preuailed vpon the earth and broughte into subiection not onely the most vnfaithfull very reiectes and wicked caste awayes from thy fauour who being but earthly set their whole felicitie vppon earthly things but euen the very professors also of thy moste holy and blessed religion For in all estates and degrées from the most to the least from the highest to the lowest all are defiled therewith al bend their wittes moste gracelesly and inordinately to vnsatiable couetousnesse excéeding farre the limits of necessitie scraping gathering togither as the children of diffidence very worldlings contrary to the lawe of nature coÌ„trary to the law of charitie or christen holinesse and puritie whether by righte or by wrong by hooke by crooke by extortion by oppression by flattery by periury sorcery vsury bribery simony priuy coÌ„spiracy against town citie prince and the whole countrey greedie of vengeance yea by what meanes so euer it be oft by most wilful consent to murther whether of others or through indigence lacke of sufficiencie or by some sinister stroke of fortune desperately destroy themselues Such are our willes to wickednes o lord that being voide of thy grace we sink déepely into al abhomination are altogither without moderation or stay of our appetites affectionately grubbing for more more til death cut vs short till our mouths be filled with grauel or til we heape vp as the Prophet saith thick clay against our selues feling the iustice of the rightuous god froÌ„ whome we are fled and haue putte oure only affiaunce in wicked and vaine filthie Mammon To the end therfore O moste louing God we may in thée be better staide oure liues in thy feare more aptly framed and oure faultie faithes more christianly reformed graunte that by thy woorde we may truly know thée obey thy wil put our only trust in thée loue thée as our god of mercie and reuerence thée as our Lorde of iustice Graunte vnto vs the influence of thine heaueÌ„ly grace that our gracelesse indurate and moste barraine hartes being thus bewitched and hardned by the diuel may he by thée moste gratiously reformed frutefully tempered déepely indued thorowly softened sowen with thy celestiall séedes well harrowed rowed and made truely profitablé that thy holy Church may thereby be spéedely purged of this very present and moste pestilent infection nowe raigning with outrage ouer all the world Wherof bicause our liues standeth not in the abundance of these vanities which we héer possesse thy sonne Christ left straighte charge vnto vs the professoures of his name in any wise to beware of Couetousnesse Roote out therefore we pray thée O God from oure hartes oure vnsatiable and gréedie desires O incline oure hartes vnto thy testimonies and not to couetousenesse but yéelding to thy will with contented mindes in oure calling we may in all our necessities cast gladly our cares vpon thy back that art truly rich almightie a readie helper very mindeful and merciful vnto vs for oure sufficient relieuement and to further therby thy glory Prepare vs to be charitable frée harted and liberall to haue in vs the bowels of compassion to be pitiful alwayes to the poore to yéeld to sufficiencie too neither riches nor pouertie to remember we nakedly entred this world that we shall cary nothing oute of this world that we muste forsake the worlde for it will forsake vs away néedes we muste we are heere but strangers our yeares are but few our calling sodain death tarieth not death spareth not death aresteth our reckening muste be made oure iudge is iust our witnesse is true oure sentence is determined oure place appointed our rewarde prepared and moste preciously purchased O heauenly father for thine holy electe obedient children by the only death and bloud shed of thy son our deare Lord sauior Iesus Christ Amen XIII Against Adultrie and Whoredome FOrasmuche O eternal God as thou only arte moste rightuous pure holy vndefiled and abhorrest from thine harte the stinking sin of lust adultry whoredom fornication such like and requirest also of vs in the .vij. precept that in our liues conuersation we be like vnto thée in all puritie holinesse and in any wise not to defile or once spot our selues with the attempts of vnlawful lustes or wantonnesse but constantly hold kéep fast the integritie of oure faithfull promisse made vnto thée our onely Lorde God bothe in the calling of our sole liues and in the holy state also of matrimonie which in the sighte of thée is very honourable of highe perfection and great excellencie and is amongste men in thy holy Churche as it were the louely fountaine or wel spring of good life not only in the beautifying of them selues thorow their own clerenesse in chastitie but floweth forthe also by example doctrine with moste swéete taste to their owne beloued offspring and familie and to the apt seasoning likewise of the single and vnmaryed sorte we most humblye beséeche thée to take from vs in our weakenesse and frailty the violent power of fleshe and bloude and to quenche in vs continually the raging lustes of oure vncleane sinful bodies which inwardly moueth