Adversary shall suggest doubts and suspicions to him in his weakness about any of the Articles of his Faith or points of Religion so far as the doubt comes with any offer of Argument or Reason with it it should have a Rational Satisfaction But if formerly they have been persons of sincere Consciences in that State their doubts of these things are much oftner an irresoluteness owing to their present bodily weakness and Satans Suggestions than an unsettlement of Belief owing to Arguments And then these new doubts and suspicions are to be looked on by the Sick Man rather as Temptations and an advantage taken of his present feebleness and lowness of Spirit which may raise or encrease Melancholly that is naturally apt to make one mistrustful and irresolute and he will guard better against them by Devotion than by Disputation And therefore in this case let him not debate them but reject them and pray against them And think it reasonable to abide by his former perswasions about these matters which he took up in time of Health and Strength when he had both ability and leisure to examine them and not exchange them for Sick-bed Fancys when he has neither 3. To Profess his Continuance in the Vnity of the Church and that as he has lived so now by Gods Grace he is preparing himself to Dye in the Communion thereof And let him often say Lord as I have endeavoured to live so now I profess to Dye in the Communion of Saints and in the one Body whereof thou art the Plessed Head keeping therein to the last the Vnity of the Spirit and the Bond of Peace Amen For I profess thy true Faith O! my God and present unto thee Holy Prayers and a Pure Worship in the Unity and Communion of thy Holy Church Particularly O! Lord I profess this Faith and present this Worship in due adherence and subjection and obedience to those Ordox Pastors whom thou hast set over me in this Church where I live And I profess and present the same in Hearty concurrence and Communion with all other Faithful Christians and Communicating Members of this Body in all other Times and Places and with Brotherly Affection Concern and Intercession with thee for them wheresoever placed or dispersed as well as for my self I am most ready to receive and joyn with them in these professions and in this worship whensoever thy Providence shall bring us together To seek their Communion passing through all places And to own them as my Brethren coming from all Countries And to be heartily affected with what befalls them either Particular Persons or whole Churches and rejoyce in their Prosperity and Peace as one member should in the joy of another Amen And as for those who are broken off from this true Faith and Worship or from the Unity and Peace of thy Church Lord I look upon them with the Bowels of a Brother not with the Insults and Triumphs of an Enemy I pity all Hereticks and pray that they may return to be sound in the Faith I pity all Schismaticks and pray that they may return to the Unity and Communion of thy Church And O! Blessed Lord do thou give unto them humble and teachable minds that so they may either all see the way of thy truth or at least that numbers among those who do not may be pitiable and excusable before thee under their Error and mistake of it Amen And as for all the divisions which have rent thy Church into pieces O! Blessed Jesu I do most heartily lament and bewail them My Heart O! Prince of Peace is with them who love to see those Truths that make for Peace and who long and labor to heal thy Churches Breaches I utterly disclaim all bitter Zeal and cruel and Unchristian violence against Persons of different Parties from me I am ready both willingly to see and joyfully to own all that is good and all that is thine O! my dear Lord in any of their Persons or Actings And am Religiously careful not to make any of them worse than they really are by my evil Surmizes but to hope and surmize the best of them which their case and carriage can reasonably bear And I am and through thy Grace O! Merciful Saviour ever will be ready to shew them all Offices of Justice and Humanity and of common Charity notwithstanding their Communion is different from mine Amen And after these things are done to procure God's Peace for the quieting and comforting his Conscience with the lively hopes thereof he may receive the benefit of Absolution And also the Holy Communion which he must not omit if he can have it looking on it both as God's own sure Seal of Remission of his Sins and also as his own Viaticum or Provision by the way to strengthen and support his Spirit and keep him from faintness or failures through all the remainder of his difficult and wearisome passage to the Regions of Rest and Peace And for more particular Directions how to make tryal and discovery of the Safety of his Spiritual Estate before he puts it upon the final Issue if he is desirous thereof I refer him to the Tryal or Iudgement of the Soul in the Companion for the Penitent where I have given him an account and Prospect of this as full and yet as short as I could and which it would be too long here to insert And there also he may meet with variety of fitting forms to instruct him in all the parts of his Repentance and to serve him in makeing a Religious and devout Profession thereof to Almighty God CHAP. III. Of his Carriage and Demeanour under his Sickness and the Virtues thereof viz. Trust in God Resignation Thankfullness AFter the Sick Person has taken this first and chief care for his Soul to make its peace for past or present Offences his next care for it must be to keep it from falling into any new Diseases or that under the burden of a Sick Body his Soul do not fall Sick too As it will do if it grows secure and careless of Duty or regardless of Mercies or is greedy of Life and finds no relish in Prayers or in discourses of another World and falls into impatience and is fretted with fleshly cares and worldly desires all which and the like show his Spirit to be more distempered and more dangerously ill than his Body is To prevent this his next care for his Soul must be to order his Carriage well under his Sickness or to bear the pains and weakness of his Sick bed with Trust in God with Resignation to his will with Thankfulness and with Patience to the end Which Duties tho' they are all necessary under the former Head viz. of making of his Peace yet I shall now consider and treat of them as they are necessary and of greatest use to support his Spirit and recommend his Carriage First he must set himself to bear them with Trust in
giveâ—t me better things than thou takest away The bringing down my Body is for the inrichment of my Soul which is my better part And this smiting and wounding of my Flesh is for the healing and binding up my Spirit which is the truest way to do me good Oh! then that instead of dreading thy Visitation as my Scourge I may receive it as my Medicine That I may not repine at its making me weak in Body but rather rejoyce that it makes me strong in Spirit And give thee thanks for thy kindness and my comfort in thy Corrections which are to make me good that thou mayest make me happy and give me everlasting Rest and Bliss with thee thro' Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen IX Prayers for the Bodily Needs and Desires of Sick Persons 1. For Ease when Sickness grows very painful or troublesome 1. LORD look upon mine Adversity and Misery which call aloud to thee for ease For I am wither'd like grass and my Bones will scarce cleave to my skin My heart panteth and my strength faileth me and mine eyes are grown dim And there is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger nor rest in my bones because of my sin Yea my bones are burnt as an Hearth and I go mourning all the day long and wearisom nights are appointed to me and I am full of tossing to and fro unto the dawning of the day This thou knowest O! My God for my groaning is not hid from thee Oh! Be not wroth very sore nor remember iniquity for ever Cast me not off when I need most to seek to thee nor forsake me when my strength faileth me But hear me and ease me O! Lord for thou delightest in Mercy Hear me for I cry unto thee yea I cry unto thee all the day Hear me speedily for I am brought very low and make no long tarrying for mine eyes long sore for thy word saying when wilt thou comfort me And though my flesh and my heart fail me yet let not thy Mercy and thy Word fail me For I still resign and trust my self to them and in my greatest weakness and extremity thou O! Father art my strength and my portion for ever thro' Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen 2. O! Most Gracious God my pains are extreme and too heavy for me have pity upon me and lighten them Correct me in measure and consider that I am but a feeble and frail Creature In thine