all evil especially our spiritual enemies for thine is the Power such power as Kings do want but thou art fully able 1. To exalt thine own Name 2. To extend thy Kingdom over all 3. To fit us to do thy Will 4. To minister to our Necessities 5. To pardon our Sins 6. To preserve us from and to deliver us out of all evil and then thine is the Glory the hallowing of thy Name is the chief part of thy glory thy Kingdom is the prime place of thy glory And herein art thou glorified that is when we set forth thy praise when we obey thy will when thou providest for thy people when thou forgivest their sins when thou comfortest them in their calamities So do we trust and hope that thou wilt do all these things for us Take heed for if in our prayers we come to God with a guilty defiled conscience with cold affections with dead spirits not departing from iniquity and without a pure heart This is howling and not praying Prayer by good Christians hath been stiled and esteemed the key of Heaven and the confusion of hell the standard of our spiritual warfare the conservation of our peace the bridle of our impatience the guardian of our temperance the seal of chastity the advocate of offenders the consolation of the afflicted and the Pasport of the dying Thus the just do live and die in prayer A Christian without prayer may be compared to a Bee without a sting which can make neither wax nor honey A true Christian makes prayer not only his lock and key of the day but his bolt at night yea his very meals and recreations for this it was that the primitive Christians were called the crickets of the night because when sleep did fail their hearts were lifted up in constant ejaculatory prayer III. Meditations at first sickning WIth one cross be it of sickness or other affliction God doth usually work two cures 1. By chastisement for sins past 2. By preventing of sins to come so as we may say with the Prophet Before I was afflicted I went astray but now thy grace assisting I will keep thy statutes 2. God sends sickness and other afflictions to seal to us our adoption For every childe whom God loveth he chastiseth and suffereth the wicked still to continue in their sins without correction 3. God sends sickness to wean our hearts from the love of the world and of worldly vanities and to cause us more early to desire and more earnestly to long for Heaven 4. Of all afflictions and crosses sickness may be held to come most immediately from the hand of God and that because of sin 5. By sickness and affliction God doth exercise his children the graces which he bestows upon them he thereby tryeth and refineth our faith to make it to shine more clear he thereby stirreth us up to pray more frequently and more zealously He sees what patience we have learned all this while in his School and so concerning our hope in Christ our love to the glorious Trinity our charity to our Christian brethren and the like 6. Sanctified sickness and affliction is a singular help to further us in our conversion and by unfeigned sorrow and true repentance to drive us home to our heavenly Father in holy believing 7. Sickness and affliction do work in us not only Christianly love and charity but pity and compassion also towards our brethren so as to have a fellow-feeling with them in all their sufferings 8. God doth many times make use of our sickness and other afflictions not only as means and as examples whereby to manifest to others the faith patience and other graces that he hath bestowed upon us but also by the same to strengthen and to encourage others that have not yet received so great a measure of faith and of assurance as we have done 9. By sickness and afflictions God worketh us to a conformity of the image of his Son Jesus Christ who being the Captain of our salvation was made perfect through suffering 10. God sendeth sickness that the godly may thereby be humbled in respect of their own condition and misery and that God may be glorified by a gracious delivering them out of all their troubles when in sincerity they call upon him for his help and succour IV. Directions and Consolations in time of Sickness and Death LEt every Christian upon his sick bed not only with patience look for death but with comfort also and that for these reasons 1. Because the death of every member of Christ as well as of others is foreseen and ordained by the special decree and providence of God 2. Reason is taken from the promise of God Rev. 14.13 Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord for they shall rest from their labours and their works follow them 3. He that dyeth in Christ his soul and his body are really united to Christ according to the Covenant of grace 4. God hath also promised his gracious special presence to such sick and dying persons as do belong to him so he saith Isa 43.1 Fear not for I have redeemed thee I have called thee by thy name thou art mine when thou passest thorow the waters I will be with thee A little blast of sickness doth oftentimes become mortal and we are many a time carried away in that blast and if we should hold out a while longer we do but daily consume and moulder away with old age till we return to our dust and at last do become but a coffin for the worms Let not a dying man think on the pangs of death which may perhaps be light and short but let him wholly fix his thoughts and the eye of his faith