may be at rest with thee hereafter both in the night of death when our bodies shall sleep in the grave and in the day of our resurrection when they shall awake 〈◊〉 judgment and both bodies and souls enjoy everlasting blisse These and all other good things which for our blindnesse we cannot ask vouchsafe to give us thine unworthy servants not for our sakes but for thy mercies sake and for thy Son our Saâ—…iour Jesus Christs sake in whom thou art well-pleased and in whom thou wast fully satisfied upon the Crosse for our sins who with thee and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth ever one God world without end Let thy mighty hand and out-stretched arm O Lord be still our defence thy mercie and loving kindnesse in Jesus Christ thy dear Son ouâ—… salvation thy true and holy word our instruction thy grace and holy Spirit our comfort consolation illumination and sanctification now and for ever Amen A Thanksgiving to be brought in to any or every one of them next before the Conclusion where the hand is placed ANd as we pray unto thee so we desire also to praise thee rendring unto thy Majestie upon the bended knees of our hearts all possible laud and thinksgiving for all thy mercies and favours spiritual and corporal temporal and eternal For that thou hast freely elected us to salvation from all eternity when thou hast passed by many millions of others both Men and Angels whereas we deserved to perish no lesse then they and thou mighâ—…est justly have chosen them and lest us for that thou hast created us Men and not Beasts in England not in AEthiopia or any other savage Nation in this clear and bright time of the Gospel not in the darknesse of Paganisme or Popery For thine unexpressible love in redeeming us out of Hell and from those unsufferable and endlesse torments by the pretious blood of thy dear Son who spared not himself that thou mightest spare us For calling us home to thee by the Ministry of thy Word and the work of thy good Spiriâ—… For the long continuance of thy Gospel with us the best of blessings For sparing us so long and giving us so large a time of repentance For justifying and in some measure sanctifying us and giving us ground for assured hope of being glorified in thy heavenly Kingdom For preserving us from so infinite many perils and dangers which might easily have befalne us every day to the taking away of either our estates our limbs or our lives For so plentifully and graciously blessing us all our life long with many and manifold good things both for necessity and delight For peace of conscience and content of minde For our health wealth limbs senses food raiment liberty prosperity For thy great mercie in correcting us and turning thy corrections to our good For preserving us in the night past from all dangers of body and soul and for infinite more mercies of which we could not well want any one and which are all greatned by being bestowed upon us who were so unworthy and have been so ungrateful for the same O that we could answer thee in our thankfulnesse and obedient walking one for a thousand Neither are we unmindful of those national blessings which thou hast vouchsafed unto our Land in general as namely that deliverance from the Spanish Invasion in 88 and from that divelish design of the Gunpowder-Treason for preserving us from the noisome and devouring Plague and Pestilence Lord grant that our great unthankfulnesse for these thy mercies may not cause thee to deliver us into the hands of our enemies and although we have justly thereby deserved the same yet we beseech thee give us not up unto their wills neither suffer Popery ever to bear rule over us nor thy blessed Word and Sacraments to be taken away from us but continue them unto us and to our posterity after us if it be thy good pleasure untill the coming of thy Christ. Babes that are inexpert in the Word of righteousnesse use milk but strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age Heb. 5. 13 14.
thou and thy money perish Thou wouldest go the naturall Way to work What shall I do to inherit eternall life but it is impossible to inherit it by any thing that wee can do for all our righteousnesses are as filthy ragges Isa. 64. 6. Yea if our doings could have done it Christ dyed in vain whereas if Christ had not died wee had perished every mothers child of us 1 Cor. 15. 22. and 2 Cor. 5. 14 15. Ephes. 2. 1. Colos. 2. 13. Ezek. 18. 4. Job 11. 50. Rom. 5. 6. 8. and 14. 9. 1 Cor. 15. 3. Matth. 18. 11. O fool dost thou not know that our sins are his sins and his righteousness our righteousness Jer. 23. 6. Psal. 4. 1. and that God esteems of Faith above all other graces deeds or acts of thine as what did our Saviour answer when the people asked him What shall wee do that wee might work the works of God The work of God is that yee beleeve on him whom hee hath sent Joh. 6. 