had it we did not prize it nor esteeme it as we ought to have done neither did we walke worthy in any measure of so great a favour from thee our God But under the covert and shadow of this thine holy Ordinance we have conspired against thee and have committed great impieties to the dishonour of thy Name And by these our sins we have most wickedly forfeited our title and interest in such thy goodnesse which forfeiture of our sins thou hast most justly taken by letting loose the spirits of sedition and Rebellion of division and faction like tempestuous whirlewinds upon the face of these Nations which have overturned the frame of rule and order amongst us and have battered downe the Throne of thine Annointed and changed our happy Monarchy into Anarchie and confusion and in the ruines of this thine excellent Ordinance the wastes and decaies of all other blessings are befallen us the purity the order and beauty of Religion the equall and upright administration of justice Innocency of life and honesty of conversation All the obligations of naturall civill and Christian endearements the offices of love neighbourhood and charity and together with these our outward peace our safety our security our plenty our Trade and Traffique our liberty and what not have received their great and deplorable impairements by that great eclipse of Soveraignty in these Kingdoms and now we are become as the fishes of the sea as the creeping things that have no ruler over them spoyling and devouring and destroying one another raging and madding and suming against one another thrusting one another out of their rights and possessions reproaching and defaming and worrying one another with such monstrous and mercilesse cruelty as is not to be found amongst the most savage and wildest Creatures in the world much lesse is answerable in any degree either to the meeknesse of Christians or the sobriety and equanimity of reasonable men and Christians This O Lord is the sad and wretched condition that we are in And unlesse there be some timely remedy our house that is thus divided must needs fall and our Kingdome that is thus set against it selfe must needs be brought unto utter desolation But Lord who is it that can cure us of this our great and manifold malady Who is it that can water the dying root of this our Tree That can repaire the mouldered foundation of this our Building It is thou only O Lord our God that canst do it unlesse thou help us nothing can helpe us unlesse thou be mercifull unto us we shall have no mercy upon our selves Lord we are falling into the precipice of destruction if thou catch us not with the Armes of thy mercy we shall be broken and dashed in peeces we are overwbelmed in the floud of our fins and miseries if thou hold us not by thy heavenly hand we must needs be drowned and choaked in the deluge send downe thine hand from above and deliver us out of the deep waters Thou canst whensoever it shall please thee put a stop unto our raging calamities and snatch us out of the jawes of that ruine which hath seized us Let it be thy heavenly pleasure we beseech thee to looke downe in thy tender pitty upon the great confusions and desolations of this Kingdome and to command some deliverances for us we are here before thee O Lord God as a company of poore weatherbeaten sheepe scattered upon the mountaines without a Sheepheard ready to become the prey unto every wilde and savage beast Oh thou great Shepheard of the sheep seek thy flock and gather them unto thy selfe we are before thee like a poore tossed and tottered Vessell without a Pilot ready to dash in peeces upon every wave and to split upon every Rocke to be made the mockery the game and the pastime of these violent and contrary winds that are risen amongst us Lord save us or else we perish O restore our Shepheard unto us and enfold us againe within the defence of that happy Monarchy which thou hadst placed over us Yea Lord be thou both our Shepheard and our fold to keep us safe under the guarde of thy providence that the evening Wolves and the ranging Bears may no more ravish and devoure the poore people raise up againe the Throne re-embellish the Crowne and cement and strengthen the broken Scepter of this Kingdome that Piety and Justice may be revived and Peace and Prosperity with all other blessings may be restored unto this Nation re-enforce we beseech thee those wholsome Laws and constitutions which have been heretofore the Conduits of so much security and happinesse unto this Land A bolish we beseech thee all unlawfull and usurped power and cancell all Arbitrary unjust and Tyrannicall Ordinances and set up that true and legitimate Government againe in this Nation which hath heretofore been so fruitfull in blessings unto our Land Give wisdome and fortitude and the spirit of Government unto thine Annointed and all those that shall be sent of him that they may be able to weild this thy great Ordinance and to mannage it to thy glory and the good of thy people to the punishment of evill doers and to the praise of them that do well And put the spirit of subjection and obedience into the hearts of the people of this Land that they may yeeld a willing a conscionable and cheerefull submission thereunto as unto the Lord and not unto men looking upon the Authority of the Magistrate as upon a sacred streame flowing unto them from the heavenly fountain of thy divine power that they may reverence it and as an instrument of thy mercy and great goodnesse unto them that they may embrace it that no unquiet or distempered motions may hereafter be raised amongst us in this Nation from private and wicked interests or from ambitious turbulent spirits to disturbe the happy peace and tranquility of thy people through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen A Prayer for the King O Lord thou righteous Judge of heaven and earth who hast committed all power unto thy Son Christ Jesus both in heaven and earth and hast revived the rayes of his supreame Authority and Majestie unto Kings and Princes whom thou hast ordained to be the Rulers and Governours of thy people to the end that we may lead a quiet and a peaceable life in all godlinesse and honesty We beseech thee looke downe in mercy upon the Person of thine Annointed our gracious King the light of our eyes and the breath of our nostrils who suffereth at this time for the sins of us and these Nations under the cruelty and oppression of seditious and wicked men Consider his Enemies how many they are and what a tyrannous hatred they beare against him Consider O Lord how low they have brought him what great bondage and affliction they have laid upon him how they have imprisoned his Person robbed him of his revenue killed and massacred his Loyall and faithfull People bereaved him
of the comforts of his Queene and Children left him destitute of the solace of his friends abridged him of the attendance of his Servants disappointed him of the advice of his Counsell deprived him of the benefit of thine Ordinances shut him up from thy House and the Assemblies of thy People blasphemed him with vile and false reproaches spoiled him of his just power and greatnes and profaned his Crown down unto the ground and attempted by hellish conspiracies to take away his life These things have they done O Lord to the great dishonour of thy Name and to the great discomfort and destruction of thy people And in so doing they have rebelled against thee our God trampled upon thy Lawes violated thine Ordinance broken their Oaths and Protestations and that very Covenant which themselves contrived and imposed upon others of the people of the Land This thou hast seen O Lord and yet thou holdest thy peace whilst they triumph in their wickednesse against thee And because thou keepest silence they have though wickedly that thou wert even such a one as themselves and have strengthened themselves in their prosperous impieties But Lord how long wilt thou looke upon this Sirre up thy selfe O God against those that magnifie themselves in so many and so great impieties against thee Be thou glorious in the vindication of thine owne Ordinance cloath thy selfe with thy might and thy strength for the reliefe and deliverance of thine Annointed Pleade thou with them that strive with him and fight thou against them that fight against him lay hold upon the sheild and buckler and stand up to help him bring forth the Speare and stop the way against them that persecute him and say unto his soule that thou art his Salvation Pardon his sinnes and the trangressions of his people and let not the sins of his Fore-fathers come into thy remembrance but dispell them all from before thy presence as a cloud by the beames of thy heavenly goodnesse drowne them in the bottomlesse pit of thy mercy that they