grace that I may now willingly leave this fraile and wicked flesh in hope of the resurrection which in better manner shall restore it to me againe grant me O Lord God that thou wilt by thy grace make strong my soule against all temptations and that thou wilt cover and defend me with the buckler of thy mercy against the assaults of Satan I acknowledge that there is in my selfe no hope of salvation but all my hope and trust is in thy most mercifull goodnesse I have no merits nor good workes which I may alleadge before thee of sinnes and evill works alas I see a great heape but through thy mercy I trust to be of the number of them to whom thou wilt not impute their sins but take and impute mee for righteous and just and to be the inheritor of everlasting glory Thou O most mercifull Lord wert borne for my sake thou didst suffer both hunger and thirst thou didst preach teach pray and fast for my sake thou didst all good works and sufferedst most grievous pangs and torments for my sake and finally thou gavest thy most precious body to dye and thy blessed bloud to bee shed on the Crosse for my sake wherefore most mercifull Saviour let all these things profit me which thou hast freely given mee which hast given thy selfe for me let thy bloud cleanse and wash away the spots and foulenesse of my sinnes let thy righteousnesse hide and cover my unrighteousnesse let the merits of thy bitter sufferings be a sufficient and propitiatory sacrifice and satisfaction for my sinnes give me O Lord thy grace that my faith and beleefe of thy true and grievous death waver not in me but ever be firme and constant that the hope of thy mercy life everlasting never decay in me that charity waxe not cold in me and finally that the weaknesse of my flesh be not overcome with the feare of death grant me also O most mercifull Saviour that when death hath shut up the eyes of my body yet the eyes of my soule may still behold and look upon thee and that when death hath taken away the use of my tongue and speech yet my heart may cry and say unto thee O Lord into thy hands I give and commit my soule Lord Jesus receive my spirit and take me to thy mercies Amen A Prayer for a Woman in time of her travaile RIghteous and holy Lord God I doe now finde by experience the fruit of my sinne that I must travaile in sorrow and bring forth in paine and I unfainedly adore the truth of thy sacred Word as certifying unto me that sorrow must be in the Evening so comforting me also against the Morning that a Childe shall be borne Willingly I doe desire to submit my selfe in hope unto this thy chastisement and to learne the desert of my sinnes horrible in themselves that these temporall paines are forerunners of eternall and yet by thy mercy may be so sanctified unto me as not onely to prevent eternall vengeance but also prepare for eternall comforts even to be saved by bearing of Children Grant me therefore gracious Father true repentance and pardon for my sinnes past that they may not stand at this time in this my need betweene mee and thy mercy Give mee a comfortable feeling of thy love in Christ which may sweeten all other pangs though never so violent or extreame make me still to lift up my soule unto thee in my greatest agonies knowing that thou alone must give a blessing to the ordinary meanes for my safe deliverance Lay no more upon me then I am able to endure strengthen my weake body to the bearing of what sorrowsoever by which it shall seeme good unto thee to make triall of me Grant mee to consider that howsoever it be with me yet I am alwaies at thine hand whose mercies faile not who wilt bee found in the Mount and greatest extremitie and to whom belong the issues of death so prepare me therefore to death that I may be fit for life even to yeeld fruit alive unto the world and to be renewed and enabled to nourish the same And when thou hast safely given mee the expected fruit of my wombe make me with a thankfull heart to consecrate both it and my selfe wholly to thy service all the daies of my life through Jesus Christ mine onely Saviour and Redeemer Amen A Thankesgiving after safe deliverance O Blessed for ever bee thy great and glorious Name most deere and loving Father for thy great mercy to me most weake and sinfull woman Wonderfull art thou in all thy workes O Lord the riches of thy mercies are past finding out thou hast plunged me with great afflictions and yet thou hast returned and refreshed me againe thou hast brought mee to the feare of the grave and yet thou hast raised me up again to life O how hast thou shewed thy power in my weaknesse How hath thy loving kindnesse prevailed against my unworthinesse Thou mightest for my sinnes have left me to perish in mine extremities but thou hast compassed me about with joyfull deliverance thou mightest have made my wombe a grave to bury the dead or in affoording life to another thou mightest have procured my death but yet thou hast not onely made my wombe a well-spring of life but restored life unto me