upon that blessed estate of eternal life which Jesus Christ hath purchased for him In the business of sickness and especially of death lay aside all curious speculations of Gods unsearchable counsels all cogitations and considerations of works of traditions of Philosophy yea and of the Law of God too and run strait to the manger embrace the babe Christ in thine arms yea in thy soul behold him as he was born growing up conversant amongst men as teaching dying rising again ascending above the heavens and having power above all things This thought this sight will make thee to shake off all troubles and terrors as the Sun driveth away the clouds We must live in the world as in a strange Country where we are every day taking our farewel being as in sickness alwayes ready to depart and because the instant of our departing is uncertain we should wait for it every hour The wise Christian that hearkneth to the minutes of his breathing can never be surprised when the hour of his last sigh doth strike Our duty in sickness or any other affliction is to inquire and finde out the cause if it be for sin to humble our selves to justifie God to turn to him to submit to his will to seek his
favour to minde our own duty and to live by faith V. A Prayer before taking of Physick O Lord give me perfect love to thy heavenly Majesty that I may not delight in any thing at all but thee nor look for any other safety at all but in thee nor seek for any other help but from thee O most holy and most merciful Father in Jesus Christ who art the Lord both of health and of sickness who killest and makest alive who bringest down to the grave and raisest up again I do humbly come unto thee unto thee as to the only Physician of Physicians who canst as easily cure my soul from sin as my body from sickness I do not at this time desire either life or death but do wholly yield up my self to thy blessed will death indeed is the reward of sin for sin when it is finished bringeth forth death yet seeing thy gracious providence while life remaineth hath appointed means for thy distressed children to use and by the lawful and thankful use of it and humble seeking to thee for it to expect thy fatherly blessing for healing of their distempers and restoring them to their health In this my necessity I do apply my self to the Physitian and am entring upon the course which he shall prescribe O Lord help me that I may cast my self wholly upon thee Teach me to call faithfully upon thy great and glorious Name for a blessing upon it It is thou O Lord that didst recover Hezekiah that didst cleanse the Lepers that didst restore the woman with the bloody Issue and it is from thy great mercy Almighty power and gracious providence alone that I expect deliverance out of this malady Oh be pleased of thine infinite goodness to sanctifie to me this Physick that I shall now take and so to prosper the same that if it be thy blessed will and pleasure it may remove this sickness and take away this pain and restore me to my former health and strength but if thou hast appointed this sickness to draw me nearer to thy self in constant obedience and holy dependance upon thy heavenly Majesty or if thou hast sent this sickness as thy messenger to call me out of this mortal life then help me to say with integrity sincerity Thy will be done enable me with cheerfulness to submit to thy divine pleasure And this I do humbly most earnestly beg of thee to assist me with thy holy Spirit for the increase of faith and patience in this my day of trouble O Lord let thy tender and fatherly compassion be never wanting to me but in the midst of all extremities be pleased to support me with thy continual help that I may both willingly and christianly resigne up my soul as the price of thine own blood into thy gracious hands and blessed protection Grant this O Lord to thy poor servant and whatever else in thine infinite wisdom and goodness thou knowest to be necessary for my present weak condition such as may tend to my everlasting comfort and thine eternal glory All this I beg for Jesus Christ his sake to whom with thee and thy holy Spirit be ascribed all Majesty power and glory now and for ever Amen VI. A Prayer before Physick is on working O Holy Father in Jesus Christ when in my weakness the time shall come that Satan shall maliciously accuse me when my unquiet conscience shall bear witness against me when worldly advantages shall forsake me and when every creature and every thing shall seem to set themselves against me and that for my manifold and my reiterated sins against thy heavenly Majesty then do thou who art the God of all consolation do thou strengthen me in my most holy faith so that If all not at all from thee though every thing doth seem to flee from me But Lord I beseech thee let thy fulness supply my wants let thy mercy do away my offendings let thy holy Spirit prepare my soul for thy heavenly appointment let thy merits O most blessed Saviour enrich my poverty Oh let thy dear and precious blood wash away all the spots and stains of my poor polluted soul And Lord be pleased at this time to vouchsafe a blessing upon the Physick which I have now taken for removing of my pain and recovery of my health and if thou shalt afford this mercy to thy poor creature then Lord I beseech thee grant grace that the same health and ease may be imployed and improved for