the least let thine O! thou blessed Helper of the Helpless appear the most for me Give me a Body O! my God fit to bear the Inconveniences of this close place and Grace to be content therewith Whilst I lie up here let me not want necessary Provisions nor repine at the meanness thereof Suit the lowness of my Desires to the hardship of my Circumstances and let the greatness of my study and care be to do Justice and shew Temperance and Self-denials not to please my self or to gratifie my own Carnal Ease and Appetites Whilst I am here kept apart from my former acquaintance Grant O! Lord that I may carefully retire into my Self and call mine own ways to remembrance And Oh! that I may amend whatsoever is amiss there and set all so streight with thee that I may delight to look into my own Heart and to search out my own Spirit Lord now thou hast left me nothing else to do make me apply my self wholly to the one thing necessary To grow in Holy Reverence and Devotion of Spirit in the study of dealing justly and fairly with all who are any way concerned with me in Humility apud mortified Affections in Patience and Contentedness Oh! plant and fill my Soul with all Heavenly Virtues and make bright all the cloudy and dark parts thereof with the Rays of thy divine Image And then O! my God I shall see something of thee as oft as I look into my self and learn to be pleased with my own Company though others are kept from me And in whatsoever want I am of other Comforts grant O! Father of Mercies that both here and ever hereafter I may have the Comfort of thy Presence When all else are taken from me do not thou forsake me Though I dwell in a disconsolate Room let thy Spirit dwell with me Let thy Law at all times direct me and let the Sense of thy Love comfort me And after thou hast Graciously improved this Melancholy Restraint to wean me from vain and carnal Delight and to set my Soul free in thy good time O! my refuge and strength deliver me out of this Prison and set my Body too at Liberty for my dear Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ's sake Amen The Prisoner for Righteousness may use the preceding Prayers for Integrity for Constancy in persecuted Duties for Faith for Trust in God for Patience for Charity towards Persecuters c. in the foregoing Office for Sufferers â—or Righteousness as he sees cause And for more particular Circumstances and needs of such as are Prisoners for the same they may express the Devotion of their Spirit in these Prayers following 2. Particular Prayers 1. A Prayer for the Prisoner for any part of Truth or Righteousness to use in his Family O! Father of Mercies who takest the Poor and Helpless under thine own more immediate and especial care when thou takest those from them whose part it is under thee to take care of them shew the Riches of thy Grace and Loving-kindness I humbly intreat thee to my Dear Wife and Children Guide them always by thy Holy Spirit and watch over them with an indulgent providence Keep them obedient to Councel and continue them under the Blessing of her care Preserve them from Want and protect them from Danger and make them a mutual Comfort and Support to each other And in the midst of all my Troubles continue both her and them a constant Comfort and Refreshment to me thy poor unworthy Servant And let me not O! Gracious God make them unhappy Or if we suffer in common for standing off from prevailing Violence and because we will not concurr or stake in with the wicked Actings of an unrighteous Generation let none of us repine at such Sufferings but look upon them as Afflions that are willing to be embraced yea rather Triumphantly to be rejoyced in I humbly desire O! Father that may all trust thee with our selves and cheerfully rest upon thy Faithfulness to make up to us any Losses which shall befal us on such accounts Thy good Providence is a great and blessed portion in such cases as praised be thy Name thy Saints have found in all times by joyful Experience And to that good Providence O! my God do I trust It shall always be my Hope and Confidence and oh that as it is the truest Blessing so it may ever be the happy portion both of me and mine thro' Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen 2. Prayers for the Prisoner for Truth or Righteousness to use for himself 1. A Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies and Prosecutors when at any time or any where he is put in Prison for any Parts of Truth or Righteousness O! Merciful God who art the Helper of the Helpless and a Refuge for the oppressed in the Day of their Troubles be thou my Fortress and Help against my Persecutors They are mine Enemies O! Lord for thy sake and therefore set themselves thus violently against me because they cannot drive me to leave thee And I have no visible way left to appease their Hatred because I dare not forsake a jsut Cause or go along with them in speaking and acting against that which is right And these mine Enemies are many and Mighty and they persecute me violently and have laid a Trap for my Soul and there is none to help me But though I can neither appease their Hatred nor withstand it yet thou O! Lord canst alter it at thy Pleasure or if they persist therein thou canst disappoint them And to thee do I flee and look for