impatient at the death of a person coÌ„cerning whom it was certain and known that he must die is to mourn because thy friend or childe was not born an Angel and when thou hast a while made thy self miserable by an importunate and uselesse grief it may be thou shalt die thy self and leave others to their choice whether they will mourn for thee or no but by that time it will appear how impertinent that greif was which served no end of life and ended in thy own funeral But what great matter is it if sparkes fly upward or a stone falls into a pit if that which was combustible be burned or that which was liquid be melted or that which is mortal doe die It is no more then a man does every day for every night death hath gotten possession of that day and we shall never live that day over again and when the last day is come there are no more daies left for us to die And what is sleeping and waking but living and dying what is Spring and Autumn youth and old age morning and evening but real images of life and death and really the same to many considerable effects and changes Untimely death But it is not meer dying that is pretended by some as the cause of their impatient mourning but that the childe died young before he knew good and evill his right hand from his leâ—t and so lost all his portion of this world and they know not of what excellency his portion in the next shall be * If he died young he left but little for he understood but little and had not capacities of great pleasures or great cares but yet be died innocent and before the sweetness of his soul was defloured and ravishd from him by the flames and follies of a froward age he went out from the dining-rooms before he had fallen into errour by the intemperance of his meat or the deluge of drink and he hath obtained this favour of God that his soul hath suffered a lesse imprisonment and her load was sooner taken off that he might with lesser delaies go and converse with immortal spirits and the babe is taken into Paradise before he knows good and evil For that knowledge threw our great Father out and this ignorance returnes the childe thither * But as concerning thy own particular remove thy thoughts back to those daies in which thy childe was not born and you are now but as then you was and there is no difference but that you had a son born and if you reckon that for evil you are unthankful for the blessing if it be good it is better that you had the blessing for a whilâ— then not at all and yet if he had never been born ItideÌ„ si puâ—r parvulus ocâ—â—dat aequâ—ae nimo ferendum puâ—ant si verò in cunis ne querendum quidem atqui hâ—c aoerbius exegis natura quòd dede it At id quidem in câ—etâ—tâ—s rebus inclius putatur aliquâ—m partem quà m nullum aâ—â—ingere Senec. this sorrow had not been at all but be no more displeased at God for giving you a blessing for a while then you would have been if he had not given it at all and reckon that intervening blessing for a gain but account it not an evil and if it be a good turn not into sorrow and sadness * But if we have great reason to complain of the calamities and evils of our life then we have the lesse reason to grieve that those whom we loved have so small a portion of evil assigned to them And it is no small advantage that our children dying young receive For their condition of a blessed immortality is rendred to them secure by being snatcht from the dangers of an evil choice and carired to their little cells of felicity where they can weep no more And this the wisest of the Gentiles understood well when they forbade any offerings or libations to be made for dead Infants as was usual for their other dead as believing they were entred into a secure possession to wich they went with no other condition but that they passed into it through the way of mortality and for a few months wore an uneasie garment And let weeping parents say if they doe not think that the evils their little babes have suffered are sufficient If they be why are they troubled that they were taken from those many and greater which in succeeding years are great enough to trie all the reason and religion which art and nature and the grace of God hath produced in us to enable us for such sad contentions And possibly we may doubt concerning men and women but we cannot suspect that to Infants death can be such an evil but that it brings to them much more good then it takes from them in this life Death unseasonable But others can well bear the death of Infants but when they have spent some years of childehood or youth and are entred into arts and society when they are hopeful and provided for when the parents are to reap the comfort of all their fears and cares then it breakes the spirit to lose them This is true in many but this is not love to the dead but to themselves for they misse what they had flattered themselves into by hope and opinion and if it were kindness to the dead they may consider that since we hope he is gone to God and to rest it is an ill expression of our love to them that we weep for their good fortune For that life is not best which is longest and when they are descended into the grave it shall not be inquired how long they have lived but how well and yet this shortening of their daies is an evil wholly depending upon opinion Juvenis â—euâ—vâ—ia â—inbuiâ— quem Diâ— diligant Menâ—ud For if men did naturally live but twenty years then we should be satisfied if they died about sixteen or eighteen and yet eighteen years now are as long as eighteen years would be then and if a man were but of a daies life it is well if he lasts till Even song and then saies his Compline an hour before the time and we are pleased and call not that death immature if he lives till seventy and yet this age is as short of the old periods before and since the flood as this youtâ—s age for whom you mourn is of the present fulness Suppose therefore a decree passed upon this person as there have been many upon all mankinde and God hath set him a shorter period and then we may as well bear the immature death of the young man as the death of the oldest man for they also are immature unseasonable in respect of the old periods of many generations * And why are we troubled that he had arts and sciences before he died or are we troubled that he does not live to make use of them the first is cause of joy for
