Death Made Comfortable, Prayers 9
Prayers.
I. Prayers when a Friend Dyes.
1.
O! Allmighty Lord, who hast [now] taken from us our Dear [†Or … ▪ Brother] here Departed; at thy word we are sent into the Labor of Life, and at the same word we return again into the Rest and Sleep of Death. And thy Counsells, O! God, are Secret, and farr above out of our sight. But they are allways just, and leave noe Ground for our Complaints. Yea, they are allways wise and Good, and will appear to have been most Honourable for thee, and most fit and Proper for us, in the end.
Oh! then, that†Put we for I, and make such other changes of Number, as are requisite, when several put up this Prayer together. I may humbly and dutifully Reverence thy Orderings when I can not Comprehend them; and bring my will, into a quiet submission unto thine; and receive my Loss meekly and without murmuring, because it is of thy sending.
Teach me thereby, O! Lord, to stand in awe of thy justice, and to shew a devout Sense of the desert of Sin whose†Rom. 6. 23. wages is Death, and a Decent Sorrow for my own Loss. But let my Sorrow be without fixing Faults on what thou hast orderd; and without refusing to be Comforted as †1. Thess. 4. 13.others who have noe Hope; or growing Rebellious or unthankfull unto thee, and troublesome to those about me, because thou hast call'd my dear Friend away, and deprived me of his Company.
[Yea, Lord, instead hereof, keep me thankfull unto thee, that I was allow'd to have and injoy this Comfort, before I am call'd now to part with it. For I have great cause to Bless thee, that I injoy'd him at all, [especially soe long as I did;] and have noe Cause now to be angry, that I can injoy him no longer. Nay, I should render my self utterly unworthy of any Gift from thee, should I fall to claim thy Free Favours as my due, because thou hast long continued them to me; and to thinke thou doest me wrong, if at any time thou holdest back thine own, and for wise and Good Ends stoppest some stream of thy Free Bounty towards me.]
And let this uncertainty, O! God, of the dearest Worldly Comforts, teach me to fix my Heart on joys, which will never fade or perish. To take more Comfort in thy self, and to look for less in all Earthly things. Oh! be thou my Desire, and my Hearts Delight; and let a Good Conscience be my Treasure, and integrity my joy. And these will stick to me till Death, and follow me beyond it, and Give me Rest in thy Presence and Pleasures for evermore, thro my Dearest Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
2.
LEt not my Grief excede, O! Lord, or be obstinate against Thoughts or Words of Comfort, because †2 Sam. 12. 23.I cannot bring him *Or her, or it, when a Child.back again, and because it can not benefit him, but will much hurt me.
And make me Consider, [which alass! I ought thoroly to have Consider'd sooner,] that altho he was a very Dear and Great, yet he was only a mortal Comfort, whose Life would be sure to fail, tho his Friendship should not. I know my Tenure was only to hold him as thy Gi…t, and to part with him again at thy Pleasure. And that as we have the Comfort of injoying Dear Friends or Relations here, soe we must be content too to have the trouble and sorrow of parting with them.
And now, Lord, when thou hast taken him, I know that he is more thine than he is mine, and that thou hast the best Claim to him. And when thou tookest him from me, thou tookest him to thy self. [†The expressions of Hope, of the happy Estate of the deceased Person, in this and the following Prayers, must be left to the Discretion of those who are to use them, according as their Friends Life and Death was. And I trust thy taking him, is to his unspeakable joy, tho it be to my sorrow; and that with thee he is now infinitely better, than he was, or could be here. Yea, that thou hast taken him to that Place, where by thy Mercy I also hope to come, and whither in my Order thou wilt likewise take me in thy Due time: Soe that thy Grace, O! Dear God, and a little Patience, will bring us together again.]
And Oh! that thou wouldest be pleased to put an End to all our Sins and Sorrows, and to hasten thy Kingdom, and to accomplish the Number of thine Elect. And mercifuilly to Graunt, that all we, and all others, who either have Departed, or shall Depart this Life in thy true Faith and Fear, may have our Perfect Consummation and Bliss in thy Heavenly and Eternal Kingdom, thro Jesus Christ our only Lord and Saviour. Amen.
3.