anger remember mercy for I humbly submit my self and return to thee And Oh! Give me that tractableness and ingenuity of Spirit that will be check'd with a word and easily call'd off from evil and will not need any long or sharp methods of correction to reclaim me I have waited for thy Relief O! Father give me the comforts of it Yea Mine eyes long sore for thy word and are even wasted away with looking for thy saving health let them see it and be satisfied therewith Oh! shew me thy mercy and that soon for my need thereof is great And think upon me as concerning thy word for I trust to it to lay no more upon me than I can bear and to send me seasonable help and ease at present and everlasting Rest with thee in the end thro Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen A short Prayer on receipt of Ease or abatement of Pain or Sickness BLessed be thy Mercy O! my God which pitieth me in my Misery As a Father pitieth his Children when they cry out in the extremity of their pain so hast thou pityed me Thou hast chastned me sore but thou hast not given me over unto death thine anger is turn'd away and thou hast eased and comforted me Lord my Soul shall love thee and sing of thy Mercy And in my Distress I will always trust thee and not be afraid For thou art our strength whilst we suffer and our most merciful Deliverer when we are able to bear no more for our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ's sake Amen 2. A Prayer for Strength under the same GIVE me strength O! Lord to strive with my Disease and to bear the weakness of Nature And strengthen my Spirit to withstand all its Temptations as well as my Body to bear its Diseases O! Enable me to resist the Devil and to suppress all stirrings of sin and folly To beat back all motions of corrupt Passion and not to lose the due Government of my self thro excess of pain but to shew my self mighty thro thee to bear all patiently and to fortifie my weakness by a firm Faith and unshaken Trust in thy Grace and sure Promises Lord if I have no strength but my own every weight will bear me down But if thou wilt support me nothing will be too heavy for me because nothing is too hard for thee But thy strength will be made perfect in my weakness and thy Grace is sure to overcome my Corruptions and thy Comforts to give me Ease thro' my most Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen 3. A Prayer for Deliverance from them DEliver me O! my God for I seek unto thee to help me yea I seek unto thee early and continue seeking all the day long Thou delightest in Mercy deliver me for thy Mercies sake Thou hast promised to be with us and help us in trouble Deliver me for thy Righteousness Thou art Glorious in might to help our weaknesses Deliver me in thy strength Thou hast formerly been my succour Oh! be so still And our Fathers hoped in thee and were delivered let not my hope in thee perish or be put to shame more than theirs was Save me O! Almighty Lord and make hast to my help And mâ—n shall know that it is thy hand and that thou hast done it and learn thereby both to give thee Praise and to make thee their strength and confidence thro Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen 4. Prayers for longer Respite and Recovery from Sickness 1. O! Almighty Lord in whose Hands are the Issues of Life and Death look in Mercy upon these Decays of Nature which my Diseases hath made and repair them and spare me a little that I may recover my Health and Strength again I do not desire Health O! my God to consume it in Idleness Nor out of Fondness for the gay Pleasures and Pomps of this World that I may be strong to pursue them For I believe and know them all to be Vanity and Vexation of Spirit I lift my Heart above them and do by no means desire to have this Earth for my home or to take up with them for my Portion For I love thee and thy ways O! Dear Lord above them and their Delights and will harbour no love of them but what is ready to submit them all to thee when thou art pleased to take them away and which will never sin against thy Laws to secure them to my self
to Life or Death as thou pleasest only in both to thy Mercy And whether living or dying let me still please thee and be thou my Portion Oh! Perfect my Repentance and purge away all my sins And give me Patience whilst I live and Peace when I die and after that the happiness to see thy Face in a Blessed Eternity which thou hast prepared and promised to all that truly fear thee thro Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen 3. A Prayer for her Child PReserve my tender Child O! Father and let its own weakness and my Cries commend it to thy Blessed Care Preserve it to be regenerated and born again by Baptism and thereby made thine own Child by Adoption which is infinitely a greater Blessing both to it and me than thy making of it mine Keep it also afterwards in Health and Safety And as it increases in Years and Stature let it increase withal in Wisdom and in thy Fear I beg not for it Wealth or Greatness but Wisdom to know and serve thee For O! Lord I do not desire Life either for my self or it but that we may live to thee and grow daily in Love and Thankfulness for all thy Mercies and in Faith and Patience and all holy Obedience which may fit us both for ever to injoy thee thro' Jesus Christ our only Saviour and Redeemer Amen Afterwards when she comes to be Churched besides the accustomed Offering to the Minister she may add a Gift of Alms to the Poor as a proper and acceptable Tribute of Thanks and Praise Alms being as fit to attend and recommend our Thanksgivings as they are to inforce our Prayers And let her not forget the Churches Admonition to compleat her giving Thanks by Receiving the Holy Sacrament if there be a Communion that day or so soon as there shall be one II. Devotions on the Loss of Eye-sight to be read to them by some Friends for them to Meditate upon or to joyn in Scriptures I. WHO hath made the Seeing and the Blind Have not I the Lord Ex. 4. 11. And the Lord openeth the eyes of the Blind Ps. 146. 8. He hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the Poor and recovering of Sight to the Blind Luk. 4. 18. Lord I grope for the wall and stumble at Noon-day as in the Night I wait for Light but behold obscurity for brightness but I walk in darkness Is. 59. 9 10. Lord I beseech thee that I may recover my sight Receive thy sight thy faith hath saved thee Luk. 18. 41 42. But if I must not receive it in my Body however open the Eyes of my Soul that I may behold wondrous things out of thy Law Ps. 119. 18. 2. The Light of the Eyes indeed rejoyceth the Heart Prov. 15. 30. For truly the Light is sweet and a pleasant thing it is for the Eyes to behold the Sun Eccl. 11. 7. But the Eye is not satisfied with seeing Eccl. 1. 8. For as Hell and Destruction are never full so the Eyes of Man are never satisfied Prov. 27. 20. And the Lust of the Eyes is not of the Father but of the World 1 Jo. 2. 16. So that we need to make a Covenant with our Eyes Job 31. 1. And if thine Eye offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee It is better for the to enter into Life without Eyes rather than having Eyes to be cast into Hell-fire Mat. 18. 9. Besides in seeing much we see much evil and it may be thou shalt be mad for the Sight of thine Eyes which thou shalt see Deut. 28. 34. And just Lot in seeing vexed his Righteous Soul from day to day with the unlawful deeds of the wicked 2 Pet. 2. 7 8. 3. Moreover tho' the Body be dark yet the Eyes of our understanding may be inlightned Eph. 1. 18. For the Spirit of Man is the Candle of the Lord searching all the inward parts of the belly Prov. 20. 27. And we walk by Faith and not by Sight 2 Cor. 5. 7. And tho 't is pleasant to see the Sun yet 't is pleasanter to see those things which the Angels desire to look into 1 Pet. 1. 12. And to supply our want of Bodily Eyes our Friends and Neighbours may be to us instead of eyes Num. 10. 31. For I was Eyes to the Blind and Feet to the Lame Job 29. 15. And cursed be he that maketh the Blind to wander out of the way Deut. 27. 18. Or putteth a Stumbling-block before him Lev. 19. 