the glory of thy great Name and for the present comfort and final salvation of my poor soul And all this I beg in and by and through the merits of thee my blessed Redeemer Jesus Christ to whom with the heavenly Father and the holy Spirit be given as is most due blessing and honour and glory and power both now and for ever Amen VII Six Medicines to cure the fear of Death 1. THe first Medicine is contempt of the world For 1. It will be an easie thing to die when our hearts are once freed from the love of earthly things therefore should we shun the overmuch care and business of the world and study to be quiet to meddle only with our own matters and to draw them into as narrow a scantling as our calling will permit 2. We should avoid as much as may be the society of the worlds favourites that admire nothing but what this world affords that know no other happiness but that of this life whereby our hearts are too much intangled 3. We should sort our selves with such Christians as do practise as well as praise the contempt of the world and by whose example discourse we may be brought to be in love with Heaven 4. We should daily observe to what things in the world our hearts are most carried out and by fervent supplications to strive with the Lord to suppress them 5. We should be alwayes pondering in our thoughts those things which may shew us the vanity of the world and the vileness and transitoriness of the best things which the world affords 2. The second Medicine or cure of the fear of death is Mortification 1. We must throughly mortifie all our bosom and beloved sins our sins must die before we die otherwise our dying will be dangerous to us it is the love and the delight that men take in sin which makes them so much afraid to die or else it may be the remembrance of some filthy sin committed which doth terrifie the conscience therefore we must make sure of our repentance Now he may be said truly to repent himself of all sin that allows not in himself any sin 2. We must here add the care of an upright and of an unreproveable conversation A marvellous help and encouragement it is to die in peace when a man doth live without offence and upon just ground can plead the integrity of a holy conversation 3. The third Medicine or cure against the fear of death is
my sins but thou O Lord besides the dictates of thy heavenly Word and boly Spirit dost now visit me in mercy giving me by this sickness not only warning to consider and time to repent me of all my manifold transgressions but also opportunity to sue to the throne of grace for pardon so as I do not apprehend this visitation as a sign of thy heavy displeasure against me but rather as an assured pledge and token of thy fatherly kindness by this temporal chastisement to draw me to the judging of my self to be humbled for all my offendings to abhor my self in dust and ashes so as not to be condemned with the world for thy holy Word hath taught us That thou scourgest every son that thou receivest and that if I do patiently and believingly endure thy chastising hand thou dost offer thy self as a tender father to relieve me O Lord how full of mercy and compassion is thy nature that hast dealt so graciously with me in affording to me a long time of health and prosperity such as few have received more I do confess O Lord that thou most justly dost afflict my body with sickness for my soul before was sick of long prosperity and even surfeited with health ease peace and plenty and fulness of bread A wretched sinner I have been void of all goodness by nature and full of evil works by custom but seeing thy mercy is above all I beseech thee heavenly father in Jesus Christ for his sake and for his meritorious suffering and according to the multitude of thy mercies cast me not out of thy gracious presence neither reward me after my iniquities As thou art the helper of the helpless and the God of all consolation to such as trust in thee as thou art pleased to lay this sickness upon me so let it work that good effect which thou in thy great mercy dost intend And good Lord send thy holy Spirit into my heart by which this and all other thy dispensations may be sanctified to me that I may use the same as a lesson in thy School whereby to be taught both the greatness of my misery and wants and also the fulness of thy riches and mercy in the Lord Christ to be so humbled at the one as not to despair of the other Grant that I may renounce all confidence in my self and in every other creature or means so as only to put the whole trust of my preservation and salvation in thy boundless mercy And for as much O Lord as thou knowest how weak a vessel I am full of frailty impotence and imperfection and how by nature I am froward and impatient under the least cross and under the lightest affliction Do thou O Lord who art the giver of all good gifts indue me with heavenly grace with holy patience and with godly fortitude so as quietly to resign up my self even body and soul to what thou shalt appoint for me And of thy tender mercy lay no more upon me then thou shalt please to enable me comfortably to bear Strengthen me by thy healy grace that during this sickness and in all other times of affliction I may behave my self in all humility and meekness and faith and quiet repose in the sight and presence of those friends or assistants that shall come or be about me and also