LEt not my Grief for my Deceased Friend excede,This Prayer is to be used on the Death of a P…ous Friend. O! most Gracious God, for I hope thou hast taken him for his own Good: And that thou hast Comforted his Soul by his exchange, and hast only smitten ours; leaving us to mourn for our Sins, and for our Loss, whilst he by thy Mercy is hereby set out of the Reach of Sin and Misery.
For as he is now removed, O! Father, from all worldly satisfactions, soe is he allsoe from all worldly Temptations. And our Comfort is to Hope, that he is now at Rest from Labour, and has Ceased from Sin and Shame. That He is now eased of Pains, and is above Misfortunes, and has found a Cure for all his Sorrows, having Grief and Care for ever banishd from his Heart, and†Rev. 21. 4. all Tears wiped away from his Eyes. And that he is gone from the Vale of Misery, to the Regions of joy, and from Conversing with us, to live with thee and the Blessed Jesus, and to be a Companion of Saints and Angels.
Let not self Love then, O! Lord, and the sense of my own Loss, make me repine at that change, which I take to be his Happiness. Let not that which I hope doth highly please him, displease me; nor let me refuse Comfort, because I trust he is taken for ever to be fill'd with it. His Death, I humbly hope, is the joy of Saints and Angels, and the Envy and Grief of Evil Spirits, who see him taken up to a State where they can not tempt, and to an Happiness which is for ever Denyed to themselves. Oh! then that I may not joyn with his utter Enemyes and mine, in their Envy, but with those Blessed Spirits in their Charity; and instead of greiving immoderately, or being angry with thee, that I may heartily Bless thy Name, for turning Death thus into a Blessing, and as I trust, for accomplishing his Hopes thereby, and makeing of him happy.
And let thy Providence, O! Father, be a Store-House of Supplyes, to make up to me, and to all his Friends and Dependants, all those Supports and Blessings, which we receive from thee by his means. Especially let his change, put us all upon prepareing Diligently and Carefully for our own. Make it raise us up from the Death of Sin to a Life of Righteousness; and take us off from all undue esire or Care of Earthly things, to minde the one thing necessary, which is the Great and most Comfortable Business of Life, and which alone will stand us in stead and make us Happy after Death, thro Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
4. A Prayer, when any Persons Feed impatience, and fix themselves in Greif, by Surmizing that God is angry at them when he takes away their Friends.
O! Blessed Lord, let not me make it a Pretence for my impatience, that this Loss comes as thy Visitation for my Sins; or greive obstinately, as fancying that thou takest away my Friend here Departed, out of Anger and displeasure against me.
For thou, O! God, hast many other Ends to look at, besides what Concerns me, in these matters. And these Providences touch our Friends themselves Directly and Principally, and reach us only by the by. And when in meer Love and Kindness unto them, thou wouldest call them to thy self, that must unavoidably take them away from us.
But if in this change thou dost shew Displeasure against me for my Sins, Lord teach me, that it is my Part humbly to submit my self to thee, and not to be angry or impatient under thy Correction of me, but to†Lev. 26. 41. accept my Loss with quietness as the punishment of mine iniquities. And that whilst thou art removeing my Blessings, because of my Great Ununworthyness and unthankfullness under them; I have the more need to shew my self Thankful for any that are still continued to me, and to give up my will in all things to thine, to serve and please thee, thro our Dear Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
5. A Prayer, when these Losses come close one upon another.
ANd altho these affecting Losses come thick upon me, O! Father, yet I know all this is for a Greater Tryal of my Patience. And I am sensible that I have enough, and abundantly too much in me, that needs to be punished thereby. And that thou hast wise and kinde Reasons …now, thus to Heap upon me these Sorrows, tho it were not to punish, but only to improve my Spirit.
And oh! that this succession of my Losses, may serve, to perfect me in Patience, and to wean me more thoroly from all earthly Supports. Oh! that it may temper my worldly Complacencyes, and guard me against all excess therein. And call me to take Delight, and seek Comfort in thee, instead of seeking it in them; and to look more at the joys of thy Kingdom, where our Comforts shall succede one another infinitely faster than our Sorrows do here, and where we shall for ever injoy thee, thro Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
For supplying the want they have of their departed Friend, by other ways of Gods good Providence, they may use the two Prayers for the Widow and Orphans, &c. p. 158, 156 and 157.
