinner and confesse you not that should he enter into a reckoning with you to impute your sinnes unto you you should of necessitie and unavoidably perish in death and eternall damnation Yes Do you not protest you are exceeding sorrie and much grieved for having so offended him and that you do repent the same with all your heart I do Do you not utterly renounce all conceit and confidence in your owne righteousnes to settle entirely and wholy your hope in the sole mercy of God by the which he justifieth and saveth us in his beloved Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord Yes Believe you not that he hath received you in this his mercy that he is appeased and at peace with you and hath reconciled you into his favour and grace with him in regard of and thorow the obedience and merit of the same Iesus Christ his Sonne whom you firmly believe died for your sins and rose againe for your justification Yes I do Now I beseech God to be pleased to establish you and to increase in you more and more this faith according to the which you must take a full assurance of being justified and saved seeing God hath given you this grace to believe with the heart unto righteousnesse and with your mouth to make this confession unto salvation Rom. 10.10 To induce the sicke person to set up his rest and to resolve bee it for life or be it for death according to the will of God BEing thus supported and sustained by the firme foundation of faith you must take up an holy resolution and expect constantly without all feare such issue whatsoever it shall please God to send unto your sicknes with a setled perswasion that it cannot chuse but be profitable and wholsome for you be it that it please him to cause you to injoy yet longer life here below or be it it shal be his pleasure to withdraw you hence to make you more happy If it shal be his pleasure to returne and restore you to health as he is almighty to fetch even the dead out of the grave and to make them to live againe This shal be if he please to give give you to serve yet further to his glory yea more affectionately then ever hitherto for which you have to pray unto him for the grace But if his will be to lead you by this sicknes unto the end of your course it shal be to receive you into the fruition of that perfect happinesse which the Sonne of God hath so dearly purchased for you by the price of his bloud And therefore go you unto him with an holy cheerfulnes in the assurance of his grace and favours cheere up your self and rejoice in the happy exchang which you shall make of the earth with heaven of this miserable and short life for one that 's most happy and permanent for evermore from these wretched and perishing goods unto goods celestiall and eternall which eye hath not seene nor eare heard and which farre surmount the thought of man which God hath prepared for them that love him Are you not then well resolv'd to conforme in all this your will unto the will of your Father in heauen To the end that be it whether you live you live to the Lord or be it that you dye you dye to the Lord Rom. 14.8 Being well assured that Christ shal be unto you alwayes gaine both in life and in death Yes God graunt you that grace To comfort and assure the sicke in the weaknesse of his faith IN the meane time I am not ignorant that your faith how great and strong soever it may be may yet for all that be small and weake in you For during the infirmities of this life the Holy Ghost is but given you in a certaine measure according to the which we know but in part and our spirituall renovation is but yet here begun Certaine it is we cannot attaine here below unto the perfection of faith And therefore I doubt not but your faith yet is infirme and weake and cannot chuse but be tossed with sundry temptations and skirmished with divers assaults of doubts and distrusts But you must not therefore shrinke or bee crest-fallen in courage For this combat you feele in yourselfe it is the fight which as Saint Paul saith Galat. 5. ver 17. is in the soule of every faithfull one between the flesh and the spirit and therefore it is unto you an assured testimonie that you have faith For as the flesh fighteth in you by distrust the spirit also fighteth in you by faith and this faith will never yeeld it selfe being backt and sustained by the spirit of God which will make it victorious And how imperfect soever it be God will make it sufficient unto you unto salvation For it is not said he that shall believe perfectly shall be saved but rather simply he that shall believe Besides as you feele in your self your faith weak and imperfect so I doubt not but you therewith feele an holy desire that it might be strengthened and increased and that your heart prayeth and maketh request unto God for the same Is it not true Yes it is Now sith it is so this faith this desire that it might be increased and this prayer you make for it unto God are not these fruits of the spirit and not of the flesh And seeing they are the fruits of Gods Spirit produced in you is not this a sure testimonie that you are led by the same and by consequence the child of God For all they that are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God as Saint