may no longer hinder thy favour from thy Servant but make thou the light of thy countenance to shine upon him Remember his patience his meekenesse his humility his mercy his love that he beareth unto thy House to thy Ministry to thy Worship and Ordinances his zeale to thy glory his devotion to thee his God And let all those holy Sacrifices that he hath offered up unto thee through thy Son be accepted in thy sight for Christ Jesus his sake Remember all those Prayers and Supplications that have been dayly made to thee in his behalfe and let them not returne empty from thy Throne Oh let it be thy pleasure to command mercies for him Be thou unto him a Pillar to support him in all his trialls a Shield to defend him in all his dangers a Treasure to supply him in all his necessities a Comforter to relieve him in all his distresses a Counsellour to advise him in all his perplexities And let thy extraordinary mercies and the heavenly influences and breathings of thy divine Spirit supply unto him the want of the outward meanes of thy Word thy Sacraments and thy publique Worship Oh let not his precious soul suffer through the wickednesse of those that oppresse him but feed thou him from thine own hand and by the ministration of thy heavenly Ministers in those straights and solitude that he is in even with the choice delicates of thy heavenly Table Be thou with him in trouble to keepe him from miscarrying and compasse him about with songs of deliverance as thou hast furnished him hitherto with thine excellent gifts of Patience and Wisdome and Christian fortitude and hast made him in spight of all his Adversaries and even to the shame and confusion of his malicious persecuters a glorious example of Christian constancy unto his people so Lord establish unto him every good gift which thou hast wrought in him and increase all thy spirituall graces in his foule that the splendour thereof may breake forth more and more through the clouds of his calamities to the amazement and astonishment of his rebellious enemies Arme him more and more with an unchangeable love unto thy Truth and to thy Service to thy Church and to thy people that neither the subtle and deceiptfull insinuations of any false Iudases nor the terrours or menaces of any insolent Rabshakahs may shake him from those pious and Christian resolutions which thou hast been pleased to put into his heart Set a guard of thy heavenly host continually about his Sacred Person that no wicked assasinates may dare to approach unto him and that the Son of violence may not hurt him Discover and defeat all hellish plots and devillish conspiracies that may be against him and blast them all with the breath of thy displeasure O prepare thy loving mercy and thy faithfulnesse that they may preserve him Breake thou his bonds asunder by thy strength make thou the doores of his Prison to flye open Soften the hard and flinty hearts of those that are the Authors and instruments of his restraint and miserie that they may relent towards him if it be thy blessed will or else affright them with the terrors of their evill consciences and strike them with trembling and feare that they may not be able to pursue their cruelties O Lord preserve his Fame and Honour from the scourge of those malicious and traiterous Tongues whose sport it is to speake evill of Dignities and to blaspheme the footsteps of thine Annointed Make thou his righteousnesse as cleare as the light and his upright dealing as the noon day O Lord restore him to the bosome of his Queene to the comfort of his Children of his Friends of his Servants of his Revenue Restore him to the joyfull Assemblies of thy People to the Comforts of thy house and of thy holy ordinances Preserve his Life enlarge his straits repaire his honour re-establish his Throne in peace in truth in holinesse and righteousnesse amongst us Bring him forth now at length like Gold out of the fire of his long afflictions precious and glorious in the eyes of God and men But thou O Lord deale with us according to thy name for great is thy mercy O Lord arise for the deliverance of thine Annointed for the Lord Iesus his sake Amen A Prayer for Peace in the Church und State O Lord thou God of Peace and Authour of Unity Looke downe we beseech thee in thy tender pitty upon the miserable distractions and bloudy divisions of this our Church and Kingdome of England who by our sinfull separation of our selves from thee our God are fallen in pieces from one another Thou O God art the center of Unity and we are like unto so many crooked lines that are fallen from thee our Center by our sinfull and corrupt affections straiten us againe we beseech thee by thy grace that being reconciled unto thee we may be joyned together in thee and reconciled
deplorable state of the Church of God which was lamented by Saint Basil as an evill of too much growth in those times seemes to have acquired a more perfect malignity amongst us 〈…〉 Neque Sacrae jam literae tantum valent ut intercessio harū admittatur Neque tradita ab Apostolis controversias horū inter ipsos dijudicare possunt unus est inimicitiae terminus ea loqui quae delectationem habeant inimicitiarū satis praeclara causa non convenire sententiae firmior autem reperitur ad seditionis secietatem omni conjuratione sola errati similitudo It needs no other translation then the sad and pernicious practice of our time and Nation doth dayly make of it wherein we are so farre engaged by the evill spirit of contradiction in the maintenance of quarrells against one another that we may preserve the credit of our sides our owne judgements and interests and our malice and uncharitable dispositions against others That the holy Scriptures are not allowed to be of such force as to be admitted for intercessours or arbitratours betwixt us Nor do we suffer our controversies to be decided by those things which have been delivered unto us from the Apostles no end of our strifes but to sacrifice the Truth unto the pleasures of those that oppose it whilst that doth not please us which is true but that only is allowed to be true which pleaseth us And it is held for a laudable and specious cause of enmity if any man will not subscribe unto our sentence And compliance in the same errour is become a greater security to associate men in the contrivance and practise of sedition than any conjuration or conspiracy whatsoever How many controversies had been prevented how many more had bin long since ended amongst us could we but have bin brought on all sides to a faire and sincere compromise to stand to the award of the Spirit of God in the holy Scriptures and sound reason agreeable to the Scriptures and not to have reserved an appeale from thence in our hearts and judgments at least unto the usurping umpirage of this spirit of partiality and opposition How had the names of Papists and Protestants and Puritans of Lutherans and Calvinists and those new make-bates of Roundheads Cavalieres Malignants bin either long ago forgotten or else never knowne amongst us were it not for this humour of siding and contradiction against one another I speake it from my heart and not without griefe to thinke of it and I wish it might be well considered by all others I do not finde when I looke upon the state of the quarrels that are amongst us that they are held up neere so much by any difficulty or want of cleerenesse either in the rules of Scripture and reason which concerne them or want of light in mens judgements to apprehend what they declare therein as by that partiality of heart which men beare either to themselves or some whom they adhere to and by the prejudice and opposition against others whom they are resolved to contend with be it right or wrong whereby they have enslaved their owne soules unto errour contention being their Jaylor whilst men are not so much contentious because they erre as they do erre because they are contentious So true is that which Charron hath in his booke of wisdome Chacun prend plaisir de se tromper Every man makes it his sport to deceive himselfe And yet they are not satisfied with this unlesse they may deceave others too and play the decoies of their Master to draw others into his net with them Hence it is that there are daily amongst us such tumultuous and irrationall crying down of most cleare and evident Truths without so much as allowing them a faire tryall or a liberty to speake for themselves Hence it is that there is such headlong condemnation of righteous Doctrines and practices with no better arguments than such as the Jewes used against our Saviour before Pylate If any part of Christian Doctrine or duty seemes to lye opposite unto humour and those evill ends which men have proposed to themselves then presently the cry is Crucifige Crucifige crucifie it