her kindred naked and shaved her head and caused her husband to beat her with clubs through the city The Gortinaeans crowned the man with wool to shame him for his effeminacy and the Cumani caused the woman to ride upon an asse naked and hooted at 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and for ever after called her by an appellative of scorn A rider upon the asse All nations barbarous and civil agreeing in their general designe of rooting so dishonest and shameful vice from under heaveÌ„ Concil Tribur c 49. Concil Aurel 1. sub Clodovaeo The middle ages of the Church were not pleased that the adulteresse should be put to death but in the primitive ages the * Cod. de aldulteciiis ad legem Jâ—â—éam l. 1. Cod. Theod. de adulteriis c. placuit civil Laws by which Christians were then governed gave leave to the wronged husband to kill his adulterous wife if he took her in the fact but because it was a privilege indulg'd to men rather then a direct detestation of the crime a consideration of the injury rather then of the uncleanness therefore it was soon altered but yet hath caused an inquiry Whether is worse the Adultery of the man or the woman The resolution of which case in order to our present affair is thus In respect of the person the fault is greater in a man then in a woman who is of a more plyant and easie spirit and weaker understanding and hath nothing to supply the unequal strengths of men but the defensative of a passive nature and armour of modesty which is the natural ornament of that sex Apud Aug de adulter conjug Plutâ— conjug praecept And it is unjust that the man should demand chastity and severity from his wife which himself will not observe towards her said the good Emperour Antoninus it is as if the man should perswade his wife to fight against those enemies to which he had yeilded himself a prisoner 2. In respect of the effects and evil consequents the adultery of the woman is worse as bringing bastardy into a family and disinherisons or great injuries to the Lawfull children and infinite violations of peace and murders and divorces and all the effects of rage and madness 3. But in respect of the crime and as relating to God they are equal intolerable and damnable and since it is no more permitted to men to have many wives then to women to have many husbands and that in this respect their privilege is equal their sin is so too And this is the case of the question in Christianity And the Church anciently refused to admit such persons to the holy Communion until they had done seven years penances in fasting in sack-cloth in severe inflictions and instruments of chastity and sorrow according to the discipline of those ages Acts of chastity in general The actions and proper offices of the grace of chastity in general are these 1. To resist all unchaste thoughts at no hand entertaining pleasure in the unfruitful fancies and remembrances of uncleanness although no definite desire or resolution be entertained 2. At no hand to entertain any desire or any phantastick imaginative loves Casso saltem delectamine amarâ— quâ—d potiri non licet Poeta Patellas luxuriae oculos dixit Isidorus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alius quidam though by shame or disability or other circumstance they be restrained from act 3. To have a chast eye and hand for it is all one with what part of the body we commit adultery Time videre uÌ„de possis cadere noli fieri perversaÌ„ simplicitate securus S. Aug. and if a man lets his eye loose and enjoyes the lust of that he is an adulterer Look not upon a woman to lust after her And supposing all the other members restrained yet if the eye be permitted to lust the man can no otherwise be called chast then he can be called severe and mortified that sits all day long seeing playes and revellings and out of greedinesse to fill his eye neglects his belly There are some vessels which if you offer to lift by the belly or bottom you cannot stirre them but are soon removed if you take them by the ears It matters not with which of your members you are taken and carried off from your duty and severity 4. To have a heart and minde chast and pure that is detesting all uncleanness disliking all its motions past actions circumstances likenesses discourses and this ought to be the chastity of Virgins and Widows of old persons and Eunuchs especially and generally of all men according to their several necessities Sp Minucius Pontifex Posthumium monuit ne verbis vitae astâ—ms niem anon aequantibus uteretur Plutare de cap ex inim utilit 5. To Discourse chastly and purely with great care declining all undecencies of language chastening the tongue and restraining it with grace as vapours of wine are restrained with a bunch of myrrhe 6. To disapprove by an after act all involuntary and natural pollutions for if a man delights