most assured that I am unworthy of thee I will love thee O my God and give me grace to put my whole trust and confidence in thee onely and so to repose and relie upon thy goodnesse and holy providence that from thee onely almighty and most gracious I may hope for and expect patiently whatsoever is expedient and necessary for me Cursed be the man that trusteth in man that maketh flesh his arme and whose heart withdraweth it selfe from the Lord It is better Lord to cleave unto thee then to trust in the Princes of the people Let worldlings and the reprobate live full of diffidence and distrust let them be bereau'd of judgement in their adversitie let them be daunted and forlorne in the first difficultie that befalls them let them have recourse to unlawfull meanes and those that are forbidden by thy Word As for me O God of my salvation in thee only will I place my hope that I may not be confounded Yea rather thus beholding with a setled and fixed eye what ere shall come to passe I shall abide stedfast as the mountaine of thy holines But O my God horrid should my condemnation be if I hoorded up in my heart the precious gift of thy knowledge how inexcusable my proceeding if I should boast of thy feare of thy love without my testifying thereof in my outward actions I beseech thee then so to strengthen me that I may shew forth by an holy conversation that it is thou Lord that sanctifiest me by thy spirit Touch my soule worke so in my heart and in my conscience that I may be freed from hypocrisie that my religion may not be a cloke to vaile from men the irregularitie of my passions the violence of mine affections but that being well ordered in my mind from thence as out of a purified fountaine may flow forth the streames of all sorts of good works agreable to thy Word meet for thy glory and profitable to my neighbours befitting my Vocation and unto my salvation To this end O Lord I beseech thee that thou wilt be pleased to give me courage to testifie what I have in my heart by my outward actions that I may glorifie thee every where and upon all occasions in making free and publike profession of thy Truth That I may not be ashamed of thy Word that I may not passe by thy bountie in silence but that I may shew forth thy strength even from thee Lord that hast called me out of darknesse into thy marvelous light that with my mouth I may give unto thy works praise conformable to the judgment and approbation I have already made of them in my soule that I may never cease to magnifie thee and that my heart may take no other pleasure but to see thee glorified in the world For if even the livelesse creatures celebrate thee why should I thorow ingratitude be mute in the acknowledgment of thy benefits Wherefore Lord hast thou given me a tong but chiefly to serve as an instrument to blesse and praise thee And that I may speak nothing but what may tend to thy glory Let me not take thy Name in vaine nor give my self to evill speaking nor detraction let no rotten speech go forth of my mouth but let all my talke tend to edification Moreover O Lord give and enable me to confesse not only in prosperity and whilst all things smile upon me according to the world but even in the greatest adversity that even in the midst of persecution if it please thee not to exempt me from the same I may answer alwayes with meeknes and reverence every one that shall demaund of me a reason of the hope that is in me I know Lord that very great is my weaknesse but is thy hand shortened or lesse strong for me then for the rest of thy children Is it thou that art pleased to perfect thy strength in our weaknes and infirmity Thou wilt give me then the constancie and that perseverance which shall be necessary for me that without feare and without being troubled I may be happy in suffering for righteousnes Give me grace also that all my actions may be void of vanity and presumption accompanied and seasoned with humility and reverence that I may humble my selfe under thy mighty hand that the world may see I wholly depend on thy goodnes and mercy that I hold my life being and all things of thee only that thou only hast the power to do with me thy poore and miserable creature what shall seem good unto thee And seeing thou hast given me to feare thee and to love thee give me also the strength to do what thou hast commanded me to avoid what thou hast forbidden me enable me to order my life according to thy commandements thou hast given us in thy Law As also Lord in that which displeaseth thee it may be seen that I have thy feare and that I have thy love whilst I do that which thou requirest of me Thy feare shall estrange me from that familiarity which hath no place but amongst companions and shall containe me within that respect which I ow unto thee and thy love shall exempt me from that feare which shall euer ceaze upon thine enemies Lastly O my God above