violently stirreth striueth woundeth inflameth burneth altereth sore the body amaseth the minde spoileth the senses maketh menne mad or turneth the vnwise of the worlde quite beside their wittes O God that art maker of all makind thou séest all things thou beholdest al our doings thou knowest the affections of our hartes and howe by nature we are naturally enclined to suche euill and giuen to féele in our weakenesse the smarts of oure infections boyling soming fumes of the fickle and fraile fleshe and stirred daily therby to greate abhominations and filthinesse to hasten vpon our selues the heat of thy furious and fierce vengeance because we haue vowed as thou haste commaunded suche euils to be eschued and none adulterie or the syke vnclennesse to be commicted for as thou O Lordo haste called vs so haue we yéelded to thy cal and promised thée to walke before thée in puritie and holyuesse of life being made of many members one body and one spirite with thée and therefore from the harte to abhorre all vnclennesse and not to be defiled made the members of an harlot for we know that no fornicator filthie adulteror whoremonger abuser of himselfe with mankinde no vncleane person nor weakeling shal inherite thine heauenly kingdome O father of all merey and grace let not the desues then of suche corruption and vurlenlinesse faston their roote of death vppon vs neither to be giuen ouer to an vnshamefast and obstinate minde flying from thy holy will in our profession contemning the act â—â—…table countels of the godly or also neglecte the terrible exaÌ„ples of thy iustice a written for our learning and to print with faith in memone that for suche abhomination and wickednesse thou haste plaged the ear the The olde worlde was drouned the Sodomites the
merites eyther their most damnable and idolatrous deuised vanities 9 Whether thou thynkest it not the Dyuels bewytchyng by his maligne mimsters to bee depriued of so pious and precious a prepared raunsome 10 Whether thou at the receyuing of the holy mysteries of Christes body and bloud vnderstandest them to bee his owne only ordinance for the vse of his holy churche and to bee witnesses therein of the open and publike confession of the true saithe whiche thou haste in him and to be saued onely by his bodilye death and the bloudy sacrifice vppon the Crosse once for all offered vnto God his heauenly father for thine for mine for al the sinnes of the whole worlde euen so many as haue this acceptable saithe of God in them 11 Whether thou haue regarded by the word of God touching the Sacrament of Christes body and bloud the difference therin betwixt the Diuelles faith and thine either the saithe of an Hipocritishe and dampnable reprobate 12 Whether thou hast by true saithe repugned the Deuill who boldely chalēgeth thee as he thinketh he may be bolde and maketh equall compart son with thee of thy saithe touching simplie the confession of Christe as of his Conception by the holy Ghost of his Natiuitie and birth of the virgine Marie to be also the Sonne of God liued perfecte and vndefiled man vppon the earthe his doings to be onely omnipotent most miraculous wonderfull suffered most sharpe and cruell death was buryed rose againe ascended into the heauens verie God and very man yea and of his retourne also againe vnto iudgement All these things the Diuels beleeue and confesse with thee but yet vtterly vnperswaded to be his onely sufficient sauioure and redeemer by his precious bloude shedde and deathe euen as those saithlesse wickednesse which in theyr vnsoundnesse stubbornesse vnstayednesse touching the couenant of God in his sonne Christe for their saluation accompt the price of his precious bloud to be insafficient for them withoute the very absurde and most fond annexing of their owne and other mennes merites and so to make Christe vnto them selues to be at the moste but a mingled peeced botched and patched Sauioure 13 Whether thou hast on this maner folowing considered of Sathans chalenge and comparison with thee and sayde thus vnto hym in the secrecies of thy faithfull soule for thy defence O thou very mortal most cruel and damned enemie I vnfaynedly from myne hart defie thee I withstande thee to the face thou hast naught to doo with me or to make suche comparisous with mee in my christen and most holy profession I know full wel thy malice and stoutnesse which hath ben in thee from the beginning bothe agaynste the annoynted of God and all his Experiēce teacheth me of thy not slumbring of thy wandring about and seeking watchefully to deuoure and to spoyle mee of my faith wherby I must be saued I tell thee thou most wicked one thy trauell is all in vayn I am none of thyne nor nothing inclined to thyne affection or motions I am Gods I tell thee and the perswaded childe of God by his spirit of truth who by grace possessing me and by his power mightily working in mee hath moste graciously planted in my harte the frutefull tree of pictie of true and perfect fayth fast roted in me deply stayed and surely setled euen with the finger of god my father touching the dignitie price and true