Succour Help me therefore O! my Ged for in thee do I trust Help thou me for I have none else to help me for Deceitful are the Promises and vain is the help of Men. Make haste to help me for Trouble is hard at Hand Turn the Hearts of mine Enemies for seeking my Life or if they will persevere therein bring to nought their evil Purposes Forgive them Gracious Father and bring not them into such a Pâ—t as they have digged for me But Preserve me from falling into it and from being lost in the Depth thereof for my dearest Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ's sake Amen 2. A Prayer for Deliverance from Frail and Faithless Friends when they are brought in at such Times to accuse him for the same YEA O! Gracious Father not only the Envy and Malice of mine Enemies but the weakness of my own familiar Friends is made use of to destroy me And a violent Temptation is laid before them to compass their own Safety by joyning to compass my Fall But the Hearts of all Men O! Almighty Lord are in thine Hand Thou canst at thy Pleasure fortifie the fearful and fix the wavering and unresolved Spirit and give Fidelity Honour and Conscience such Power with them as shall prevail over their corrupt Fears and worldly Interests Thou canst as easily strengthen the weakness of my Friends and keep them from
against us be brought to nought and by the providence of thy goodness they may be dispersed that we thy servants being hurt by no persecutions may ever more give thanks unto thee in thy Holy Church thro' Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Particular Prayers I. For Integrity and not seeking to any evil ways for Help OH Almighty Lord thou hast reserved us for days when he that will depart from evil is like to make himself a Prey But grant me Grace to esteem no Loss comparable to that of Innnocency and of a good Conscience nor to harbour any fear like to that of thy displeasure and of the intolerable and eternal pangs of Hell-fire Let thy Laws O! my God direct all my steps in my greatest dangers Keep me more studious in all my Counsels of what is lawful for me than of what seems safe and serviceable in my necessity And never suffer me to stoop to any sin in hopes thereby to put by fleshly trouble or to serve any worldly turn In thy Providence O! Father of Mercies lyes all my safety and protection And Oh! that I may ever commit my self to that protecting Providence by keeping close to thy Commandments Oh! that I may never in any case forsake them but always look upon that as the ready way to have thee forsake me Whatever streights or dangers encompass me the ways of my duty O! Lord are the surest ways of thy mercy and of my own safety And Oh! that I may find them to be ways of preservation and deliverance at present and of everlasting peace and joy in the end through our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen II. For Constancy in Persecuted Duties 1. Against being turned aside by Worldly Dangers or Losses O! Almighty and Everlasting God Keep me constant to thy Truths and Precepts amidst all these violent Persecutions which are ready to come upon me for the same Oh! that I may stand fast in thy ways and be nothing terrified by the Adversaries thereof That I may stand fast in the evil day and contend earnestly for the Faith Let me not grow weary of well-doing or of godly suffering nor wax faint in a good Cause Enable me to stand to my duty at all hazards and to be ready if the will of God be so to witness it unto Bonds yea or even to seal it with my blood and to dye for thee as thou Blessed Saviour hast done for me Let not the fear of men make me forsake thee nor let my love of this World make me throw up my blessed hopes of a better Nor give me up for the sake of any Losses or Terrors to fall from my duty or to deny thee before men that thou mayst not finally deny me before the Angels which are in Heaven Oh! that I may never leave thee Oh! Holy Jesu because thou art a Man of Sorrows But give me Grace with Moses always to prefer the Afflictions of the godly when they are persecuted before the Joys of the wicked and to choose to be among those who suffer for Righteousness rather than among those who seem best to thrive and prosper in the ways of violence Oh! that I may not grudge to take up the Cross when that is in my way to win the Crown nor to endure a short tribulation for the Kingdom of Heaven which thou art ready to give to all that faithfully serve and suffer for thee thro' our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen II. Against being shaken in mind or scandalized 1. By the Defection of others or by Variety of Opinions O Almighty and most Merciful God! keep me from being any ways unsettled or shaken in mind about the way of thy Truth and of thy Righteousness Oh! that thy Judgments may not make us harbour any suspition of the Truth of our Holy Faith but make us see that they all come upon us to try how far we can suffer for it or to punish us because we have not been true to it They are sent O! Righteous Lord to punish the Loosness and Wickedness of our Lives amidst the Orthodoxy and Holiness of our Professions And let not any other Persons unsteadfastness in thy ways how great or numerous soever they be cause me to waver or once think of varying from