all the things which in all humility I desire of thee I beseech thee that often thou wouldst often graunt the leasure and desire to call upon thee as thou now hast done Thou dost familiarly speak to me by thy Word graunt that I may confidently speak to thee by my prayers that often I may withdraw my selfe apart that I may shut my self up in my closet to impart unto thee my griefs to confesse unto thee my sinnes to bewaile before thee my poverty and my miserie and to implore from thee thine assistance and thy mercy For Lord prayer wil be unto me an unspeakable comfort as an evident testimonie that thou hast not left me to my self that I am in the number of thy children that thou wilt blesse me and powre forth upon me thy mercy and after I have called upon thee I shall carry my self in my vocation with much more zeale standing upright with thee I will not feare the world having discharged my conscience in thy presence I will march with my head born aloft having carefully recommended my self unto thy guidance I shall have rest in my soule and shal be most assured that notwithstanding the rage and subtilty of all mine enemies which are also thine thou wilt give me to continue faithfully my life in thy feare and end it in thy holy favour even then when out of this vale of misery thou wilt receive me into thy glory unto everlasting and most happy rest Another Prayer 8. O Lord our gracious God and almighty Father as thou hast alwaies thy hand opē to do us good thy wil is that our mouthes likewise should be so heartily to render unto thee thanksgiving Now then we praise and blesse thee for that
by nature are no gods may know thee and may be knowne of thee and may not to be turned back to the weak and beggarly rudiments which they would serve That all they that are baptised may put on Christ and that we may be all united in Iesus Christ our Saviour Let thy grace be with our spirit Amen A Prayer to be filled with Charitie 25. LOrd I beseech thee I may abound in faith and charity that I may yeeld up my self wholly first unto thee and then according to thy will unto my brethren knowing the gracious favour of our Lord Iesus Christ namely that he became poore for me although he was rich that by his poverty I might be made rich That my abundance might supply their wāt that I might have both a forwardnes of will thereunto and an habilitie of bringing the same into action also according to my meanes That it may relish of bounty not of close-hand niggardlinesse Knowing that he that soweth sparingly shall also gather sparingly and he that soweth liberally shall gather also liberally That it may not be unwillingly or by constraint seeing thou lovest a chearefull giver and art able to make to abound all grace in me to the end that having alwayes all sufficiencie in all things I may be plentifull in every good work as it is writ he hath scattered abroad he hath given to the poore his righteousnes abideth for ever Now thou Lord that givest seed to the sower be pleased also to give unto me bread to eat and multiplie my wealth augment the revenue of my righteousnes and that I may be enriched in all franknes of liberalitie The Kings Prayer Samuel II. 26. LOrd thou hast anointed me to be King thou hast accepted me to be the Leader of thy People be with me be thou with me be thou my Father and I shal be thy Son Let not thy free mercy depart from me Make an everlasting Covenant with me Keepe me whither soever I shall go Protect me from the hand of all them that shall rise up against me Establish the throne of my kingdome blesse thou thy servants house that it may be blessed for ever Graunt my dominion over men may be just that I may govern in thy feare O God and that I may raigne doing judgement and justice to all my people even as thou hast commanded me and that I may be acceptable unto thee Another Prayer of the Kings Chron. I. 27. O God give me an upright sound heart that I may keep thy commandements and thy testimonies and thy statutes that I may know and serve thee with an upright heart and with a willing mind For thou Lord searchest the hearts and knowest all the imaginations of the thoughts thereof graunt I may raigne doing judgment and justice to all thy people that I may be thy Sonne and that thou mayst be unto me a Father Establish the throne of my Kingdome for ever Be with me that I may prosper and build thy house O Lord my God Give me wisdome and understanding and teach me how to governe and how I may keep thy Law knowing that then I shall prosper if I take heed to do thy statutes and judgments which thou hast commanded Fortifie me and double in me my strength keepe me wheresoever I go blesse also thy servants house that it may be alwayes before thee and may be blessed for ever Give peace and rest unto thy people in my time Graunt thy Name may abide firme and be magnified for ever The Peoples Prayer for the