The Practice of Piety, Treatise · Part 37
Seven sanctified Thoughts, and mournful Sighs of a sick Man, ready to die
NOW forasmuch as God of his infinite mercy doth so temper ou… pain and sickness, that we are not always oppressed with extremity, but gives us in the midst of our extremities some …espite to ease and refresh our selves, thou m…st have an esp…cial ca…e (consid…ring how short a … thou hast, either for ever to lose, or to obtain Heaven) to make use of every breathing time which God doth afford th…: and during that … time of ease, … roweth with all his force to arrive at the wished Port; and that the Traveller never resteth till he come to his Journeys end; we fear to descry our Port; and therefore would put back our Bark to be longer tossed in this continual tempest? We weep to see our jorneys end; and therefore desire our journey to be lengthened, that we might be more tired with a foul and cumbersome way.
The Spiritual Sigh thereupon.
O Lord this life is but a troublesome pilgrimage;Gen. 17. 9. few in days, but full in evils: and I am weary of it, by reason of my sins. Let me therefore (O Lord) intreat thy Majesty, in this my bed of sickness, … Kin. 19. 4.as Elias did under the Juniper tree in his affliction: It is now enough, O Lord, that I have lived so long in this vale of misery; take my soul into thy merciful hands, for I am no better than my Fathers.
The Second Thought.
THink with what a*Rom. 7. 24. body of sin thou art loaden, what great civil wars are contained in abIam. 4. 1. little world; the cGal. 5. 17.flesh fighting against the Spirit, Passion against Reason, Earth against Heaven; and the World within thee bending it self for the World without thee; and that but … only means remains to end this conflict… death, which (in God's appointed time) will separate thy spirit from thy flesh; the pure and regenerate part of thy Soul, from that part which is impure and unregenerated.
The spiritual Sigh upon the second Thought.
OWretched man that I am,Rom. 7. 24. who shall deliver me from the body of this death? O my sweet Saviour Jesus Christ, Rev. 5. 9.thou hast redeemed me with thy precious blood.Psal. 116 8. And be cause thou hast delivered my soul from sin, min… eyes from tears, and my feet from falling;Psal. 145. I do here from the very bottom of my heart, ascribe the whole praise and glory of my salvation, to thy only grace and mercy, saying (with the holy Apostle)*1 Cor. 15. 57. Thanks be unto God, which hath given me the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Third Thought.
THink how it behoves thee to be assured that thy soul is Christ's; for death hath taken sufficient gages to assure himself of thy bod…, in that all thy senses be all ready to die, save only the sense of pain: but sith the beginning of thy being began with p…in; marvel the less it thy end conclude with dolours. But if these temporal dolours (which only afflict the body) be so painful: O Lord,Isa. 33. 14. who can endure the devouring fire? who can abide the everlasting burning?
The spiritual Sigh upon the third Thought.
O Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God who art the only Physician that ca…st ease my body from pain, and restore my soul to life eternal: put thy …, Cross and Death, betwixt my … and thy Judgments: and let the merits of thy obedience stand betwixt thy Father's justice and my disobedience: and from these bodily pains receive my Soul i…to thine everlasting peace: for I cry unto thee with Stephen, Acts 7. 59.Lord Jesus receive my Spirit.
The Fourth Thought.
THink that the worst that Death can do, is but to send thy Soul sooner than thy flesh would be willing, to Christ and his heavenly Joys: remember that that Christ is thy best hope. …he worst therefore of death, is rather a help than a harm▪
The spiritual Sigh upon the Fourth Thought.
O Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of all them that put their trust in thee, f…rsake …or him that in misery fl…h unto thy grace… f… succour and mercy; Oh sound that sweet Voice in the ears of my Soul, which thou spakest unto the penitent thief on the cross,Luke 23. 42. This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise. For I, O Lord, do (with the Apostle) from my Soul speak unto thee,…hil. 1. 23. I desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ.
The Fifth Thought.
THi…k, (if thou fearest to die) That in Mount S…on there is no Death, …. 25. 7, 8.for …e that believeth in Christ, shall never die. John 11. 25.And if thou desirest to live, without …, the life eternal (whereunto this … their miseries) live with Christ in joys▪ and thither shall all the godly, which survive, be gathered out of their troubles, to enjoy with him eternal rest.
The Spiritual Sigh on the Fifth Thought.
O Lord, thou seest the malice of Satan, who (not contenting himself,1 Pet. 5. 8. like a roaring Lion all the days and nights of our life, to seek our destruction) shews himself busiest, when thy Children are weakest, and nearest to their end: O Lord reprove him, and preserve my Soul. He seeks to terrifie me with death, which my sins have deserved: but let thy Holy Spirit com…ort my Soul with the assurance of eternal life, which thy Blood hath purchased. Asswage my pain, increase my patience, and (if it be thy blessed will) end my troubles: for my Soul beseecheth thee with old blessed Simeon, Luk. 2. 29.Lord, now let me thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word.
The Sixth Thought.
THink with thy self what a blessing God hath bestowed upon thee above many millions in the world: that whereas they are either Pagans, who worship not the true God; or Idolaters, who worship the true God falsly: thou hast lived in a true Christian Church, and hast grace to die in the true Christian Faith, and to be buried in the Sepulchre of God's Servants; Acts 16. 6, 7who all wait for the hope of Israel, and raising of their Bodies in the resurrection of the Just.Luk. 1…. 1….
The spiritual Sigh upon the sixth Thought.
O Lord Jesus Christ, who art *Joh. 11. 25, 26.the Resurrection, and the life, in whom whosoever believeth, shall live, tho' he were dead: I believe that whosover liveth and believeth in thee, shall never die.bVerse 24. I know that I shall rise again in the Resurrection of the last day: cJob. 19. 25, 26.for I am sure, that thou my Redeemer livest. And tho' that after my death worms destroy this body; yet I shall see thee, my Lord, and my God, in this flesh.
Grant therefore, O Christ, for thy bitter death and passions sake, that at that day I may be one of them to whom thou wilt pronounce that joyful sentence:Mat. 25. 34. Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you before the foundation of the world.
The Seventh Thought.
THink with thy self how Christ endured for thee a†Gal. 3. 13. cursed death, and the wrath of God, which was due unto thy sins; and what terrible pains and cruel torments the Apostles and Martyrs have voluntarily suffered for the Defence of Christ's Faith, when they might have lived by dissembling or denying him: how much more wil…ing should'st thou be to depart in the …aith of Christ, having … pains to torment thee, and …ere … to comfort thee?
The spiritual sigh upon the seventh Thought.
O Lord, my sins have deserved the pains of Hell, and eternal death; much more these fatherly corrections wherewith thou dost afflict me: But, O†Joh. 1. 29. blessed Lamb of God, which takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon me, and*Rev. 1. 5. wash away all my filthy sins with thy most precious blood, andbLuk. 23. 4…. receive my soul into thy heavenly Kingdom; for cPsal. 31. 5.into thy hands, O Father, I commend my spirit, and thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, thou God of truth.