Col. 2.15 dispoiled the principalities and powers of hell which hee openly led in show triumphing over them in the same I doubt not but this enemie of our salvation will performe his utmost against you to astonish and trouble our faith For as S. Peter saith 1. Pet. 5.8 9. Our adversarie the Devill goeth about like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devoure But Saint Peter addeth That we must resist him being strong in faith Resist you the Devill the same saith S. Iames ch 4.7 and hee will flye from you Now to resist and overcome him you must be furnished with the armour of God whereof S. Paul speaketh to the Ephesians chap. 6. ver 16. Taking above all as he saith the shield of faith by the which you may quench all the fierie darts of the Devill Against the apprehension of the judgement of God THere remaineth the feare you may happily take of the judgement of God before whom you must appeare But wheron now shall this apprehension be founded Seeing your sinnes shall not be imputed unto you seeing you shall not be condemned thereby unto death seeing it shall be to no purpose for Satan there to accuse you you being there absolv'd and justified by the grace of God This is the doctrine which S. Paul affords us Rom. 8.32.33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect it is God that justifieth Who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died yea rather that is risen againe who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us Thus then you must indeed appeare before God but not as before a severe and rigorous judge but rather as before a mercifull and an appeased Father towards us in Iesus Christ By Iesus Christ I say whom you have himselfe for an Advocat and Intercessor with the Father Now he shall not be denied by the Father in his request for you by Iesus Christ whose member you are Now there is no condemnation to them that are in Iesus Christ saith Saint Paul Rom. 8.1 By Iesus Christ in the end in whom you believe Now he that believeth in me saith he hath eternall life and he shall not come into condemnation but rather is passed from death unto life Is not this then Sir your faith and firm beliefe that by the benefit of our Lord Iesus Christ you have the remission of your sins Iohn 5.24 That you are saved from eternall death and set free from the rigor of the judgment of God and that by consequent Satan cannot prejudice or bring you any hurt by his accusations and temptations and that your bodily death cannot but he happy and profitable to you every way One must also draw from the sicke a protestation of his charity towards his neighbour FInally Sir it being so that faith worketh by charity and necessarily produceth it seeing it hath pleased God that you are at peace with him by faith you must also be at one and in peace with all your brethren and neighbours thorow true Christian charity And therefore tell us if you renounce from your heart all hatred rancour and enmity against all men without any exception and do desire the welfare and salvation of all in generall and of every one in particular as your very owne Yes I do Do you not forgive honestly and with a good heart all them who have any way whatsoever it be offended you as also reciprocally you do ask forgivenes of all them whom you have any way offended Yes Now Sir must we herewithall addresse our prayer unto God to the end it would please him to strengthen you in the faith which he hath given you and to make more and more to abound in you all graces it is your part to humble your selfe with us before him and to lift up unto him your heart to implore his mercy from the depth of your soule A Prayer for the sicke in whom there shal be likelihood of death O Lord our good God and mercifull Father we are indeed every way unworthy to lift up our eyes towards thee for the multitude and grievousnesse of our sinnes and transgressions wherewith we are tainted and blemished before thy face But it is not in the confidence of our owne worthinesse that we dare presume to present our selves at the feet of thy sacred Majestie but rather in the assurance of thy great compassions and the perfect obedience which thy deare Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord hath performed unto thee in our name with whose righteousnesse we beseech thee to cover and adorne us with thy grace that thorow him and in thy favour we may be reconciled and acceptable But now we beseech thee O good God be pleased particularly to impart this great mercy unto this thy poore child and servant cast downe under thy mighty hand a poore sinner indeed and such a sinner as should for ever remaine overwhelmed under the heavy waight and rigour of thy soveraigne justice if thou affoordest not him thy infinite mercy Graunt