King 27. BLessed be thou O Lord our God that hast accepted our King to set him upon the throne because thou hast loved us and hast establisht him to the end to do judgment and justice Shew thy great mercy unto him and that he may walk before thee in truth in righteousnes and uprightnes of heart Be with him magnifie his Throne lengthen his daies and let him live for ever Let there be peace to thee-wards alwayes for him for his posteritie for his house and for his Throne Give him riches and glory so as there hath not been the like unto him amongst Kings Let him be greater then all the Kings of the earth both in riches and in wisdome Let him walk in thy wayes to keep thy ordinances and thy commandements and let there ever be in him divine wisdome Put his enemies under his feet Give him rest round about him and let him have no adversitie nor evill lucke Let his people be very numerous as the sand which is on the sea shore Let him have peace round about him on every side and let neither them nor their children turne back from thee but keep thy commandements and thy statutes which thou hast set before them that men may know that thou art God in this Kingdome and that we are thy servants A Prayer of the faithfull that fervently desireth to participate in the publike exercises whereof he was deprived 28. O Lord of Hosts how amiable are thy Tabernacles My soule ceaseth not to desire greatly and even languisheth after thy Courts my heart and my flesh leape for joy after thee O mighty and living God O how happy are they that dwell in thy house which praise thee uncessantly O how happy is the man whose strength is in thee and they that go by troupes to present themselves before thee in thy Temple For better is a day in thy Courts then a thousand elswhere I had rather be a doore-keeper in thy house O my God then to dwell in the Tabernacles of the wicked For Lord God thou art unto us a Sunne and a shield thou givest grace and glory and withholdest no good thing from them that walk in integrity O my God I seek thee by the day breake my soule thirsteth after thee my flesh desireth thee as in a desart land I am athirst and without water to see thy face and thy glory as I have beheld thee in thy Sanctuary for thy free mercy is better then life therfore shall my lips praise thee and so will I blesse thee whilst I live and will lift up my hands in thy Name Satisfie my soule as it were with honie and with fatnes and let my mouth praise thee with a song of rejoicing Be my helper and I will rejoice in the shadow of thy wings My soule shall cleave unto thee to follow thee and thy right hand shall hold me up Another Prayer out of the second Epistle of St. Iohn 29. LOrd cause thy Truth to abide in us and to be alwayes with us and let us be ever found walking in the Truth according as we have received thy Commandement Let us love one another and walk according to thy commandements taking heed unto our selves that we lose not that we have done but rather that we may receive our full wages and that our joy may be full Grace mercy and peace from God the Father and from the Lord Iesus Christ the Sonne of the
thou hast begun from their enemies and thine that thy children may be comforted and confirmed in their faith and hope and that the wicked may learne to cease from their blaspheming of thee And that they may know that thou art the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords Lord be mercifull unto us poore and miserable sinners Give gladnesse unto our soules give succours unto thy Church for it is time O God which art the God of Peace and of comfort give us that true peace which is the repose of our consciences In the meane time reforme our disorders and confusions as it shal be expedient for thy glory and our salvation so that avoiding the surprises and practises which may be made against us by our enemies we may serve thee in all security and tranquillity according to thy holy will All the which things we aske and most humbly crave of thee in the Name and for thy beloved Sonne our Lord Iesus Christ his sake praying unto thee as it hath pleased him to teach and shew us how to call upon thee saying Our Father which art in heaven c. An Evening Prayer 13. O Lord God eternal and Almighty Father who hast made formed us with thine owne hands that knowest of what matter we are fashioned and made and reservest to selfe as Lord and Master the prerogative of sounding and searching of the hearts of thy creatures even unto their most retired thoughts We cannot denie before thee this truth namely that we are poore sinners conceiv'd and born in iniquitie and corruption inclined to do evill unprofitable unto every good work and that thorow our vitious disposition wee transgresse continually and without ceasing thy holy and heavenly Commandements in doing wherof we purchase to our selves thy just judgment our utter ruine