28 29. and yet thou talkest of thy worthiness and thou takest this for humility too but it is pride for if thou wouldest deny thy self and bee nothing in thine own eyes renounce thine own righteousness and wholly and onely rest on thy Saviour Jesus Christ for thy salvation thou wouldest not hope the more in regard of thine own worthiness nor yet doubt in respect of thine own unworthiness But thou wouldest first bee worthy and deserve of God and then accept of Christ and deserve Christ at Gods hands by thy good works and graces which pride of thine and opinion of merit is a greater sin then all thy other sins which thou complainest of and except you do abandon it and wholly râ—…ly upon the grace and free mercy of God for salvation Christ shall profit you nothing Gal. 2. 16. and 5. 1. to 7. Colos. 3. 11. for nothing is available to salvation but faith which worketh by love Gal. 5. 6. whence it is called righteousness through faith ver 5. Faith is the staffe whereupon wee stay our selvs in life and death by saith wee are blessed Gal. 3. 9. by faith wee rejoice in tribulation Rom. 5. 2. by faith wee have access unto God Ephes. 3. 12. by faith we overcome the world 1 Joh. 5. 4. the flesh Gal. 5. 24. and this is the shield whereby wee quench the fiery darts of Satan and resist his power Ephes. 6. 16. Yea whosoever seeks to bee justified by the Law they are abolished from Christ and â—…aln from grace Gal 5. 4. Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and bee not tangled again with the yoke of bondage And say Lord wee are not worthy to bee servants and thou makest us sons nay heirs and co-heirs with thee of everlasting glory Objection I grant the Lord is mercifull and gracious slow to anger and abundant in goodness and truth forgiving iniquity transgression and sin but hee is just aswell as mercifull and therefore hee will not acquit the wicked Exod. 34. 6. 7. but reward them according to their works Revel 20. 12. 13. and 22. 12. Answer Hee will therefore pardon all thy sins if thou unfainedly â—…pent and wholly rely upon Christ for thy salvation by a lively saith because hee is just for as the Lord cannot in justice let sin go unpunished for the wages of sin is death Rom. 6. 23. Death in the person if not in the surety and therefore hath punished the sins of all men either in his Son or will throughly punish them in the parties themselvs so the same justice will not admit that the same fins should be twice punished once in our Saviour and again in the faithful or that a debt once paid should be required the second time 1 Joh. 1. 9. Now that Christ hath sufficiently satisfied for all the sins of the faithful and paid our debt even to the utmost farthing it is evident by many places of Scripture as Isa. 53. 4. 5. 2 Cor. 5. 21. Heb. 9. 26. 1 Pet. 2. 24. Rom. 3. 25. 26. 1 Joh. 1. 7. 9. and sundry others Are we bound to perform perfect obedience to the Law hee performed it for us were wee for disobedience subject to the sentence of condemnation the curse of the Law and death of body and soul hee was condemned for us and bore the curse of the law hee died in our stead an ignominious death did wee deserve the anger of God hee indured his fathers wrathfull displeasure that so he might reconcile us to his father and set us at liberty Hee that deserved no sorrow felt much that wee who deserved much might feel none and by his wounds wee are healed Isa. 53. 5. Adam eat the Apple Christ paid the price In a word whatsoever wee owed Christ discharged whatsoever we deserved he suffered if not in the self same punishments for hee being God could not suffer the eternall torments of Hell yet in proportion the dignity of his person being God and Man giving value unto his temporary punishments and making them of more value and worth than if all the world should have suffered the eternall torments of Hell for it is more for one that is eternall to die than for others to die eternall Therefore was the Son of God made the Son of man that the Sons of men might bee made the Sons of God and therefore was hee both God and man lest being in every respect God he had been too great to suffer for man or being in every respect man hee had been too weak to satisfie God Seeing therefore our Saviour Christ hath fully discharged our debt and made full satisfaction to his Fathers justice God cannot in equity exact of us a second paiment no more than the Creditor may justly require that his debt should bee twice paid once by the Surety and again by the Principall Again secondly it is the Lords Covenant made with his Church and committed to writing Jer. 31. 34. Heb. 10. 16 17. Psal. 32. 10 Isa. 55. 7. Ezek. 18. 21 22 23. and 33. 11. Mal. 3. 17. Confirmed and ratified by his seals the Sacraments together with his Oath that there might be no place left for doubting for God willing more abundantly to shew unto the Heirs of promise the stableness of his counsell bound himself by an oath that by two immutable things wherein it is impossible that God should lie we might have strong consolation as the Apostle speaks Heb. 6. 17. 18. And â—…est the affâ—…icted conscience should object that hee entred into covenant and made these promises to the Prophets Apostles and holy men of God but not to such hainous and rebellious sinners who have most justly deserved that God should pour out upon them the Vialls of his wrath and those fearfull punishments threatned in the Law All the promises made in the Gospel are generall indefinite and universall excluding none that turn from their fins by unfained repentance and beleeve in Christ