in having suffered any natural pollution and with pleasure remember it he chooses that which was in it selfe involuÌ„tary and that which being natural was innocent becoming voluntary is made sinful 7. They that have performed these duties and parts of Chastity will certainly abstain from all exterior actions of uncleanness those noon day and mid night Devils these lawlesse and ungodly worshippings of shame and uncleanness whose birth is in trouble whose growth is in folly and whose end is in shame But besides these general acts of Chastity which are common to all states of men and women there are some few things propero the severals Acta of Virginal Chastity 1. Virgins must remember that the Virginity of the body is only excellent in order to the purity of the soul who therefore must consider that since they are in some measure in a condicion like that of Angels it is their duty to spend much of their time in Angelical imployment for in the same degree that Virgins live more spiritually then other persons in the same degree is their Virginity a more excellent state But else it is no better then that of involuntary or constrained Eunuchs a misery and trouble or else a meer privation as much without excellency as without mixture 2. Virgins must contend for a singular modesty whose first part must be an ignorance in the distinction of sexes or their proper instruments or if they accidentally be instructe in that it must be supplied with an inadvertency or neglect of all thoughts and remembrances of such difference and the following parts of it must be pious and chast thoughts holy language and modest carriage 3. Virgins must be retired and unpublick for all freedome and loosness of society is a violence done to virginity not in its natural but in its moral capacity that is it looses part of its severity strictness and opportunity of
estate passes wiâ—h all its burden If the Father by perswading his neighbour to doe justice be bound to restore the action is extinguished by the death of the Father because it was only the Fathers sin that bound him which cannot directly binde the son therefore the son is free And this is so in all personal actions unlesse wheâ—e the civil Law interposes and alters the case ¶ These Rules concern the persons that are obliged to make restitution the other circumstances of it are thus described 8. He that by fact or word or signe either fraudulently or violently does hurt to his Neighbours bâ—dy life goods good name friends or soul is bound to make restitution in the several instances according as they are capable to be made In all these instances we must separate intreaty and inticements from deceit or violence If I perswade my Neighbour to commit adultery I still leave him or her in their own power and though I am answerable to God for my sin yet not to my Neighbour For I made her to be willing yet she was willing (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epict that is the same at last as I was at first but if I have used fraud and made her to believe a lie (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato Non licet suffurare mentem vel Samaritani R. Maimon Can. Eth. upon which confidence she did the act and without it she would not as if I tell a woman her Husband is dead or intended to kill her or is himself an adulterous man or if I use violence that is either force her or threaten her with death or a grievous wound or any thing that takes her from the liberty of her choice I am bound to restitution that is to restore her to a right understanding of things and to a full liberty by taking from her the deceit or the violence 9. An adulterous person is tyed to restitution of the injury so farre as it is reparable and can be made to the wronged person that is to make provision for the children begotten in unlawful embraces that they may doe no injury to the legitimate by receiving a common portion and if the injured person doe account of it he must satisfie him with money for the wrong done to his bed He is not tyed to offer this because it is no proper exchange but he is bound to pay it if it be reasonably demanded for every man hath justice done him when himself is satisfied though by a word or an action or a peny 10. He that hath killed a man is bound to restitution by allowing such a maintenance to the children and neer relatives of the deceased as they have lost by his death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â— Mich. Ephes ad 5 Eth. considering and allowing for all circumstances of the mans age and health and probability of living And thus Hercules is said to have made expiation for the death of Iphitus whom he slew by paying a mulct to his children 11. He that hath really lessened the fame of his neighbor by fraud or violence is bound to restore it by its proper instruments Sic Vivanus resipuit de infâ—sta accusatione apud Cassidor 1. â—1 such as are confession of his fault giving testimony of his innocence or wroth doing him honor or if that will doe it and both parties agree by money which answers all things 12. He that hath wounded his neighbour is tyed to the expences of the Surgeon other incidences and to repair what ever losse he sustaines by his disability to work or trade and the same is in the case of false imprisonment in which cases only the real effect and remaining detriment are to be mended and repaired for the action it self is to be punished or repented of and enters not into the question of restitution But in these and all other cases the injured person is to be restored to that perfect and good condition from which he was