the same Oh! that I may never follow weak minds in their fickleness and inconstancy nor worldly minds in Varying Belief and Professions according as they are blown about with every blast of worldly Interest or Convenience Let me not think the worse of thy Truths because others forsake them Nor run in to those who prefer the ways of worldly ease before the ways of innocence Nor grow weary of the ways of everlasting Life because others setting more by worldly enjoyments are ready to exchange them when there is hopes of present security thereby for ways of everlasting death Thy Truth O! Lord are everlasting and still the same And Oh! that my Belief and Love thereof may always be one and the same too for our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ's sake Amen 2. Or By a Reverence of any Mens Persons ESpecially O! Lord let not my reverence of any Mens Persons cause me to erre from the way of thy precepts Let not them carry me against my own Knowledge Nor suffer me to ascribe more Authority or to have more Belief in their Examples than in the plain Voice of thy Word or in the clear common Notions of Right and Wrong and of Natural Conscience If they would have me shut mine eyes against this Light let me no longer reverence or give ear to them Yea Though an Angel from Heaven should come and preach against the same let me not believe him Let God be true though they be held Lyars And let these Monitors be ever firmly thought to speak right though the most admired Persons gainsay it and both act and speak wrong Make me know O! God that thy plain Word and the known and received Dictates of Natural Honesty and Conscience are always true and faithful but that every man even the best of men are lyable to fail Let me ever bear in mind that good men may alter and lose their goodness but that evil and unrighteous things do not alter nor can ever lose their unrighteousness So that whensoever a good man falls to do a manifestly evil and unrighteous thing his doing it can onely make us think the worse of his Person but is not in any wise to make us think better of the unrighteous Action Teach me O! Lord that it is thy Law and not their Example which is to be my Rule That I am thy servant not theirs and am to hearken unto thee not unto them and to call no man Master upon earth in opposition to thee my great Master who art in Heaven Oh! therefore let thy Truths O! my God and not other mens practice be my Guide and let thy approbation and acceptance not their
constant Practice of Faith and Patience Meekness and Charity and of a Heart mortified to this World and full of the Thoughts and Hopes of a better Give them Grace O! Lord to watch over thy People with willing Minds and with unwearied Diligence Oh! that they may Rule them prudently and skilfully as wise Guides And feed them faithfully as good Shepherds Oh! that they may wholly apply themselves to Preach thy Word and to administer thy pure Worship and Saâ—rament to comfort the Afflicted â—o strengthen the Feeble-minded â—o confirm those that Stand and to raise up those that are faln to quicken the Indifference and Lukewarmness of some and to curb and bridle the inordinate Heat and undue Passions and Violence of others And let them not think of quitting the trust and Charge of Ministring to Souls when the Wolf approacheth or leave of caring for thy Flock to take care of themselves But keep them ever mindful O! Holy Jesu that thou art the true Shepherd who gavest thy Life for the Sheep and that as thy true Followers and faithful Ministers they must be diligent at such times in Ministring to their wants and attend upon the same at all hazards Let them shew then that they love thee by feeding thy Sheep Enable them to shew perfect Love which â—asteth out Fear And give them Grace to speak thy word and to do thy work with Boldness and Uprightness neither fearing the Faces of their Persecutors nor tolerating and muchless feeding the Diseases or Vices of their Flocks but remembring always that in thy Church they preside and Minster for thee and as they who are to give an Account for Souls Possess their Hearts O! God with such vigilant Care and Love for Souls and Holy Zeal and Godly Courage and Prudence as is requisite for Men iu their High Trusts and Stations and under the present wants and Difficulties of thy Church And be with them in all they do and in all they suffer for thy Cause for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake Amen 2. COmfort up their Spirits also O! Lord with the visible Effects and good Fruits of their Labours and Sufferings among thy People But whatever success they meet withal let them not desist from thy Service nor fall to do thy Work negligently but when there is the least appearance of their working good up others let it however satisfie and support them that they have thereby shown their Fidelity and Love to thee and have delivered their own Souls And keep them from all vain Janglings O! thou Blessed Spirit of Love and Peace and from falling into desires of vain-Glory or Emulation among themselves Let them not defile their own Spirits or disparage thy Cause by turning aside to vent humane Passions or to seek or serve any worldly ends But in all their Labours and Sufferings for thy Church help them to approve