and destruction Yet Lord we are grieved in our selves for the same O Lord God who hast created the day for our travell and the night for our rest pardon us if we have not imployed the day to thy service in performing thy holy will and ordinance and grant we may passe the night without offending thee even that we may remaine unpolluted both in body and soule to the end that in the morning for our first work we may praise thee and give thanks unto thee and dispose our selves unto thy service And because Lord that in the night season our afflictions presse ordinarily more then in the day and we have lesse succors from men re-inforce Lord thy Guard over us and behold with pitie and compassion all thy poore afflicted persecuted and oppressed ones especially for thy Word deliver them O good God as thou hast begun from their enemies and thine that thy children may be comforted and confirmed in their faith and hope and the wicked may learn to blaspheme thee no more but that they may know that thou art the King of Kings and Lord of Lords Lord be mercifull unto us poore and miserable sinners give joy to our soules give relief to thy Church for it is high time O God which art the God of peace and consolation give us that true peace which is the repose of our consciences In the meane while remedie our disorders and confusions as shall be expedient for thy glory and our salvation So that avoiding the surprises and deceitfull practises which may be made against us by our enemies we may serve thee in all security and tranquillity according to thy holy will All the which things we ask and crave of thee most humbly in the Name and for the sake of thy welbeloved Sonne our Lord Iesus Christ according as it hath pleased him to informe and teach us to pray unto thee saying Our Father which art in heaven c. The blessing of our gracious God and Father the peace and grace of our Lord Iesus Christ remaine evermore with us in the Communion of the Holy Ghost Amen Another Morning Prayer 13. O Lord God and most gracious Father I thy poore creature that naturally am wrapt in darknesse durst not lift up mine eyes towards thee that inhabitest inaccessible light were it not that thy deare Sonne who is the brightnes of thy glory hath made way for me to the Throne of thy Grace by the effusion of his precious bloud And now my God I acknowledge that it is a great benefit that I that am unworthy to live upon the face of the earth and have deserved by my sins to be cast for ever into utter darknes have this happines to see the light of the day and of the Sun and to behold the works of thy hands with the fruition of the good things of the earth which thou hast given me But because O gracious God thy Sun shines as well on the bad as on the good and that this light is but to guide my body be pleased O God that the brightnes of thy face may shine upon me in blessing me and enlighten my understanding by regenerating and sanctifying me that I may walk in the way of thy Commandements that in my Calling I may in such sort carry my self as that all my words deeds and thoughts may be correspondent to thy honour and glory and to the edification of my neighbours Lord thou hast drawne me out of the darknes of idolatrie and ignorance thou hast taken away the vaile of superstition from before myne eyes thou hast also even in my time caused to shine forth and as it were lighted againe that lamp of the preaching of thy Gospell But suffer me not that having eyes not to see with them But Lord inlighten all the parts of my soule and graunt that what ere is in me may be imployed to give thee all honour and obedience that in my Calling thy feare may before mine eyes And because thou esteemest not thy selfe to be loved of us unlesse we love our neighbours imprint in me a faith working by love in such sort that with confidence I may have a good conscience doing nothing to any other but what I would should be done to my selfe Let me have a mercifull and a relenting heart let not my bowels be straitened towards the needy and poore Lastly that seeing the shape of this world to passe away I may use it as a passenger remembring ever that my freedome is in heaven Give me peace in my family give a blessing upon my labour contentment to my mind repose and comfort to the poore afflicted and full deliverance to thy Church by thy Sonne Iesus Amen Another Prayer for the Evening 15. O Lord God thy People Israel offered unto thee Evening and Morning Sacrifices in token of acknowledgment unto thee that keepest us both morning and evening but what more acceptable sacrifice can we offer unto thee then our contrite hearts and tongues to praise and blesse thee Wherefore Lord in all humility and reverence I present my self before thy face beseeching thee thou wilt be pleased not to enter into account nor into judgment with