then conquerours through him that loved us and so goeth on even to a challenge of our worst enemies Death Angels Principalities and Powers things present and to come height depth and what other creature besides should stand in opposition What voluminous waves be here for number and Power and terrour yet they shall not separate the Ark from Christ nor a soul from the Ark nor a body from the soul nor an hair from the body to do us hurt What saith David Mark the upright man and behold the just for the end of that man is peace Psal. 37. 37. Mark him in his setting out he hath many oppositions mark him in the journey he is full of tribulations but mark him in the conclusion and the end of that man is peace In Christ all things are ours 1 Cor. 3. 22. How is that Why we have all things because we have the Haver of all things And if we love Christ all things work together for our good yea for the best Rom. 8. 28. And if all things quoth Luther then even sin it self And indeed how many have we known the better for their sin Mary Magdalen had never loved so much if she had not so much sinned had not the incestuous person sinned so notoriously he had never been so happy God took the advantage of his humiliation for his conversion Had not one foot slipt into the mouth of Hell he had never been in this forwardness to Heaven Sin first wrought sorrow saith Saint Augustine and now godly sorrow kills sin the daughter destroyes the mother neither do our own sins onely advantage us but other mens sins work for our good also Objection But may some say Can any good come out of such a Nazarite Answer Yes The advantage we have by Christ is more then the loss we had by Adam If Arrius had not held a Trinity of Substances with a Trinity of Persons and Sabellius an Unity of Persons with an Unity of Essences the Mysteries of the Trinity had not been so clearly explâ—…ned by those great Lights of the Church If Rome had not so violently obtruded her Merits the doctrine of Justification onely by faith in Christ might have been less digested into mens hearts We may say here as Saint Augustine doth of Carthage and Rome if some enemies had not contested against the Church it might have gone worse with the Church Lastly suppose our enemies should kil us they shall not hurt but pleasure 〈◊〉 yea even death it self shall work our good That Red-sea shall put us over to the Land of Promise and we shall say to the praise of God we are delivered we are the better for our enemies the better for our sins the better for death yea better for the Davil and to think otherwise even for the present were not onely to derogate from the wisdom power and goodness of God but it would be against reason for in reason if he hath vouchsafed us that great mercy to make us his own he hath given the whole army of afflictions a more inviolable charge concerning us then David gave his Host concerning Absalom See ye do the youngman my son Absalom no harm Now if for the present thou lackest faith patience wisdom and true judgement how to bear and make this gain of the cross Ask it of God who giveth to all men liberally and reproacheâ—…h no man and it shall be given thee Jam. 1. 5. For every good giving and every perfect gift is from above and commeth down from the Father of lights Verse 17. 6 use 6 Sixthly for this point calling more for practice then proof it behoves us to be larger here briefer there If that which is one mans meat proves another mans poison let it be acknowledged that the fault is not in the meat but in the stomach and that it is the wickedness of our hearts want of a sincere endevour to make good use of Gods corrections which causeth him to withdraw his blessing from them Wherefore let it provoke us as we love our selves as we love our souls through all the transitory temporary moment any passages of this World first to strive after and then to preserve the life of our lives and soul of our souls sincerity and integrity Again if afflictions which are in their own nature evil and unto others strong temptations to sin by the goodness of God do make so much for our advantage and benefit here and hereafter If our Heavenly Father turns all things even the malice of Satan and wicked men yea our own sins to our good Rom. 8. 28. If for our sakes and for his Names sake he even changeth the nature and property of each creature rather then they shall hurt us as it is the nature and property of fire to burn yet that vehement fire in Nebuchadnezzars Furnace did not burn the three servants of God It is proper to the Sea to drown those that be cast into it yet it did not drown the Prophet in the very depth of it It is proper for hungry ravenous Lions to kill and devoure yet they did Daniel no harm And the like when we need their help It is proper for the Sun to move yet it stood still at the prayer of Joshua proper for it to go from East to West yet for Hezekiahs confirmation it went from West to East It is proper for Iron to sink in the water yet it swom when the children of the Prophets 〈◊〉 need of it In like manner It is proper for affliction to harden and 〈◊〉 worse as well as for riches and prosperity to ensnare But as some Simples are by Art made medicinable which are by nature poisonable So afflictions which are in nature destructive by grace become preservative And as evil waters when the Unicorns born hath been in them are no longer poisonable but healthful or as a Wasp when her sting is out may awaken us by buzzing but cannot hurt us by stinging so fares it with affliction when God pleaseth to sanctifie the same as he doth to all that love him Rom. 8. 