him grace more and more to enter into a serious examination and acknowledgment of his sinnes that thereby he may conceive a true detestation of them which may beget in him true repentance and may further him and put him on forward unto an entire and absolute deniall of himselfe to have his whole refuge unto thee and to thy mercy in the meane time receive him graciously Lord shew unto him a fatherly countenance establish him and comfort him say unto his soule I am he that is able to ensafe thee dispose his heart to receive patiently and with thankfulnesse this fatherly correction which thou sendest him and to resigne up wholly himselfe into thy hands to range himselfe peaceably unto whatsoe're it shall please thee out of thy sacred wisdome to ordaine for him Lord thou knowest better then he himself or we either whether is more expedient for him that he should live or die If thy good pleasure be he shall live let it be that he may live wholly unto thee So as that having well profited by these thy chastisements he may learn to love thee to honour and serve thee all the dayes of his life in the midst of thy Church by studying perpetually therein to bring forth the fruits of pietie and holines worthy of thy Gospell and beseeming the child of such a Father and the service of such a Master And so thou mayest be glorified in him and his neighbours edified But if otherwise it be thy will to take him out of this miserable world give him assurance that it shal be to put him in possession of thy heavenly kingdome which thou hast prepared for him before the foundation of the world and which thy Son hath purchased for him by the merit of his death To this end O Father of light from whom descendeth every good and perfect gift be pleased to give unto him a true and a lively faith wherewith he may seeke find and lay hold on
Father hath given you all things F. S. N. Be strong in Iesus Christ who calls and inuites you by his Prophets Apostles and Evangelists to resort and freely to make towards him saying you that thirst come unto the great fountaine come unto me all you that travell and are heavie laden and I will ease you F. S. N. Believe stedfastly that Iesus Christ hath discharged and set you free from all your sins and hath reconciled you unto God his Father Vnto whom in all humilitie and repentance say from the bottom of your heart LOrd God Almighty have mercy upon me a poore miserable sinner for thy Sonne Iesus Christ my Lord and Saviour his sake and by the merit of his death passion be pleased to receive my soule which I commend into thy hands F. S. N Bee of good hope For assuredly he will receive your soule as his for his Sonne Iesus Christ our Lords sake who is the Saviour and Redeemer of all those that believe in him Moyses and all the Prophets have testified that all Nations shall receive salvation and blessednes by Iesus Christ The Apostles and Evangelists do testifie that Iesus Christ came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance and to give his life for the redemption of many for he hath shed his bloud for the remission of sinnes Believe then and doubt not in any wise for Iesus Christ hath made you cleane from all your sinnes having promised that all they that shall believe in him and in his Father that sent him shall have eternall life and shall not come into judgement but shall passe from death unto life Well then F. S. N. take a good courage in Iesus Christ For he hath loved you and washed you from your sinnes in his bloud Have then this stedfast faith to fight valiantly against the adversarie use no other buckler to defend your selfe withall but this precious bloud of Iesus Christ which by vertue of his Death and Passion hath reconciled you unto God his Father unto whom in great humility and repentance offer up this Prayer O Lord God Almighty have mercy upon me a poore miserable sinner for thy Sonne Iesus Christ my Lord and Saviour 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. Let this be your hope stedfast faith that that good God full of all mercy will receive your soule as his into his hands for his Sonne Iesus Christs sake For there is no other Name under heaven given unto men wherby we must be saved nor is there salvation in any other but in Iesus Christ Arme your self then indeed with this gracious Iesus Christ for he hath done all for you he hath fulfilled the Law for you he hath overcome all for you Well then F.S.N. cheer up your self in God be you ever unmooveable in this lively faith follow and imitate you the holy Patriarks Prophets and Apostles who are all saved in this faith who assure you all of them that the adversarie can no wayes hurt you For your suit is won by Iesus Christ who is both your Iudge and Advocat together Wherfore say evermore in this stedfast faith that though I should walke thorow the midst of the shadow of death yet would I feare no manner of evill For thou Lord God art with me F. S. N. Also cease not to say from the bottome of your heart