crucifie it and if any aske why and what evill that Truth hath done They have no more to say many times than they had than against Christ Iohn 18. who when Pylate asked them for their accusation instead of objecting any crime against him cry out If he were not a Malefactor wee would not have delivered him up unto thee As if it were crime enough to condemne Christ Jesus himselfe that he had the foolish people for his Adverfaries A way of proceeding that I feare hath left too much bloud upon the score of this Nation in these times viderit populus viderit Pilatus Let the people and the Pilates both looke to it So if the true and ancient Doctrin of Obedience and of Suffering and bearing the Crosse in case of Tyranny or persecution one of the most proper notes and tokens of the Christian Church and Profession which is so gloriously recorded in the bloud of so many Martyrs come but in the way What other cry is there with some in these daies but Crucifige Crucifige Crucifie it Crucifie it They are ready to Crucifie the Crosse it selfe and those that teach them any such foolish Doctrine as to submit to it But then if they be asked as the Jewes were Why what evill hath that Doctrine or the Preachers of it done or What accusation bring ye against them it is enough that they dislike them and that they are not for their turnes And in like manner they deale with other advices and instructions which are offered to them concerning Reverence Order and Decency in Gods Worship c. And this evill hath so far possessed the Pulpits Presses in our times that instead of being for what they were ordained the great gates for the entrance of true and sincere knowledge into the Publique They are become the marts of division and strife the Channels and common gutters to convey the filthy and infectious ordures of vile contumelies and reproaches not away from us but amongst us to the poysoning of the very aire of this whole Climate and to the breeding and spreading of contagious Plagues throughout the whole Region of this Kingdome whilst they whose office is to instruct the people have forgottten the businesse of their Master which is to be the dispensers of food unto his family in due season and like that evill servant in the Gospell Math. 24.48 49. seeme to say in their hearts The Lord delayeth his comming and fall to beating of their fellow servants thrusting them out of their employments and possessions as if that terrible threat of the great Judge were but a meere mormo or Bugbeare to fright children with but they will one day find it to be true The Lord of those servants will come in a day when they looke not
what Gregory Nazianzen said long agoe of those that are bewitched with the love of riches 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If thou perswade They are more ready straight thee to invade With injuries than to receive from thee Those medecines that might cure their maladie Yet notwithstanding give me leave manipellos meos horreo Domini immittere to bring in my little gleaning handfulls into the Lords Barne in this point And first to reply to the former of these evasions That though it be too probable that many things were given in this kinde in the times of the blindness of Popery upon such erroneous grounds and perswasions as are before set downe and it is our great shame that their errors should bee more fruitfull than our truths yet it will bee an hard matter perhaps for them to prove which of them were so procured or given or to assure themselves that there were not joyned with those superstitious apprehensions some mixtures of better thoughts that might bee sufficient to make good the interest of God and his Church therein Secondly that long prescription doth make good those acquisitions that are founded in errour and mistake for though it bee a rule in the Civill Law that quod initio vitiosum est non potest tractu temporis convalescere yet this rule hath this exception viz. Nisi haec duo simul concurrunt sc Vitii cessatio novissimus actus Thirdly that it may bee very dangerous in these dayes to admit of such a principle that those grants are invalid that are obtained upon false pretences and perswasions For this would entrench shrewdly upon the validity of the Act some yeares since obtained from his Majesty for the continuation of this present Parliament which was granted upon other pretences and perswasions than doe any whit agree with those actions wherein it hath beene since employed Fourthly give me leave to propose this Dilemma unto all mens consciences that are any way concerned in this point Either those errors that are supposed to be the inducements of those donations made them void or no if it did not make them void they stand good unto the Church if it did make them void then without doubt it ought to returne unto the heires of the Donours who ought not to suffer for the fraud of others or their Fathers folly or superstition What then hath any body else to do either to take them away or to buy or sell them Fifthly false perswasions or grounds where the party granting is faulty in the admission of them doe not seem to make voyd concessions especially when they are confirmed with sacred Bonds Or if so how came it to passe that the league of Israel with the Gibeonites who deceived them with their old shooes and their old bottles and their mouldy bread and with a plaine downe right lye Iosh 9.4.9 c. was yet so firme and lasting that the breach thereof was so severely punished by God so many hundred yeares after as you may see 2 Sam. 21.1 2 3 Verses c. To the second evasion I answer That a superstitious use or intention or emploiment doth not make void the Vow or the consecration of a thing dedicated much lesse render it uncapable of being employed in the true worship and service of the Almighty God himselfe pronounced the Censers of Korah and his company to be hallowed though they were consecrated in a superstitious and unwarrantable way and used in a false worship Numb 16.38 and therefore though they must not bee used in that particular way in which they were dedicated yet the Lord gives order to have them made into broad Plates for the Altar and that is indeed the right cure of things dedicated to superstitious uses not to alienate them from the Church so turne them from the the service of superstition to be the instruments of pride and lust and luxury and rebellion but to vindicate them unto those employments that are truly religious See the Story of Gedeon offering Sacrifices unto God with the wood of the Grove Iudg. 6.26 And that by the command of God and of the bringing backe the Vessels of the Temple to Ierusalem Ezr. 1.11 5.14 15. 6.5 7.19 Neh. 13.9 So wee see these evasions are no justifications But without doubt the gaine is the godlinesse there lyes the sweetnesse of Reformation with these men Demetrius and the Crafts-men may crie up Diaâ—â— but the gaine and the profit that came in by the silver shrines that was the Diana that they worshipt Had it not beene for that they would perhaps have cared alike for Diana and for Christ And men in these dayes may talke of Reformation and I would to God wee could see them once set about a true one but it is too apparent what the English of their Reformation is even the plundering and the robbing of the Church Revenues and the enriching themselves with the spoile of the Ministerie and the House of God and the intruding of themselves into the possessions of other men It is an ill signe when these Cookes of Reformation grease themselves and lick their fingers so much in the dressing of it it is like to be but a slovenly piece of Cookerie Had the Church been poor enough perhaps it had ne're been medled with by these men and therefore wee see this hath been the great businesse The Bishops Lands have been sold and the Malignants as they are pleased to stile them have been sequestred And in order to that and some other good purposes they have beene pulled downe But for any matter of Reformation in any thing else what great matters have been done What is the glorious issue of these seven yeares labour As for those evill fruits that are so much cryed out of as Pride Ambition Idlenesse Luxury Worldlinesse in Church-men c. I deny not but there have beene ill uses made of Gods blessings as well by us of the Clergy as by others and wee most willingly acknowledge Gods justice in making use of the injustice and oppressions of men to scourge us for our miscarriages and to deprive us of those mercies and encouragements which we have used no better But first this is not the fault of the revenues but of those that abused them and then againe this might have beene remedied by a better course by wholsome Lawes for the reformation of such abuses Thirdly as Riches have their temptations so hath poverty too We do not find it is alwayes the mother of piety The old saying is too ofteÌ„ true that Necessitas cogit ad turpia Need sets men upon uncomely and unjustifiable actions Fourthly there are temptations also in the riches of the Laity and if all matters bee rightly examined it will bee found that their Honours and revenues have yeelded no better fruits in them than those which are charged upon the Clergy let the world judge But will you heare something