removed by my fraud or violence so farre as is possible Thus a ravisher must repair the temporal detriment or injury done to the maid and give her a dowry or marry her if she desire it For this restores her into that capacity of being a good wife which by the injury was lost as far as it can be done 13 He that robbeth his Neighbour of his goods or detains any thing violently or fraudulently is bound not only to restore the principal but all its fruits and emoluments which would have accrued to the right owner during the time of their being detained * By proportion to these rules we may judge of the obligation that lies upon all sorts of injurious persons the sacrilegious the detainers of tythes cheaters of mens inheritances unjust Judges false witnesses and accusers those that doe fraudulently or violently bring men to sin that force men to drink that laugh at and disgrace virtue tâ—at perswade servants to run away or commâ—nd such purposes violent persecutors of religion in any instance and all of the same nature 14. He that hath wronged so many or in that manner as in the way of daily trade that he knows not in what measure he hath done it or who they are must redeem his fault by alms and largesses to the poor according to the value of his wrongful dealing as neere as he can proportion it Better it is to go begging to Heaven then to go to Hell laden with the spoils of rapine and injustice 15. The order of paying the debts of contract or restitution are in some instances set down by the civil Laws of a kingdom in which cases their rule is to be observed In destitution or want of such rules we are 1. to observe the necessity of the Creditor 2. Then the time of the delay and 3. The special obligations of friendship or kindness and according to these in their severall degrees make our restitution if we be not able to doe all that we should but if we be the best rule is to doe it so soon as we can taking our accounts in this as in our humane actions according to prudence and civil or natural conveniences or possibilities only securing these two things 1. That the duty be not wholy omitted and 2. That it be not deferred at all out of covetousness or any other principle that is vitious Remember that the same day in which Zacheus made restitution to all whom he had injured the same day Christ himself pronounced that salvation was come to his house Luke 19.9 * Gratitude 16. But besides the obligation arising from contract or default * there is one of another sort which comes from kindness and the acts of charity and friendship He that does me a favour hath bound me to make him a return of thankfulness The obligation comes not by covenant not by his own expresse intention but by the nature of the thing and is a duty springing up within the spirit of the
without remedy unlesse he be reduced to the scantling of nature and the measures of his personall necessity Give to a poor man a house and a few cowes pay his little debt and set him on work and he is provided for and quiet but when a man enlarges beyond a fair possession and desires another Lordship you spite him if you let him have it for by that he is one degree the further off from rest in his desires and satisfaction and now he sees himself in a bigger capacity to a larger fortune he shall never find his period till you begin to take away somthing of what he hath for then he will begin to be glad to keep that which is left but reduce him to natures measures and there he shall be sure to finde rest for there noman can desire beyond his belly full and when he wants that any one friend or charitable man can cure his poverty but all the world cannot satisfie his covetousnesse 5. Covetousnesse is the most phantasticall and contradictory disease in the whole world and it must therefore be incurable because it strives against its own cure Noman therefore abstains from meat because he is hungry nor from wine because he loves it and needs it but the covetous man does so for he desires it passionately because he sayes he needs it and when he hath it he will need it still because he dares not use it He gets cloaths because he cannot be without them but when he hath them then he canâ— as if he needed corn for his granary and cloaths for his wardrobe more then for his back and belly For covetousness pretends to heap much together for fear of want and yet after all his pains and purchase he suffers that really which at first he feared vainly and by not using what he gets he makes that suffering to be actuall present necessary which in his lowest condition was but future contingent possible It stirs up the desire and takes away the pleasure of being satisfied It increases the appetite and will not content it it swels the principal to no purpose and lessens the use to all purposes desturbing the order of nature and the designes of God making money not to be the instrument of exchange or charity nor corn to feed himself or the poor nor wool to cloath himself or his brother nor wine to refresh the sadnesse of the afflicted nor his oyl to make his own countenance cheerfull but all these to look upon and to tell over to take accounts by make himself considerable and wondered at by fools that while he lives he may be called Rich and when he dyes may be accounted Miserable like the Dish-makers of China may leave a greater heap of dirt for his Nephews while he himself hath a new lot fallen to him in the portion of Dives But thus the Asse carried wood and sweet herbs to the Baths but was never washed or perfumed himself the heaped up sweets for others while himself was filthy with smoak