estimation of his sonne and mine onely sauiours most preciouse body for mine only health and eternal saluatiō And though I haue falne or fainted as traiterously thou hast tripped me yet of frailtie haue J falne not wilfully of malice as thou haste most maliciously tempted me which God hath seene in me in mercy therfore hath raised me vp ageyne and wil stil vpholde me in spite of thee Art thou ignorant of this thou griseled and foule helly monster that I am not such a one as thou art or as thou woldest haue mee to bee doubtefull of my faythe as the wicked are to leaue the freedome of Gods spirite and to bee entangled agayne in thine infernall filthy bands Thinkest thou that I beeyng nowe called to the lighte and knowledge of the sweete woorde of life whereof I haue truely tasted and haue in detestation mine olde conuersation will be newly agayne deceiued offer to approche eyther once nibble or smell to thy beslubbered brackishe and most filthy embrued baytes Notest thou me of suche slipperinesse that hauyng farre entraunce in the spirite and feele the incomparable ioyes therof that I will nowe ende in the greefes and sorrowes of the fleshe to sette so lyttle by the Kyngdome of Iesus Chryste that taking holde of the Plough will now looke backe agayne to bee as a Dogge and to returne agayne to my vomite or as a beastely Swyne to beraye my selfe agayne in the myre to defourme the Image of God and to defile his holy Temple No no Sathan thou arte deceiued I tell thee truely for thy discouragemente I am now better schooled well armed and better warned to let thee goe for naughte Knowest thou not that I haue put vppon me to endure for euer my Lorde and God my Chryste and Sauioure Art thou forgetfull O thou enemie that I in true faythe professing his name and receyuing woorthily hys bolye and most blessed Sacraments by the onely rule of his word am armed ouer all with his only healthful and most mercifull merites to strengthen me mightily ageinst thee who is made mine with all that he hathe and I am onely hys hoth body and soule one bodye wyth him fleshe of his fleshe and bone of his bones Ah Sathan this certeinty and truth in faith considered wastefull are thy wretched wandringes and wylye waightings to wreck and vex my soul Away from me away J say thou cursed and spightfull spirite or stay if thou lust to offer boldly vnto mee as thou darest thy very blashlesse and bragge attempts of malignitie I yet tell thee they shall not hurt me neither do I any thing esteeme thee J regard not thy force J feare not thy fury The Lorde is my God he is the God of my strēgth and considence thou hast of thy selfe no powre at all ageinst me For what so euer thou attempteste or seekest to performe therin to thy wil thou wantest powre But that which thou doest is by his onely omnipotent hande and sufferaunce that is my God whose waight and mightinesse thy broosed braines hath selte to make thee stonpe for euer to hamper thee at his will to thine owne irons to ouer throwe thee soone in thine owne tourne and to blowe thee backewarde at will euen with the breath of his mouth into the bailesse and deepe botomelesse pitte whose bonde slaue thou art and a drudge enforced and in thine outrage by his permission a knowne peerelesse paricide a very restlesse pitilesse and most gracelesse raunging roge the only ring leader and infectuouse ranke roote of all reproch
great glory as thou sholdest confesse is ascended on high and sitteth with almightinesse power and maiestie on the right hand of his heauenly father with open and fresh bleeding wounds the many fest marks impressions before him for euer of the purchased most preciouse redeemed inheritance euen for thee most notoriouse and deadly sinner by the secrete testimonie of thine owne conscience These things such like of thee thus christenly considered thou mayest bee bold with thy most merciful and louing god But yet agayne I say vnto thee hold thee sure vnto thy sauiour christ swarue not frō him nor frō the vertue of his onely merites wherby thou must be onely saued Cleaue then close to the rocke of assurance leane to no loose nor sandie safetie Trust not to the rottennesse of our humane deuises labour not to languish in a maze of vncertaintie Bemoyle not thy selfe in suche myre of mortalitie and shun soone such shoures as wil wrecke thy soules fidelitie Then cry as J sayd and ceasse not to craue pardon of God thy father in his sonne name ' Doubte not of thy sute what so euer it be for it shal by good motiō be so vpright so reasonable so acceptable before him and allowable and shal touch therwith so neere the tendernesse of his mercy his truthe and fidelitie that of necessitie graunt muste bee made vnto thee he wil not denie thee the requests of thy lippes yea he will so graciously tender thee that foreseing thy cause of inwarde complaynte he wyll prepare quickely thine heart most faithfully to call vpon him Beleeue therfore faithfully trust of assurance and thou shalte surely obteine thy desire with greate mercy and fanour at his holy hande Thy sinnes shal not be imputed vnto thee thou shalte