grievously rebelled Abroad the Sword bereaveth at home there is as death They have heard that I sigh there is none to comfort me All mine Enemies have heard of my trouble they are glad that thou hast done it II. How hath the Lord covered the Daughter of Zion with a Cloud in his anger and cast down from Heaven unto the Earth the Beauty of Israel and remembred not his footstool in the day of his anger He hath cut off in his fierce anger all the Srength of Israel He hath polluted the Kingdom and the Princes thereof Her King and her Princes are among the Gentiles they are become like Harts that find no Pasture and they are gone without strength before the Pursuer Chap. 1. 6. The Law is no more her Prophets also find no Vision from the Lord. The Lord hath cast off his Alter he hath abhorred his Sanctuary and violently taken away his Tabernacle and destroyed his places of the Assembly The Lord hath caused the Solemn Feasts and Sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion and hath despised in the indignation of his anger the King and the Priest All that pass by clap their hands at thee they hiss and wag their head at the Daughter of Jerusalem Is this the City that men call the perfection of Beauty the Joy of the whole Earth Behold O Lord and consider to whom thou hast done this Vers 20. III. Remember mine affliction and my misery and the wormwood and the gall My Soul hath them still in remembrance and is humbled in me This I recal to mind therefore have I hope It is of the Lords mercies that we are not consumed because his Compassions fail not They are new every morning Great is thy faithfulness For the Lord will not cast off for ever but though he cause grief yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies for he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the Children of men Wherefore doth a living man complain a man for the punishment of his sins Let us search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord. IV. The Lord hath accomplished his fury he hath poured out his fierce anger and hath kindled a fire in Zion and it hath devoured the foundations thereof The Kings of the Earth and all the Inhabitants of the World would not have beleived that the Adversary and the Enemy should have entered into the Gates of Jerusalem The anger of the Lord hath divided them he will no more regard them They respected not the persons of the Priests they favoured not the Elders As for us our eyes as yet failed for our vain help in our watching we have watched for a Nation that could not save us They hunt our steps that we cannot go into the streets Our Persecutors are swifter than the Eagles of the Heavens they pursued us upon the Mountains they laid wait for us in the wilderness The Breath of our nostrils the Anointed of the Lord was taken in their pits of whom we said Under his shadow we shall live among the Heathen V. Remember O Lord what is come upon us consider and behold our reproach Our Inheritance is turned to strangers our houses to aliens We are Orphans and Fatherless our Mothers are as Widows Servants have ruled over us there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand Princes are hanged up by their hand The Faces of the Elders were not honoured The Joy of our Heart is ceased our Dance is turned into Mourning The Crown is fallen from our head Wo unto us that we have sinned For this our Heart is faint for these things our eyes are dim Thou O Lord remainest for ever thy Throne from generation to generation Wherefore dost thou forget us for ever and forsake us so long time Turn thou us unto thee O Lord and we shall be turned renew our days as of old PSALMS I. O God wherefore art thou absent from us so long Why is thy Wrath so hot against the Sheep of thy pasture Remember the congregation which thou hast purchased of old the lot of thine Inheritance and this Mount Sion wherein thou hast dwelt O God the Heathen are come into thine Inheritance thy holy Temple have they defiled and laid Jerusalem on heaps They have cast fire into thy Sanctuary they have defiled the dwelling place of thy Name unto the ground We are become a reproach to our Neighbours a scorn and derision to them that are round about us Lord how long wilt thou be angry shall thy jealousie burn like fire for ever O remember not our old sins let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us for we are brought very low Help us O God of our Salvation for the glory of thy Name deliver us and purge away our sins for thy Names sake Wherefore should the Heathen say whereis their God Remember this O