14. Glory be to the Father c. PRAYERS I. For Recovery of Sight LORD pity me who have my Eyes always closed and all my Days turned into Night I cannot see what I eat or what I drink and I grope for the wall and stumble in the Light as in the Dark For the Light which maketh all things manifest about us and reviveth and maketh glad both Man and Beast is no Light to me but I am Dark at Noon-Day Oh! Support and comfort me in this my Adversity and restore my Sight to me again if it may seem fit to thee Consider Lord how greatly it serves for my comfort and safety And restore it to me for I seek to thee and thou art prone to pity me and thou only who gavest it canst restore it Yea do thou restore it O! my God that I may again behold the marvelous Greatness and the rich and various Beauty of thy Creatures and devoutly admire and praise the Glories of thy Wisdom Power and Goodness which they set forth daily before our eyes And above all that I may return to read thy Holy Word to instruct and comfort me and to make me perfect in the way of my Duty and of obtaining thine everlasting Mercy thro' Jesus Christ my Lord Amen II. For Patience under the want of it 1. AND in this state of Bodily Blindness O! Righteous Lord I do not in the least complain of thee for laying it upon me For thou hast continued the use of my Eyes much longer unto me than I have been careful to use and employ them for thee And because I would not take care to govern them virtâ—ously and wisely nor shut them up or restrain them my self thou hast shut them up in Darkness For they had taken me off O! Holy Father from minding thee to mind Worldly Pomp and show and to fix themselves in Clay They were grown greedy and unsatisfied in beholding Vanity They had often made me to offend And 't is better to want Eyes than to be made to offend by them and to enter into Life being Blind rather than having Eyes without Innocence to be cast into Hell fire So that I humbly submit to this Blindness O! my God and meekly accept of it both as the punishment of mine iniquities and as a means to cure and prevent them And if it be thy Pleasure to have me rest under it or whilst it is so thy Blessed Will be done And I will not only
Chief Antidotes whereon we relye are our Prayers to thee and our Faith in thy Mercy Holy Father I seek to thee let thy Care surround me I make thee my habitation let me find it a safe one I Trust thee with my self and with my Friends to Order what is most Desireable for us and best agrees with the wise Ends of thy Good Providence And tho I doe not absolutely promise my self to be exempt from a Common Calamity yet Lord being in thy Hands where I desire to be I know that I shall be exempt if 't is fit I should be soe and if not that thou wilt turn even my falling sick of it to my Good Soe that under thy Wings O! my God my Hope is allways to have a kind and most thankworthy Ordering and to receive from thee either a Continuance of Health or a beneficial and thankworthy Sickness either the Blessing of a longer Life or the Greater Blessing of an Happy Death thro Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen Our Father c. VI. A Prayer to be said by Friends for Natural Fools or Madmen SHall not I spare them who can not discern between their Right Hand and their Left Jon. 4. 11. I was found of them that sought me not Is. 65. 1. I was Eyes to the blind and Feet to the lame Job 29. 15. Bear ye one anothers Burdens and soe fullfill the Law of Christ. Gal. 6. 2. O! Allmighty and most mercyfull Father Pity this thy Poor Creature who knows not his own wants nor how to ask for thy Mercyes But as he is not capable of Doing things to please thee so let nothing which he doth offend thee He is still as an infant O! God not arrived to the use of Reason Oh! Deal with him as thou doest with them and as such admit him into the Kingdom of Heaven He has been received for thy Child in Baptism and has done nothing since to forfeit the Claims of Mercy and Bliss made over to him therein and belonging to that Relation Oh! let them be fullfill'd and made good to him in their time And as his want of understanding unfits him to doe any thing for thee soe doth it likewise to Doe any thing for himself And therefore he needs to have the more done for him by thee and by the Good instruments of thy Providence And let thy Care O! Lord supply the want of his Give thy Holy Angells charge to look to him as they Doe to Helpless Children Give thy Saints and those who are any ways Concerned with him the Heart to be Understanding and Eyes and Feet and Hands to him as to one who is as if he had nothing of these of his own but wants to have them all supplyed out of thy Provision And do thou in thy Wisdom prevent those Evils which he can not foresee and put those by which he wants understanding to Remove Especially O! Lord keep him from Doing any thing that is mischeivous either to others or to himself Oh! thou who art found of them who seek thee not shew mercy to this thy Servant who extremely needs thee tho he can not seek to thee Thou knowest his wants O! Lord tho he is insensible and ignorant of them And tho he can not speak for himself yet his wants speak and Crye aloud for him Oh! Hear their Crye which calls to thee for Pity And hear us for him who is not able to ask for himself And graunt him thy special Care at present and thy Peace at the last thro the merits and mediation of thy Dear Son our only Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen Our Father c. VII A Prayer for those who attend about the Sick O! Blessed Lord who callest us to minister and attend about this thy pained and afflicted Servant make us truly compassionate and tenderly Sensible of his Sorrows and studious how to ease them Keep us Gentle and Officious towards him and willing and Diligent to minister to him and above all things to make and continue thee his Friend Oh! that it may be our Care Friendly to admonish him of his Duty and to call upon him to look up unto thee To strenthen his Soul and asswage his Sorrows by Comfortable words to read to him and Pray for him and study in all things to make his sick bed as Profitable to his Precious Soul and as easy and tolerable to his pained and wearyed Body as we can And let us not shew unwillingness O! God in any Services nor be provoked by his impatience or ill reception of our well meant Offices But let us Pity the Disorders of his Spirit under his Anguish and bear the same with that Gentleness and Continued Care to minister Comfort or Relief which his Sorrows call for and which we all Desire may be shew'd towards us when we come as we must expect to come to be tryed with the like weaknesses and Troubles our selves And Grant O! Father that the Sight of his sickness may be a warning to us to prepare for our own Make our Hearts wiser and better by Conversing in the House of Mourning and let it teach us the end of all men and the vanity of all earthly things and put us upon Zele and Diligence in all the ways of qualifying and Dressing of our Souls for a more blessed and everlasting Life thro Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Our Father c. XIII A Thanksgiving for Recovery from Sickness I. BLessed be thy Name O! God of all Power and Mercy for that thou hast Consider'd my Trouble and known my Soul in my Adversity Thou sentest me all those Helps whereby I was supported and all the intervals of ease wherewith I was releived under my Sickness And now thou hast brought me up again from the Grave and Deliver'd me of my pains and weakness and art become my Health and my Salvation Yea thy Mercy O! Blessed Lord has rectifyed my Spirit and done it Good by my Sorrows which is more to be valued than easing my Body of theâ— For before I was troubled I went wrong but thy Corrections have taught me to see my Folly and this worlds vanity And my Pains which have been my Monitors Day and Night have Caused me to understand Wisdom secretly And for these and all other thy most endearing Mercies I will sing Praise to thee O! Lord my God and Give thee Thanks for ever I will not Conceal thy Faithfullness and thy Salvation but Declare and speak of them that others allsoe may praise thy Name yea in the Presence of all thy People that they may give thee Thanks in the Great Congregation And oh that I may never forget thy Mercyes nor my own Promises of amendment and Holy obedience but cheerfully and Faithfully pay thee my vows and Perform all the Promises and Good Purposes Which I made whilst I was in Trouble And Pity the Pains Good Lord and hear the Cryes