28. For of God it is without thanks to Affliction or our selves or our sins that we are bettered by them All the work is thine let thine be the glory But lastly for though we can never be thankful enough for this yet this is not all that we should finde him a Saviour whom our enemies sinde a just revenger That we should be loosed from the chains of our sins and they delivered into the chains of Plagues That the same Christ should with his precious blood free us that shall with his Word sentence them Again if we were by nature the Seed of the Serpent children of the Devil and Subjects to that Prince which ruleth in the air even that spirit which now worketh in the children of disobedience Ephes. 2. 2. We may learn by it to be humble and thankful if changed to be the womans seed children of God and members of Christ
favourably with thee touching thy naturall death hee is mercifull if not thou must not think him unjust Though the Devill and the world can hurt us aswell as other men in our outward and bodily estates as the Devill had power over Job in his Ulcers over his children in their death over Mary Magdalen that was possessed and over that daughter of Abrahams Luk 13. whom hee kept bound 18. years ver 16. yet they can do us no hurt nor indanger our souls they shall lose nothing but their dross as in Zachary 13. 9. Isa. 12. Let them sluce out our blood our souls they cannot so much as strike let wild beasts tear the body from the soul yet neither body nor soul are thereby severed from Christ. Yea they can neither deprive us of our spirituall treasure here nor eternall hereafter which makes our Saviour say Fear yee not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in Helt Matth. 10. 28. The body is but the Bark Cabinet Case or Instrument of the soul and say it falls in pieces there is but a pitcher broken the soul a glorious Ruby held more fit to bee set in the crown of glory than here to bee troden under foot by dirtie swine and therefore so soon as separated the Angels convey her hence to the place of everlasting bliss Alas what can they do they cannot separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus Rom 8. 38. 39. Yea they are so far from doing us harm as that contrariwise wee are much the better for them In all these these things wee are more than conquerours through him that loved us ver 37. Whatsoever then becoms of goods or lives happie are wee so long as like wise Souldiers wee guard the vitall parts while the soul is kept sound from impatience from distrust c. Our enemie may afflict us hee cannot hurt us Objection Nevertheless that which I suffer is exceeding grievous Answer Not so grievous as it might have been for hee that hath afflicted thee for a time could have held thee longer hee that toucheth thee in part could have stricken thee in whole hee that laid this upon thy body hath power to lay a greater Rod both upon thy body and soul. Again there is no chastisement not grievous the bone that was dis-jointed cannot bee set right without pain no potion can cure us if it work not and it works not except it make us sick Nay my very disease is not so painfull for the time as my remedy how doth it turn the stomack and wring the in trails and work a worse distemper than that whereof I formerly complained neither could it bee so wholesome if it were less unpleasing neither could it make mee whole if it did not first make mee sick But wee are contented with that sickness which is the way to health There is a vexation without hurt such is this wee are afflicted not overpressed needy not desperate persecuted not forsaken caâ—…t down but perish not how should wee when all the evill in a City coms from the providence of a good God which can neither bee impotent nor unme cifull It is the Lord let him do what hee will Woe worth us if evills could come by chance or were let loose to light where they lâ—…st now they are over-ruled wee are safe In the name of God then let not the tall stature of the Anakims nor the combination of the Edomites nor the politick counsels of all the Achitopels and Machivillians nor the proud looks not the big words of all the Amaziahs combining themselvs together deter or dismay you Let not the over-topping growth of the sons of Zerviah seem too hard for you for God is infinitely more strong and mighty to save us than all our enemies are todestroy us and he hath his Oar in their Boat he hath a speciall stroke in all actions whatsoever and can easily over-reach and make stark fools of the wisest by making their own counsels and endeavours like Hushai's to overthrow those intentions which they seem to support As touching the continuance of afflictions God so ordereth and tempereth the same in his merciful wisdom that either they be tolerable or short either our sorrows shall not be violent or they shal not last if they be not light they shal not be long grievous and sore trialls last but for a season Pet. 1. 