and ashes And yet it is considerable If the man can be content to feed hardly and labour extremely and watch carefully and suffer affronts and disgrace that he may get money more then he uses in his temperate and just needs with how much ease might this man be happy and with how great uneasinesse and trouble does he make himself miserable For he takes pains to get content and when he might have it he lets it go He might better be content with a vertuous and quiet poverty then with an artificial troublesome and vitious The same diet and a lesse labour would at first make him happy and for ever after rewardable 6. The sum of all is that which the Apostle sayes Covetousnesse is Idolatry that is it is an admiring money for it self not for its use it relyes upon money and loves it more then it loves God and religion and it is the root of all evil it teaches men to be cruel and crafty industrious in evil full of care and malice it devours young heirs and grindes the face of the poor and undoes those who specially belong to Gods protection helplesse craftlesse and innocent people it inquires into our parents age and longs for the death of our friends it makes friendship an art of rapine and changes a partner into a Vultur and a companion into a thief and after all this it is for no good to it self for it dare not spend those heaps of treasure which it snatched and men hate Serpents and Basilisks worse then Lyons and Bears for these kill because they need the prey but they sting to death and eat not * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phocylid And if they pretend all this care and heap for their Heirs like the Mice of Africa hiding the golden ore in their bowels and refusing to give back the indigested gold till their guts be out they may remember that what was uÌ„necessary for themselves is as unnecessary for their sons and why cannot they be without it as wel as their Fathers who did not use it and it often happens that to the sons it becomes an instrument to serve some lust or other that as the gold was uselesse to their Fathers so may the sons be to the publick fools or prodigals loads to their Countrey and the curse punishmeÌ„t of their fathers avarice yet all that wealth is short of one blessing but it is a load coming with a curse descending from the same of a long derived sin However the rather transmits it to the son and it may be the son to one more till a Tyrant or an Oppressour or a War or change of government or the Usurer or folly or an expensive vice makes holes in the bottom of the bag and the wealth runs out like water and flies away like a Bird from the hand of a childe 7. Adde to these the consideration of the advantages of poverty that it is a state freer from temptation secure in dangers but of one trouble Provocat ut segnes animos rerúmque remotas Ingeniesa vias paulatum exâ—lâ—â—â—t egestas Claudian safe under the Divine Providence cared for in Heaven by a daily ministration for whose support God makes every day a new decree a state of which Christ was pleased to make open profession and many wise Men daily make vows that a rich Man is but like a pool to whom the poor run and first trouble it and then draw it dry that he enjoyes no more of it then according to the few and limited needs of a man he cannot eat like a Wolf or an Elephant that variety of dainty fare ministers but to sin and sicknesses that the poor Man feasts oftner then the rich because every little enlargment is a feast to the poor sed 〈◊〉
may be used upon our own Birth day or day of our Baptism adding the following prayer A Prayer to be said upon our Birth-day or day of Baptisme O Blessed and Eternall God I give thee praie and glory for thy great mercy to me in causing me to be born of Christian parents and didst not allot to me a portion with Misbelievers and Heathen that have not known thee thou didst not suffer me to be strangled at the gate of the womb but thy hand sustained brought me to the light of the world and the illumination of baptisme with thy grace preventing my election and by an artificiall necessity and holy prevention engaging me to the profession and practises of Christianity Lord since that I have broken the promises made in my behalf and which I confirmed by my after act I went back from them by an evil life and yet thou hast still continued to me life and time of repentance and didst not cut me off in the beginning of my dayes and the progress of my sins O Dearest God pardon the errours and ignorances the vices and vanities of my youth and the faults of my more forward years and let me never more stain the whiteness of my baptismal robe and now that by thy grace I still persist in the purposes of obedience and do give up my name to Christ and glory to be a Disciple of thy institution and a servant of Jesus let me never fail of thy grace let no root of bitterness spring up and disorder my purposes and defile my spirit O let my years be so many degrees of neerer approach to thee and forsake me not O God in my old age when I am gray-headed and when my strength faileth me be thou my strength and my guide unto death that I may reckon my years and apply my heart unto wisdom and at last after the spending a holy and a blessed life I may be brought unto a glorious eternity through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Then adde the form of thanksgiving formerly described A prayer to be said upon the dayes of the memory of Apostles Martyrs c O Eternal God to whom do live the spirits of them that depart hence in the Lord and in whom the souls of them that be elected after they be