of our state and of a frail and forgetfull Creature in the midst of a tempting World can bear Oh! then that I may consider thy Mercy to fortifye my minde against Fear And fix my Soul upon the tenderness and Clemency of my judge and Saviour which will embolden me to stand before him without Horror And upon the Condescentions of thy Gospel and the needfull Deductions and Forbearance which it promises to our weaknesses that in this Hour of my necessity I may be guarded against all the suspicions of my own melancholy or mistrusts of thy mercy and may be strenthend with a comfortable Hope in thee thro Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen 3. BUt if after all my Fears shall by times return upon me and prove troublesom to me let it however Comfort me O! Lord to thinke that thou art wont to make better of Humble Souls than they are wont to make of themselves and wilt judge me not according to my Fears but according to thy mercyes A truely Contrite Heart O! God is Safe in thine Eyes even when it gives it self up for lost in its own And as my Fears will be noe Prejudice to my safety soe Grant Good Lord that they may be an Help to my Duty and may quicken and increase my Care and Endeavours to obey thee Make them the Guards of my innocence and a constant Spur to thy Service And then O! Holy Father tho they trouble and Discomfit me at Present Yet they will happily Conâ—ute themselves and recompence me in the end and my sincere Obedience shall make sure thy Gracious acceptance tho I my self dare not beleive it till I come to find and hear it from thee in the other World thro the merits of my only Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen IV. A Prayer against Presumption LEt not my Heart Deceive me O! Blessed Lord in judgeing of my self but keep me from Pride and vain Confidence in setting too little by thy Grace and thinking too well of mine own ways Oh! that I may never flatter my self into an Evil Security and an insensibleness of the Great need I have of thy Mercy For thou O! Lord resistest the Proud but givest Grace unto the Humble Thou rejectest the Proud Pharisee who justifyes himself and sees not his own nakedness and Poverty But the very best of us all Doe absolutely need repentance and have but too many Sins to humble us We must throw our Selves upon thy Mercy and can not stand in thy judgement shouldest thou be Rigorous in exacting what we have Done amiss nor appear before thee when thou art angry Thy justice is terrible to the Greatest Saints yea and before thee even the Angels themselves doe cover their Faces And as we can not come off clear in thy judgement but merely thro Mercy Soe neither Can we stand in Obedience to qualifye us for it but only thro Faith 'T is thy Help O! Lord that must support and keep us in thy ways And if it were not for thy Grace and our own Caution and holy jealousy over our Selves we are as lyable to fall as others Oh! then that I may not be high minded and place my Confidence in my self but learn to Fear and shew Care and humble Dependance upon thee and with Godly Reverence look for thy Promises of Grace and Mercy thro Jesus Christ my Lord and only Saviour Amen V. Prayers in the last Agonies Ejaculations DVst thou art and to Dust shalt thou return Gen. 3. 19. Lord Jesus have mercy upon me O thou Lamb of God that takest away the Sins of the World Be merciful to me a Sinner Luk. 18. 13. Tho I often offend thee yet Lord thou knowest I sincerely Love thee and hate my self for having displeased thee And can any who sincerely Loves thee Perish Eternally Lord receive me for I am hasting apace to thee I stretch forth my Hands unto thee my Soul thirsteth after thee as a thirsty Land Ps. 143. 6. Lord remember me when thou Comest in thy Kingdom Doe with this frail and wearied Body what thou pleasest Only receive my Spirit to thy Mercy in Death and raise up this Corruptible to incorruption after Death And forsake me not O! God now my strength faileth me Ps. 71. 9. Besides which the Dying Persons may use the Scriptures Collected for this Case p. 127. Prayers 1. LOrd Wash my Soul in thy Blood that it may be presented without Spot unto thee And let me Dye in thy Favour and rest in Peace and rise again in Glory Amen 2. STrenthen me O! my God in my Agonies As my strength fails let my pains wear off But when my Strenth fails let not my Faith fail Even in Death let me trust in thee And the nearer I am drawing to thee the more Doe thou manifest thy mercy unto me thro Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen 3. DEliver me O! Lord from Fear of Death and from all violent Disorders of a troubled Fancy or painful Delusions of my Ghostly Enemy Oh! let not him be able now to disturb and terrifye me or any way to prevail against me but Guard thou thy Servant comeing unto thee Amen 4. HAve me in thy Custody O! holy Father for nothing can can take me out of thy Hands And Give thy Holy Angels Charge to stand about me to guard and receive my poor Soul at my Departure and to Conduct and Carry it to the Blessed Receptacles of Rest and Peace Amen 5. COme Lord Jesu Come quickly I Desire and Groan earnestly to be dissolved and to be with thee Into thy Hands I Commend my Spirit and lay Down my wearyed Flesh to Rest in Hope of a Blessed Resurrection to eternal Peace and joy at the last Day Amen 6. LOrd if it be thy Gracious will make my Pains short and my Death Easy at least not extremely tedious or Greivous to me But if thou hast otherwise ordered thy Blessed will be done Only Give me Patience to bear them and Spiritual Comforts under them and at thine own time make my Death my Passage to a Blessed and Eternal Life through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen Out of the Office for Burial ANd O! Lord most Holy O! God most mighty O! Holy and Mercifull Saviour thou most worthy Judge Eternal Suffer me not at my last Hour for any pains of Death to fall from thee Amen And these Prayers may be said for the Dying Person as occasion requires by his Friends who are about him only altering the Persons we for I him for me our for my c. as is requisite upon the change of Persons Likewise they may use for him the recommendatory Prayer for one at the Point of Departure in the Churches Office for Visitation of the Sick O! Almighty God with whom doe live the Spirits of just Men made perfect after they are Deliverd from their Earthly Prisons We humbly commend the Soul of this thy Servant our dear Brother into thy
not be neglected or thrown aside by men in Health as if they were a Study and Employment only for sick-beds For living men must think of Death and prepare for it as well as dying and if whilst health and strength lasts we throw these Thoughts and Preparations by when it comes it will be like to find us unready And then we can neither dye comfortably nor safely For when once the Bridegroom is come as our Saviour tells us in the Parable of the wise and foolish Virgins they that are ready go in with him to the Marriage And if any want Oyle in their Lamps and need to seek it when they should go out to meet him he will enter without them and then the door is shut and will not be opened again for them If they are ready with Oyle in their Lamps when the Cry of the Bridegroom comes they may fall to trim them but they must not have their Oyle to seek or the virtues of a death-bed to learn when they are called forth to show and take comfort in them Besides Repentance and Reconciliation and satisfaction for injuries and settling ones worldly affairs are a work most fit and proper for the best days of life And resignation and trust in God and patience and thankfulness the great virtues and employment of sick-beds are all Duties as necessary and acceptable in Health as they are in sickness Death it self is but the last Act and end of Life And those spiritual exercises which make us at last to dye well and happyly are but the last Acts of those Duties which had made us live well and Holily before Defer not therefore as the wise Son of Syrach says untill Death to be justified But humble thy self before thou be sick and in the time of sins shew Repentance Before Judgment examine thy self and in the day of visitation thou shalt find mercy Ecclus. 18 20 21 22. But when we come to be sick then are we most especially to make such Offices our Employment and to seek to them as our chiefest comfort And each one may pick out Prayers for himself on one Head or another according as those wants shall require which at that time are most pressing upon his body or his spirit or which in the present temper of his Soul he is best disposed for And he may use sometimes more of them and sometimes fewer according as he finds his strength and time will bear And these when he is in strength and circumstances fit for it he may read himself but at other times they may be read to him for his spirit to repeat and send up to God by some religious Friend who attends about him Or they may be read to him as a Chapter of seasonable and needful Doctrine and Direction which will lay such considerations before him as are fit to guide and comfort him in that condition when he is less able to bear the Fatigue and expensive pains of Devotion As for some distempers they are slow and chronical and carry us off by lingring degrees And in these men have time enough to employ if they have but the Will and Heart to employ it in these or such like Offices which teach them both how to sustain sickness and how to prepare for Death Other Distempers indeed are more violent and acute which both carry us off suddenly and whilst we are strugling with them leave us little mental vigor or ability And under these there is less to be done in this way But something may be done tho more short and broken and with more application