6. A little while Joh. 16. 16. Yea but a moment 2 Cor. 4. 17. Hee endureth but a while in his anger saith the Psalmist but in his favour is life weeping may abide for a night but joy cometh in the morning Psal. 30. 5. And this had hee good experience of for if we mark it all those Psalms whose first lines contain sighs and broken complaints do end with delight and contentment he began them in fear but they end in joy you shal see terrible anguish fitting in the door irremediable sorrow looking in at the window despair bordering in the margent and offering to creep into the text yet after a sharp conflict nothing appears but joy and comfort God loves to send relief when wee least look for it as Elisha sent to the King of Israel when he was rending his cloaths 2 Kings 5. 8. Hear what the Lord thy Redeemer saith by Isaiah For a moment in mine anger I hid my face from thee for a a little season but with everlasting mercy have I had compassion on thee Isa. 54. 8. It is but a little for a moment that his anger lasts his mercy is everlasting and I hid my face never turn'd my heart from thee Ioseph when hee lay down to sleep was full of care about his Wives being with child Matt. 1. 20. but hee awakened well satisfied ver 24 To day a measure of fine flower is lower rated in Samaria than yesterday of dung Although Christ's Star left the wise-men for a time yet instantly it appeared again and forsook them not till they had found Christ which was the mark they aimed at Matt. 2. 9. Afflictions are like running waters which make many grounds fruitfull but tarry with none of them Yea it is a rule in nature that violent things cannot last long The Philosophers could observe that no motion violent is wont to bee permanent and Seneca concludes That if the sickness bee tedious and lasting the paiâ—… is tolerable but if violent short and so of spirituall temptations the which were so vehement upon Luther that the very venom of them drank up his spirits and his body seemed dead so that neither speech sence blood or heat appeared in him but this sharp fit lasted but for one day so if wee suffer much it shall not bee long if wee suffer long it shall not bee much Some misery is like a Consumption gentle but of long continuance other like a Fever violent but soon over If our sorrows be long
when God said unto her My fury shall depart from thee I will bee quiet and no more angry Ezek 16. 42. Thus not to bee angry was the greatest anger of all Never were the Jews more to bee pitied than when their Prophet delivered these words from the Lord why should yee bee stricken any more Isa. 1. 5. Not to be afflicted is to be sorsaken And as the sick man is in small hope of his life when the Physitian giveth him over so his soul is in a desperare case whom God forbeareth to chastise for his sins As many there be who never knew what any sorrow meantâ—…nless it were such as Amnons such as Ahabs when they are crossed in their corruptions curbed in their lewd courses or restrained of their wicked wills But let them take it for a fearfull signe of som sore judgement to come Saint Ambrose Bishop of Millain as Paulinus relates took into a Rich mans house as hee travelled who that he might bid him throughly welcom entertained him both with great cheer and curteons discourses and amongst other matters told of his continued happiness and that hee never suffered any ill all his days but had all things as hee would and happiness so flowing in upon him that hee knew not what calamity meant which conference did so startle Saint Ambrose that presently hee took his leave telling his company that hee feared to stay in that place which never felt any disaster and was no sooner gon thence but suddenly the house fell down and proved a grave to all her inhabitants Polycrates King of the Samians never felt any ill all his life his hopes never fell short of his expectation he could not wish for the thing which was not fulfilled what hee willed hee did Yea having but once a Ring of excellent rarity that fell into the water this loss was recovered for the Fish was taken which had swallowed it and was presented to Polycratus but at length all this his happiness epilogized in a galloâ—…es None more happy than great Pompey all his life yet at last hee was made to drink his own blood by the hands of the Executioner Who but Andronicâ—…s Emperour of the East for many years but at length hee was see upon a scabbed Chamell with a Crown of Onions platted on his head and in great mockery carâ—…ed in triumph through the City And does nor sacred Writ certifie how Haman whose command ere while almost reached to Heaven was instantly adjudged by the King to the Gibbet while Mordecai who was condemned to the balter was all of a suddain made second in the Kingdom Nevertheless as Haman rejoiced in his preserment to the Queens Banquet which was the path way to his destruction so many think it the onely argument of Gods love and that they are in favour with him because they prosper in all their ways which would mâ—…e a wise man the more suspicious