delivered from the burden of the flesh be in peace and rest from their labours and their works follow them and their memory is blessed I blesse and magnifie thy holy and ever glorious name for the great grace and blessing manifested to thy Apostles and Martyrs and other holy persons who have glorified thy name in the dayes of their flesh and have served the interest of religion and of thy service and this day we have thy servant name the Apostle or Martyr c. in remembrance whom thou hast lead through the troubles and temptations of this World and now hast lodged in the bosome of a certain hope and great beatitude until the day of restitution of all things Blessed be the mercy and eternal goodness of God and the memory of all thy Saints is blessed Teach me to practise their doctrine to imitate their lives following their example and being united as a part of the same mysticall body by the band of the same faith and a holy hope and a never ceasing charity and may it please thee of thy gracious goodness shortly to accomplish the number of thine elect and to hasten thy Kingdom that we with thy servant * and all others departed in the true faith and fear of thy holy Name may have our perfect consummation and bliss in body and soul in thy eternall and everlasting kingdom Amen A form of prayer recording all the parts and mysteries of Christs passion being a short history of it to be used especially in the week of the passion and before the receiving the blessed Sacrament ALl praise honour and glory be to the holy and eternal Jesus I adore thee O blessed Redeemer eternall God the light of the Gentiles and the glory of Israel for thou hast done and suffered for me more then I could wish more then I could think of even all that a lost and a miserable perishing sinner could possibly need Thou wert afflicted with thirst and hunger with heat and cold with labours and sorrows with hard journeys and restless nights and when thou wert contriving all the mysterious and admirable wayes of paying our scores thou didst suffer thy self to be designed to slaughter by those for whom in love thou were ready to dye What is man that thou art mindfull of him the Son of man that thou thus visitest him Blessed be thy Name O holy Jesus for thou wentest about doing good working miracles of mercy healing the sick comforting the distressed instructing the ignorant raising the dead inlightning the blinde strengthning the lame streightening the crooked relieving the poor preaching the Gospel and reconciling sinners by the mightiness of thy power by the wisdom of thy Spirit by the Word of God and the merits of thy Passion thy healthfull and bitter passion Lord what is man that thou art mindfull of him c. Blessed be thy Name O holy Jesus who wert content to be conspired against by the Jews to be sold by thy servant for a vile price to wash the feet of him that took money for thy life and to give to him and to all thy Apostles thy most holy Body and Blood o become a Sacrifice for their sins even for their betraying and denying thee and for all my sins even for my crucifying thee a fresh and for such sins which I am ashamed to think but that the greatness of my sins magnifie the infiniteness of thy mercies who didst so great things for so vile a person Lord what is man c. Blessed be thy Name O holy Jesus who being to depart the world didst comfort thy Apostles powring out into their ears hearts treasures of admirable discourses who didst recommend them to thy Father with a mighty charity and then didst enter into the Garden set with nothing but Bryers â—orrows where thou didst suffer a most unspeakable agony untill the sweat strain'd through thy pure skin like drops of blood and there didst sigh and groan and fall flat upon the earth and pray and submit to the intolerable burden of thy fathers wrath which I had deserved and thou sufferedst Lord what is man c. Blessed be thy Name O holy Jesus who hast sanctified to us all our natural infirmities and passions by vouchsafing to be in fear and trembling and sore amazement by being bound and imprisoned by being harrassed and drag'd with cords of violence and rude hands by being quench'd in the brook in the way by being sought after like a theif and us'd like a sinner who wert the most holy and the most innocent cleaner then an Angel and brighter then the Morning-Star Lord what is man c. Blessed be thy Name O holy Jesus and
the Christian Common-wealth and the salvation of their own souls through Jesus Christ. Amen 9. For all estates of Men and Women in the Christian Church O Holy God King Eternal out of the infinite store-houses of thy grace and mercy give unto all Virgins chastity and a religious spirit to all persons dedicated to thee and to religion continence and meekness an active zeal and an unwearied spirit to all married paires faith and holiness to widows and fatherless an all that are oppressed thy patronage comfort and defence to all Christian women simplicity and modesty humility and chastity patience and charity give unto the poor to all that are robbed and spoiled of their goods a competent support and a contented spirit and a treasure in heaven hereafter give unto prisoners and captives to them that toil in the mines and row in the gallies strength of body and of spirit liberty and redemption comfort and restitution to all that travell by land thy Angel for their guide and a holy and prosperous return to all that travel by sea freedom from Pyrates and shipwrack and bring them to the Haven where they would be to distressed and scrupulous consciences to melancholy and disconsolate persons to all