in great humility and repentance LOrd God Almighty have mercy upon me poore miserable sinner for thy Sonne Iesus Christ my Lord and Saviour his sake and by the merit of his Death and Passion let it please thee to receive my soule which I commend into thy hands So be it A singular Prayer for a person greatly afflicted with sicknes which seemeth to approach nearer to death then to life With a short Catechisme purposely made to instruct the sicke and to make him contemplate by faith the great mysterie of our redemption Eccles c. 18. v. 19.20 Vse Physicke ere ever thou be sick before judgement examine thy selfe and in the day of visitation thou shalt find mercy NOw the Lord admonisheth us to pray continually especialy when we are touched with his rods wherefore all kinsfolks and faithfull friends that visit the sick person ought not only to visit and be carefull for the body but withall to seek and ask for the spirituall physick for his Soule This must he do by good prayers confession of sinnes and Christian exhortation according to the Word of God without which man cannot live and to this end that all things may be done in good order and with zeale First of all it is meet to cast downe himselfe before the Majestie of God and to call upon him by beginning Our helpe is in the Name of the Lord c. Then to present unto him the generall confession of sinnes and consequently this present prayer as it followeth O Lord God Almighty and Father of mercy we are here assembled together in the Name of thy welbeloved Son our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ thorow whom we are bold to present our selves before thee to call upon thy holy Name having our sole refuge unto thy Soveraigne and transcendent goodnes which we not only desire to be sensible of and to tast in our selves but also in the necessitie of thy poore creature here afflicted with corporall sicknes and with the affliction and calamity of mind We know Lord that justly thou visitest and chastnest him with thyrods to make him to understand thy fatherly affection But thy great mercies which thou hast used towards our fathers are not extinguisht nor exhausted For thou art that great eternall God gracious and mercifull that never changest with whom there is no variablenes nor shadow of change Thy holy Word teacheth us most evidently that the whole earth is full of thy mercies which are farre above thy justice Wheâ—fore Lord mitigate thy rigour towards thy creature have pity and compassion on him for thy Sonne Iesus Christ our Lords sake Looke not upon his sins but looke upon the face of thy Christ who hath fully satisfied thee for him by offering up unto thee that great sacrifice of his body upon the Crosse We beseech thee then O most gracious God full of mercy to make him sensible of thy grace which thou hast never denied to thy children And because thou art our eternal Father well knowing whatsoeveâ— is needfull and expedient for our salvation We pray not unto thee to lengthen unto him his life or to abridge it for we repose our selves upon thy holy will whereunto onely we desire to be conformable Thou art wise without counsell to dispose of thy creature according to thy good pleasure That if it shal be thy pleasure to call him hence who is he that shal be able to resist thee But if it be thy good pleasure to send him health againe who is he that shall reprehend
then this which is eternall Wherfore I pray you in the Name of God that you disquiet not your selfe for any affection you may have to this world For here we are all but strangers as our fathers when as then the Lord God shall have ordained and decreed that you must dislodge flit and go before us will not you conform your self unto his holy will and ordinance As on the other side if he see it expedient for your salvation to prolong unto you your life as he did to that good King Ezekias would you not content your selfe with whatsoever it shall please him to do with you Yes assuredly for he is Lord and Master you are but his servant He is your Creator you are his Creature and the work of his hands For this cause then will he dispose of you according to his will Vnto the which alone you ought to conforme and humble your selfe saying from your heart LOrd God thou knowest my necessitie if it shal be thy good pleasure to prolong and lengthen my life thy will be done if it be thy good pleasure also to call me hence unto thee even thy will be likewise done For thy creature Lord hath no other will but thine Now brother comfort your selfe with God who if he hath ordained to call you your Calling shall be happy For you must believe and hope in firme faith that he will make you rise againe in your owne body unto glorious immortalitie to make you raigne with him in life eternall which is purchase and given you by the vertue of the precious Bloud of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ In whose name the Lord God blesse and protect you and make his face to shine upon you and be mercifull