6. A Prayer for Learning by these Losses to sit more loose to the World, and to fix our Hearts more on the Love of God.
THou hast sent me this†2 Cor. 12. 7. Thorn in the flesh, O! Blessed Lord, to cure my inordinate Fondness for fleshly Delights, and to keep me from being too much exalted with them. For I pleased my self too much with worldly Comforts; and to take my Heart off from them, thou hast now embitter'd them to me with these Sorrows.
And Oh! doe thou teach me thereby, to Delight more in thy self, and less in Earthly things. Enable me to make a Good Conscience, and a comfortable sense of thy Love, and Hope of thy Promises and of Heavenly joys, my most beloved pleasures.
And, Lord, let me never call my self unhappy, whilst I can injoy thee. But make me account the Loss of all things else to be made up to me in thy Love, and never repine or complain of other wants whilst thou art left me, and I can comfortably look up to thee, as my Bosom Friend, and my tender Father, as my Life and my Health, my Rest and my joy, thro Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.
…. A Prayer when a Friend is taken away in his Prime.
THou art pleased to Cut off my †Here mention the Relation, as Husband, Wife, &c.Dear Friend, O! most Righteous Lord, in the midst of his Days, before he had passed thro the several stages of Life, and accomplished the Number of his Years.
But I will remember, O! my God, that it is not the Lenth of Life, but the Goodness of it, which thou lookest at. And that he has lived long enough, who has lived to be fit for thee, and to Dispose his Soul for thy Mercy. The blessed Mansions above, are infinitely the best place to prolong and injoy Life in. And therefore if thou, O! Father, art graciously pleased [as I hope thou art] for the Merits of our Dear Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, to accept of the innocence and obedience of his Life, neither he nor we have any cause to complain of the shortness of it. And if we who are left behind him, may have the Grace first to live holily, we will thankfully think, and own to thee, that we have lived long enough, whensoever thou seest it Time we should Dye.
And as my Dear Friend is taken away in the Prime of his Strength, soe I must Consider, O! Lord, that he is taken away withall in the Hight of his Toyls, and out of the greatest Hurry of his Busyness and Temptations. Thou hast thereby kept him from trying, how strong he could be to bear Sorrows and Vexations, and from lamenting to finde his Strength too often turn'd into weakness.
And oh! that we, who survive him, may at lenth attain by thy Grace, to have all our temptations end in a perpetual security and undisturbedness, to have all our Sorrows turned into joys, and our Days of Labor happily exchanged for Days of Rest and Peace, for the Merits and Mediation of our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
3. Prayers, when a Friend is taken away, by a violent untimely Death.
I. A Prayer whilst the Person yet liveth, to be said either by himself, or by his Friends for him.
O! Allmighty Lord, thou art pleased by a violent and hasty Stroke, to hurry†Put this thy unworthy Servant for me, and likewise him for me, his for my, he for I, &c. when his Friends say this Prayer over him. me thy unworthy Servant out of this World. For thou didst Deliver me*Up to the accident that smote me, when he falls by an accident. [into the Hands of him that Smote me; and how unjustly soever my Death comes from him, yet it is most just from thee. I fully justify thee, and freely forgive him; and oh! that he may truely repent thereof in Time, that thou mayest freely forgive him too.]
But as I am like to be snatched away thereby from hence in hast, O! my Dear God, Give me Great strength of Grace, to do much towards finishing my Peace with thee in a little Time. If thou art pleased to shew it, thy Grace can perfect my Repentance, in few hours, yea, in a few minutes as well as in many. It wrought it in†Luk. 23. 40, &c. the Thief upon the Cross, in his last Agonies. And some who had tarryed till*Mat. 20. 6, 9. the last hour of the Day, are made acceptable thereby in thy Service. Oh! let it be mighty towards me in this my necessity, as it was towards them in theirs; and take me not hence till it has made me a Penitent fit for thee to accept of.
Oh! Remember not my great and manifold Sins, in Wrath; but only to send Grace sufficient to Cure them, and to shew Mercy on me for the same. And as I am hereby †1 Cor. 11. 32.Chastned for their Cause, Lord, let it be that I may not be Condemned with the World. Let all my Punishment, or Portion of Pains be here, but Give me Peace and Favour with thee hereafter.