true that wee too seldome goe to God but out of starke need as long as wee can finde any shadowes to skulke under in the creature we rarely thinke of laying hold upon the substance which is in God few there bee that make him their choice If we flye to him it is commonly for a Refuge Till we be convinced of the emptinesse and helplessenesse of outward aides we are for the most part strangers unto God We must therefore be further instructed that as God is able to helpe us so there is none else able that there is no possibility of obtaining a true and soled recovery from our miseries and decayes but from him And this is a truth so cleare and evident that it is the monstrous blindnesse of our corruption that wee doe not see it It is established upon three firme foundations First upon Naturall Reason Secondly upon the irrefragable evidence of Scripture Thirdly upon Common experience First it is a principle written upon our hearts in the Chatactâ—â— of reason Which reacheth us that God being thesest couse as the essences of the Creatnres so all their motions are dependant upon him as they cannot be so they cannot worke without him All their motions are swayed and over-ruled by him so that the creatures can give no helpe but by his commission they are all empty Channels unlesse they bee filled unto us by the streames of his goodnesse If he give not the Word of helpe and health unto them all that they can doe will rather harme us than relieve us His power and goodnesse is the sinew and the strength of them all Therefore if God bee not present unto us in them with that they will all prove but Broken Reedes Secondly the Scripture is full of this Doctrine there we find this principle acknowledged by the King of Israel in the Discipline of the Famine whereby that Lecture was imprinted on him as it seemes 2 Kings 6.27 If the Lord doe not helpe thee whence shall I helpe thee out of the Barne floore or out of the Wine-presse But what he could not see perhaps but in the time of that actuall failing of the creature The Spirit of God teacheth us to acknowledge in its greatest fulnesse and that what ever promises it makes it can performe nothing without God First it is set downe in the generall rule Iames 1.17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and commeth downe from the Father of lights c. The blessings that are administred unto us by the Creatures are but as so many rayes of light convayed unto us from that Father of lights by them If hee intercept his influence they are nothing but darknesse and misery and if all good is from him there can bee no good obtained without him He is all-sufficient without the creature but they are altoget her insufficient yea deficient without God without him all their wisedome is dotage all their plots and contrivances are madnesse all their strength is weaknesse all their fidelity is treachery and all their riches is extreame beggery Nay they are so far from being helps unto us that they prove many times our greatest impediments like Sauls Armour unto David 1 Sam. 17.38 39. Therefore God tells Gedeon Judges 7.2 The people that are with thee are too many for mee to give the Midianites into their hands And there you may see Gods reason too lest Israel vaunt themselves against me saying mine owne hand hath saved me Observe Gods dealing in the progresse of that story and profit by it it may afford us excellent matter for our meditation And see what is recorded concerning Vzziah 2 Chron. 26.14 15. Hee was marvellously helped till hee was strong But when hee was strong his heart was lifted up to his destruction c. You may stand and admire the working of this principle in another way upon our gracious King at this time whilst hee had Armies and much outward strength he came downe for indeed their wickednesse rendred them unworthy to bee a Guard for so pious a Prince and much more to bee the instruments of Gods mercy to him and to his people But since he hath beene stripped of all those outward helpes how wonderfully hath God beene seene in the Mount So that his Motto may be like that of Saint Paul When I am weak then am I strong Insomuch that I must confesse that I am almost afraid of his recruiting Armies lest by their irregular violences and their former impieties and miscarriages they prove to the interruption of the gracious work that God hath begunne for him and his poore people I beseech God give them grace to beware of it But I hope their former miscarriages will in struct them that they may not make themselves guilty of a double ruine This conclusion is yet further confirmed Job 9.12 13. Behold hee taketh away who can hinder him and who will say unto him What dost thou If God will not withdraw his Anger the proud helpers doe stoop under him But generalls are too wide to chaine 〈◊〉 our unruly thoughts and affections for the most part The Lord therefore descends to particulars for our instruction to shew us that there is no kinde of reliefe that can be had without him there is no medicine in all the creatures to cure us of the smallest evill in any kinde unlesse the Lord enrich them and make them beneficiall to us by his goodnesse 1. There is no defence without him for the shields of the earth belong unto the Lord. Psal 47.9 2. No safety or victory in the greatest strength of Armies without him Without me saith God they shall bow downe under the Prisoners and fall under the slaine Isa 10.4 Whilst the people of Ierusalem were disarmed of God it was to no purpose for them to fend to Egypt for helpe For though yee had smitten the whole Army of the Caldeans tha fight against you and there remained but wounded men among them yet should they arise up every one in his tent and burne this City Jerem. 37.10 But if the Lord once engage himselfe in the businesse nothing can stand against a people Zachariah 9.12 13 14. Turne yee to the strong hold yee prisoners of hope that strong hold I conceive is the strength of God even to day doe I declare that I will render double unto thee When I have bent Iudah for me filled the Bow with Ephraim and raised up thy sonnes oh Zion against thy sonnes ô Greece and made thee as the sword of a mighty man Then the Lord shall bee seen over them and his Arrow shall goe forth as the lightning and the Lord God shall blow the Trumpet and shall goe with whirlwindes of the South Then the Lord shall defend them and the Lord God shall save them See Verse 15 16. An excellent place a rich Mine of Meditation 3. There is no wisedome nor counsell without him Job 5.12 13 14. Hee disappointeth the devices of the crafty
He taketh the wise in their owne craftinesse They meet with darknesse in the day-time and grope in the noone-day as in the night Prov. 21.30 There is no wisedome nor understanding nor counsell against the Lord. And whatsoever is without God is against him No Associations can do good without him See Isaiah 8.9 10. Walls and Fortifications are to no purpose Isaiah 22.8 9 10 c. The sounds of Rams hornes shall be as good as the Batteries of the greatest Rams or the shot of the greatest Cannon against Hiericho if the Lords strength be not the cement of the stones thereof Iosh 6.20 There is no nourishing vertue in the creatures without him Matth. 