that are afflicted with evill and unclean spirits give a light from heaven great grace and proportionable comforts and timely deliverance give them patience and resignation let their sorrows be changed into grace and comfort and let the storm wast them certainly to the regions of rest and glory Lord God of mercy give to thy Martyrs Confessors and all thy persecuted constancy and prudence boldness and hope a full faith and a never failing charity To all who are condemned to death do thou minister comfort a strong a quiet and a resigned spirit take from them the fear of death and all remaining affections to sin and all imperfections of duty and cause them to die full of grace full of hope and give to all faithfull particularly to them who have recommēded themselves to the prayers of thy unworthy servant a supply of all their needs temporall and spirituall and according to their severall states and necessities rest and peace pardon and refreshment and shew us all a mercy in the day of judgment Amen Give O Lord to the magistrates equity sinceritie courage and prudence that they may protect the good defend religion and punish the wrong doers Give to the Nobilitie wisdom valour and loyaltie To Merchants justice and faithfulness to all Artificers and Labourers truth and honesty to our enemies forgiveness and brotherly kindness Preserve to us the heavens and the Ayre in healthful influence and disposition the Earth in plentie the kingdom in peace and good government our marriages in peace and sweetness and innocence of societie thy people from famine and pestilence our houses from burning and robbery our persons from being burnt alive from banishment prison from Widowhood destitution from violence of pains and passions from tempests and earth-quakes from inundation of waters from rebellion or invasion from impatience and inordinate cares from tediousness of spirit and despair from murder and all violent accursed and unusual deaths from the surprise of sudden and violent accidents from passionate and unreasonable fears from all thy wrath and from all our sins good Lord deliver and preserve thy servants for ever Amen Repress the violence of all implacable warring and tyrant Nations bring home unto thy fold all that are gone astray call into the Church all strangers increase the number and holyness of thy own people bring infants to ripeness of age and reason confirm all baptized people with thy grace and with thy Spirit instruct the novices and new Christians let a great grace and mercifull providence bring youthfull persons safely and holily through the indiscretions and passions and temptations of their younger years and those whom thou hast or shalt permit to live to the age of a man give competent strength and wisdom take from them covetousness and churlishness pride and impatience fill them full of devotion and charity repentance and sobriety holy thoughts and longing desires after Heaven and heavenly things give them a holy and a blessed death and to us all a joyfull resurrection through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Ad Sect. 10. The manner of using these devotions by way of preparation to the receiving the blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper The just preparation to this holy Feast consisting principally in a holy life and consequently in the repetation of the acts of all vertues and especially of Faith Repentance Charity and thanksgiving to the exercise of these four graces let the person that intends to communicate in the times set apart for his preparation and devotion for the exercise of his Faith recite the prayer or Letany of the passion For the exercise of Repentance the form of confession of sins with the prayer annexed And for the graces of thanksgiving charity let him use the speciall forms of prayer above described or if a less time can be allotted for preparatory devotion the two first will be the more proper as containing in them all the personal duty of the communicant To which upon the morning of that holy solemnity let him adde A prayer of preparation or address to the holy Sacrament An act of Love O Most gracious and eternall God the helper of the helpless the comforter of the comfortless the hope of the afflicted the bread of the hungry the drink of the thirsty and the Saviour of all them that wait upon thee I blesse and glorifie thy Name adore thy goodness and delight in thy love that thou hast once more given me the opportunity of receiving the greatest favour which I can receive in this World even the body and blood of my dearest Saviour O take from me all affection to sin or vanity let not my affections dwell below but soar upwards to the element of love to the seat of God to the Regions of Glory and the inheritance of Jesus that I may hunger and thirst for the bread of life and the wine of elect soules and may know no loves but the love of God and the most mercifull Jesus Amen An act of Desire O Blessed Jesus thou hast used many arts to save me thou hast given thy life to redeem me thy holy Spirit to sanctifie me thy self for my example thy Word for my Rule thy grace for my guide the fruit of thy body hanging on the tree of the cross for the sin of my soul and after all this thou hast sent thy Apostles Ministers of salvation to call me to importune me to constrain me to holiness and peace and felicity O now come Lord Jesus come quicly my heart is desirous of thy presence and thirsty of thy grace and would fain entertain thee not as a guest but as an inhabitant as the Lord of all my faculties Enter in and take possession and dwell with me for ever