for as Seneca that wise Roman saith he that hath been longest happy shall at length have his portion of misery and who so seemeth to bee dismissed is but deferred And commonly their change is not more dolefull than sudden for as it often hapneth that in very fair weather a storm doth arise and as I have read of certain Trees which on Munday have been growing in the Forrest and before Sunday following under sail on the Sea so the same hour hath seen the knee bowing to the head and again the head stooping and doing reverence to the knee as every age gives instance for else I might muster up a multitude of examples for proof of the point Or in case it seems better yet it is worse with them when their life and happiness shall end together as it fared with Belshazzar who was sitting at a Feast merry while on a sudden Death came like a Voyder to take him away And Pope Adrian who when hee was to dye brake out into this expression Oh my soul whither art thou going thou shalt never bee merry again Neither are men of this world whose bellies God filleth with his hid treasure upon occasion of their outward prosperity onely apt to bee brought into a fools Paradise of thinking themselvs to bee the speciall darlings of God but even the godly themselvs have oftentimes their eyes so dazled with the outward glittering and flourishing estate of the wicked that thereupon they are ready to say of them The generation of Gods children as it fared with David Psal. 73. 15. But these are not sober thoughts yea they are rather the dreams of men drunk with the love of the World for although it bee as common a phrase as it is foolish when any great matter falls to a man O he is made yet experience proves that it rather marrs than makes him for not seldom do men possess riches as sick men do fevers which indeed rather possess them And certainly if riches were such pearls as most men esteem them it is not likely the Lord would cast them to suh Swine as mostly hee doth If such happy things hee would not throw them to such Dogs As what saith Luther of the whole Turkish Empire it is but a crum of bread which the master of the house throweth to his Dogs And the truth is what men think most pleasing viz. to have their wills and their lusts granted is most plaguing Psal. 81. 12. So I gave them up unto their own hearts lusts and they walked in their own counsels so that the greatest temtation is to bee without temtation and the greatest affliction not to be afflicted 2 Cor. 12. 7. Wherefore lift up your hands which hang down because of some sore affliction and your weak knees Heb. 12. 12. and know that the worst of temporall afflictions are an insufficient proof of divine displeasure yea that stripes from the Almighty are tokens of his love and seals of his Son-ship Yea fince hee that hath most grace commonly complains of most discomfort confess that the palate is but an ill Judge of the favours of God as it is in great love no doubt however it bee taken that the tender Father medicines his Child for the â—…orms gives him Aloâ—…s or the like the Child cries and sputters and keckes as if it were poisoned yet still the Fathers love is never the less say it be bitter yet bitter potions bring sweet health and who will not rather take a vomit then hazard life In the Sweating sickness in England their friends would stand by them and strike them over the faces with sprigs of Rosemary to keep them awake the poor souls faint and full of pain would cry out you kill mee but yet they must do it or else they kill'd them indeed for all that slept dyed Look wee saith Saint Ambrose with the eyes of our body upon Lazarus estate and wee think it miserable but if with the eyes of the mind it will bee otherwise for how did the Angels do by him but as Nurses are
other rebellions when we rightly consider them makes us even speechless like him in the Gospell as neither expecting mercy nor daring to ask it  Howbeit when wee call to mind thy manisold mercies shewed to Manasses Paul Mary Magdalen the Thief and the Prodigall Son with many others who were no less vile then wee and who notwithstanding found thee more ready to hear then they were to ask and to give above what they durst presume to beg wee stay our selves and receive some incouragement from the application of the merits of Christ Jesus which thou hast promised shall bee a sufficient satisfaction for all our sins and the rather for that then caâ—…est all that are weary and heavie laden with the burthen of their sins unto thee with promise that thou wilt ease them and hast promised that though our sins be as red as scarlet thou wilt make them white as snow and that thou wilt not the death of a sinner but that he turn from his wickedness and live and that if a sinner doth repent him of his sins from the bottom of his heart thou wilt blot out all his wickedness out of thy remembrance And lest wee should yet be discouraged thou who didst no less accept the will of David then the act of Solomon hast further promised that if there be but first a willing mind thou wilt accept of us according to that which we have and not according to that which wee bave not But forasmuch O Lord as thou knowest that is not in man to turn his