And Spare me a little, Good Lord, Spare me, if it may seem Good to thee, that I may recover some Strength, and Dress my Lamp; and supply the Great Defectiveness of my Duty towards thee, before I …. But if thou hast otherwise▪ Decreed, and I must Dye suddenly, then magnifye thy mercy, O! my God, in…escueing me from the near approac… of Eternal misery, and let thy Displeasure end in my Death, but after that receive me among the meanest of thy Servants to Everlasting Life, thro the merits of my Blessed Saviour and Redeemer, Jesus Christ: Amen.
2. A Prayer of his Friends after his Death.
O! Blessed Father, it has seem'd Good to thy wise Providence, to tear this Dear Friend from us by violence, and to send him untimely to his Grave. [†Change the Number, putting we for I, &c. when several joyn together in this Prayer. I] own thy Justice herein, and D…sire to shew Reverence, instead of murmuring, because it is thy Doing.
And my Hope is, O! Lord, that thou doest and wilt remember the Pious Study and bent of his former Life in mercy; and graciously accept him as one Dying in thy Fear. And whilst I have this Hope to Comfort me, I will not Complain of any violence or Accidents, which hurryed him away from us to injoy thee.
When it has been the business of a mans Life, and his dayly Study and Care, O! God, to serve thee, tho Death comes on the sudden, yet it will not come too soon for him.
And I will consider allsoe, that if thou surprizest him with the suddenness of his Death, thou sufferest him not to be tormented with any long Fears thereof. And that the suddenner the stroke was, the less he was like to feel it. Or should he have felt it more, yet he might not have felt a painfull Disease less, had it been his Executioner. For altho that would have been more slow, it might not have proved less Cruel; nor have smarted lighter, but only lasted longer. And if my Dear and Deceased Friends Paine was more violent, O! Lord, it was short, and thro thy mercy I hope it is the last he had to endure.
And far be it from us, O! God, to repine, that he was thrown hastily and Headlong into Death: especially haveing a Comfortable Hope, that the effect thereof is, to pass with less Pain and more Dispatch into a better Life, and more easily and speedily to take possession of immortality, thro Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
4. Prayers on the Death of Friends who had lead ill lives, and Gave noe Comfortable Proofs of Repentance at their Deaths.
…N this Case, we may put the surviveing Friends in minde, of the many other Things which they have to take Comfort in, and this I think is all the Ground we have here of speaking Comfort unto them. But we can not fetch Considerations of Comfort, from their Deceased Friends. For such Sinners, as would have nothing to do with the Fear and Service of God, have noe Reason of Comfort in themselves, nor can afford any good Reason of it to their well-wishers. And with Relation to them, we must not pretend to Preach Comfort, I conceive, but Submission.
To help them meekly and patiently to submit themselves to God in these sad Cases, the surviving Friends may use Prayer 1. When a Friend Dyes; especially if they leave out the Paragraph within the Hooks. p. 307.
They may allsoe use this Prayer following, to Comfort them.
ANd Blessed be thy Mercy, O! most Gracious God, which in this sad Case doth not leave me comfortless. For if this Deceased Friends Case suggests things full of Greif, I have many other Friends who give me great Cause of joy. And to Compensate my Trouble in Pity for others, by thy Grace I have something to Satisfye and Please me in reflecting on my self.
For I can look with Comfort on my own Soul, and hope thro the merits of my Blessed Saviour, to finde Mercy for it, and take Comfort in it, both Living and Dying. I have thee▪ O! Lord, for my Portion: and nothing Can make my Case Comfortless, whilst I am thin…, and thou art mine, and whilst I have thy Power to trust to, and thy Love to rejoyce in. And under all this Sorrow at present, I am sustain'd by the Blessed Hope of being received at last into thy Presence▪ where all Remembrance of former Troubles shall be quite effaced, by the abundance of my Present Bliss; where I shall have noe Sorrow from the miscarriage of Friends, but unspeakable Satisfaction in their well-being, and well-doing; and where I shall ever Delight…in thee, and in the Continual Emanations of thy surpassing Mercy▪ thro Jesus Christ my Lord and only Saviour. Amen.