also for the cherishing thereof Marveilous O Lord are thy workes infinite are thy mercies my soule by present experience knoweth it well O my soule praise thou the Lord and all that is within me praise his holy name My soule praise thou the Lord and forget not all his benefits Thou hast heard my prayers and looked upon my sorrow thou hast redeemed my life from death and healed mine infirmities and crowned me with thine everlasting compassions O give me I humbly pray thee a thankfull heart not onely now while the memory and sense of thy favour is fresh before me but continually even so long as I have any being Grant that I may learne by his lively evidence of thy power and mercy for ever hereafter â—o depend only on thee Quicâ—en me also to all holy duties â—hat my thankfullnesse may appeare in my pure and Christian â—arriage Make me a kind and carefull â—nother willing to undergoe the â—aine and trouble of education â—et no nicenesse or curiositie â—inder me from those services â—o whom both nature and reliâ—ion hath appointed me let me â—â—so be carefull when time reâ—uireth to season the fruit thou â—ast given me with the saving â—nowledge of thee thy deere on that my desire may manifestly appeare to be set for the â—ncrease of thy Kingdome Vouchsafe so to order my affections and to bring them in obedience unto thee that if it should bee thy pleasure either now oâ— hereafter to take this infant from me I may as willingly part with it as thou freely gave it me And now O God perfect in mee that strength which thou hast begun make me to grow in care to
the â—ittle pleasure that I have enâ—oyed and the great felicity which I have lost and how far greater that was which I might have gained by forgoing that little which J would not forgoe This is that immortall worme that shall never dye but shall lye there everlastingly gnawing at the entrailes of the wicked which is one of the most terrible paines that can possibly be imagined Peradventure thou art now perswaded good Reader that there can be added no more unto this than hath beene said But surely the mighty arme of God wanteth not force to chastise his enemies more more for all these paines that are hitherto rehearsed are such as doe appertaine generally to all the damned but besides these generall paines there are also other particular paines which each one of the damned shall there suffer in divers sorts according to the quality of his sinne And so according to this proportion the haughty and proud shall there be abased and brought low to their great confusion The covetous shall bee driven to great necessity The glutton shall rage with continuall hunger and thirst The lecherous shall burne in the very same flames which they themselves have enkindled And those that have al their life time hunted after their pleasures and pastimes shall live there in continuall lamentation and sorrow But because examples are of very great force to move our hearts I will bring onely one for this purpose wherby somewhat of this matter may the better be perceived It is written of a certaine holy man that he saw the paines in spirit of a licentious and worldly man in this sort First he saw how the divels that were present at the houre of his death when hee yeelded up his ghost snatched away his soule with great rejoycing and made a present thereof to the Prince of darkenesse who was then sitting in a chaire of fire expecting the comming of this present Immediately after that it was presented before him he arose up out of his seat and said unto the damned soule that he would give him the preheminence of that honourable seat because he had been a man of honour and was alwaies very much affected to the same Incontinently after that he was placed therein crying and lamenting in that honourable torment there appeared before him two other most ougly divels and offered him a cup full of most bitter and stinking liquor and made him to drinke and carouse it up all perforce saying It is meet sithence thou hast beene a lover of precious wines and bankets that thou shouldest likewise prove of this our wine whereof all we doe use to drinke in these parts Immediately after this there came other two with two fiery trumpets and setting them at his eares began to blow into them flames of fire saying This melody have we reserved for thee understanding that in the world thou wast very much delighted with minstrelcie and wanton songs and sodainly he espied other divels loaden with vipers and serpents the which they threw upon the breast and bellies of that miserable sinner saying unto him that for somuch as he had beene greatly delighted with the wanton embracings and lecherous lusts of women he should now solace himselfe with these refreshings instead of those licentious delights and pleasures which he had enjoyed in the world After this sort as the Prophet Esay saith in the 47. Chapter when the sinner is punished there is given measure for measure to the end that in such a great variety and proportion