and liveliness when it pleases God they have intervals of ease or any recruit of spirits And they have great need to make the best of these opportunities and to do as much as they can in their condition and spend as many thoughts in such Devotions as they have leisure and strength for And as for the great defectiveness in exercising these Death-bed Graces which will unavoidably attend this case it will be best provided for by their making these thoughts their great business and familiarizing the same to their minds in time of Health In these matters tho many and the most important things are common to all sick or dying Persons yet some are particular to each and all have not the same wants or complaints And therefore whilst a Prayer descends to particulars to suit and serve one persons case it may contain some clauses or expressions which are not suitable to anothers But in this the Readers themselves are to have and use a discretion and must omit such passages as do not belong to them making use only of the rest which do And think that altho these passges are not for their use yet hitting the case of others who are touched and afflicted in those particulars they may be received and used by them with great thankfulness This Treatise I had begun and had made some considerable progress in it but had laid it aside again by reason of some hindrances But afterwards being brought my self into a state of more uncertain Health and Life by the most wise and good ordering of Almighty God I resumed it and made such haste as the needful attendacne of my health would allow to finish it For I was desirous to have some benefit and help thereby my self whilst I live as well as to leave it to be some way helpful unto others and come in by this means to hear some part of their Burdens if it please God at whose wise and good choice I am and desire to be that I dye of this illness And if any devout Readers receive any comfort or spiritual improvement from this Poor Labour of Love to my Blessed Master and to them as they have the offer of my pains I hope they will vouchsafe me the benefit of their Prayers and that God will have the Glory of all From my House in London August 17. 1694. DIRECTIONS FOR AN Holy and Happy Death In very Particular but Brief instructions how to order and carry our Selves under Sickness and the Several Tryals and Accidents thereof and at the Approach of Death CHAP. I. Of the Sick mans thoughts of leaving the World and setting his Affairs in Order and of the care of his Body WHen God arrests us with Sickness 't is time to think of leaving this World Not that every Man who falls Sick must presently give himself up for Dead but because Sickness puts Life in hazard and brings a Man to Resign himself into the Hands of God whether he shall dye thereof or no. To think of leaving the World is not only profitable but needful at all times For the Great Business we have to do here is to prepare for an happy Departure And if we do not think of it we are like to be very ill prepared for it In our dayes of Health and Pleasure we must call these thoughts to us but when Sickness comes it calls
us to them and Naturally imprints the same And it is our truest wisdom to entertain them in our Sickness For if we dye we shall all judge it was the best way we had to employ our thoughts and that of all things Death should not be met unthought of And they render us fitter to Live if God spare us They make Death Safer but do not hasten or bring it sooner and are no hindrance to our Living longer but a great help if we recover to our Living better In this Preparation to leave the World the Sick Persons first care is to seperate himself from worldly cares and incumbrances of Business Let him look upon himself as one call'd off from the conduct of these matters to the giving a strict account of â—â—â—m And who has work enough cut out for his thoughts and prepare to take a decent leave of this World and to trim up his Lamp and 〈◊〉 his Soul for a better His business now is how to meet Death with most safety and comfort to himself if he dyes as for ought he knows he may dye of this Sickness and to commit no Errors therein because he is to dye but once and cannot afterwards amend them The work and worldly Cares of Life are to be left to those who think of living but how to dye is the Business that lyes before him To cast off these worldly Cares 't is fit he first settle them And that is by setting his House in order and making his â—ill This methinks should be done with great consideration and Men are wanting in that Prudence and Care which they usually shew in their affairs thro all their Lives if this is left to be clapt up in haste at their Deaths When they dispose of a little parcel of Land or of a moderate sum of money they consider well of it before they part with it And if they are thus considerate when they dispose of any single Branch of their Estate must that be left to be the only hasty and unconsidered act when they are to dispose of all When a Person has his Worldly Estate to give away it will take much thought to do it like a wise Man and a good Christian. To consider what Portions are fit to be given to Dependants as Recompence of Diligence and good Services What to Benefactors as respectful tokens of Gratitude for Favours and obligations What to particular Friends and acquaintance as Memorials of Love and Dearness What among Kindred in Declaration of natural Affection for their nearness their deserts or their wants And what to himself for so I more especially call that which is given to Religious or Pious uses since these works follow him and these layings out go along with him to be recompenced and repaid in a better place Such as are all gifts of Restitution when he had wrong'd or defrauded any Persons of equitable compensation where he has taken too great advantage of other Peoples wants or weakness and been too hard upon them and made too great advantage of them in Bargaining or Dealing of Charity or Piety in Gifts or Settlements on the Poor and Needy or for the encouragement and promotion of piety To settle Accounts in Dealing what he ows or what is owing unto him what he has in his hands in trust for others and what he has left in their hands or in trust with them For this disposal he must remember is the Farewel he takes of all the World And when he is parting with Kindred and Relations Friends and Benefactors Servants and Dependants Chapmen and Customers Poor and Rich Sacred and Secular Persons a Wise and Good Man who has carryed it well towards them all his Life should think of continuing to do the same and supplying of former Defects at his Death and study to take a fair and Friendly and decent leave of all Especially to carry it as becomes him towards God and in this great disposal of all his Goods to look at him the Soveraign Donor of them And to do all this with discretion and to a Man's satisfaction will require consideration And therefore is like to be best dispatch'd whilst the Person hath both Ability and Leisure for it And accordingly is always most providently and is like to be most perfectly settled in time of Health However in the beginnings of Sickness e're Nature is weak and Time is short or a Disease is come to Extremities When all his Worldly cares and concerns are thus settled and laid aside having taken this leave of the World he may give himself up to the Will and good Pleasure of Almighty God to dispose of him either in Life or Death and make his Sickness end either in Health or Heaven as he sees will make most for the Sick-mans good and for his own Glory If the Physitians are called in to take care of his Body 't is fit he receive their advice with meekness and thankfulness and willingly follow and submit himself to their wholesome and Reasonable Directions A Prudent and Compassionate Physitian will be tenderly and conscientiously careful of his ease so far as that is consistent with the Care of his Health Especially he will consider well how he proposes and much more how he presses any Medicine which the Patient has an Antipathy against and which is found greatly to disorder him tho' it generally relieve others And when he sends for him he must put his Body into his Hands under God and willingly take such Medicines and submit to such Rules and Restraints as he Judges needful for his Safety or for the Recovery of his Health and not order and tell his Physitian what he shall prescribe to him nor weary him out with importunities to let him have what he himself fancies tho' the other thinks it would be to his prejudice And these prescriptions of the Physitian he must use with looking up to God in the first place for the good effect of all Medicines and without fretfulness and accusations of the means and methods if by the pleasure of God the Disease increase and grow more troublesom in spight of all Remedies and without being too eagerly desirous of Life or ease unless God please thanking his Physitian for the ease which he studies but at the same time submitting to God for the Pains which he sends And let him still remember to make fervent Prayers one ingredient in all his Medicines considering that since it is God who works cures Prayers are as necessary thereto as any thing else He must not like Asa set God a side when he seeks to the Physitians but expect all the Cure from Gods blessing and when it comes give him the chief Honour and Praise for the same and acknowledge that the Prayers of pious Friends have been among the powerfullest of his Medicines If it be thought needful or profitable for the body some times at intervals especially in slow and languishing diseases to divert his spirits