Lord that the Enemy hath reproached and the Foolish people have blasphemed thy Name O deliver not the Soul of thy Turtle Dove unto the multitude of the wicked forget not the Congregation of thy poor for ever Have respect unto the Covenant for the dark places of the Earth are full of the habitations of Cruelty O let not the Oppressed return ashamed let the poor and needy praise thy Name Arise O God plead thine own cause remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily Forget not the voice of thine Enemies the noise of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually II. HEar O thou Shepherd of Israel thou that leadest Joseph like a flock thou that dwellest between the Cherubims shew thy self O Lord God of Hosts how long wilt thou be angry against the Prayer of thy people Thou feedest them with the bread of weeping and givest them plenty of tears to drink Thou makest us a strife unto our Neighbours and our Enemies laugh among themselves Turn us again O God of Hosts and cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved Thou hast brought a Vine out of Egypt thou hast cast out the Heathen and planted it Thou preparedst the Soil before it and didst cause it to take root and it filled the Land The Hills were covered with the shadow of it and the goodly Cedars with the branches thereof She sent out her Boughs into the Sea and her Branches upon the River Why hast thou then broken down her Hedges so that all they that pass by the way do spoil her The Boar out of the Wood doth waste it and the Wild Beast of the Feild doth devour it Return we beseech thee O Lord of Hosts look down from Heaven behold and visit this Vine And the Root which thy Right Hand hath planted and the Branch which thou madest strong for thy self Let thy Hand be upon the Man of thy Right Hand upon the Son of Man whom thou madest strong for thy self So will not we go back from thee
Lord is Blessed is the man that trusteth in him Psal 34. 8. What reward shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me Psal 116. 12. Lord I offer up unto thee my self my Soul and Body and all that I am and have beseeching thee graciously to receive me for thy servant to dwell in thy House and praise thy Name for evermore Psal 84. 4. Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Sabaoth THou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power For thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created Rev. 4. 11. Thou art worthy to take the Book and to open the Seals thereof for thou hast slain and hast redeemed us to our God out of every Kindred and Tongue and people and Nation and hast made us unto our God Kings and Priests Revel â— 9. Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the Throne and to the Lamb. Amen Blessing and Glory and Wisdom and Thanksgiving and Honour and Power and Might be unto God for ever and ever Amen Rev. 7. 10 12. An Admonition after Receiving AND now you have thus solemnly devoted and consecrated your self to God and his service beware that you do not fall back and return to your former course of sin like the dog to his own vomit or as the Serpent which casts up his Poison when he goes to drink and when he hath quenched his thirst returns and sucks it up again And thus some are content to leave their sins at the Church-door but with an intent to take them up again when they come out But God will not be so mocked And know this That if you have well and worthily perform'd this Duty to day yet if you do not persevere in Piety as you have promised and begun not only your former sins but even the piety of this day shall one day rise up in judgment against you But a diligent Watching and wariness over your ways after this will be the best preparation against the next time OF DEATH AND now I cannot think any Conclusion more fit and proper for this daily course of Devout Life than a short meditation on that which shall be the Conclusion of Life it self I. First therefore consider the shortness and miseries of this Life That our days consume in vanity and our years Psal in trouble That our whole Life is but as a Dream and when Death awakes us we find our hands empty of all that which hath cost us so much labour and travel and sorrow and sin II. Remember the swiftness and suddenness of Death That our days are but a span-long and our flourishing but as a flower of the field which though it be not plucked up yet soon withers of it self and falls away The Young may dye soon but the Old cannot live long III. Remember that in this short life we are yet to provide for an Eternity either of