foolish and hurtfull lusts Wisdom 5. Which plunge men into destruction and ruine Which the Wiseman knowing made his prayer unto God not to give him riches but only his daily bread And withall what are all other things but most vaine vanity Which not so soon have taken their being as they are glided away and passed by as if they had not beene at all Nor is there any more appearance left of them then of a bird that hath flowne thorow the ayre whose track cannot be found flying away from him who so greedily and with all carefulnes had heaped them up together or if not he himselfe leaves them by death and unto whom Surely he knowes not as saith the Prophet Psalme 39.6 He heapeth up riches and knoweth not who shall gather them But when this should obtaine some continuance wouldst thou so abastardise and curtall thy felicity as therin to limit thy soveraign good Tell me how many yeares thou hast already passed and what a portion of thy age is glided on which is no more to be reckon'd on then when thou beginnest therin to take pleasure and if it were not so but rather that man might rejoyce in and enjoy his pleasure even from the day of his birth wouldst thou then esteeme it a profit that for to possesse even the whole world he should lose his soule Hearken unto and consult with Iesus Christ in this question Matth. 16.26 We shall know that whosoever seeketh after and loves these things cannot please God For there is his heart and not with the Lord and therfore let us contemne them Matth. 6.9 And following the instruction of Iesus Christ Let us lay up our treasures in heaven where neither the rust nor moath corrupt and thinke on those things which are above and not on these that are here below for whosoever is not ready to forsake all he hath in the world and which he possesseth on earth as he himself saith he cannot bee one of his Now if this be once found in us surely then we will seek rather to glorâ—fie God then to possesse the goods which oftentimes the very wicked injoy We will prefer the riches of the opprobries of Christ Heb. 11. before the treasures of Egypt after the example of Moyses nor will we commit such an errour as to deprive our selves of the hearing of Gods Word and of the meanes to serve him according to his already known will thereby the more commodiously to heap up wealth as we are wont to do But we had rather as David Psal 48. dwell simple doore-keepers in the house of the Lord then to enjoy the delights of the flesh Yea by so much the more willingly if as we hold them happy that dwell in the house of God praise him without ceasing And on the contrary for most miserable those that are estranged far from it Amos 8.11 There being no greater evill then to have a famine of the Word of the Lord. It remaines to satisfie more particularly him who doth not already see himselfe closely pursued with misery but hath his eye fixt on those by the meanes of whom he thinketh to live that regardeth nothing more then to conforme himselfe to their humour even to the turning of his back unto God for-feare of disgrace preferring this temporall life before eternall life having more care of the body then of the soule as one that makes more of his apparell then of himselfe Yet such a one in truth is brought to some tryall by reason of the defects which are in man thorow his infirmitie and basenes when as he hath not yet tasted of the promises of God but that he may commit a thing yet more horrible nothing more detestable and which may make more for his condemnation no And say we what we will to palliate such sinne so it is that to speak properly we must know that we set man in Gods place For wee make lying man true and God who is power it selfe a lyer Man that is meerely impotent we make powerfull and God who is power it selfe impotent in reposing our trust ordinarily as in this behalf upon man and on his promises And on the contrary there is nothing but diffidence and distrustfulnesse in that which is promised us from God do we relie more upon him in our need Is not this his voice Mat. 6.25 Take no thought for your life what you shall eate or what you shall drinke nor for your bodies what you shall put on If God saith Iesus Christ feed the birds of the ayre and cloath the grasse of the field will he not much more do it for you O you of little faith Aske then saith he and seeke you first of all the kingdome of God and the righteousnesse thereof and all these shal be ministred unto you withall and be not carefull for to morrow This is the Word of God these are his promises and yet in stead of retiring our selves unto him and towards him who hath promised never to leave us and never to forsake us whence Saint Paul Heb. 15. Drawes an argument to bid us to be content with things present we turn our selves unto men and hope from them as from them that which we want if any man mighty in possession hath made us protestation of friendship and hath promised us