lifting up my Heart to Heavenly things and to all the ways of preparing my Soul for thine everlasting mercy Amen And if I want Health and the Relish of worldly comforts now I owe thee infinite thanks O! Lord for all the time I enjoy'd them formerly tho' all that time I had deserved to lose them If I am deprived of some mercies yet many and most Thank-worthy are those which I still enjoy If I would declare and speak of thy mercies to me they are more than can be numbred Ps. 40. 5. The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away Blessed be the name of the Lord. Job 1. 21. And let the Sick Person Persevere in this trust and confidence in God and in this Resignation and thankfulness of Spirit amidst all his Sorrows Let him keep his Soul always set out in these dresses and express them on all occasions to God and to his Friends For they are the liveliest ingredients and the Clearest Beauty and Grace 4ly Of the Fourth Virtue wherewith he is to bear his Sorrows viz. Patience which he is to exercise thro' the whole course of his Sickness and which is next to be treated of CHAP. IV. Of Patience under Sickness With other Directions to the Sick Person for spending his Sick-bed Hoâ—â—s and to his Friends for their Ministring to him THE whole couâ—se of a Sick-bed is a tryal of Patience And when 't is tryed thereon we must give good proof thereof or else we can never act our Part tolerably nor approve our Selves And if we have the forementioned virtues we shall have Patience For if we dare trust God our Fears of Pain or other evil accidents will not make us unquiet If our wills are resigned to his we shall not be unwilling to bear what he sends but meet our Sorrows with humble and contented Submission instead of angry and uneasie Repining If we are thankful to him under our Sickness we shall bless him for what we have and not discontentedly complain for what we want and thank him because he once gave instead of accusing him because now he has taken away And therefore when God calls any Person to be Sick let him look on Patience as the Proper virtue of his State and make it his care at every turn to arm his Soul with it Let him set himself to Bear his Pains and weakness with gravity and Composedness keeping back from all Passionate and from all light and vain words And to bear all out of Submission and Resignation to the Will of God quietly Suffering because he sends them And let him remember always to humble himself under the hand that Smites him and own 't is just And to kiss the Rod and confess 't is for his good And to receive the Strokes with quietness and suffer without striving and bear them without uneasie complaints of them and wait on God without fainting and not sink under his Load but support and stay himself upon God till his time comes to send ease He must not shew anger and uneasiness with his Disease or with his Medicines with his food or with his Attendance Nor fall to feign reasons of taking things ill where really there are none nor aggravate them where there are nor be hasty in his Suspicions or Censures of things made for him or of persons concerned with him and thereby grow anxious and Angry and troublesome to himself and others Nor Expose himself or Scandalize the By-standers by making Burdens which are not too heavy to be born at present intolerable to himself by Pusilanimous Despondency or Anxious fears and mistrusts of what they will be in a little time Indeed his Bodily weakness and uneasiness may many times excuse his forgetfulness and Surprizes in these Points both to God and men if afterwards he shews himself sensible of them and Sorry for them and doth not indulge them But he must not give way or lay himself open to them and much less justifie them or hope to remove the Guiâ—t and Blame of these Sins from off his Soul and lay them upon the Distemper of his Body And instead of blaming and aggravating the Heaviness of his Disease or the Negligence of his attendance or Gods Orderings let him fall to blame his own impatience and to tax his own folly which had not learnt before to expect such crosses as now Disquiet him and prepared to bear them As for Restlessness of Body and frequent changes of Place or Posture and turning from side to side and Sighs and Groans and other unquietness of Body without any Disturbance of Spirit they are not to be accounted I conceive for Acts of impatience and if they can divert the Pains of sick Persons or give ease to their Bodies I think they need be no matter of Scruple to their mindes This Tryal of Patience indeed is an hard Tryal and therefore requires a constant and a watchful care And it may be a great help to him therein if among those who are pleased to express their kindness and do him Comfort by their presence and Friendly attendance he can chuse a Discreet and Pious Supervisor of his carriage both towards God and all about him under his Sickness and desire him to be his Admonisher where Excess of Pain and weariness makes him forget himself and receive his Brotherly Admonitions with willingness and Thankfulness And under all the uneasiness of his Sickness and Temptations to impatience let him often say one or other of these short Prayers Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven Amen Shall a Living man complain a man for the Punishment of his Sin Woe be to him that striveth with his Maker shall the Clay say unto him that fashioneth it what makest thou Lord I will be Dumb and not open my mouth against it because it is thy doing And thou orderest mine infirmities as thou Orderest all things else in Number weight and Measure So that I know they shall not be too many nor too Heavy nor continue more days or Hours than thou seest Suitable to thy Goodness and my weakness If ease is long delayed and his Spirit is almost wearied let him ever and anon put up such short Petitions as these I wait for the Lord my Soul doth wait and in his word do I hope Amen I will hope continually and will yet Praise thee more and more Amen O! Tarry thou the Lords Leisure O my Soul I know whom I have Believed and in Due Season I shall reap if I faint not Tho he kill me yet will I trust in him Amen Remember O! Lord whereof I am made and have compassion on mine infirmities and lay not more upon me than I can bear Let thy Grace be sufficient for me Amen Lord encrease my Patience or abate my Pains Amen If he is ready to think or say he can bear no longer let him remember that God knows that better than he And
dost in great mercy Pity my weakness and provide for it For 't is thy mercy that lays not too much upon me 'T is thy mercy that I am brought down by degrees and am not consumed suddenly 'T is thy mercy that thou wast not soon nor wilt be long angry with me 'T is thy mercy that makes my Bed in my Sickness that considereth my weakness and supporteth me and considereth my Pains and shortneth them and always in due time gives me ease or intermission from them 'T is thy mercy O! dear God that ordereth Comforts for me continually to sweeten my Distresses to me and that makes thee still to be most near unto me at those times when I stand most in need of thee So that altho' I am Sick O! my God yet I am not forsaken For Blessed be thy Name my Griefs are not beyond measure and my Burden is not without help nor my Sufferings without hope and comfort wherewith in thine abundant Mercy thou daily temperest them and sustainest me thro' Jesus Christ my Lord Amen 3. I Bless thee O! most gracious Lord for sending this Sickness upon me which thou sendest to shew thy Love and Care of me and to do me good For if my Body were not sick thou seest my Soul would be sick Yea alas it has been very Sick and this Sickness of my Body comes to cure it For in thus Correcting me when I had gone astray thou art putting an end O! God to my wandring Thou sendest these Sorrows to open my ears to discipline when Mercies would not open them and to reclaim me and set me in the way of