4.4 Man shall not live by bread onely but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God There is no Security no Prosperity no successe in any Action any Operation or Enterprize without the blessing of the Lord. Except the Lord build the House they labour in vaine that build it Except the Lord keepe the City the Watch-man waketh but in vain c. Psalme 127. What seemes to be attributed unto Chance Eccles 9.11 being spoken as is thought in the person of a carnall man perhaps to convince such an one from his owne principles is without doubt the prerogative of God who is equally the great Master both of contingent and regular events for there is nothing contingent in regard of the first cause The race is not to the swift nor the battell to the strong nor yet bread to the wise c. Eccl. 9.11 There is no peace nor indeed any good to bee had but from him Isaiah 45.7 I forme the light and create darknesse I make peace and create evill I the Lord doe all these things The Scripture flowes with this kind of instruction And the voyce of Reason and Scripture is subscribed by Experience The experiments are innumerable that History affords to this purpose We need goe no farther than to those evidences which have been given us in our late miscarriages Wee see our Wisedome hath forsaken us and the contrivances of our great Counsellors have proved plots of destruction our policies have served but to improve our miseries to cheate us farther and farther into the power of Mischiefe and Desolation On the one side our gracious King the glory of our strength under God is imprisoned and he that should helpe us is not able to helpe himselfe God hath suffered so good a King to fall into such a condition perhaps to teach us this lesson that I am now pressing upon you I pray God we may learne it quickly for his sake Our Armies though they were strong and powerfull and had the great comfort and encouragement of a righteous Cause yet through miscarriage in the mannaging thereof and for want of engaging God with them in the work yea through their dis-ingaging of him by their wickednesse and horrid impieties they have beene defeated and brought to nothing I pray God this may be remembred hereafter On the other side the Armies in which so many have trusted and which they have beene at such cost to set up and maintaine instead of helping them have become their Oppressours the edge of their Swords hath been turned toward themselves and their own force threatneth them with ruine The Money and Wealth of the City and Kingdome hath purchased chased us no deliverance at all but hath rather served for the hire of our calamities All the Pillars on which we have leaned are broken as it were on all sides and we have no Foundation left us to rest our selves upon on earth Oh then now let us learne from all this that there is no helpe but in God If wee have our recovery we must have it from heaven and from his hand No Drug will helpe us but Manus Christi If wee ever have Peace we must have it from him Hee is the Prince of peace and the God of peace Though the whole World should conspire to doe us good and to relieve us yet if the Lord come not in to the worke it will be in vaine Let us therefore learne wisdome by our former follies and doe not now relapse into your old errours againe There is much gaping after helpe from this and from that from the Scots and from the Welch and from I know not whom and indeed these may be instrumentall helpes and it will be wonderfull in God to make them so But all these will deceive us unlesse God be brought in for us unlesse he be with us as good they were all against us They will neither prove faithfull unlesse God hold them nor helpfull unlesse God strengthen and prosper them Let us look upon them therefore as the returning glimpses of Gods mercy unto us as his proffers and invitations to make us seek unto him But let us take heed that we place not our hope in them nor in any creature It is the common Dilemma of humane folly and perversenesse that where no outward help appeareth it is apt to despaire of help from God and we will trust him no farther than we can see him in the meanes but they that are of this mind if they truely search into their condition will finde perhaps that they trust not in God but in the meanes And againe when outward help doth begin to shew it selfe we are presently too apt to forget our dependance upon God and to withdraw our expectations from him and to set up that meanes for an Idoll in his Throne by placing our hope and confidence therein I pray God deliver us from both these extreames and teach us in all the varieties and changes of humane things to keepe our selves unmoveably fixed upon this Rocke That our help commeth from the Lord which made heaven and earth Psal 21.2 But it is a great question that comes in the fourth place and would require more space than I have allowed mee to resolve it fully What course may be taken to engage God on our side and to obtaine help and relief from him First let mee entreat you all to bee firmly fixed upon this and to let it seize upon your affections as well as your judgements that if ever we be relieved it must be God that must relieve us And then take in this conclusion for your direction That there is no way to obtain help and deliverance from God but by Humiliation Repentance and faithfull Prayer unto him This onely will doe it and this will doe it I must divide and be briefe I shall premise only this premonition I deny not but God may grant outward deliverances outward blessings where they are not sought of him in this way for divers ends that are knowne unto his heavenly wisdome He doth sometimes take off judgements from the wicked that he may render them so much the more unexcusable and sometimes to give them the reward of some outward Services and sometimes for the sake of the righteous that live amongst them
all our sins have kindled these flames let your penitent teares and earnest and faithfull Prayers endeavour to quench them The anger of the Lord incensed by our iniquities is the root of all these miseries let us seeke to appease his anger by the incense of our fervent devotions God is a powerfull God and is able to helpe us He is a mercifull God and willing to relieve and succour all those that turne unto him with penitent hearts The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him yea unto all such as call upon him faithfully Methinkes we may heare him clucking us unto him as A Hen gathereth her Chickens under her wings that he may hide us there oh let us runne unto him Me thinks we may see him spreading out his armes and stretching out his hands unto us as he did once unto Israel that he may reach us unto himselfe and embrace us in our returne oh let us not stand out against his mercy to our owne ruine When the Prodigall child in the Parable returned how ready was the good father to go forth and meete him how did he fall upon his necke and kissed him Oh let us then feed no longer upon the Huskes with the Swine upon the empty shells of created helpes by relying upon them but let us go to our Father our heavenly Father our mercifull Father and say unto him in the bitternesse of our soules and the compunction of our spirits Father we have sinned against heaven and against thee and are no more worthy to be called thy Children Let us now at length lay aside our strifes our divisions our wicked and foolish and frantick and worldly contentions about shadows and trifles and impertinences And let us all joyne together to quench the fires that are kindled in our houses about our eares Consider how long God hath waited for this He hath been seven yeares now upon the matter preaching this Lecture unto us It hath lost many thousands of lives to teach it us Oh let us now learn it then and practice it lest we answer for all that bloud that hath been shed Take heed you weary not out the patience of the Almighty but let his long suffering leade you to repentance lest his despised mercy be turned into the greater fury and you be made to pay a heavy interest for all his for bearance in eternall destruction Oh delay not the time lest the Decree of utter subversion come forth against us and there be no remedy We must seek to him if ever we be relieved let us do it quickly that we may be speedily relieved let us do it quickly lest it be too late away with procrastinations Illud modò modò non habet modum There is no end of our anons too morrowes if we yeeld unto our Tempter and our corrupt hearts Seeke the Lord whilst he may be found call upon him whilst he is neere Plough up your fallow ground for it is time to seeke the Lord. Oh make haste for the day declineth the shadows of the Evening are stretched out the Morning commeth and also the Night if you will returne returne come But especially let me bespeake you my beloved Brethren and fellow sufferers unto whom I desire to empty out my soule in this Exhortation You that are the Loyall people of the Land whom God hath so long disciplined under the yoke of the oppression of your enemies Let not all that pruning and digging about you prove in vaine lest he breake out at length against you in a farre greater judgement Oh despise not the correction of the Lord nor cast his reproofes behind your back deceive not your selves with vaine hopes Trust not to the righteousnesse of your cause Alas have we forgotten so soone how our wickednesse hath betrayed it once already And Sin is as great a Traitour still as ever Ioshua and Israel had a good cause and a good Commission even from God himselfe and had received great pledges of the Almighties favour The Sea divides asunder to give them passage and what was a Wall unto them was a Sepulchre unto their enemies The Mountaines skipped like Ramms and the little Hills like young Sheepe as it were before them The Walls of Iericho fall down at