his purse shall be open to us in our need forthwith we make an account of it as of a thing most certaine and which cannot faile us and we so cherish this in such sort that we take good heed in no wise to displease such an one Yea with the dispence even of Gods honour as he whom we leave out as he of whom we had not received ought and from whom we could not hope for any benefit and what is this but with marvelous and detestable ingratitude to accuse God of impotencie or of want of will to make good that which he hath promised and so to make him a lyar A thing infinitely as the offence is infinite horrible to think onely And on the contrary setting man in his place by attributing unto him what appertaineth unto God alone Psal 42 1.50.12 Yea we so preferre maâ— before God him whose all things are that brings the wealthy to beggerie and raiseth up the poore untâ— glory making him abounâ— in wealth It seemeth that heâ—â— some may say we will cease then henceforth to take paines and trample upon all care trusting and reposing our selves wholly upon the promises of God Now know we that this would be truly to tempt him which makes us not these promises to make us carelesse to employ our selves in that wherunto we are calâ—ed by him and which our calling requires seeing he himselfe hath ordained for a badge and by reason of our sin that we shall eat our bread in the sweat of our browes Gen. 3.19 all the time of our life Which made Saint Paul say that he that labours not if he be able to do it ought not to eat
then this which is eternall Wherfore I pray you in the Name of God that you disquiet not your selfe for any affection you may have to this world For here we are all but strangers as our fathers when as then the Lord God shall have ordained and decreed that you must dislodge flit and go before us will not you conform your self unto his holy will and ordinance As on the other side if he see it expedient for your salvation to prolong unto you your life as he did to that good King Ezekias would you not content your selfe with whatsoever it shall please him to do with you Yes assuredly for he is Lord and Master you are but his servant He is your Creator you are his Creature and the work of his hands For this cause then will he dispose of you according to his will Vnto the which alone you ought to conforme and humble your selfe saying from your heart LOrd God thou knowest my necessitie if it shal be thy good pleasure to prolong and lengthen my life thy will be done if it be thy good pleasure also to call me hence unto thee even thy will be likewise done For thy creature Lord hath no other will but thine Now brother comfort your selfe with God who if he hath ordained to call you your Calling shall be happy For you must believe and hope in firme faith that he will make you rise againe in your owne body unto glorious immortalitie to make you raigne with him in life eternall which is purchase and given you by the vertue of the precious Bloud of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ In whose name the Lord God blesse and protect you and make his face to shine upon you and be mercifull unto you The Lord turn his face towards you and preserve you in all happines Amen THis done if it appeare he growes worse and worse and draweth on towards death and tending to his appointed end forthwith in his deadly agonie we must not faile to repeate with a lowde voice before him the Christian Consolation which is heere below promised This doing GOD graunt him grace well and and faithfully to die in him Amen HEB. XIII Remember them that are afflicted as being your selves of the body of the Church and subject to undergoe the like afflictions A PRAYER AGAINST the Apprehensions of Death PSAL. XVIII IIII The sorrowes of death compassed mee round about and the flouds of the ungodly men made me afraid O Lord my gracious Saviour when sorrowes presse us and death threatens us we looke up unto thee that art our life Death thought to have daunted thee in the garden of Geth-semane in such sort that thou knowest well what the distresses are which it brings unto men But as thou haâ—t vanquisht and overcome it graunt me also the grace to vanquish overcome it to beare patiently affliction to submit my selfe to the will of my heavenly Father Thou hast seene how the wicked did compasse thee about as the flouds of waters But now thou art in the happy haven of thy celestiall glory But being there on high despise not â—or sleight nor thy Church which is as yet in the midst of the waves and stormes of the world Gather us also unto that happy life draw us unto that wished port still the furie of the winds which trouble the earth for Lord thou art our Lord we are thy people A Continued Sequell OR An Vnintermitted Course of Comforts MOunsieur d' Ambesaignes a Domestique Gentleman of the late Mounsieur the Marquesse of Moussay being