bee blessed and righteouse in the sighte of God all the dayes of thy life so happily shall thine hart be prepared so mightily shal thy prayers preuayle for thee they will forcibly pearce the celestiall and high heauens approche neare to the onely throne of grace and maiestie cry incessantly for thee will not returne from the presence of God nor once be satisfied before the full graunt of their humble sute for thy sauing health and cōmoditie To conclude in all thy godly attemptes whether in praying fasting geuing of Almes frequenting the holy Sacramentes or rendering moste hartie thankes vnto God for his infinite Mercies Graces Blessinges and Benefites bestowed vppon thee and vppon his whole Churche from the beginning vntill this present day and what soeuer in holinesse thou commendest daily vnto him let it always be done vprightly orderly with christian comelynesse and modestie with peace of conscience faithfully constantly cherefully and in charity as the only worde of God moste straitely byndeth thee Which I pray to God may clerely shine into thee by the power of his holy spirite who quicken thee this day to morow and for euer and kindle in thee towardes him the firie flames of his true loue throughe his sonne Chryst Iesus who speedely graunt thee the same signement of his holy hand and satisfie thee with inward ioy in all thy moste lowefull and diuine desires Amen FINIS A deuout meditation of the godly Christian with a briefe Confession and Prayer WHen I O heauenly father thorowe the glorie of thine only eternal gracs am euē in the middest of many muses lamentable mournings déepe sighings and inwarde monings to my self most happily stirred to the due consideration of my self and in what perillous state I euer stande here in this wretched worlde how in the breuity therof I am compassed with many miseries with greuous plagues and punishmentes with dreadful calamities perilles and dangers with diuers maladies sicknesses aand infirmities bothe of body and mind how by the mighty power also pollicie of mine ancient and most deadly enimy the olde subtile serpent this deceitful vaine world as also mine own weaknes corruption apte inclination most vile subiection to sinne I am daily assaulted and tempted to sinne and in cōmitting sinne become the seruant of sin must acordingly looke for death the iuste reward of sinne bicause diuersly therwith and damnably through disobedience the breach of thy law in thought word and déede I haue and do most gréeuously offend the will of thy Maiestie and am become thereby a very Sathanist the childe of the diuel to hasten thy furies vpon mée that he shuld vse his tirānie against me for so witnesseth by accusation my wounded conscience whereby my soule is daylie dysquieted sore clogged gretly destled maruelously amased made monstruouse before thée and hated of thée wherevnto my freedom and innocencie being lost of my owne concupiscence am accustomably blinded drawne and entised and by the malice thereof both vnderstanding heart and wil are holden captiue and in deadelie slauery to the diuel the only author and beginner of all euell concupiscence and sinne By which occastō in stead of healthsome and profitable thinges I ofte desire very noysome most pernitious and hurtfull things And my soule also which in the excellencie therof through reason and the vprightnesse of the inward man should beare the beauty of thy heauenly and most glorious ymage in perfect puritie and innocencie through the corruption therof is sowly deformed and sore blemished and made accordingly his euill fauoured most filthy image and so woorthily by thy iustice shaken off and caste from the presence of thy deitie So that héereby O Lord thou hast yet by the continuance of thy grace moued me to consider that if thy mercies did not abounde vppon me or that thy gratious fauoure should nowe or at any time in this most deadly plight vtterly forsake me and not rather cōfortably with spéedy and most swift sway turne againe towardes me and bring therwith from thine heauenly presence the distilling moystures and large flowing streames of thy celestiall dewe plentifully drawne from the swéete fountains of my sauioure to refresh comfort make whole againe clense beautifie my very leprous moste sinneful and sicke soule and of thy méere mercie to reduce hir to hir pristinate former state my case should be most miserable my bands shuld be indissoluble I shoulde become a cursed reiect remain a fire brand of hell for euer But as thy loue O Lord is vnspeakeable and thy fatherly mercie toward me infinite which willest not the deathe of a sinner but rather he should fourne from his wickednesse and liue and offrest him time and space to repēt and amende so haste thou now in mercie remembred me looked back againe vpon me cheared and comforted me encreased true faithe in me thy spirit hath renued me stirred me to call moste humbly vnto thée set me frée from the ennemie pitied my soules deformitie prepared the most healthful remedie for the bloud of thy sonne Iesus hathe clensed me whereby thou haste so quickened me that my soule reioyseth within me with most earnest