the noise of them and instead of being a fence for their Adversaries become a pavement unto them These and a thousand more favours God had done for them and yet though their cause was never so good and their Commission never so authenticall and though all these priviledges were bestowed upon them yet we know what one Achan did amongst them See the Story Ioshuah 7. Alas my Brethren how many Achans are there amongst us we may even tremble to thinke on it I love you too well to flatter you in this Israel was Gods people and Midian was his Enemy and yet when the Children of Israel did evill in the sight of the Lord the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian seven yeares Let your owne sad experience make you wise you see whither your Sins have brought you and your Cause and your gracious King Take heed you runne not againe into the same errour for which you have already suffered so much and do actually suffer God hath put you to the Triall once againe whether you will receive mercy or no by making new offers of deliverance unto you let not your sins now stand in the way to divert his mercies from you Do not run away from God by your iniquities when he is comming toward you in his goodnesse Oh I beseech you be humbled be reformed let us have no more of your Oaths and Blasphemies and horrid Execrations Your Dammees and your Sinke-mees I feare there are some of your number now cursing banning in Hell for it for all their Loyalty and their righteous Cause and how shall they escape thinke we that love damnation so well as to pray for it It is the monster and prodigy of Corruption that the Devill should so besot any soule Let us have no more of your swinish Drunkennes nor your riotous revellings nor your brutish Lusts No more of your contemning of God and his Truth and his Worship of his Ministers and his Ordinances You see God will not be contemned I pray you consider it hereafter lest if you miscarry againe you miscarry without recovery and your King and the Church and these whole Nations fall with you Oh endeavour I beseech you to make amends for former miscarriages Do not thinke you can do any thing without God leave him out of he businesse no more Trust not to the Scots Trust not to the Welch though I hope they will prove faithfull Trust not to your strength your forces your friends Trust not to the people All these will come to nought without God Trust in God take him along with you in all your waies Consult with him in his Word let him be President of your Councels of Warre and
before we sleep concerning our thoughts and demeanour that day with some such questions as the Philosophers verse doth imply 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where I have been What I have done What duties I should have done that day and have omitted And seeking pardon and grace for the future and strengthening our selves against our sins with holy resolutions And if every morning we would bethinke our selves what temptations we may fall into that day and if we can contrive prudently the avoydance of them if not to desire Gods helpe and the grace of his Spirit to arme us against them Sixthly It will behove us to bend our selves most against those sinnes unto which we are most enclined and against our master-sinnes Seventhly To be wary of our Society and as much as we may to avoid evill Company and to associate our selves with those that are good evill communication corrupts good manners Eighthly To meditate often of the presence of God who is with us every where seeing all our most secret thoughts hearing our most whispering words and observing all our most private actions See Psal 139. and meditate upon it To contemplate of the houre of death the frailty of life the vanity of the world the profitablenesse of righteousnesse having the promises of this life and that which is to come of the all-sufficiency of God and Christ of the day of Iudgement of the joyes of heaven and the paines of hell of eternity and above all of Gods love toward us in Christ Iesus of his Passion Resurrection Ascension of his Kingdome Priesthood and Glory and of the glorious patternes of his holy life Ninthly Be frequent and fervent in Suppplications to God for the King and his Family the Church the Kingdoms for the obtaining of a remedy to our miseries and desolations with submission to his Will and regard unto his glory And let all be offered up with a firme faith in Christ Jesus resting upon Gods mercy toward us in him For a helpe unto these Duties I do not undertake to prescribe any thing in this kind in particular but if I might without offence give my advice I would advise all good Christians that wish well to the King Church and Kingdom to give themselves to a private weekly Fast once a weeke at the least during these miseries to be employed in earnest Supplication to God for pardon of the sins and the removall of his judgements from the King and his people and these Nations and for the obtaining of grace and holinesse and in other holy duties agreeable thereunto Now for the Loyall Party in particular I have only thus much to say 1. To intreat them to get honest pious able Ministers amongst them that may instruct them and guide them in the waies of God and assist them with prayer and Supplication 2. That they make it their principall care to set up Religion in their Camps and to keep up a pious discipline amongst the Souldiers in case they shall have more to do in that way 3. That they take heed of violence and revengefull thoughts which may engage God against them and that they meditate not cruelty or retaliation But that their endeavours be fixed upon the honour of God and directed to the good of the King and the Church and Kingdome with a resolution to be regulated and guided by his Majestie as they ought and not to take upon them to be the carvers of their owne reparations nor seeking to returne evill for evill for the private injuries they have received but observing that golden rule of the Apostle Let your moderation be known unto all men that they may not by their fury and violence both displease God and overturne the businesse they shall have to mannage but that by their meeknesse and patience and Christian carriage they may stop the reviling mouths of their adversaries and shew themselves to be sincere Christians as well as Loyall Subjects The Lord of strength and wisdome and grace and mercy Arme us with his Strength direct us by his Wisdome sanctifie us with his Grace and Crowne us with his Mercy Through him who is the Lord of all Power and Wisdome and Grace and Mercy even Christ Iesus our Lord Amen A HELP FOR HVMILIATION O Lord the Great and dreadfull God keeping the Covenant mercy to them that love thee and to them that keep thy Commandements And a God of judgement and fury even a consuming fire unto thine enemies Bow down thine eares O Lord and heare open thine eyes O Lord and see the great afflictions and miseries of thy poore and wretched people who are assembled before thee this day to call upon thee for mercy Stir up our hearts we besseech thee that we may seek thy face and obtaine thy pittie compassion towards us O Lord 〈◊〉 God we doe not come before thee in any trust or confidence in our owne righteouâ—nesse but in the multitude 〈◊〉 thy mercies towards us 〈◊〉 Christ Jesus in whom the hast promised us a gracious accesse unto thee who is both â—â— Priest and our Sacrifice to make an attonement betwixt thee and us by whose hand we desire to offer up unto thee the sacrifices not of Bullockes and Goats but of troubled spirits and broken and contrite hearts which thou hast assured us thou wilt not despise Wee confesse O Lord that we have sinned and committed iniquitie and have done wickedly and have rebelled even by departing from thy Precepts and from thy judgements neither have we harkened unto thy Servants which spake in thy name to our Kings our Princes and our Fathers and to all the people of the Land We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God to walke in thy Laws which thou hast set before us by thy Servants the Prophets neither the terrors of Sinai nor the comforts of Sion neither the threatnings of Moses nor the gracious Promises of Christ have wrought upon our stubborne soules to make us forsake our sins in the feare of the one nor to embrace righteousnesse in the hope of the other Thou hast assayed many times to draw us unto thee by the Cords of love in great mercies and blessings which thou hast showred downe upon us Thou hast given us the dew of heaven and the fatnesse of the earth Thou hast opened the Treasures of thy bounty unto us in the plenty and aboundance of the fruits of the ground glorified thy selfe in wonderfull deliverances of us from the violence and conspiracies of our adversaries Thou hast been a shadowunto us against the heat and a shelter against the storm Thou hast strengthened the barrs of our gates and made peace in all our borders and to these and many other mercies thou hast added that which is above all in setling the true Religion among us and making the light of the Gospell to shine upon us the splendour whereof made us unto the greatest part of the world beside as the dwellings of Israell unto the