unto you The Lord turn his face towards you and preserve you in all happines Amen THis done if it appeare he growes worse and worse and draweth on towards death and tending to his appointed end forthwith in his deadly agonie we must not faile to repeate with a lowde voice before him the Christian Consolation which is heere below promised This doing GOD graunt him grace well and and faithfully to die in him Amen HEB. XIII Remember them that are afflicted as being your selves of the body of the Church and subject to undergoe the like afflictions A PRAYER AGAINST the Apprehensions of Death PSAL. XVIII IIII The sorrowes of death compassed mee round about and the flouds of the ungodly men made me afraid O Lord my gracious Saviour when sorrowes presse us and death threatens us we looke up unto thee that art our life Death thought to have daunted thee in the garden of Geth-semane in such sort that thou knowest well what the distresses are which it brings unto men But as thou haâ—t vanquisht and overcome it graunt me also the grace to vanquish overcome it to beare patiently affliction to submit my selfe to the will of my heavenly Father Thou hast seene how the wicked did compasse thee about as the flouds of waters But now thou art in the happy haven of thy celestiall glory But being there on high despise not â—or sleight nor thy Church which is as yet in the midst of the waves and stormes of the world Gather us also unto that happy life draw us unto that wished port still the furie of the winds which trouble the earth for Lord thou art our Lord we are thy people A Continued Sequell OR An Vnintermitted Course of Comforts MOunsieur d' Ambesaignes a Domestique Gentleman of the late Mounsieur the Marquesse of Moussay being sicke in the Castle of Plouer in Bretagne Madame the Marquesse of Moussay sent to fetch Mounsieur Pallory of Richelieu Pastor and Author of this Booke to be comforted by him and as they expected from houre to houre his death for hee was in an agony from Munday evening the ninth of March 1626. Vntill the morning of Thursday the tenth in that sort that hee was required after diverse consolations to redouble during the space of that night prayers hourely and oftener for him And because there are but two prayers in this preceding Booke to be said when the Sicke is in anguish the first whereof is in the leafe 231. The other in the leafe 344. To satisfie the devotion of certaine good men the Authour hath caused to bee added these prayers following which he then said unto this second Edition to serve hereafter unto the comforters who shall assist the Sicke COMFORTS for the Sicke 1. A Prayer to be said when the sicke is in perplexitie 34. O Lord our good God and gracious Father the onely comfort of our soules the gladnes of our hearts our sole solace and refuge yea our singular sweetnesse amidst the sharpest bitternesses and anguishes which oppresse us we beseech thee to cast thy sweet and mercifull eyes upon this sicke person which hath received this honour together with us by thy speciall favour to bee delivered from the power of darknesse and to be transported unto the Kingdome of the Sonne of thy love having opened his heart as ours to receive the Word of life which alone can save our soules And as thou hast given him the wil to do wel grant unto him and unto us also this happines to give him to perfect the same according to thy good pleasure and to finish his course in thy feare that persevering in the confession of thy holy Name thy light and thy truth may lead him and bring him into the mountaine of thy holinesse O Heavenly Shepheard that hast sent thy deare Sonne to seeke the lost sheep and who repellest not the languishing soule that casts it selfe into thy bosome accomplish in such sort thy strength in the weaknesse of this sicknes that he may say with his whole heart the Lord is my portion and my succour therefore will I hope in him unto the end And seeing thou hast engraven and imprinted the seale of thine election upon the soule of this sick person Yea sith thou hast sealed him with the seale of thy Spirit for the Day of redemption purchased unto the glory of thy Name And seeing thy comforts are welcom to good soules give unto this sicke person amidst the anguishes he suffers in his body a vigorous and a constant soule sweetly bedewd from the springs of sweet comforts in the midst of the hot fits of his disease and the which may make to flie up and to sparkle forth the flames of a sacred desire even unto the Sanctuarie of thy Holines there to behold with the eyes of his mind the ineffable love thou bearest to thine Elect and the glory inestimable which thou keepest in heaven for thy children And to this end give him a gracious refreshing repaire his enfeebled forces wasted and spent by the violence of his disease quicken his heart by the sweetnes of thy grace kindle afresh his zeale inflame his prayers animate his sighes restore unto him the joy of his salvation and let the bones which