pride O Lorde that art only omnipotente milde and mercyfull and the only perfect hope of thy beloued inheritance vpon whom thy grace hath moste fréely abounded and whose sinnes thou haste remitted by the onely oblation sacrifice and bloude shed of thy deare sorme Christ Iesus for which purchase and moste pretious redemption thou only requirest of them but to be beloued againe and that with an vpright staysdnesse an assured strength and true confidence only in thée and not otherwise vainely in any vaine man or other treatures and that they be not hautie in theyr owne eyes but possesse euen in thy sighte in them selues the spirit of méekenesse and of most lowly submission we most entirely beséeche thée to strengthen vs héerein with thine heauenly grace to stay vs vnto thy selfe to make vs humble in oure owne eyes that imitating the steppes of thy sonne we be not ashamed to beare in thy sight the contempt of this wretched world and to become with all lowlinesse and milde subiection euen very slaues to all others for the loues sake of thy deare sonne Iesus whose rule of Humilitie we haue moste truely professed and thereby promissed to beare with pacience bothe pouertie and all other afflictions in thys vale of wretched nesse where when and in what manner so euer it shall please thée to lay them vppon vs. O Lord so vpholde thou vs with thine heauenly grace that we staie not simplie vpon our owne selues or putte oure truste in others but flee faste from our selues and from all others and put oure whole and onely hope in thée endeuouring with all our powers bothe of bodie and minde to obey thy will trust only in thée that thou wilt always be the readie helper of oure good willes and a moste apte furtherer of all oure honest meanings Lette thy mercie O Lorde so be vppon vs that we be not vainely puffed vppe or putte confidence eyther in oure owne knoweledge or in the pollicie of any mortall manne but onely depende vppon thy Diuine fatherly prouidence which both helpest and géeuest thy grace to the humble and thrustest also downe the lostie and proude So temper vs lord with thine heauenly grace that we glory neither in our richesse if we haue them nor yet in our fréendes if they be mightie for thou moste mightie God haste dominion ouer their power and when thèy are alofte and exalted in their glorie thou throwest them downe abatest their corage and destroyest them with thy heauie hād but to glory as we ought only in thée which doest fréely minister vnto vs all things necessarie and destrest aboue all to giue thine owne selfe wholely vnto vs Thou O Lorde haste led vs the way to true humilitie that whether touching either the mightinesse beautie or cômlinesse of the body which being stricken with some light disease is by and by ouerthrowne and defaced we in no wise aduaunce our selues And least we stand most vainely in our owne conceits whether for oure owne towardenesse wisedome wit or in other things iudge better of our owne selues thā we doe of others we greatly offend and fall into thine heauie displeasure and bring thy wrathe vppon vs bicause we estéeme them not as thine owne proper giftes and so be thankefull vnto thée for them O graunt vnto vs therfore most gratious God thy spirite of méekenesse and true humblenesse that we may walke rightly before thée and haue in our selues and in thy sight cleane hartes constantelaithe and moste sure hope and considence trauing cōtinually thy spirit of romfort paciently therby to beare our crosse to folowe the example of our sauioure Christ and to beare with ioy the afflictions of this life through his merits precious death pastion Amen XII Against Couetousnesse IF we O thou iust terrible God coulde nowe thorowe thy grace euen in the middest of all oure iniquities heaping daily iniquitis vppon iniquitie remember yet in time thy certaine deter minatiō and threaiued iudgement vpon this world the plages thereof shortly enstring for the wickednesse of end 〈◊〉 harte and as thou haste tolde vs by thy Prophet Esay to lay to 〈◊〉 to make the face of the whole earth desolate and scatter abrode all the inhabitoures thereof bicause they haue offended thy lawes changed thine ordinalires and made thine euer lasting testament of 〈…〉 receiuing therfore with wee their most sharp bitter portion the taste of thy diuine fury vtter shame desolation swift confusion O what cause haue we then to remember in these oure dayes if through grace it might be for good this most vile sin abidng the rest the outragious 〈◊〉 couetousnesse that so diuersty woorketh the disglory of thy name spoyleth thy churches welfare Which in the estimation of this worlde so langely raigneth so vniuersally so familiarly yea also mercilesly ouerfloweth al deuoureth al hath al at his beck and hastneth fast vpō this geiteration an euil and pitilesse generation doubtlesse in the end now of this olde rotten worlde the sodaine and straight performance of thy hideous and fearefull premisses O Lord our God moste dangerous is our stats our dayes are most euill our desertes are great we haue sinned greuously