The rule and exercises of holy dying in which are described the means and instruments of preparing our selves and others respectively, for a blessed death, and the remedies against the evils and temptations proper to the state of sicknesse : together with prayers and acts of vertue to be used by sick and dying persons, or by others standing in their attendance : to which are added rules for the visitation of the sick and offices proper for that ministery.

SECT. VII. Acts of repentance by way of prayer and ejaculation; to be used especially by old men in their age; and by all men in their sicknesse.

LEt us search and try our wayes, and turne again to the Lord: let us lift up our hearts with our hands unto God in the hea∣vens. We have transgressed and rebelled and thou hast not pardoned: Thou hast covered with anger and persecured us;* 1.1 thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied, O cover not thy self with a cloud; but let our prayer passe thorough.

I have sinned what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so that I am a burden to my self? and why doest not thou pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust,* 1.2 and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.

The Lord is righteous for I have rebelled against his commandments. Hear I pray, all ye people, behold my sorrow, behold O Lord I am in distresse,* 1.3 my bowels are troubled, my heart is turned within me, for I have grie∣vously rebelled.

Thou O Lord remainest for ever, thy throne from generation to generation: wherefore doest thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time? turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and so shall we be turned: renew our dayes as of

old:* 1.4 O reject me not utterly, and be not ex∣ceeding wroth against thy servant.

O remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions, but according to thy mercies remember thou me for thy goodnesse sake O Lord: Do thou for me O God the Lord, for thy Names sake,* 1.5 because thy mercy is good, deliver thou me, for I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me; I am gone like the shadow that declineth, I am tossed up and down as the locust.

Then Zacheus stood forth and said, Behold Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have wronged any man I restore him fourfold.

Hear my prayer O Lord, and consider my desire, let my prayer be set forth in thy sight as the incense, and let the lifting up of my hands be an evening sacrifice.* 1.6 And enter not into judgement with thy servant, for in thy sight shall no man living be justified. Teach me to do the thing that pleaseth thee, for thou art my God, let thy loving spirit lead me forth into the land of righteousnesse.

I will [speak] of mercy and judgement, unto thee O Lord will I make my prayer: I will behave my self wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me, I will walk in my house with a perfect heart. I will set no wicked thing before my eyes;* 1.7 I hate the work of them that turn aside, it shall not cleave to me.

Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities; create in me a clean heart O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Deli∣ver me from blood guiltinesse O God, [from malice, envy, the follies of lust and violences

of passion, &c.] thou God of my salvation and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteous∣nesse.* 1.8

The sacrifice of God is a broken heart, a broken and a contrite heart, O God thou wilt not despise.

Lord I have done amisse; I have been de∣ceived, let so great a wrong as this be removed.

The prayer] for the grace and per∣fection of Repentance.

I.

O Almighty God, thou art the great Judge of all the world, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, the Father of men and Angels, thou lovest not that a sinner should perish, but delightest in our con∣version and salvation, and hast in our Lord Je∣sus Christ established the Covenant of repen∣tance, and promised pardon to all them that confesse their sins and forsake them; O my God be thou pleased to work in me what thou hast commanded should be in me. Lord I am a dry tree who neither have brought forth fruit unto thee and unto holinesse, nor have wept out salutary tears, the instrument of life and restitution, but have behaved my self like an unconcerned person in the ruins and breaches of my soul: But O God, thou art my God, earnestly will I seek thee; my soul thirsteth for thee in a barren and thirsty land where no water is; Lord give me the grace of tears and pungent sorrow, let my heart be as a land of rivers of waters, and my head a fountain of tears: turn my sin into repentance, and let my repentance proceed to pardon & refreshment.

II.

SUpport me with thy graces, strengthen me with thy Spirit, soften my heart with the fire of thy love, and the dew of heaven, with penitentiall showers: make my care prudent, and the remaining portion of my dayes like the perpetuall watches of the night, full of caution and observance, strong and resolute, patient and severe, I remember O Lord, that I did sin with greedinesse and passion, with great desires and an unabated choice; O let me be as great in my repentance as ever I have been in my calamity and shame; let my ha∣tred of sin be great as my love to thee, and both as neer to infinite, as my proportion can receive.

III.

O Lord, I renounce all affection to sin, and would not buy my health nor redeem my life with doing any thing against the Lawes of my God; but would rather die then offend thee. O dearest Saviour have pity upon thy servant, let me by thy sentence be doomed to perpetuall penance during the abode of this life; let every sigh be the expression of a re∣pentance,, and every groan an acccent of spi∣ritual life, and every stroke of my disease a pu∣nishment of my sin, and an instrument of par∣don, that at my return to the land of inno∣cence I may eat of the votive sacrifice of the supper of the Lamb, that was from the be∣ginning of the world sl••in for the sins of every sorrowful and returning sinner. O grant me sorrow here, and joy hereafter through Jesus Christ, who is our hope, the resurrection of the dead, the justifier of a sinner, and the glory of all faithful souls. Amen.

A prayer for pardon of sins to be said frequently in time of sicknesse; and in all the portions of old age.

I.