of punishments the order and wisedome of Gods justice might the more manifestly appeare This vision hath Almighty God shewed in spirit to this holy man for advertisement and instruction not that in hell these things are altogether so materially done but that by them we might understand in some manner the variety and multitude of the paines which bee there appointed for the damned Whereof I know not how some of the Pagans have had a certaine knowledge for a Poet speaking of this multitude of paines affirmed That although he had a hundred mouthes and as many tongues with a voice as strong as Iron yet were they not able onely to expresse the names of them A Poet he was that spake this but truely therin he spake more like a Prophet or an Evangelist than a Poet. Now then if all this evill shall most assuredly come to passe what man is he that seeing all this so certainely with the eyes of his faith will not turne over the leafe and begin to provide for himselfe against that time Where is the judgement of men now become Where is their wits yea where is at least their selfe-love which seeketh evermore for his owne profit and is much afraid of any losse May it be thought that men are become beasts that provide onely for the time present Or have they peradventure so dimmed their eye-sight that they cannot looke before them Hearken saith Esay O yee deafe and ye blinde open your eyes that you may see Who is blinde but my servant And who is deafe but wee unto whom I have sent my messengers And who is blind but he that suffereth himselfe to be sold for a slaue Thou that seest so many things wilt thou not suffer thy selfe to see this Thou that hast thine eares open wilt thou not giue eare hereunto If thou beleeve not this how art thou then a Christian If thou beleeve it and doest not provide for it how canst thou be thought a reasonable man Aristotle saith That this is the difference betweene opinion and imagination that an imagination alone is not sufficient to cause a feare but an opinion is a for if I doe imagine that a house may fall upon mee it is noâ— enough to make me afraid unlesse J beleeve or have an opinion it will be so indeed foâ— then it is sufficient to make mee afraid And hereof commeth the feare that murderers alwaies have by reason of the suspition they conceive that their enemies doe lye in waiâ— for them If then the opinion and onely suspition of danger is able to cause the greatest courage to feare how is it that the certainty and beleefe of so many and so great terrible miseries which are farre more sure than any opinion doth not make thee to feare If thou perceivest that for these many yeares past thou hast led a licentious and sinfull life and that at the last according to present justice thou art condemned to these horrible torments in hell if also there appeare by probable conjecture that there is no more likelihood of thy amendment for ensuing years to come than there was in those already past how happeneth it that running head long into so manifest a danger thou art not at all afraid Especially considering the sinfull state wherein thou livest and the horrible paines and torments which doe attend for thee and the time which thou hast lost and the endlesse repentance which thou shall have therefore in the most horrible
our unfain thankfullnesse for thy innurable mercies multiplied up us from the first houre of birth yea before our birth a before time was Before foundations of the world wâ— laid thou out of thy free 〈◊〉 and meere mercy didst elect to eternall life when thou diâ— reject others Thou didst â—ate us after thine owne imaâ—â— engraving upon us the chaâ—â—cters of spirituall wisedom righteousnesse and true hoâ—â—nesse when it was in thy powâ—â— to have made us like unto beasts that perish yea to have â—qualled us to the basest of thy â—â—eatures And when through â—ur owne default wee lost that â—â—ignity thou didst so pittie us as â—â— send from thine owne boâ—ome thine onely begotten Son â—â— recover it for us and to reâ—tore it to us and that with no â—esse price then his owne heartâ—loud Besides it hath pleased â—hee continually to spread the wings of thy gracious protection over us to ward and guard â—s by thy providence to open â—â—y hand and to replenish us with good things to continue our life health strength food â—aiment peace and liberty to his very houre Thou hast even loaded us with thy benefits if we had hearts rightly to consider it thou renewest thy mercy towards us every morning and the night past hast given us a testimony of thy love For whereas for the sinnes committed the day before thou mightest even in the dead of sleepe have given us a sodaine call out of this world and so presently have brought us to that great account which wee must make before thee thou vouchsafest yet to spare us yea which is more to refresh us with comfortable rest to preserve us from all dangers that might have befallen our soules or bodies and to bring us in safety to the beginning of this