thy plagues are iustly prepared and thy iudgements to condemnation by thy iustice are at hand vpon vs For who in effecte cā say from any sin his hart is clean or rather most mōstruously against nature not to be defiled either who can in conscience say that he féeles not in him selfe as priuately for him selfe and corruptly this most hurtfull and infectuous maladie of the soule which amongst all other contagious euils is moste perniceous and by the diuel him self déepely grafted in vs and is by him so closely crept in vnto vs that it hath ioyned it selfe euer to the very secrete affections of our hartes shewing it selfe a most diligent woorker a busie labourer or minister to the procuring bréeding encreasing norishing and bringing forthe of corruption ruption and sinnes innumerable couertly lurking in our filthie flesh sowly to the death issueth abrode in his time For it is as sayth thine holy Apostle the roote of all mischéefe and that all suche also as are the Rauens and gréedie Gripes or gutlings of the world and desirous of the deceiteful riches thereof fall without stay into temptations and snares and into many beastly foolish and noisome lusts which draw them into temptation and destruction Also he calleth it a woorshipping of idols it spoileth God of his honor and is therby in euery place of the holy Scriptures condemned and forbidden as a sinne most hainous horrible diuellishe and damnable bicause it is a moste curssed and venemous euill tied to ambition hautie and vaineglorious full of maliciousnesse ful of crueltie very tirannous and greeoely hunteth after bloud the déepe set séede doutlesse of the diuell who was a murtherer from the beginning hathe therewith by his subteltie maruellously
but for the glory of thy name to mollifie to cleanse and alwayes to kéepe cleane oure harde stonie and euill stuffed hartes with the déepe piercing deawe of thine heauenly grace that where all those terrible punishmentes and moste gréeuous plagues before mentioned are already deuised prepared threatned and at an instant appoynted to fall vpon vs we may yet by thy mercie escape them extoll thée in thine vnspeakeable goodnesse and magnifie thine holy name from our hartes and with our tongs and voices and feare to prophane or abuse it no neither yet thy creatures in heauen or in earth but most humbly with al ioyfulnesse to attend to thy sōnes most holy precept which is not to sweare at all by any thing but in our communication to vse yea yea nay nay euen from hart and mouth simply truly and without dissimulation and to passe forthe our liues and conuersation in our calling reuerently sincerely and vncorruptly as becommeth faithfull and vnfained Christians the true louers and professoures of thine only holy name which is to be blessed for euer Amen XV. For the possessyng of a peaceable and quiet conscience SEing thy kingdome O GOD as thou sayest is within vs and that it behooueth as thou haste taught vs to haue outward things of this world and the world it selfe in contempt and to embrace only with good affecte all inwarde things to the beautifying of the inwarde man whereby we shall the more aptly féele in déede thine holy kingdome to come into vs which kingdome is thine most high most glorious holy eternall and euerlasting a kingdome of ioy and peace in the holy ghost whereof the wicked hathe no parte in possession but only thine holy electe and precious redéemed inheritaunce Graunt vnto vs all we humbly pray thée such loue towardes thée and thine heauenly kingdome that for thy sake and for the loue therof we may cōtenine our selues estéeme but light of this life and set all this world at naughte And being lifted vp in spirite aboue oure selues and voide of all inordinate desires excelling in oure liues in all heauenly vertues and be suche in déede inwardly as we séeme to the worlde outwardly our soules may be made fit habitacles to enioy thy glorious presence with most happy felicitie extolling thy grace glorying in the woorkes of true holynesse and in the testimonie of a peaceable and quiette conscience which is in all menne a secrete knowledge a priuie opener inwarde accuser a ioyfull quieter of their myndes in all their dooings and a witnesse bearer of the truthe euen vnto the presence and precise iudgement of thée oure God. O graunt therfore vnto vs most gratious God so to be directed by thy holy spirite that oure consciences may be vnto vs vnstained and pure euen as a very perfecte and cleare glasse speedely to be looked into and plainely to sée in tyme with a true and perfecte sighte not onely the moste filthy foule spottes and enormious blemishes of oure sinnefull and sicke soules but also the very smallest or beginnings of diseases by soone quicke touche or sharpe pricke of remorse whereby feare may be conceiued of imminet daunger and by humble sute to flée fast vnto thée the moste readie perfecte and heauenly Phisition that we may be soone salued wyth the oyntment of thy diuine grace and not to be as the wicked whose consciences are moste déepely corrupted inwardly rankeled deade and benummed throughe