Pardon So that this dealing shows that thou hast not rejected me as an outcast or Alien but still lookest upon me with thoughts of Mercy and treatest me as a Son And Blessed be thy Mercy O! Father of Mercies which by these Pains and Sorrows of my Body hast given my Spirit rest from the wearisome importunity and Sollicitations of Lust and Envy Blessed by thou who hast thereby dullâ—d the edge of my covetous Desires and laid asleep my worldly Cares and brought down my ambitious and aspiring thoughts and humbled Self-conceit by shewing me that I am but sin and folly dust and misery Blessed be thou who hast thereby calld me off from incumbring my self with many things which now I see cannot profit me to mind the one thing necessary and from minding worldly Vanities to spend my thoughts upon thy Laws and Promises and from placeing my confidence in my Self to place it only and wholly in thee And since my Sickness doth thus shew me thy Love and cure my Spirit and set on my Felicity it shall please me O! God when it pains me And I will confess to the Glory of thy Truth and Goodness that thou out of very Faithfulness hast caused me to be troubled even because I need it and because by thy Grace I shall receive much benefit by it thro' my Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Amen 4. I Bless thee O! Lord for all the innumerable Mercies which I have received from thee most bountifully and seasonably in all States and Conditions of my Life and thro' all the days and years of it And for that I have long received good at thy hands before I am brought now to receive Evil. I owe thee infinite thanks for a Life of health before this Confinement to my Bed of Sickness and for the long and sweet relish I have had of worldly Comforts before my Disease has rendred them unsavory And my present Pains and Sorrows O my God do not make me forget thy past or present Mercies nor go about to lessen them nor shall they by thy Grace ever make me out of humour with thee or unthankful for them Yea instead of giving thee less thanks for them by reason of this change of my Condition I wll give thee more because my present want of them has taught me better how to prize and value them And I do Bless and I will Bless the Lord that gave and Bless him still after he has taken away I Bless thee for that I still injoy much Good and cannot in the least blame thee that I have some evil but thank thee abundantly that I have no more And above all that under all my present Misery I am comforted with the Sense of thy Love and with the Blessed hopes of everlasting Peace and Joy thro' Jesus Christ my Lord Amen VII Prayers for Patience under Sickness I. A General Prayer for Patience O! Merciâ—ul Lord now I am called to the State of Sickness which is a Tryal of Patience give me Grace to shew Patience under the same that is not to be wearied and cannot be reproved Enable me O! Father to shew a quiet and composed Patience that is without tumult of troubled Thoughts and discontented Passions A submissive and resigned Patience that is without reluctance to thy Will or Rebellious murmurings A Patience of hope that doth not sâ—â—k under my Burdens nor is driven by â—he smart of my Pains to 〈…〉 Love or Care or 〈…〉 And a Thankful 〈…〉 sensible of my Comforts and Supports as well as of my Sicknesses and that owns all my present Sufferings to be far below my deserts and all my past and present Mercies to be infinitely above them And make me perfect O! my God in this Patience Let me tarry thy leisure and not be hasty Let me wait on thee and not grow weary But bear all whilst I have any thing to bear in comfortable hopes of thy Strength to support my present Weakness and of thy Mercy to ease and deliver me at last either by a more healthful Life or by an happy Death thro' the Merits of Jesus Christ my Lord Amen 2. For Patience without reluctance or Disquietness LOrd I humble my Self under thy mighty hand and submit to thy Visitation I submit my Self willingly and will not strive or make resistance I kiss the Rod instead of Quarrelling with it and accept of it quietly as of the punishment of mine iniquities Yea thankfully as of the Restorer of mine innocence And in this Patience O! Holy Father do thou still continue and preserve my Spirit composed and quiet and easie to my Self Since it is thy Will thus to afflict me bow my Will to thine and make me willing to bear it And bearing it willingly let it not anger or discontent me Yea O! my God I trust to thee to lay no more upon me than I can bear Oh! let that Trust keep me without Fears and Distractions under my Burdens I bear only what I most justly deserve Oh! let that stop me from complaining Nay I bear infinitely less than I have deserved and still injoy abundance of Mercies after I have deserved to lose all Oh! then let me not fall to accuse thee for thine inflictions but rather to accuse my self for my evil Deserts and to thank thee for my most
Mercy and open mine Ears again if it may seem good to thee For I acknowledge my former Errors and am resolved by thy Grace to keep them always open to good words and averse to evil Do thou open them good Lord for to thee alone do I look for the same and I know it is as easie for thee to open them as it was to shut them And consider no longer my Sins which deserve to be punished but mine affliction which calls to be pityed For by this Deafness O! my God I am deprived very much of the Comforts of Conversation and of the chief means of Instruction For Discourse teacheth Wisdom and understanding And Faith it self cometh and groweth up by Hearing And in the midst of Discourse I am in great measure as if all kept silence and the World is as if all were dumb to me because I am deaf to them and can seldom let in any Voice that might bring Counsel or Comfort to my Soul or to my Body Oh! therefore Holy Father do thou once more restore me to the benefit and comfort of Company and give me an Ear that can distinguish good from ill and that will be both fit and glad to hear whatsoever may Honour thee or any ways edifie or advantage me thro' Jesus Christ my Lord Amen II. For Patience under the Want of Hearing 1. AND whilst thou seest fit to continue me under this Deafness O! Almighty Lord Give me Patience Contentedly to want the Conversation of others I know alass and do lament that I am hereby Debarr'd from Hearing Good Words But I will reckon it some Compensation to me that it keeps me from Hearing Evil too and in this naughty world there is much more Evil spoke than Good For if my Ears were open O! God I should Dayly hear much more than I Desire to hear or than I ought to bear Silently And should hear Evil more often than I should find the Heart and Courage to Reprove it or than I should be able to Cure or perhaps to check or any ways hinder it by my Reproof And where I can neither prevent nor Cure Evil Speeches I will account it as a piece of Favour to me to be deaf to them And therefore thy Will be Done O! Holy Father I receive my Deafness Patiently and thankfully as being sent by thee and as Dayly keeping out much that would either Corrupt or trouble and afflict me And am Content whilst thou pleasest to be Deaf to the voice of Sinners till thou shalt either restore that Sense to me again here on Earth or take me hence to hear the Heavenly Halleluiahs and charming voices of Angels and Beatifyed Spirits in thy Presence for the sake of my Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Amen 2. ANd Blessed be thy Mercy O! Lord that I was not born Deaf but had mine Ears Open till Faith was ingender'd in me by Hearing For I injoy'd my Sense of Hearing till I had learnt to know thee and the way of my own Salvation Yea and till I had learnt to know much of this World too enough to teach me that I must keep always on my Guard against the Snares and constantly expect to meet and stand prepared to bear the troubles of it And Graunt O! Father that Having lived to hear much before I may now set my self to meditate on what I have heard formerly and to live by memory and still have Recourse to past instructions to Guide and Comfort me And make me Consider Lord that if mine ears were still open'd since there is little new under the Sun I should dayly hear much of the same both Good and Evil over again And that I may profit my self abundantly by thy Grace in fixing those things uâ—on my mind which I have heard already yea that I may likely profit more in recollecting and meditateing thus upon old instructions than by haveing an ear never fill'd with Hearing but dayly hearkning after new ones And that without such Reflection on the knowledge which has allready come by Hearing to make my self Master thereof I shall be allmost as if I wanted it even whilst I have it and shall be loseing it dayly more or less And besides this O! Gracious God thou