themselves pure and sincere as Men whose great care and chief business is to serve thee and to watch for the Good of Souls And whilst they are watching for thy People Lord let thy good Providence watch over them When thy Service and the neâ—ds of Souls do most endanger and expose them let them be safe in thy keeping Put by the Malice and Machinations of their Enemies and give them Patience and unwearied Perseverance under all their Difficulties and Distresses Support and Comfort them under the same at present and turn them all in the end to the furtherance of thy Truth and to the encrease of their own Everlasting Peace and Happiness through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen 4. A Prayer for both Clergy and People O! Lord whilst thou art trying us with Losses and Worldly Sorrows make us easie under the same and careful to bear them with Patience and raised Affections But let us not betake our selves to Pride and self-pleasing and to feed those corrupt Passions which our Afflictions should purge out nor ever fall to seek or think of great things here for our selves Oh! that our Tribulations may teach us to be humble and to mortifie our own Passions Oh! that our worldy Sorrows may cure and turn us from being any longer fond of this World and from feeding our selves with any vain and ensnaring Hopes or Desires thereof And that whilst we are daily crossed in our Fleshly Desires we may cease to be any longer bent upon our own Wills and may in all things resign our selves up to thine Let not our Persecutions O! Gracious God be lost upon us nor let us be unprofitable Schollars in the School of Affliction Let it not be justly chargeable on us that Tribulations could not mend us nor the fiery Trial resine our Spirits and purge away our Dross But bring us by our Sufferings to know our selves and to set light by all Earthly things and to take up with thee for our Portion and with the Sure and Blessed Hopes of thine Everlasting Mercies thro' the Merits and Mediation of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen 5. A Prayer for the Churches Defence and Deliverance from Persecutions UNder all its Wants and Backslidings Sorrows and Distresses look thou upon thy Church O! Lord and support and deliver it Many are they who Combine against it and great is their Power and Vigilant and Earnest is their Care and Endeavour to suppress and destroy it And against all their Assaults it has no other Defence but thy Grace and good Providence Do not thou forsake it then O! God for it flies to thee and rests on thee alone for Succor Maintain it for it is thine own Cause And if it be cast down thine Enemies and theirs will tryumph Take the Matter therefore into thine Hand for no other is sufficient for it and thou art most concerned therein Bring it safe through this Fiâ—ry Trial and let it not be consumed thereby but as Gold is only purged and putrified of its Dross Give it a Cure O! Lord of all its Errors and Impurities and quietness in the End from Persecutions and Grace not to grow careless or be Corrupted by days of Ease but to improve the same in doing thee Honour and Service with more Freedom and fewer Interruptions thro' Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen 15. A Thanksgiving for any Comfortable Cessation or for Rest and Ease from Persecution BLessed be thy Great and Glorious Name O! Father of Mercies and God of all Comforts for the comfort of these days of ease from our former Tribulations Thou hast in great pity considered our Frailty and Weakness and hath not suffered the Rod of the Persecutors to lie too heavy or rest too long upon oâ—r Backs Thou hast not been Deaf to our Desires when we called upon thee nor suffered our Hopes in thy Gracious Promises to â—ail Thou hast fulfilled thy Word unto thy Servants who served and suffered for thee in Confidence thereof and hast made the Wicked to cease from troubling us and exchanged the Fiery Trial of their ungodly Violence for
worldly Troubles let me have Peace with thee and with mine own Conscience And whilst thy Comforts do refresh my Soul by thy Grace strengthening me I shall better bear any other Misery which thou shalt give my Enemies leave to inflict upon my Body and persevere faithfully to serve and patiently to suffer for thee till thou shalt Graciously take me out of their Hands to thine Everlasting Rest and Mercy for Jesus Christ's sake Amen 6. A Prayer for Graces needful for him at the Tryal when he is to be judged for his Stedfastness to Gods Truth or Righteousness O! Blessed Lord if by thy wise ordering 〈◊〉 I meekly submit I shall be carried from the place of Cusâ—ody to the place of Tryal or of further Examination do tho vouchsafe to go along with me When I am question'd teach me what I shall say that I may answer so honestly as not to offend or dishonour thee and so prudently as not to prejudice my self nor bring Trouble on any other Righteous Persons for their bearing a good Affection to Righteous Things Give me presence of mind and clearness of Spirit in appearing before all Tribunals and wisdom and readiness in answering all Questions Let my Carriage be without Fear or Confusion or any evil or insincere Arts in all things acceptable unto thee and becoming my Person and Condition Suffer me not to be made a Sacrifice by the Fears or Forgetfulness the mis-representations or false Accusations of Witnesses nor by the Fetches and false colours of Council nor by the partiality or misguided Zeal of Judges and Juries Or if thou hast otherwise determined and I must fall enable me Good Lord to bear thy Will And tho' my Blood which is shed in this Cause be vile in the sight of Men let it be acceptable and of a sweet smell in thy Sight for my Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ's sake Amen 7. Prayers after Sentence of Condemnation is past upon him for his Stedfastness to the same EJACULATIONS THE Cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it Joh. 18. 