5▪ A Prayer on the Death of a Child.
O Almighty Father, thou art pleased now to turn my joys into S…rrows▪ and to take away from … that sweet Babe, which thou lately gavest me for my Delight and Comfort. But I humbly Bow my will to thine, and submit my Self to …, and without murmuring … it is thy Doing.
Thou hast sent this poor Child into the World, O! Lord, to See, and to …ast Life, but hast not allowed it to Stay till it Could rightly understand the end and busyness, or relish the Comforts and Satisfactions thereof.
But I will Consider, O! my God, that thou wilt not require from it any Services of Life, whilst it was not Capable to understand them. And that if it Stayed not here to enjoy Pleasure; soe neither did it Stay to be pined away with Sorrow and Care. It lived not long enough to be versed in all the Vexations of our State, nor to run thro that Great variety of miseryes and misfortunes, which are incident here to our Nature. But went off before it had time to trye how much Evil is to be Endured in this Life; yea, before it was come, to aggravate any afflictions by imagination, or to anticipate the same by Fear, or to reflect in bitterness of Spirit and lay to heart what it did endure.
And as it Dyed young, O! Lord, Soe I have the Comfort to think and hope, that therefore it Dyed innocent. For it is taken back to thee, before it knew Good or Evil, or had done any thing to offend thee. It has left the World, ere it was made the worse by it, or had Contracted any of the Wickedness thereof, to follow it and fright it at thy Judgement. By thy Mercy, O! Father, it Stayed till it was received for thine own Child by Baptism, and was therein assured by thee of remission of Sin, and made an Heir of thy Kingdom. And by the same Mercy it is now Call'd away, ere it had done any thing to fall from that Relation, or to forfeit that Blessing.
So: that in this takeing it away fro… me, thou hast translated it, O! Father of Me…yes, from the miseryes of this World to the joys of Paradice. it is taken from me to be at thy Provision, and to be kept for ever safe and Happy in those Blessed mansions, which thou hast Provided for thy Children.
And therefore if I have lost the Comfort, of haveing a Child to train up in thy Service in this World; it is for the far greater Comfort, O! my God, of haveing sent one, to live with thee, and attend for ever about thy Throne in Heaven. And there I my self allsoe hope thro thy mercy, to be received in thy due Time, not only to see and injoy it, but what is infinitely above all, for ever to see and injoy thee, thro Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.
6. A Prayer when one is made Childless, or is like to Dye without Children.
O! Blessed Lord, thou art pleased in thy Wisdom to†… me … never had any. [beleave me of my Children] and to leave me … appearance of issue, to Sweeten the Cares of Life, and to keep up my Memory to Posterity. I am content therewith. O! my God, because it pleaseth thee; and comeing from thy Wisdom a…d Care of me, I will not only own it to be just, but Esteem it to be most wise and fit for me.
And if, by haveing noe Children I have fewer Delights, I will remember withall, O! Father, that I have lighter Cares, and fewer Sorrows. I have not the Torment of seeing them take ill wayes, nor of Fearing continually lest they should fall to take them: nor shall have the Pains and Trouble of parting with them, which Commonly is quicker and more affecting than the Pleasure of haveing them. And I may now fix my Love and Care more intrely upon thee, haveing no Cares for them to call me off. And I have less Temptation to Descend to mean or ungodly Shifts, if ever I come to be pinched with Persecution, or adversity: or to Comply, with any things unworthy and misbecoming my Self, or Displeasing unto thee.
And when I can leave noe Children to support my Name and Memory, let me have Good Deeds, O! Dear God, and a Life of unblemish'd integrity and Honor, to doe the same for me. Oh! that I may be remembred after I am Dead, for acts of true Piety and Charity, which give the truest and most lasting fragrancy. However, let me leave behind me the memory, of a truely Religious, humble, and Virtuous Carriage, for the imitation of all that knew me.
Especially, O! Holy Father, let a Constant course of Obedience and Godlyness, recommend me thro the Blood of thy Son, to thy Approbation. And tho among Men I am quite forgotten, yet let me be Graciously remembred, and received by thee when thou reckonest up and callest over the Number of thy Children, for my Dear Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.
Trinuni Deo Gloria.