art still pleased most mercyfully to continue to me the use of my Eyes to supply the want of mine Ears and I can read whatsoever is fit for me to know in Relation to this Life or the next tho I can no longer hear it And Lord make me sensible that this way I can converse with the best Company and in their best and most Studyed thoughts and Discourses And moreover that I can come to them when I need and leave them when I please For at any time without tedious waiting or troublesome Caeremony I may have their Wisdom to Counsell and Comfort me in any Exigence either of my Soul or Body And without upbraiding me with my Dullness or my Troublesomeness or growing impatient thereat they stand always ready to tell me as often as I need or Desire what way I may be most easy to my self or usefull to my Friends or acceptable unto thee thro Jesus Christ my Lord Amen 3. For Good Use of Deafness ANd whilst I remain Deaf to the Conversation of others O! Blessed Father give me Grace to converse more with thee and with my self in calling thy Laws and mine own ways to Remembrance And altho the Ears of my Body are shut to others yet Lord let those of my Spirit be always open to thy voice Give me an Hearing Heart that is never Deaf to thy call and if thy Spirit do but whisper to me let mine instantly perceive and embrace the same and carefully and obediently attend to thy suggestion And deliver me from having any Portion among them who have lost their Hearing towards thee tho they still keep it to the world and who having Ears hear not with them And under my Bodily Deafness O! Gracious God Preserve me from being jealous and mistrustful of those who are Discoursing in my Company as if they were Discoursing against me or made themselves sport with mine infirmity And whilst their Discourses can do me no good let not my own evil surmises and suspicions do either my self or them any Hurt But keep me always easy towards them and truly Patient and thankfull towards thee thro Jesus Christ my Blessed Lord and Saviour Amen Our Father which art in Heaven c. A Thanksgiveing on Recovery from Blindness or from Deafness BLessed be thy mercy O! Gracious Lord for Restoreing to me the use of my Eyes Thou hast given me them anew for the Comfort and Convenience of my Life and for the carrying on of thy Service And oh that they may never more be used for Vice or Vanity nor ever willingly open to let in ill much less stay upon it and Delight in it But keep me allways mindfull that to misuse them is the way to
Eccl. 12. 7. But there the wicked cease from troubling and there the weary be at Rest and they hear not the voice of the Oppressor Job 3. 17 18. Yea I will ransom them from the Power of the Grave saith the Lord I will redeem them from Death O! Death I will be thy Plague O! Grave I will be thy Destruction Hos. 13. 14. For he shall change this Vile Body and fashion it like unto his own Glorious Body Phil. 3. 21. And this corruptible shall put on incorruption and this mortal shall put on immortality 1 Cor. 15. 53. And the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all Faces and there shall be noe more Sorrow nor Crying nor Pain but Death shall be swallowed up in Victory Is. 25. 8. Rev. 21. 4. 1 Cor. 15. 54. 3. Against Fear of Death FEar not the sentence of Death remember them that have been before thee and that come after for this is the Sentence of the Lord over all Flesh Ecclus. 41. 3. It is but a going to Rest Our Friend Lazarus sleepeth Jo. 11. 11. And tho therein I leave Dear Friends yet I go to my Fathers Gen. 15. 15. And am gather'd to my People Gen. 49. 33. And the Righteous hath Hope in his Death Prov. 14. 32. For God hath begotten us again to a lively Hope thro the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead 1 Pet. 1. 3. And by his Death he hath destroyed him who had the Power of Death and Deliver'd them who all their Life Time were in Bondage to the Fear of Death Heb. 2. 14 15. Sâ—e that now whether we Live or Dye we are the Lords Rom. 14. 8. For he died for us that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with him 1. Thes. 5. 10. The Sting of Death is Sin 1 Cor 15. 56. But he is exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour to give Repentance and Forgiveness of Sins Act. 5. 31. And we have such an High Priest as will have Compassion on our infirmities He can mercifully Consider and be touched with them in us having in all points Sin only excepted been tempted like as we are himself Heb. 4. 15. c. 2. 17 18. And therefore Thanks be to God who giveth us the Victory of Death through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. 15. 57. And Blessed are the Dead from henceforth which Dye in the Lord Yea saith the Spirit for they rest from their Labours and their Works follow them Rev. 14. 13. 4. Against Presumption LEt him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall 1 Cor. 10. 12. Thou standest by Faith be not high-minded but Fear Rom 11. 20. Happy is the man that feareth always but he that hardneth his Heart against Fear shall fall into mischeif Prov. 28. 14. Work out therefore your own Salvation with Fear and Trembling For it is God that worketh in you of his Good Pleasure Phil. 2. 12 13. Likewise since you must stand before him who without Respect of Persons judgeth according to every mans work pass the time of your Sojourning here in Fear 1 Pet. 1. 17. Tho I know nothing by my self yet am I not hereby justifyed 1 Cor. 4. 4. The Heavens are not clean in his sight Job 15. 15. He put noe trust in his Servants and his Angels he charged with folly Job 4. 18. When I consider I am afraid of him Job 23. 15. I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever Psal. 52. 8. But will keep withall an humble Spirit that trembleth at his word Is. 66. 2. And serve him with Reverence and Godly Fear Heb. 12. 28. 5. In the last Agonies LOrd now let thy Servant Depart inâ— Peace Luc. 2. 29. Say unto my Soul I am thy Salvation Psal. 35. 3. This Day shalt thou be with me in Paradice Luc. 23. 43. Lord Jesu receive my Spirit Act 7. 59. Into thine Hand I commit it for thou hast redeemed me O! Lord God of Truth Psal. 31. 5. Be with me and Conduct me thro the Valley of the shadow of Death Psal. 23. 4. Send thy Holy Angels to Carry me into Abrahams Bosom Luk. 16. 22. And into the inheritance of the Saints in light Col. 1. 12. I have fought a good Fight I have finished my Course I have kept the Faith Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give me at that Day 2 Tim. 4. 7 8. For if we beleive that Jesus Dyed and rose again even soe them allsoe which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him 1 Thess. 4. 14. And I know whom I have Believed and I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have Committed to him against that Day 2 Tim. 1. 12. Prayers 1. Prayers on the Prospect of ones own Death Drawing near 1. GRaunt O! Lord that I may end my Life in thy Fear and Favor and that I may Receive my Death which now threatens me not as my Curse but as my Deliverance Let me find it a Rest from my Labors and an Entrance upon a Life without Trouble and without Sin And Blessed be thy Mercy which tho it has seen fit and needfull to Discipline me with Sorrows yet has not made my Sorrows Endless but all to be laid down with this mortal Life and even in my Death has given me hopes of joys without end in a better Life through my Dearest Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen 2. O! Blessed Lord now I am hasting on to the End of my Life Remember not against me the Great and manifold errors thereof but let them all be wholly done away by thy Mercyes and my Blessed Saviours merits and my own true Repentance Let me come to my Change without Guilt and foresee its near approach without Fear or impatience And Oh! that I may allways stand ready to give a Good account of my Life unto thee And that I may fight out the Good Fight of Faith with Constancy and Perseverance and finish my Course with joy and never Sleep in Sin nor lye Down in misery and Sorrow And since my Soul is now summon'd to meet the Bridegroom Dress it O! Lord in a Wedding Garment fit to appear in his train Give me Oyl in my Lamp and Grace to trim and light it and keep it allways burning sending up a pure and holy Flame that when the Door opens I may be ready to Enter in with him And enable it to strip it self of all Fleshly affections before it leaves my Body and to be of like mind and Disposition with the Holy Angels and Beatifyed Spirits before it goes to keep them Company And O! my God let me never forgeâ— that this is like to be the last Tryal which thou wilt afford me of renouncing mine own will and resigning my self up to thine and of shewing forth Devotion of Spirit and all Holy Obedience and Patience and Faith and humble Confidence in thee And therefore