weal or woe and therefore cannot be too careful how we spend every minute of that upon which depends a matter of so great so lasting importance IV. There is but one way of Birth but many ways and means of Death and our Life hangs by so small a thred that every little Chance is ready to break it off V. After Death we are immediately called to Judgment before the high Court of Heaven to give a severe account how we have performed that duty to which we were created and accordingly to receive an irrevocable sentence of eternal happiness or misery VI. The Judge before whom we shall stand is infinite both in Knowledge and Power so that it is impossible either to hide any thing from his all-seeing eye or to escape out of the reach of his Almighty hand VII The Lord cometh in a day when we look not for him and in an hour when we are not aware Let us therefore watch and wait for his coming that when he knocketh we may open unto him immediately Vers 36. How dangerous and deplorable a condition would it be to be found and taken away in the midst of any Sin or in a continued course of sinful Life On the contrary How happy and blessed and joyful a thing would it be to be found practising and persevering in that which is good Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing Luke 12. 43. A Prayer preparatory to Death O Eternal Lord God who hast created the World and all Time who hast made my days as it were a span long and mine Age even as nothing in respect of thee Teach me so to number my days that I may apply my heart to thy Heavenly Wisdom and so carefully imploy this short time which thou hast appointed me to spend here so make up thy reckonings before that great day come that whensoever thou shalt call me hence I may give such an account of the Talent wherewith thou hast intrusted me that I may receive that joyful Sentence Well done good and faithful Servant Mat. 25. 21. Grant that I may be always provided with Oil in my Lamp and ready to enter in with the Wise Virgins whensoever the Bridegroom shall come and receive a blessing among those which watch and wait for thy coming So come Lord Jesu come quickly Amen Rev. 22. 20. LAMENTATIONS AND DEVOTIONS FOR THE TIMES OF CAPTIVITY Eccles 12. 13 14. Let us hear the Conclusion of the whole matter Fear God and keep his Commandments for this is the whole duty of Man For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether is be good or whether it be evil I. IS it nothing to you all ye that pass by Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto me wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand they are wreathed and come up upon my neck He hath made my Srength to fail the Lord hath delivered me into their hands from whom I am not able to rise up The Lord hath trodden under foot all my mighty men in the midst of me he hath called an assembly against me to crush my young men The Lord hath trodden the Virgin the Daughter of Judah as in a Wine-press and all her beauty is departed from her Zion stretcheth forth her hands and there is none to comfort her Her adversaries are the chief her Enemies prosper for the Lord hath afflicted her For the multitude of her transgressions her children are gone into captivity before the Enemy For these things I weep mine eye mine eye runneth down with water because the Comforter that should relieve my Soul is far from me My Children are desolate because the Enemy prevailed The Lord is righteous for I have rebelled against his Commandment Behold O Lord for I am in distress My bowels are troubled my heart is turned within me for I have
holy mountain because for our sins and for the iniquities of our Fathers thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us Now therefore O our God hear the prayer of thy servant and his supplications and cause thy face to shine upon thy Sanctuary that is desolate for the Lords sake O my God incline thine ear and hear open thine eyes and behold our desolations and the People which is called by thy Name for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousness but for thy great mercies O Lord hear O Lord forgive O Lord hearken and do defer not for thine own sake O my God for thy people are called by thy Name III O Lord God destroy not thy People and thine Inheritance which thou hast redeemed through thy Greatness which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand Look not unto the Stubbornness of this People nor to their Wickedness nor to their Sin lest the Land whence thou broughtest us out to say Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the Land