that I may both thankfully receive and readily improve all such seasonable counsel and heavenly consolation and holy direction as shall proceed from them And likewise that I may shew such Christianly example of childe-like patience and withal may give forth such godly lessons of heavenly comfort as may be both apparent arguments and sure testimonies of my holy profession and also of use and instruction to them how they are to behave themselves in the day of their visitation I do confess O Lord that in regard of my great provocations I have deserved both sickness and death it self and I do now desire no longer to live then to reform my evil life and in some better measure to set forth thy glory but if thou hast according to thy eternal decree appointed by this sickness to call for me out of this transitory life Lord help me willingly to resign my self into thy hands saying Thy blessed will be done only I do most humbly beseech thee even for Jesus Christ his sake who is the Son of thy love to pardon all my sins and in him to be reconciled to me and so to prepare my poor soul that by a lively faith and unfeigned repentance she may be ready to yield up her self when thou shalt be pleased to call for her O holy Father thou art the hearer of prayers hear thou in heaven these my weak supplications and in this my sickness which is like to increase upon me be pleased to shew thy Almighty power and goodness Teach my heart in holy believing to say Whether I live or whether I die I am Christs and Christ is mine and he shall be advantage to me both here and hereafter and for ever To him with the Father and the holy Ghost be ascribed all honour and glory and power and dominion for ever and ever Amen The Lord will be a refuge Psa 9.9 in time of trouble Hear me O Lord my God Psal 13.3 5. that I sleep not in death for my trust is in thy mercy and my heart is joyful in thy salvation II. Concerning Prayer CHrist and God and all is laid out for the good of the godly they may go to God with holy boldness and tell him wherein they are troubled pained afflicted oppressed If we ask great things from God he is well pleased with it but if we ask riches and honour and worldly preferment these are the low things of the footstool and they are often in mercy denyed let us therefore of God ask peace of conscience pardon of sin let us crave power to overcome our lusts strength to withstand temptations joy in the holy Ghost and grace to glorifie our dear Redeemer both in doing and in suffering God hath most assuredly all good things lying ready by him only he looks that Prayer should fetch them from him Now observe When our great Master Christ would give us a perfect pattern of Prayer both for matter and for manner he there windes up and wraps up all with a conclusion which consists of certain reasons to perswade our heavenly Father to hear our prayers or at least to assure our souls that he doth and that he will hear them and these reasons have a certain influence into all and every one of the petitions Thine is the Kingdom for this reason we do expect that as a good King thou wilt receive us and answer our petitions It is thy concernment as a King to have thine honour advanced for this reason Hallow thine own Name glorifie it in the Church advance thy Will in it sustain us thy Subjects pardon our Offences keep and defend us from
certainly perswaded that there is no salvation in any other nor any other name under Heaven by which thou canst be saved Jesus is the only Saviour of the world therefore let all creatures bow down before him and bless his holy Name Dost thou from thy heart forgive all injuries and offences done unto thee by any person whatsoever And dost thou as freely from thy heart ask forgiveness of all whom thou hast any way wronged in thought word or deed Dost thou cast out of thy heart all rancour and malice against any person so as to appear before the face of Jesus Christ the Prince of peace in perfect love and charity I do humbly pray for such true charity as to forgive all and I do from my heart ask forgiveness of all Doth thy conscience accuse thee of any thing that thou hast unjustly taken still with-holding the same for which without restitution there can be no true repentance and without such repentance there can be no salvation nor shalt thou be able to look Christ in the face when thou shalt appear before his judgement-seat I have been willing to satisfie all whom I have wronged but alas who is able to number all his errors Dost thou firmly believe That thy body shall be raised out of the grave at the sound of the last trumpet and that both thy body and thy soul shall be united together again in the Resurrection-day to appear before the Lord Jesus Christ and thence to go with him into the Kingdom of Heaven there to live in everlasting bliss and glory My faith alas is weak but thy grace O Lord is sufficient for me O Lord let thy holy Spirit assist me and lead me into the way of everlasting glory Amen VI. Short Prayers upon any lessening of Pain O Most blessed Saviour be pleased to place thy precious Passion thy Cross and thy Death between my soul thy displeasure and let the merits of thy obedience stand between thy heavenly Fathers justice and my disobedience and from these bodily pains receive my soul into thine everlasting peace and good Lord give ear unto this my cry O Jesu receive