carelesnesse and the custome of sinne that they cannot once féele sée nor perceyue their owne most lothsome sicknesse and deformitie of soule vntill thou O God by the stroke of thy deadly darte layest them open before theyr faces to their own confusion sodaine and swifte destruction and so their consciences being now foūd most déepely wounded the worm therof terribly gnawing biting and accusing them they fall most damnably into desperation without regard of thy maiestie or any hope at all of thy tender mercie O heauenly father and the only fountaine of all grace tourne thy face from oure sinnes deliuer vs from thy wrathfull indignation and so strengthen vs by the power and lighte of thine eternal spirit that we may be trained to the true knowledge and perfecte obedience of thy will that we may in all oure doings remember our profession and promisse possesse firme faithe which truely quieteth and setteth at rest the conscience of man feare thy iudgementes liue vprightly and worthily before thée glory in the testimonie of a good conscience sprinkled and cleansed with the bloud of thy sonne Christ enioy peace and true gladnesse not troubled inwardly but sléepe quietly not glorying in the praises of men but reioyce only in thée oure God in thy mercy and grace in thy holy truthe in the price of oure redemption and in the onely moste happie state of eternall felicitie which thou haste faithfully promised which thy sonne hathe purchased which vnto vs shall be performed most happely and in due time thorowe thine onely frée grace and loue towardes vs in the precious deathe and bloud shed of thine only sonne our alone sauiour only aduocate and mediator Iesus Christe Amen XVI To haue in remembrance the houre of death CAlling to mynde O eternall god the fickle state of humain felicitie the swifte passage of this brickle life how man standeth héere in a vaine shadowe freshly florishing like a floure to day and can to morowe no where be founde and as quickely forgotten as he is gone and yéeldeth then vp by the dint of death his swifte passage to God or to the Deuill O how it behooueth vs to startle sodainely to bestirre vs to looke aboute vs and to prepare spéedely for so sodayne assaulte But howe shall we Lorde standing in déede in such infelicitie slumbring in suche securitie so infected with frailetie so compassed with flatterie cloked in hipoerisie and ouerwhelmed with vanitie neither yet féele in oure selues any fighte or trouble of conscience prepare vs as we oughte for so conueniente a tyme Thou knowest O Lorde as by thy wrathe we iustly also féele howe sedainly vnwares death cruelly assaileth vs and strippeth vs from our pleasures vayne delectations and delusious of this deceitfull worlde We regarde nothing at all the sodaine comming of the sonne of man by whose mighty arme in our forgot fulnesse we he woorthily stricken to the death and to our mother the earth againe in whose entrails we were once brod and oute of whose moste ponsoned pappes we haue suckt the milke of all our deadly delites and with the brusting draught of our most beastly excesse we haue sodainely ouerthrowne our selues and haue very willingly faln vpon thy mercilesse swoorde of deathe Throughe which iudgement wort and terrible time we shall begin then to thinke with late wailing and wo far otherwise of our formen liues than we did before in the lulling dayes of our carnall delices we shall then conswer the greatnesse and granitie
of all our affences and be depely tormonted in vnsufferable anguishes 〈◊〉 forowes yelling lauguistying and the auinosse for our carelesse most gracelesse negligence bicause 〈◊〉 our health and tune of felicitie we 〈◊〉 forgetful of thée vs we caued not to tēpte thée we feared not thy threatned vengeance neither thy Preachers and Prophetes we were vnmindefull of the ende we considered not the way of all fleshe we remembred not deathe neither readily prepared for his sodaine comming whose ensigne by thy iustice is openly all blacke displayed most ougly issuing out of his darke sepulcher to the spéedie destruction of all fleshe Therefore O Lord as oure liues are wholely in thyne onely hande and are by thée when we call vppon thée most graciously directed quicken our harts to prayer endue vs thorowe thy grace wyth thine heauenly wisdome teache vs thereby to number our dayes to applie oure hartes vnto wisedome to be mindefull of thée our God not to be forgetfull of oure wretched and wicked state and to remember alwayes thy rightful iustice in iudgemente that we may endeuor to be suche in déede in oure liues as we woulde wishe moste gladly to be founde at our deathes O heauenly father so strengthen vs with thy vsuall and woonted grace that as we may haue this worlde in most earnest contempte so we may also as effectually craue at thine holy hād the daily prospering and going forwards in vertue pray that our loue may abounde towardes godly discipline for the fourme of good liuing yéelde fréely forth the frutes of earnest and true repentāce haue ready and prest wils to shewe true obedience bothe in body and soule to be humble and méeke