sicke in the Castle of Plouer in Bretagne Madame the Marquesse of Moussay sent to fetch Mounsieur Pallory of Richelieu Pastor and Author of this Booke to be comforted by him and as they expected from houre to houre his death for hee was in an agony from Munday evening the ninth of March 1626. Vntill the morning of Thursday the tenth in that sort that hee was required after diverse consolations to redouble during the space of that night prayers hourely and oftener for him And because there are but two prayers in this preceding Booke to be said when the Sicke is in anguish the first whereof is in the leafe 231. The other in the leafe 344. To satisfie the devotion of certaine good men the Authour hath caused to bee added these prayers following which he then said unto this second Edition to serve hereafter unto the comforters who shall assist the Sicke COMFORTS for the Sicke 1. A Prayer to be said when the sicke is in perplexitie 34. O Lord our good God and gracious Father the onely comfort of our soules the gladnes of our hearts our sole solace and refuge yea our singular sweetnesse amidst the sharpest bitternesses and anguishes which oppresse us we beseech thee to cast thy sweet and mercifull eyes upon this sicke person which hath received this honour together with us by thy speciall favour to bee delivered from the power of darknesse and to be transported unto the Kingdome of the Sonne of thy love having opened his heart as ours to receive the Word of life which alone can save our soules And as thou hast given him the wil to do wel grant unto him and unto us also this happines to give him to perfect the same according to thy good pleasure and to finish his course in thy feare that persevering in the confession of thy holy Name thy light and thy truth may lead him and bring him into the mountaine of thy holinesse O Heavenly Shepheard that hast sent thy deare Sonne to seeke the lost sheep and who repellest not the languishing soule that casts it selfe into thy bosome accomplish in such sort thy strength in the weaknesse of this sicknes that he may say with his whole heart the Lord is my portion and my succour therefore will I hope in him unto the end And seeing thou hast engraven and imprinted the seale of thine election upon the soule of this sick person Yea sith thou hast sealed him with the seale of thy Spirit for the Day of redemption purchased unto the glory of thy Name And seeing thy comforts are welcom to good soules give unto this sicke person amidst the anguishes he suffers in his body a vigorous and a constant soule sweetly bedewd from the springs of sweet comforts in the midst of the hot fits of his disease and the which may make to flie up and to sparkle forth the flames of a sacred desire even unto the Sanctuarie of thy Holines there to behold with the eyes of his mind the ineffable love thou bearest to thine Elect and the glory inestimable which thou keepest in heaven for thy children And to this end give him a gracious refreshing repaire his enfeebled forces wasted and spent by the violence of his disease quicken his heart by the sweetnes of thy grace kindle afresh his zeale inflame his prayers animate his sighes restore unto him the joy of his salvation and let the bones which
thou hast so graciously preserved us unto this present houre by reason of our sinnes our life is exposed to an infinitnes of inconveniences and in the mean time we still subsist and are filled with thy good things Our being and our welbeing Lord we should hold it of thee we ow it to thy free grace and meere mercy to thee alone for the same be all glory for evermore But O our most gracious God it is most necessary for us that thou continue thy gracious favours unto us otherwise what thou hast hitherto done for us would turn to our confusion Leave us not then for then we shall perish thou hast created and redeemed us not to destroy us but that we might have eternall life Shed forth then upon us thy more especiall favours and above all the grace of thy holy Spirit Thou that hast washt us from our sins in the precious bloud of thy Sonne Sanctifie also our soules by thy Word and according to thy promise For Lord shall we enjoy Iesus Christ and his benefits without our serving of thee without magnifying of thee And what honour shall we render unto thee or what acknowledgment unlesse thou thy self confer upon us both the will and hability of performance The will and desire to honour thee We already have of thy free grace give us also the power of performance Give it us Lord with efficacy and according to thy good pleasure graunt it unto us and at the most humble and fervent request which we make unto thee for the same Give us not over neither to the malice of our enemies nor to our own perversnes let neither of them hinder us in thy service nor let us not give them any subject of dishonoring thee let our example