O Eternal and most gracious Father, I humbly throw my self down at the foot of thy mercy seat, upon the confidence of thy essential mercy, and thy commandment, that we should come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may finde mercy in time of need; O my God, hear the prayers and cries of a sinner, who calls earnestly for mercy; Lord my needs are greater then all the degrees of my desire can be; unlesse thou hast pity upon me I perish infinitely and intolerably; and then there will be one voice fewer in the quire of singers, who shall recite thy praises to eternal ages. But O Lord in mercy deliver my soul. O save me for thy mercy sake. For in the second death there is no remembrance of thee, in that grave who shall give thee thanks?

II.

O Just and dear God, my sins are innu∣merable, they are upon my soul in mul∣titudes, they are a burden too heavy for me to bear; they already bring sorrow and sicknesse, shame and displeasure, guilt, and a decaying spirit, a sense of thy present displeasure, and fear of worse, of infinitely worse; But it is to thee so essential, so delightful, so usual, so desired by thee to shew mercy, that although

my sin be very great and my fear proportio∣nable, yet thy mercy is infinitely greater then all the world, and my hope and my comfort rise up in proportions towards it, that I trust the Devils shall never be able to reprove it, nor my own weaknesse discompose it. Lord thou hast sent thy Son to die for the pardon of my sins; thou hast given me thy holy Spi∣rit, as a seal of adoption to consigne the ar∣ticle of remission of sins; thou hast for all my sins still continued to invite me to con∣ditions of life, by thy ministers the prophets; and thou hast with variety of holy acts softned my spirit, and possessed my fancie, and in∣structed my understanding, and bended and inclined my will, and directed or overruled my passions in order to repen∣tance and pardon, and why should not thy servant beg passionately, and humbly hope for the effect of all these thy strange and mira∣culous acts of loving kindnesse? Lord I de∣serve it not, but I hope thou wilt pardon all my sins, and I beg it of thee for Jesus Christ his sake, whom thou hast made the great en∣dearment of thy promises, and the founda∣tion of our hopes, and the mighty instrument, whereby we can obtain of thee, whatsoever we need and can receive.

III.

O My God, how shall thy servant be dispo∣sed to receive such a favour, which is so great that the ever blessed Jesus did die to purchase for us; so great that the falling an∣gels never could hope, and never shall obtain? Lord I do from my soul forgive all that have sinned

against me. O forgive me my sins, as I for∣give them that have sinned against me; Lord I confesse my sins unto thee daily, by the accusati∣ons and secret acts of conscience; and if we confesse our sins thou hast called it a part of justice to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousnesse. Lord, I put my trust in thee, and thou art ever gracious to them that put their trust in thee. I call upon my God for mercy, and thou art alwayes more ready to hear then we to pray. But all that I can do, and all that I am, and all that I know of my self is nothing but sin, and infirmity, and misery; therefore I go forth of my self, and throw my self wholly into the arms of thy mercy, through Jesus Christ; and beg of thee for his death and passions sake, by his resurrection and ascension, by all the parts of our redemption, and thy infinite mercy in which thou pleasest thy self above all the works of the creation, to be pitifull, and compassio∣nate to thy servant in the abolition of all my sins; so shall I praise thy glories with a tongue not defiled with evil language, and a heart purged by thy grace, quitted by thy mercy, and absolved by thy sentence, from generation to generation.

Amen.

An act of holy resolution of amend∣ment of life in case of recovery.

O Most just and most mercifull Lord God, who hast sent evil diseases, sorrow, & fear, trouble and uneasinesse, briars and thorns into the world, and planted them in our houses,

and round about our dwellings to keep sin from our souls or to drive it thence, I hum∣bly beg of thee that this my sicknesse may serve the ends of the Spirit, and be a messen∣ger of spirituall life, an instrument of redu∣cing me to more religious and sober courses; I know O Lord, that I am unready and unpre∣pared in my accounts, having thrown away great portions of my time in vanity, and set my self hugely back in the accounts of eter∣nity; and I had need live my life over again, and live it better; but thy counsels are in the great deep, and thy footsteps in the water; and I know not what thou wilt determine of me. If I die, I throw my self into the arms of the Holy Jesus, whom I love above all things: and if I perish, I know I have deserved it; but thou wilt not reject him that loves thee: But if I recover, I will live by thy grace and help to do the work of God, and pas∣sionately pursue my interest of Heaven, and serve thee in the labour of love, with the cha∣rities of a holy zeal, and the diligence of a firm and humble obedience; Lord I will dwell in thy temple, and in thy service, reli∣gion shall be my imployment, and alms shall be my recreation, and patience shall be my rest, and to do thy will shall be my meat and drink, and to live shall be Christ, and then to die shall be gain.

O spare me a little that I may recover my strength before I go hence and be no more seen. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Lamen. 3.41.
• * 1.2

  Job 7.20.
• * 1.3

  Lamen. 1.18, 20.
• * 1.4

  Lamen. 5.19.
• * 1.5

  Psalm 25.7. Psalm. 109.21.
• * 1.6

  Psalm 143.
• * 1.7

  Psalm 101.1.
• * 1.8

  Psalm 5.1.