in spirite not to stay at any time the deniall of oure selues to subiecte our selues to thy holy will and commaundements and so to leane gladly to the suffering of this worldes calamities not for oure selues but for the loue of Iesus Christe for our brethren for so shal we be knowne to be the children of god All which if we happely possesse vse and put in daily practise great shall be the cause of oure ioy to haue good affiaunce in thy mercy a swéete tast of good life and a sure hope by happie death becomming in the meane while parient Pilgrims in spirituall pouertie and not regarding the pleasures of this life that oure soules may possesse the felicitie of thy freedome be daily lifted vp vnto thée in this our short race that we may continually praie with sorowfull sighings déepe sobbings inwarde gronings and shedding salte teares in our accustomed and moste humble sutes bewayling oure miserable state mourning the delay of this bodyes dissolution and yéeld with pacience to abide the stroke of deathe that when it which is the laste enemie shall be destroyed our spirites may haue rest in thine eternall life therow the only merites of thy sonne our Lord and sauior Iesus Christe Amen Amen XVII To haue in remembrance the secrete iudgementes of God and to feare the withdrawing of his grace HAuing good experyence by thyne holy scriptures O thou rightuous God that as thou arte moste high most glorious most holy wise and mighty and a great God aboue all Gods eternal and from euerlasting so arte thou also a Lord a ruler a master an ouerscer a iudge ouer all the dooings of men yea a seuere iudge a straighte examiner an vpright iust rewarder against whome no man may once rowse or aduaunce him selfe stande in his owne conceite or shewe before thée any proude or hautie countinance for it is thou onely O Lorde that art omnipotent whose mighty arm reacheth ouer all which aduancest and bringest lowe which strykest and healest which woundest and makest whole which liftest vp and throwest downe againe which dealest in thy iudgement not after the manner of men wickedly winking at the sinnes generally committed of all or of a few but vsest vprightnesse vnto all withoute respecte of persons generally particularly to many to a fewe and to some one alone when their sinnes before thée are ful and waxeth ripe vnto iudgement apte to fall and ready to féele from thy wrathfull hande the sodaine stroke of thy vengeance for vengeance annexed to thy power is only thine and thy iust rewarde whose iudgementes for sinne are very terrible fierce a flaming and consuming fire to licke vp catche burne and deuonre all or some as the cause shal require and as by thy iustice in iudgement thou finedest thē for so in all ages we haue both truly heard and knowne which examples of thine in sundry wise are all wrytten for our vnderstanding and learning always to be remembred of vs to put vs in good mind to terrifie vs to bridle oure affections to feare thy maiestie to séeke the true knowledge of thy will reuerently therein to obey thée and to escape aptly therby thy iust rigor vengeance for vengeance is thine thou wilt reward O holy and iust god which also artmost gracious which sparest whē we deserue punishmēt in thy wrath thinkest vpon mercy and haste vowed compassion vpon the poore penitent haue mercy vppon me moste wretched sinner O forgéeue me all my wickednesse past let thy tender mercie preuent my sinnes cast them al behinde thy backe and shewe me againe thy cōfortable countinance for my sinnes sore trouble me they iustly accuse me thy iudgementes terribly thunder against me they sore shake my limmes with feare and trembling and terrifie out of measure my sore vexed and contrite heart And if by thine heauenly motion O Lorde I yet wade further in thy iudgemēts and consider the very heauens not to be cleane in thy sight but expecte the day of their renouation for further cleerenesse and puritie O how am I occasioned to be the more amazed and to bewail my wretched state in the lothsomnesse of my corruption And if in the Angels them selues thou haste founde sinne and the desert of eternall death therefore not spared thy iudgemēts ouer them O what shall become of me earthie fraile and moste sinnefull wretche And if also the gloryous starres themselues haue in the excellencie of their outwarde clearenesse and beautie falne down from heauen abide likewise thy iudgement what shall I a masse of darknesse stime and filthe of the earthe looke for at thy wrathfull hand hauing my very secrete sinnes not hid from thee in their moste horrible lothsome and poysoned apperance But yet I beséeche thée O heauenly father althoughe thou be a straighte iudge ouer all thy creatures for sin whether of heauen or of earth celestiall terrestriall or infernall subiecte to thy will and to abide iustly thy iudgement for thine approued clemencies sake and tender pity towardes me imprinted stil freshe in my memorie and boldened thereby to approche thy presence so to extēd vpō me thy great mercy and grace that as I nowe craue the continual good motion inward stirring vp of my mind