which he promised them and because he hated them he hath brought them out to flay them in the Wilderness Yet they are thy People and thine Inheritance which thou broughtest out by thy mighty Power and by thy stretched-out Arm. O my Father if it be possible let this Cup pass from us nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt Abba Father all things are possible unto thee take away this Cup from us nevertheless not ours but thy will be done Amen TWO PRAYERS For the Peaceful re-settlement of this Church and State IV. A Prayer for the Church O Blessed Lord who in thine infinite mercy didst vouchsafe to plant a glorious Church among us and now in thy just judgment hast permitted our sins and follies to root it up be pleased at last to resume thoughts of Peace towards us that we may do the like to one another Lord look down from Heaven the Habitation of thy Holiness and behold the ruines of a desolate Church and compassionate to see her in the dust Behold her O Lord not only broken but crumbled devided into so many Sects and Factions that she no longer represents the Ark of the God of Israel where the Covenant and the Manna were conserved but the Ark of Noah filled withall various sorts of unclean Beasts and to complete our misery and guilt the spirit of division hath insinuated it self as well into our affections as our judgments that badge of Discipleship which thou recommendest to us is cast off and all the contrary wrath and bitterness anger and clamour called in to maintain and widen our breaches O Lord how long shall we thus violate and defame that Gospel of Peace that we profess how long shall we thus madly defeat our selves lose that Christianity which we pretend to strive for O thou which makest men to be of one mind in an house be pleased so to unite us that we may be perfectly joyned together in the same mind and in the same judgment And now that in Civil affairs there seems some aptness to a Composure O let not our Spiritual differences be more unreconcileable Lord let not the ronghest winds blow out of the Sanctuary let not those which should be thy Embassadours for Peace still sound a Trumpet for War but do thou reveal thy self to all our Eliah's in that still small voice which may teach them to Echo thee in the like meek treating with others Lord let no unseasonable stiffness of those that are in the right no perverse obstinacy of those that are in the wrong hinder the closing of our wounds but let the one instruct in meekness and thou be pleased to give the other repentance to the acknowledgment of the Truth To this end do thou O Lord mollifie all exasperated minds take off all animosities and pre udices contempt and heart-burnings and by uniting their hearts prepare for the reconciling their opinions and that nothing may intercept the clear sight of thy truth Lord let all private and secular designs be totally deposited that gain may no longer be the measure of our Godliness but that the one great and common concernment of truth and peace may be unanimously and vigorously pursued Lord the hearts of all men are in thy hands O be thou pleased to let thy Spirit of peace over-shadow the minds of all contending parties and if it be thy will restore this Church to her pristine state renew her days as of old let her escape out of Egypt be so entire that not an hoof may be left behind But if thy Wisdom see it not yet a season for so full a deliverance Lord defer not we beseech thee such a degree of it as may at least secure her a being if she cannot recover her beauty yet O Lord grant her health such a soundness of constitution as may preserve her from dissolution Let thy providence find out some good Samaritans to cure her present wounds and to whomsoever thou shalt commit that important work Lord give them skilful hands and compassionate hearts direct them to such applications as may most speedily and yet most soundly heal the hurt of the daughter of Sion and make them so advert to the interests both of truth and peace that no lawful condescention may be omitted nor any unlawful made And do thou who art both the wonderful Counsellor and Prince of peace so guide and prosper all pacifick endeavours that all our distractions may be composed and our Jerusalem may again become a City at unity in it self that those happy primitive days may at length revert wherein Vice was the only Heresie that all our intestine contentions may be converted into a vigorous opposition of our common enemy our unbrotherly feuds into a Christian Zeal against all that exalts it self against the obedience of