my spirit Or thus O Lord Jesus Christ forsake not him that in great distress doth flie to thee for succour and relief O sound that sweet and comfortable voice into my fainting soul which thou wert pleased to utter to the penitent Thief This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Or thus O Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ I know and do believe that whosoever liveth and trusteth in thee who art the resurrection and the life shall never die Oh then vouchsafe favour to thy poor creature that I may hear that blessed voice of thine Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world Or thus O most gracious God whose nature and property is ever to have mercy and to forgive receive my humble supplications and though I be so much bound with the chains of my sins yet Lord let the pitifulness of thy great mercy loose me and set me at liberty for Jesus Christ his sake my only Saviour and Redeemer Or thus O holy Lord fit and prepare me for my last conflict and by the support of thy blessed Spirit and the assistance of thy heavenly Angels vouchsafe to assist and strengthen me against the assaults of Satan that notwithstanding his mortal malice I may still hold me fast and keep my self close to thee in all holy believing so as humbly and stedfastly to resolve that though thou shouldst slay me yet to put my trust in thee and to place my whole confidence in thine everlasting mercies in Christ Jesus VII When weakness and faintness increase let friends help with these short ejaculations O Lord bear me thy poor sick servant in thy gracious arms to the land of the living Or thus Lord bring me I beseech thee by thy power and goodness to thy holy habitation Or thus Plant me O Lord in the mountain of thine inheritance the place which thou hast prepared to dwell in Or thus Lord make me to be one of the joyful Citizens of thy holy Jerusalem which is above Or thus Oh Lord as my weakness shall encrease so let my patience the hope of thy favour and assurance of thy mercy in Christ Jesus still increase more and more Or thus Oh Lord let thy grace and blessing be upon me that I may safely pass thorow this vale of misery and finish my course with joy Or thus O Lord lift up the light of thy countenance upon me and grant me peace in the Lord Jesus Or thus Oh holy Father if it be thy blessed will give an end to my labours and release me of my pains VIII More of Ejaculations when faintness increaseth SWeet Jesu receive my soul sweet Jesu receive my spirit Or thus Come Lord Jesu come for thy servant cometh I am willing Lord help my weakness Or thus O Lord let thy holy Angels stand round about my bed and guard me from that evil one Or thus O Lord lay not my sins to my charge but look upon him that maketh the atonement Thy Christ my Jesus Or thus O Lord to thee belongeth mercy and forgiveness have pity on my soul and pardon my sins Or thus O Lord say to my souls everlasting joy and comfort I am thy salvation Or thus O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world have mercy upon me Or thus O Lord make clean my heart within me and take not thy holy Spirit from me Or thus O Lord Jesus Christ I do commend my spirit into thy hands thou hast redeemed me O God thou God of mercy of truth IX A Prayer by friends at leaving this Life OH most gracious Lord God and loving Father in Jesus Christ who art our portion our strong refuge a sure defence and a very present help in time of trouble Oh lift up thy merciful countenance at this instant upon thy weak servant who now is coming to appear in thy presence Oh thou which art the great preserver of men take pity and compassion upon him wash away all his natural and sinful pollutions by the all-sufficient merits of Christ Jesus his most precious blood that they may never be laid to his charge nor hinder his happy passage to everlasting blessedness O Lord increase his faith preserve his soul from the malice and danger of the devil and all his evil angels comfort him with thy holy Spirit cause him now to feel and finde that thou art his gracious Father and thou art reconciled unto him in thy dearly beloved save him O Lord O Lord Jesus Christ save the price of thine own blood and suffer not him to be lost whom thou hast so dearly purchased Oh receive his poor soul as thou didst the penitent thief into thy heavenly Paradise let thy blessed Angels conduct him thither as they carried the soul of thy beloved Lazarus and vouchsafe unto
to the Sacrament That is well said she but I cannot go Childe be sure to go in the strength of Christ and do all your duties in his strength and the Lord go with you She would often say That she did never put on her best attire but she had thoughts of cloathing her self with the rich robe of Christs righteousness and decking her self with the jewels of his heavenly graces When her Steward came to ask her any domestick question she would say Oh do not trouble me with these things on the Sabbath day Such was her happy mistake she thought all the time of her sickness was a Sabbath and indeed so it was the Law of the Sabbath was written upon her heart every day was more and more a Sabbath with her as she drew neerer her end as she drew neerer to that rest which remains for ever into which she expired and in which she now triumpheth with him whom her soul loved and with the spirits of just men made perfect and with the