day Heavenly Father grant that we may not be unmindfull of thy manifold mercies but that wee may often thinke of them and speake of them to thy glory and that the consideration thereof may stirre us up to devote all the powers of our soules and members of our bodies to thy service Forgive us our former unthankefulnesse for thy mercies and our severall abuses of them yea pardon all our sinnes past we most humbly beseech thee for thy owne mercies sake and for thy Sonnes merits Our sinnes are great and grievous for in sinne we were borne and ever since have we gone on in a course of sinne and rebellion against thee we doe daily breake thy holy precepts and that against the light of our owne knowledge albeit we know that thou art our Creatour who hast made us ouâ— Redeemer who hast bought us with the precious blood of thy onely begotten sonne and ouâ— Comforter who bestowesâ— upon us all things needfull foâ— our being and well-being foâ— this life and for a better life Yea even thee thee O Lord have we presumed to offend that hast beene thus abundantly mercifull unto us For this ouâ— unthankefulnesse and wicked nesse enter not into judgement with us wee most humbly beseech thee from the bottom of our hearts but have mercâ— upon us have mercy upon uâ— most mercifull Father and in mercy wash away all our sinnes with the bloud of Jesus Christ â—hat so they may never bee laid â—o our charge nor have power â—rise up in judgement against â—s Pierce our hearts with a â—eeling of our sinnes that wee â—ay mourne for them as wee â—ught to doe make us to loath â—nd abhorre them that we may â—ave and avoid them that wee may be watchfull against all occasions of sinne and circumâ—ect over our owne wayes â—owre thy Spirit and put thy â—ace into our hearts that thereby we may be inabled for thy â—â—vice and both in body and â—ule may glorifie thee heere â—â—at wee may be glorified of thee and with thee hereafter And as a speciall meanes to keepe us in subjection before thee work in us holy Father a continuall and effectuall remembrance of this earths vanity of our owne mortality oâ— that great and terrible judgement to come of the paines oâ— hell and joyes of heaven which follow after O let the remembrance of these things be a spuâ— to provoke us unto vertue and a bridle to hold us in from galloping after vice and wickednesse We know not how soon thou wilt set a period to ouâ— lives and call for our soules to appeare before thee whether this day or not before the evening O prepare us therefore for the houre of death that we may then neither feare nor faint but may with joy yeeld up our soules into thy mercifull hands and doe thou O Father of mercy receive them Let thy mercifull eye look upon us this day shield us from the temptations of the divell and grant us â—he custody of thy holy Angels to defend us in all our wayes â—nable us with diligence and â—onscience to discharge the duâ—â—es of our callings and crowne all our endeavours with thy blessing without thy blessing all mans labour is but vaine â—oe thou therefore blesse us in â—ur severall places O prosper â—hou our handy-work Provide â—or us all things which thou knowest to bee needfull for every one of us this day Give us a sanctified use of thy creatures agodly jealousie over ourselves a continual remembrance of thy omniscience omnipresence that we may labour to approve our very thoughts unto thee weane us from the love of thiâ— world and ravish our soule with the love of our home and thine everlasting Kingdome Defend the universall Church the Churches of this Land especially our gracious King Charles our illustrious Queen Mary together with the Princesse Elizabeth and her Princely issue crowne them with thy graces heere and with thy glory hereafter Bee with thâ— Magistracie and Ministerie of the Realme make thy Gospell to flourish amongst us by the labours of those whom thou hast appointed to this great service Comfort thine afflicted servants in what place or case soever they be give us a fellow feeling of their miseries and wisedome to prepare our selves against the evill day Heare us in these things and grant what else thou knowest needfull for us not for our worthinesse but for thy Sonnes sake our alone Saviour in whose name and words we conclude our imperfect prayers saying Our Father c. A houshold Prayer for private Families in the Evening O Glorious God in Jesus Christ our gracious Father we wretched creatures by nature but by thy grace thy servants and children doe heere make bold to appeare before thee in the humility of our soules to performe some part of that duty which we owe unto thee And first we offer unto thy divine Majestie the calves of our lips the sacrifice â—f praise and thanksgiving for â—ine infinite mercies which â—hou hast beene pleased to conâ—erre upon us out of thy boundnesse and endlesse goodnesse What thou hast done for us this â—hy is beyond all that we are â—ble to expresse or conceive â—hou hast preserved us from all â—erils and dangers