from our Services Schisme and Faction hath broken the bonds of holy Communion amongst the people in the Church envy and malice hath set us on fire against one another Pride and Vanity hath still the dominion over us Usury and Sacrilege are established by Law amongst us unjust gaine is taken for godlinesse Perjury is used for Wisedome and Policy Our hearts are estranged from thee and from heavenly things and set upon the vanities of this present world and the sinfull pleasures of the Flesh and all these Mischiefes and Corruptions are bred in the womb and nourished in the lap of that spirituall ignorance and blindnesse that is in us Thou ô Lord our God hast a Controversie with the Inhabitants of the Land because there is no Truth nor Mercy nor Knowledge of God in the Land by swearing and lying and killing and stealing and committing Adultery they break out and bloud toucheth bloud hence it is ô Lord that thou continuest still to plead with us in judgement and that thy hand is stretched out still Hence it is that thou still withholdest peace from us that thou hast stopped the Current of thy favour towards us and hast delivered us up into the hands of our Enemies Lord we acknowledge that thou art just in this and all thy dealing with us Yea O Lord we acknowledge thou art mercifull therein unto us that thou hast not long agoe given us up to a totall ruine and desolation and suffered us at once to have beene devoured by our enemies Thou hast not dealt with us O Lord after our sinnes but hast punished us lesse then we have deserved and hast sweetned thy Corrections with many blessings which thou hast yet continued unto us in that thou hast preserved us a remnant and hast yet given us our lives for a prey in that thou hast preserved unto so many of us our Liberties and enlarged thy selfe unto us in the supplyes of thy providence in the respite of thy judgements and hopes of further mercies O Lord our God wee beseech thee pardon and forgive us all those grievous and horrid offences which have exposed us to thy great and heavie judgements and made us unworthy of thy mercies Breake our Hearts with true and heartie sorrow and contrition for them all wash and cleanse us from them with the precious bloud of thy deare Son let the cry of that bloud which speaketh better things then the bloud of Abel drown the cry of all our iniquities that they may not incense thine anger any more against us Cloath us wee beseech thee with the Garment of thy Sons Righteousnesse that our Iniquities may not appeare before thee turne us O good Lord and so shall wee bee turned convert us and wee shall bee converted Helpe us all wee beseech thee to renew our Covenant of Obedience unto thee that thou maist renew thy Covenant of Mercy towards us Oh let us now at this very time break all the bonds of Corruption in our soules that we may not from henceforth allow our selves in any sinne raise up our Affections to thee our God and sanctifie us unto thee by thy Holy Spirit that thy Service and thy Glorie may bee precious unto us that our lives and safety may be precious unto thee Let Swearing and Blasphemie bee turned into Praiers and Praises unto thee our God Uncleanenesse and Intemperance into Sobriety and Chastity Violence and Injustice into Righteousnesse and Honesty Prophanenesse into Pietie Disobedience into Loyaltie Crueltie and Murder into Mercy and Compassion Pride into Humility Idolatrie and Superstition into Puritie and Worship Schisme and Faction into Unity and Concord Let Hypocrisie be changed into Sincerity and desire of Vaine-Glorie into an earnest seeking of thy Glorie let Malice and Emulation and Strife bee turned into the holy Flames of Brotherly Love and Christian Affection let the sordid love of the World and the impure flames of fleshly Desires bee turned into the holy Fires of Divine Love toward thee our God and to things that are above where Christ Jesus sitteth at thy right hand Let not Usurie nor Sacrilege nor Perjurie nor any other horrid Iniquities curse this Land of ours any more And that all these happie Changes may be wrought in us let the grosse blindnesse of our mindes be healed by the precious eye-salve of thy holy Spirit and thy heavenly light that so thou being reconciled unto us our warres may bee turned into an holy well-grounded and lasting peace our Confusion into Order and Beauty our sadnesse and discontent into joy and chearefulnesse that thine Anointed may be restored unto his power and Majesty to rule thy people according to thy will that all our Calamities may bee redressed thy Judgements removed thy blessings restored continued and encreased unto us And that the glorious light of thy Gospell may be more and more resplendent amongst us to guid us in thy waies and in the purity of thy worship O Lord according to all thy righteousnesse which is thy mercy we beseech thee let thine anger cease from ns for we are not able to beare thine indignation O let thy fury be turned away from this Nation which hath been heretofore thy holy mountaine Because for our sins and the iniquities of our fathers we are become a reproach unto those that are round about us now therefore oh our God heare the prayer of thy servants and their supplications and cause thy face to shine upon thy Sanctuary which is desolate for the Lords sake O our God incline thine eare and heare open thine eyes and behold our desolations and the people that are called by thy name for we do not present our Suplications before thee for our righteousnesse but for thy great mercies O Lord heare O Lord forgive O Lord hearken and do deferre not for thine owne sake oh our God for thy people are called by thy name oh let the sentence of mercy come forth now from thy presence and call in those Commissions of vengeance and indignation which thou hast given forth against us oh make us to heare the voice of joy and gladnesse that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce Oh comfort us againe now after the time that thou hast plagued us and for the yeares wherein we have suffered adversity shew thy servants thy work and their children thy glory and let the glorious Majesty of the Lord our God be upon us Oh take off the indignation of thine anger from the King and from the Priest and from all the people of the Land let the Magistrates rule in righteousnesse the Ministers guide in holinesse all the Members of this Nation live peaceably and religiously and honesty in their vocations keeping themselves within those bounds and limits of their callings which are proper unto them Let them study to be quiet and to do their owne businesse and keepe the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace teach them to feare the Lord and the King and not to meddle with
we soone forgot thy workes and waited not for thy counsell Ver. 21. We forgat God our Saviour which had done so great things for us 22. Wondrous things in the Land of our habitation and fearfull things upon the great Sea Psal 78.32 For all this we sinned still and beleeved not for his wondrous workes Ver. 41. We turned backe and tempted God and limited the holy One of Israel Wee turned backe and dealt unfaithfully we turned aside like a deceitfull bow Psal 78.5 c. Thou establishedst thy Testimony in our Jacob and appointedst thy Gospell in our Israell which thou commandest our Fathers that they should make them knowne to us their children That the Generations to come might know them even the children that should bee borne who should arise and declare them to their children That they might set their hope in God and not forget the workes of God but keep his Commandements And might not bee as their Fathers a stubborne and rebellious generation a generation that set not their heart aright and whose spirit was not stedfast with God But we have not regarded the mighty works that thou hast done nor the wonders that thou hast wronght for us For all this we have sinned yet more against thee and have lightly esteemed the rocke of our Salvation Psal 80.8 Thou broughtest us as a Vine out of the Aegypt of Popery and plantedst it in a very fruitfull hill Thou preparedst roome before it and didst cause it to take deep root and it filled the Land The hils were covered with the shadow of it and the boughs thereof were like the goodly Cedars Thou wateredst it with showers from above and enrichedst it with