serve for our conversion That they seeing the holines of our lives may lose their wils to hurt us and may gain an affection to know thee aright to acknowledg thee O God according to thy Truth according to their duty Let us not O Lord abuse our health and present prosperity Grant we may imploy them to the glorifying of thee and to the advancement of thy work with faithfulnes and every one according to his vocation whereunto thou hast called us above all that in the midst of our greatest repose we may prepare our selves for afflictions to the houre of death and for the fruition of our eternall rest When thou shalt visit vs with thy rods that it may be in thy mercy and for our amendment when thou shalt call us that it may be in thy grace and for our salvation whether in prosperity or in adversity whether sound or sick whether living or dying we may evermore confesse thy truth and do nothing which may be unworthy of our profession nothing which not seriously testifies our repentance for our sinnes our desire of thy grace our seeking of thy glory the peace of our soules the comfort of our consciences and the assurance of our salvation in thy welbeloved Sonne IESVS CHRIST In his Name we further pray thee to conferre the same good things on all our kinsfolks and friends call unto thee those that know thee not and strengthen those that already have thy feare Establish maintaine every where and make effectuall the Ministerie of thy Word for the conversion consolation of al thine Elect and for the enlarging of thy glory of the Kingdome of Iesus Christ Keep our King and all His grant Him a long Raigne in thy feare and for the good of of thy Church Let his subjects O Lord and above all we who are instructed by thy Gospell render unto him and unto all our Superiours all obedience unto which thy Word obligeth us Make thine own sensible of the bitternes of thine afflictions rejoyce them also in the sweetnesse of thy comforts so moderate and terminate thy corrections that they may be wholsome unto them Above all we beseech thee for them which have need of thy succours in this Church deny them not thine assistance heare their prayers and ours comfort them and deliver them that they and we may praise thee solacing our selves in thy goodnes And because O God it is onely our sins which are able to hinder us from hoping to receive from thee that which we ask of thee as thou pardonest us our sins in thy Son graunt us grace voluntarily to renounce all iniquitie so shal not the course of thy grace be interrupted so shall we have experience both in our prayers of the Truth of thy promises and in our whole life Yea even unto the last gasp therof the continuance of thy fatherly mercy in the same thy welbeloved Sonne in whose Name c. A Prayer for him who after he hath beene worthily prepared to receive the holy Communion approcheth to the Lords Table 9. O My God O my Father I have had experience of thy mercy in the whole course of my life especially since thou gavest me the knowledge of thy Truth and of my salvation and at this present time Lord thou openest before me the treasure of all thy riches thou presentest and offer'st unto me whole Iesus Christ with all his benefits Seeing then O God of my salvation seeing thou wilt that I should obey thy Word that I should draw neare unto thy Table Alas suffer not nor permit that it shal be to my condemnation But O good God far be it from me that I should admit any such feare For thou hast touched my heart with serious repentance I am right sensible that thou strengthenest my faith and reachest forth unto me thy hand thy selfe to receive me this day thou that art the Authour of my salvation O happy day wherein I protest before thee to detest my sinnes to renounce mine iniquity to be admitted unto the participation of the Sacrament of the New Testament Good God give me now the grace to shew forth the death of my Saviour grant that in his sufferings I may discern how great was thy wrath how exact thy justice against our sinnes seeing that to blot them out thou hast not spared thine owne Sonne Graunt also I may acknowledg thankfully thy infinite mercy towards us in that for us thine enemies thou hast given unto death the just thine onely Sonne But Lord give me to admire the never to be paralel'd love which thy Sonne beareth me in that he hath undergone both my sins and thy wrath to affoord unto me the food of eternall life O how wonderfull art thou in thy bounties Seeing that this day thou wilt by visible and sacred signes augment my joy and present to the view of mine eyes thy celestiall and invisible graces At this instant thou wilt give me an assured pledge of my conjunction with Iesus Christ And by him with thee O my Father as also with thy holy Spirit Now shall I be assured that Christ is in me and I in him O excellent Vnion sith it bringeth to passe that I have peace with thee