Angels of God to all eternity Dec. 1658. Thanks be to God for his mercy The Preacher at her Funeral from Prov. 31.29 speaking of her unparalleld goodness did number up 10 several excellencies that did shine in her 1. Was her knowledge as being eminently verst in the methods of grace and in the mysteries of godliness 2. Was her wisdom by which she brought down all her heavenly principles into practice 3. Was her humility her knowledge did not puff her up her head was not so high but her heart lay as low 4. Was her meekness she would not provoke any nor easily be provoked by any she was most fearful to give offence most free to forgive it 5. Was her mercy the love of Christ to her had melted her all into compassion compassion to the bodies of poor creatures and compassion to the souls of all 6. Was her conscientious attending on the Ordinances the Word the Sacraments Fasts Prayer c. 7. Was her stability in judgement being a well-bottomed Christian 8. She was not a censorious Christian 9. She was of a sweet and cheerful spirit among crosses and tryals 10. She was very good in her relations never Mother had a better childe never child had a better Mother never servants had a better governour never friends a better friend she did fill all her relations with wisdom and fidelity So with gladness and rejoycing was she carried to enter into the Kings Palace into the joy of her Lord where there is fulness of that joy and pleasures for evermore Amen IX Monsieur du Moulins Life and Death HE was Minister of Gods Word and Professor of Divinity at Sedan in France and being 90 years old died there March 10. 1658. During his whole life he was much given to devotion but about 3 years and an half since he had a fall from a horse after which he had no health and yet performed his charge constantly in the Church and in the Schools or else privately in Meditation or in Prayer Feb. 26. 1658. he awaked in the morning very ill but being helped into the Pulpit he from Psal 16.9 preached as it were his own Funeral Sermon and giving an account to his Hearers of his faith and hope he took his leave of them as if he knew that to be the last time as it was that he should preach to them 28. It being also a Sermon-day he desired his Colleagues to remember him in the Prayers of the Church After the Sermon much company came to him to bid him farewel and to receive his blessing some had encouragement from him and some had admonition Taking his leave of his Colleagues for he was thought to be near his end he said Fare ye well my Masters I do not doubt but ye will carefully look to the conduct of the Flock that is committed to you One of them said The Lord grant that we may imitate you you have done good service and your labours will live when you are gone He replied Ah Sir you know not how much you grieve me by saying so I am conscious to my self that I have neglected my duty in many things that I have many wayes offended my God yet I must say that I have loved his holy truth and do hope in his mercy he is my Father and my God and Jesus Christ is my Saviour whosoever believes on him shall not perish Then he added Thou hast led me and taught me from my youth O Lord forsake me not in the last period of my life have mercy upon me O God O my Father have mercy upon me O Lord hear me help me and save me O my God He said I have been grieved for the afflictions of the Church O Lord purge and purifie her from all kinde of scandal let her be blessed and let not the adversaries of the truth triumph over her for ever Once coming out of a strong and sore fit being a burning Feaver he said O my God how weary how tyred am I When shall I rest in thy bosome in thy everlasting arms when shall I be filled with thy hid treasures when shall I drink of the rivers of thy pleasures I am unworthy of it I confess O Lord but thou art glorified by doing good to the unworthy It is not for them that are whole but for them that are sick that thy beloved Son the great Physician of souls was sent into the world whosoever believe in him are passed from death to life Being asked by one of the many friends that were about him Whether he did not perfectly hope in the grace of God that was presented to him he said I do hope not perfectly yet as much as I am able The first four dayes of his sickness he was both day and night with little intermission either in good discourse or in praying but the six last dayes he was much in a deep slumber though he did strive earnestly against it and sometimes would say Stir me prick me for I should now watch it is not a time now to sleep but to die O great God abandon me not to my infirmities but so preserve and keep up my spirit that I may glorifie thee even when I am dying For a whole day he was ever and anon saying The Word was made flesh Being well awake a friend asked if he did lift up his heart to God O yes said he I do it incessantly and God is gracious to me Sometimes he feeling of his pulse would say O what a grief is this I cannot die O good God have mercy upon me set my soul free shorten the dayes of my combat if it be thy blessed will The two last dayes did add to his burning Feaver and to his deadly slumber contracting of the sinews and convulsions every hour was thought to be his last but about midnight he opened his eyes saying I shall soon be eased I am going to my Father and to my God he hath heard me