Christ Lord hear us and ordain peace for us even for his sake whom thou hast ordained our peace-maker Jesus Christ our Lord. V. A Prayer for the King and State O Most gracious Lord who dost not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men who smitest not till the importunity of our sins enforce thee then correctest in measure we thy unworthy creatures humbly acknowledge that we have abundantly tasted of this patience and lenity of thine To what an enormous height were our sins arrived ere thou beganst to visit them and when thou couldst no longer forbear yet mastering thy power thou hast not proportioned thy vengeance to our crimes but to thy own gracious design of reducing and reclaiming us Lord had the first stroke of thy hand been exterminating our guilts had justified the method but thou hast proceeded by such easie and gentle degrees as witness how much thou desiredst to be interrupted and shew us that all that sad weight we have long groaned under hath been accumulated only by our own incorrigibleness 'T is now O Lord these
many years that this Nation hath been in the Furnace and yet our dross wastes not but encreases and it is owing only to thy unspeakable mercy that we who would not be purified are not consumed that we remain a Nation who cease not to be most sinful and provoking Nation O Lord let not this long-suffering of thine serve only to upbraid our obstinacy and inhanse our guilt but let it at last have the proper effect on us melt our hearts and lead us to repentance And Oh that this may be the day for us thus to discern the things that belong to our peace that all who are yea and all who are not cast down this day in an external humiliation may by the operation of thy mighty Spirit have their Souls laid prostrate before thee in a sincere contrition O thou who canst out of the very Stones raise up children unto Abraham work our stony flinty hearts into such a temper as may be malleable into the impressions of thy grace that all the sinners of Sion may tremble that we may not by a persevering obstinacy seal to our selves both temporal and eternal ruine but in stead of our mutinous complaining at the punishments of our sins search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord. O be thou pleased to grant us this one grand fundamental mercy that we who so impatiently thirst after a change without us may render that possible and safe by this better and more necessary change within us that our sins may not as they have so often done interpose and eclipse that light which now begins to break out upon us Lord thy Dove seems to approach us with an olive-branch in her mouth oh let not our filth and noisomness chase her away but grant us that true repentance which may atone thee and that Christian charity which may reconcile us with one another Lord let not our breach either with thee or among our selves be incurable but by making up the first prepare us for the healing of the latter And because O Lord the way to make us one fold is to have one Shepherd be pleased to put us all under the conduct of him to whom that charge belongs bow the hearts of this people as of one man that the only contention may be who shall most forward in bringing back our David O let none reflect on their past guilts as an argument to persevere but repent and to make their return so sincere as may qualifie them not only for his but thy Mercy And Lord be pleased so to guide the hearts of all who shall be intrusted with that great concernment of setling this Nation that they may weigh all their deliberations in the balance of the Sanctuary that conscience not interest may be the ruling principle and that they may render to Cesar the things that are Cesars and to God the things that are Gods that they may become healers of our breaches and happy repairers of the sad ruines both in Church and State and grant O Lord that as those sins which made them are become National so the repentance may be National also and that evidenced by the proper fruits of it by zeal of restoring of the rights both of thee and thine Anointed And do thou O Lord so dispose all hearts and remove all obstacles that none may have the will much less the power to hinder his peaceable restitution And Lord let him bring with him an heart so entirely devoted to thee that he may wish his own honour only as a means to advance thine O let the precepts and example of his Blessed Father never depart from his mind and as thou wert pleased to perfect the one by suffering so perfect the other by acting thy will that He may be a blessed instrument