11. Not my Will O! my God but thine be done Luk. 22. 42. Lord I thank thee for counting me worthy to receive this Sentence for the sake of thy Righteousness Lord lay not this Sin to their Charge Acts 7. 60. Forgive them for they know not what they do Luk. 23. 34. A short Prayer upon his receiving the Sentence LOrd I meekly submit to this heavy Sentence yea I thank thee for it and Glory in this shame since it comes upon me for my Love unto thy ways And I humbly pray thee to look upon their Ignorance for their excuse than upon their Blood-Guiltiness for their punishment If they understood the ways of thy Righteousness they would not shed my Blood for keeping stedfast to the same But now they think alass to serve and please thee by slaying me Father forgive them for they know not what they do And bring them timely to see their Errors and thoroughly to repent thereof That they who now in their misguided Zeal for thee are my Enemies may yet however at length be Loving and Happy Sharers with me of thine Everlasting Mercies through the Merits of our dear Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Amen A Longer Prayer afterwards O! Righteous Lord since thou art pleased to call me to give Testimony to thy Righteousness with my Blood I am content to do it Yea I thank thee O! Father that thou hast counted me worthy to lay down my Life for thy sake But as thou tryest me to the utmost sâ— strengthen me to the utmost I most humbly beseech thee that in this highest and last Service I may shew stedfast Faith in thee and Charity towards my Persecutors and meet my Death with that constancy and devout Chearfulness which befits one who is pasing thro' the Red Sea to the Heavenly Canaan and laying down his Life for thy Cause Tho' I stand Condemned and viliâ—ied among Men for this adherence to thy ways yet I humbly hope that thou O! my God wilt acquit and lovingly accept me And if I have thy Approbation my Heart shall rejoyce therein and account it enough for me whatever the World thinks of me Shew them their Error and our Uprightness O! Lord in standing firm to these points for which we suffer But if we cannot satisfie them that the way for which they persecute our Souls is Innocent and Holy let it however satisfie us that so it is and that so it will be â—ouâ—d and declared by thee before all thine elect Angels when tâ—ou shalt appear in thy dreadful Majesty to pass Sentence both upon our way and theirs And to the clearing of that Day and the Tryal of thy Righteous Tribunal do we humbly commit our Cause and Sufferings Where our Hope is that thou Blessed Jesu wilt Graciously own and receive both tho' they disdainfully reject them And that thou Righteous Father for Jesus sake wilt both pardon the real Guilt of our other Sins and openly clear us of the fancied Guilt of these ways wherewith our Persecutors do falsly asperes thy Truths and Reproach us Which grant O! merciful Lord that we may all comfortably expect in our Lives and comfortably find at our Deaths for thy dear Son and our only Saviour Jesus Christs sake Amen After this he may at any time use such of the Prayers as he likes best in the preceding Office for Sufferers for Righteousness to exercise and strengthen his Faith his Patience his Charity or other Graces proper for his Circumstances or to assist him in making Intercessions for others 8. A Prayer for Dying without Fear O! Almighty and most merciful Father perfect thy Strength in my Weakness and support thy Frail and most unworthy Servant in this last and greatest Service which I have now to pay thee of laying down my Life and leaving all that is dear unto me in this World for thy Cause Oh! let not me dishonour the Cause and Truths for which I suffer by shewing any mis-becoming Fears or unwillingness to suffer 'T is not my mistrust of the Righteousness of this Cause O! my God but the Conscience of my other Sins and of the common Errors of my Life from the Rule of thy Holy Commandments which makes me at all afraid to appear at thy Righteous Bar. But cleanse thou me from all my Sins by the Blood of my dearest Lord and then I may meet Death with an humble Confidence and Triumph over it I know O! blessed Lord that when Sin and Guilt which are the Sting of Death are taken out there is still an aversion in Nature which is common to us all against this Change and which found place in our Blessed Lord himself But let the Influences of thy Grace though not wholly purge off this averseness yet subdue and over rule it in my Spirit Possess my Mind more with the Righteousness of the Cause for which I dye and with the