ances are found for forty or fifty years together to be ineffectual. Can extreme unction at last cure, what the holy sacrament of the eucharist, all his life-time, could not do? Can prayers for a dead man do him more good, than when he was alive? If all his days the man belonged to death and the dominion of sin, and from thence could not be recovered by sermons, and counsels, and perpetual precepts, and frequent sacraments, by confessions and absolutions, by prayers and advocations, by external ministries and internal acts, it is but too certain, that his lamp cannot then be furnished: his extreme unction is only then of use, when it is made by the oil, that burned in his lamp, in all the days of his expectation and waiting for the coming of the bridegroom.

Neither can any supply be made in this case by their practice of praying for the dead; though they pretend for this the fairest precedents of the church and of the whole world. The heathens, they say, did it, and the Jews did it, and the Christians did it: some were baptized for the dead in the days of the apostles, and very many were communicated for the dead for so many ages after. It is true, they were so, and did so: the heathens prayed for an easy graved, and a perpetual spring, that saffron would rise from their beds of grass.

The Jews prayed,

c Tertul. de Monog. S. Cyprian. lib. i. ep. 9. S. Athan. q. 33. S. Cyril. myst. cat. 5. Epiphan. Hæres. 75. Aug. de Hæres. cap. 33. Concil. Carth. 3. cap. 29. d Dii majorum umbris tenuem et sine pondere terram,

Spirantésque crocos, et in urna perpetuum Ver.—Juven. Sat. vii. 208,

that the souls of their dead might be in the garden of Eden, that they might have their part in paradise, and in the world to come; and that they might hear the peace of the fathers of their generation, sleeping in Hebron. And the Christians prayed for a joyful resurrection, for mercy at the day of judgment, for hastening of the coming of Christ, and the kingdom of God; and they named all sorts of persons in their prayers, all, I mean, but wicked persons, all but them, that lived evil lives: they named apostles, saints, and martyrs. And all this is so nothing to their purpose, or so much against it, that the prayers for the dead, used in the church of Rome, are most plainly condemned, because they are against the doctrine and practices of all the world, in other forms, to other purposes, relying upon distinct doc-. trines, until new opinions began to arise about St. Augustine's time, and changed the face of the proposition. Concerning prayers for the dead, the church hath received no commandment from the Lord; and therefore concerning it we can have no rules nor proportions, but from those imperfect revelations of the state of departed souls, and the measures of charity, which can relate only to the imperfection of their present condition, and the terrors of the day of judgment: but to think that any suppletory to an evil life can be taken from such devotions, after the sinners are dead, may encourage a bad man to sin, but cannot relieve him, when he hath.

But, of all things in the world, methinks, men should be most careful not to abuse dying people; not only because their condition is pitiable, but because they shall soon be discovered, and, in the secret regions of souls, there shall be an evil report concerning those men, who have deceived them: and if we believe we shall go to that place, where such reports are made, we may fear the shame and the amazement of being accounted impostors in the presence of angels, and all the wise holy men of the world. To be erring and innocent, is hugely pitiable, and incident to mortality; that we cannot help but to deceive or to destroy so great an interest as is that of a soul, or to lessen its advantages, by giving it trifling and false confidences, is injurious and intolerable. And therefore it were very well, if all the churches of the world would be extremely curious concerning their offices and ministries of the visitation of the sick: that their ministers they send, be holy and prudent; that their instructions be severe and safe; that their sentences be merciful and reasonable; that their offices be sufficient and devout; that their attendances be frequent and long; that their deputations be special and peculiar; that the doctrines, upon which they ground their offices, be true, material, and holy; that their ceremonies be few, and their advices wary; that their separation be full of caution, their judgments not remiss, their remissions not loose and dis

solute; and that all the whole ministration be made by persons of experience and charity. For it is a sad thing to see our dead go out of our hands: they live incuriously, and die without regard; and the last scene of their life, which should be dressed with all spiritual advantages, is abused by flattery and easy propositions, and let go with carelessness and folly.

My Lord, I have endeavoured to cure some part of the evil as well as I could, being willing to relieve the needs of indigent people in such ways as I can; and therefore have described the duties, which every sick man may do alone, and such, in which he can be assisted by the minister: and am the more confident, that these my endeavours will be the better entertained, because they are the first entire body of directions for sick and dying people, that I remember to have been published in the church of England. In the church of Rome, there have been many; but they are dressed with such doctrines, which are sometimes useless, sometimes hurtful, and their whole design of assistance, which they commonly yield, is at the best imperfect, and the representment is too careless and loose for so severe an employment. So that, in this affair, I was almost forced to walk alone; only that I drew the rules and advices from the fountains of Scripture, and the purest channels of the primitive church, and was helped by some experience in the cure of souls. I shall measure the suc

cess of my labours, not by popular noises or the sentences of curious persons, but by the advantage, which good people may receive. My work here is not to please the speculative part of men, but to minister to practice, to preach to the weary, to comfort the sick, to assist the penitent, to reprove the confident, to strengthen weak hands and feeble knees, having scarce any other possibilities left me of doing alms, or exercising that charity, by which we shall be judged at doomsday. It is enough for me to be an under-builder in the house of God, and I glory in the employment; I labour in the foundations; and therefore the work needs no apology for being plain, so it be strong and well laid. But, my Lord, as mean as it is, I must give God thanks for the desires and the strength; and, next to him, to you, for that opportunity and little portion of leisure, which I had to do it in: for I must acknowledge it publickly (and besides my prayers, it is all the recompence I can make you), my being quiet I owe to your interest, much of my support to your bounty, and many other collateral comforts I derive from your favour and nobleness. My Lord, because I much honour you, and because I would do honour to myself, I have written your name in the entrance of my book: I am sure you will entertain it, because the design related to your dear lady, and because it may minister to your spirit in the day of visitation, when God shall call for you to receive your reward