of replanting the power instead of the form of Godliness among us of restoring Christian vertue in a prophane and almost barbarous Nation And if any wish him for any distant ends if any desire his shadow as a shelter for their riots and licentiousness O let him come a great but happy defeat to all such not bring fewel but cure to their inordinate appetites and by his example as a Christian and his Authority as a King so invite to good and restrain from evil that he may not only release our temporal but our spiritual bondage suppress those foul and scandalous vices which have so long captivated us and by securing our inward provide for the perpetuating our outward peace Lord establish thou his throne in righteousness make him a signal instrument of thy glory and our happiness and let him reap the fruits of it in comfort here and in bliss hereafter that so his earthly Crown may serve to enhanse and inrich his heavenly Grant this O King of Kings for thy sake and intercession of our Blessed Mediator Jesus Christ A Prayer for all Christian Princes and the Ecclesiastical State ALmighty God who rulest in the Kingdoms of men and in all events of the world defend those with thy mercy whom thou hast adorned with thy power lift up the horn advance the just interests of all Christian Kings Princes and States by the power of thy venerable and life-giving passion Give unto all them who serve thee in the ministeries of religion wisdom and holiness the blessings of peace and great abilities to minister prosperously to the good of souls by the power and aids of thy holy Spirit of wisdom Pardon all our sins take away our iniquities from us all and preserve us from all danger and trouble from need and persecution from the temptations of the Devil from the violence and fraud of all our enemies Keep us O God from sinning against thee and from suffering thy wrath through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Postscript THE desolation of Sion being that which every good Christian ought to remember in his Daily Addresses to Heaven I should wrong not only your Charity but even your good Nature to think you forgetful or careless of our Common Mother the Church of England thus despightfully used by those ungrateful and unnatural Children who having formerly sucked her Breasts yet are not ashamed to trample upon her in the day of her Calamity I have therefore thought it not improper to add these foregoing Lamentations and Devotions in her behalf hoping they will not be unacceptable or unuseful to you and such others as shall find it worth their while to have proceeded thus far To the blessing of God I commend them and you Farewell THE END Mat. 6. 7 8. Mat. 6. 9. Luke 11. 2. Mat. 5. 23. Mat. 6. 12 14 15. Psal 19. 14. Psal 27. 8. 28. 2. Esth 5. 2. Psal 51. 5. Ezr. 9. 6 7. 2 Cor. 7. 10. Mat. 6. 33. 1 Tim. 2. 1. Luke 1. 79. Isai Gen 18. 32. Mat. 5. 44. Luk. 18. 1. Eph. 6. 18. 1 Thes 5. 17. Psal 119. 62. Acts 16. 25. Mal. 4. 2. 1 Thes 5. 23. Psal 121. 1. 1 Thes 5. 5. 8. Rom. 13. 13. Psal 119. 18 36 133. Psal 91. 2. Psal 121. 8. Psal 121. 7. Jude 24. Phil. 4. 7. Com. Pr. Mat. 6. 6. Mat. 18. 20. Eph. 3. 20. Com. Pr. Heb. 13. 20. Phil. 2. 13. Jude 24. Psal 103. 1 2 3 4. Luke 1. 46. 2 Cor. 6. 2. Mat. 5. 21. 2 Thess 2. 16. Mat. 24. 44. Psal 27. 23 Psal 84. 28. Eccl. 11. 8. Psal 27. 9 10. Psal 130. 1. Psal 51. 1 2. Psal 121. 4. Cor. 10. 13. Heb. 20. 23. Dan. 9. 4 5. Pri. Form of Prep Psal 130. 3. Isai Psal 103. 10. Rom. 13. 12. 1 Tim. 6. 12. Joh. 4. 24. Mat. 22. Luke 14. 18 19 20. Mat. 22. 12. Zach. 3. 1. Zach. 13. 1. 2 Pet. 2. 22. Psal 5. 7. Mat. 26. 41. 2 Chron. 30. 18 19. 1 Kings 19. 8. B. Andrews Man p. 290. Mat. 15. 27. 2 Pet. 2. 22. Psal Psal 103. 15. Luke 12. 46. Psal 90. 12. Mat. 25. 1 10. Lam. c. 1. v. 12. 14 15 6 17 5. Vers 16. Ver. 18 20 21. C. 2. v. 1 3 2 9. C. 2. v. 9 7 6. Vers 15. C 3. v. 19 20 21. Ver. 22 23 31 32 33. Ver. 39 40. Chap. 4. ver 11 12. Ver. 16 17 18 19. Vers 20. Chap. 5. ver 2 3. Vers 8 12 15 16. Vers 17. Vers 19 20 21. Psal 74. 1 2. 79. Ver. 1. 74. ver 7. 79 ver 4 5 8 9 10. â—4 ver 18 19 20 21 22 23. Psal 80. 1. 4 5 6 7. V. 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15. Ver. 17 18 19. Psal 60. 1 2 3. 89. ver 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46. 84. ver 9. 90. ver 15 16 17. Psal 73. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 11 12. Ver. 13 15 16 17 18 19 20. 37 ver 1 2 35 36 37 38 39. Ezra 9. 6 7 15. Neh. 9. 31 32 33 34 35 36. Dan 9. 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12. Ver. 16 17 18 19. Deut. 9. 26 27 28 29. Mat. 26. 39. Mar. 14. 36.