own heart unless thou dost first give him grace to convert for thou O Lord must work in us both the will and the deed and being that it is as easie with thee to make us righteous and holy as to bid us bee such O our God give us ability and willingness to do what thou commandest and then command what thoâ—… wilt and thou shalt find us ready to do thy blessed will Wherefore give to us and increase in us all Christian graces that wee may know and believe and repent and amend and persevere in well doing Create in us O Lord a new heart and renew a right spirit within us take away from us our greedy desire of committing sin and enable us by the powerfull assistance of thy grace more willingly to obey thee in every of thy commandements then ever wee have the contrary Be favourable to thy people every where look down in much compassion upon thy Militant Church and every severall member thereof blesse it in all places with peace and truth hedge it about with thy providence defend it from the mischievous designs and attempts of â—…hine and her malitious enemie let thy Gospell go on and conquer maugre all opposition that Religion and uprightness of heart may bee highly set by with all and all prophaneness may be trod under foot More particularly be mercifull to this sinfull Land the civill Magistrates the painful Ministers the two Universities those people that sit yet in darkness all the afflicted members of thy Son Lord comfort the comfortless strengthen the weak bind up the broken hearted make the bed of the sick be a father to the fatherless and Yea let thy Spirit bear such rule in every one of our hearts that neither Satan that forrain enemy and roaring Lyon which seeketh to devour us may invade us nor our own concupiscence that home-bred traytor may by conspiring with the world work the ruine and overthrow of our poor souls but that all our wills which have been altogether rebellious our hearts which have been the receptacles of unclean spirits our affections which are altogether carnall may be wholyframed according to thy holy heavenly will and that we may the better know how to avoyd the evill and do the good let thy word as a light discover unto us all the sleights and snares of our spirituall adversaries yea make it unto us as the Star which led unto Christ and thy benefits like the Pillar which brought to the Land of Promise and an husband to the widdow cloath the naked feed the hungry visit the prisoners relieve the oppressed sanctifie unto them all their afflictions and turn all things to the best to them that fear thee thy Cross like the Messenger that compelled guests unto the Banquet Prosper the Armies that fight thy battells and shew a difference between thy servants and thine enemies as thou did'st between the Israelites and the Egyptians that the one may bee confirmed and the other reclaimed Give us O Lord to consider that although sin in the beginning seem never so sweet unto us yet in the end it will prove the bane and ruine both of body and soul and so assist us with thy grace that wee may willingly part with our right eyes of pleasure and our right hands of profit rather then sin against thee and wrong our own consciences considering that it would bee an hard bargain for us to win the whole world and lose our own souls These Blesse preserve and keep us from all the temptations of Satan the world and our wicked hearts from pride that Lucifer-like sin which is the fore-runner of destruction considering that thou resistest the proud and givest grace to the humble from covetousnesse which is the root of all evil being taught out of thy word that the love of money hath caused many to fall into diverse temptations and snares which drown them in perdition and destruction from cruelty that infernal evil of which thou hast said that there shall be judgment mercilesse to him that sheweth not mercie from hypocrisie that sin with two faces whose reward is double damnation and the rather because wickednesse doth most rankle the heart when it is kept in and dissembled and for that in all the Scriptures we read not of an hypocrites repentance from whoredom which is a sin against a man's own body and the most inexcusable considering the remedy which thou hast appointed against it for the punishment whereof the Law ordained death and the Gospel excludeth from the Kingdom of Heaven from prophanation of thyday considering thou hast said that whosoever  sanctifieth it not shall bee cut off from thy people and did'st command that he should be stoned to death who only gathered a sew sticks on that day from swearing which is the language of hell considering that because of oaths the Land doth mourn and thou hast threatned that thy curse shall never depart from the house of the swearer from drunkenness that monster with many heads and worse than beast like sin which in thy Word hath many fearfull woes denounced against it and the rather for that it is a sin like the pit of Hell out of which there is small hope of redemption  Finally O Lord give us strength to resist temptation patience to endure affliction and constancie to persevere unto the end in thy truth that so having passed our pilgrimage here according to thy will we