the River of thy goodnesse and blessedst the springing of it Thou causedst the beames of thy heavenly light to shine upon it That it might grow and prosper and beare fruit abundantly and that thou mightest blesse the increase thereof Isa 5.2 Thou fencedst it with the wall of thy divine protection and providence and didst set the hedge of an happy government about it Thou gathered stout the stones thereof by removing the offences that they might not hinder the growth thereof Thou prunedst it diggedst about it and dungedst the root thereof with the fat soyle of thine earthly blessings Isa 5.4 And what could have been done more unto thy Vinyard that thou hast not done in it But we quickly turned into the degenerate plant of a strange Vine unto thee and when thou lookedst for grapes we brought forth wild Grapes Therefore thou hast now taken away the hedge thereof and it is eaten up thou hast broken downe the wall thereof and it is troden downe It is laid waste and blasted with the burning wind of thy displeasure It is become a place of Briers and Thornes A Land of darkenesse and of the shadow of death Isa 34.11 The Cormorant and the Bitterne possesse it the Owle and the Raven dwell in it and thou hast stretched out upon it the Line of Confusion and the stones of emptinesse Psal 80.14 But returne we beseech thee O God of Hosts looke downe from heaven behold and visit this Vine And the Vineyard which thine owne right hand hath planted and the branch that thou madest strong for thy selfe It is burnt with fire it is cut downe and we perish at the rebuke of thy countenance Let thine hand be upon the man of thy right hand upon the Sonne of man whom thou madest strong for thy selfe So will not we go backe from thee quicken us and we will call upon thy name Turne us again O Lord God of Hosts shew the light of thy countenance and we shall be whole Another Prayer for these Kingdomes O Most glorious and gracious Lord God who rulest and governest all things Thine are all the Kingdomes of the world and all the Nations of the earth are in thy power and at thy disposing Thou buildest them that they may stand and thou plantest them that they may grow and whilst thou waterest them they flourish and at the blast of the breath of thy displeasure they fade away and come to nothing whilst thou blessest them they are blessed when thou cursest them they are weake and consumed Looke down I beseech thee upon these poore Nations that lye weltring before thee in their bloud in their sins that are entangled in the net and perplexed in the Labyrinth of their great transgressions and miseries and cannot tell how to get out O Lord our God I beseech thee take pity upon us and grant us a release Thou hast the soveraigne medicines with thee that can heale both our sins and miseries we are unworthy of thy mercy but thou art a God that delightest in mercy and the more undeserved it is the greater is thy glory nothing is too hard for thee no malady so desperate no sicknesse so incurable as to outbid either thy wisdome or goodnesse they are both glorified but neither can be puzzled or hindered by the extremities of our conditions It is thy property and thy divine peculiar worke to helpe when there is no help to be found wo have been struggling and striving O Lord a long time to get out of the toyle of our afflictions but all in vain The more we strive the farther still we are engaged in the mischief wheresoever we run thine arrows stick fast in us the poyson therof drinketh up our spirits thy terrors set themselves in array against us all our hopes in the Creatures have deceived us They have proved unto us but false conceptions they have brought forth nothing but wind we have waited for help but we have found none And therefore now O Lord we come to thee beseeching thee our God to have mercy upon us that what all the strength in the world cannot worke for us nor all the wisdome in the world contrive for us we may yet obtaine from thee our God But alas how should we obtaine any thing at thy hands when there are such loud cries and clamours of our great and horrid sinnes and iniquities against us How shouldst thou draw neere unto us that do continually run away from thee and flye from thy mercy by our impenitency and wickednesse even whilst we aske mercy at thy hands How shouldest thou but abhorre and abominate us that by our filthy and noy some iniquities have made our whole Land even to stinke in thy nostrills O Lord our God we confesse there is nothing in us that can challenge thy favour or bespeake any reliefe from thee If it be thy pleasure to destroy us to consume us with all thy plagues and damne us all even our whole Nation to the bottomlesse pit of hell we have nothing to reply or object against thee it is no more than our iniquities call for But we beseech thee O Lord to be gracious unto us all that we can do is to beg it at thy hands to beseech thy pardon to implore thy compassion to plead unto
thee thy gracious Promises in Christ and the Merits of thy Sonne whereby thou hast engaged thy selfe that what we aske in his Name we shall receive Thou hast opened unto us a gate of mercy in him he hath purchased a Pardon for us with his owne Bloud He is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world and thou hast opened in him a fountaine of Grace to sanctifie our natures and reforme our sins That the clouds may be removed and thy light and grace may shine upon us We desire therefore to relinquish our selves to disclaime our selves and to come unto thee in and by Christ Jesus beseeching thee for his sake to save our poore sinfull Nations O deale not with us after our iniquities but according to the greatnesse of thy mercy thinke thou upon us O Lord for thy goodnes O Lord forgive our great and horrid offences that have provoked thy wrath against us O cleanse our filthy and polluted soules rinse us in those Rivers that flowed from thy Son in the Garden and upon the Crosse Perfume us with thy holinesse Adorne us and sanctifie us with the graces of thy spirit Give us cleane hearts and pure affections and holy and Christian lives and Conversations O Lord forgive us that thou mayest reforme us and reforme us that thou mayest heale us O grant us broken and contrite hearts humbled spirits and melting souls that we may mourne for our sins past Grant us those Spirituall groanes and sighs that may pierce even into thy Bowels by the Merits and Mediation of Christ Jesus that they may be moved in compassion toward us Grant us cleane soules and renewed consciences that we may speedily and heartily forsake all our wicked sinfull and abominable courses whereby we have enflamed thee our gracious God against our selves our King and People Rouze us up from our carnall security that we may seek speedily and earnestly unto thee our God who for our sins art justly displeased O be gracious be gracious unto us be favourable O Lord be favourable unto thy people and let us not be brought to confusion give us not up to destruction and desolation for the Lords sake Call back thy Judgements and Plagues that thou hast sent forth against us The Pestilence and the Dearth and the devouring Sword that hath so long drunke up the bloud of the people Call backe that spirit of corruption and confusion of division and distraction that hath beone sent forth into these Lands and make up a happy union and peace amongst us for the Lord Jesus his sake Call backe that spirit of rebellion and oppression of cruelty and rapin that hath seized upon the hearts of so many of this Nation and reduce them into the waies of obedience and righteousnesse Send forth the spirit of truth of peace of righteousnesse of mercy of loyalty and obedience into all our hearts that we may be restored to a happy and prosperous condition Lord restore the King and deliver him Lord preserve his Queene Children and Family Lord have pitty upon His distressed People upon the Prisoners and the outcasts and the poore persecuted Subjects of this Land and deliver them from the fury and the cruelty of their Adversaries Lord direct guide sanctifie and prosper all the Loyall Armies and those faithfull people that are engaged in the cause of thine Annointed and his people let not their sins nor our sins stand between thy mercy and them or us Lord be mercifull to our Enemies make their hearts to relent forgive them and convert them and preserve them if it be thy blessed will reconcile us all to thee that we may be reconciled to one another Or if they shall still continue in their wickednesse Lord suffer them not to prosper therein suffer them to prevaile no more against thy Substitute and thine Ordinance to oppresse no more to kill and murder thy poore People no more but bring them downe O Lord we beseech thee for thine infinite mercies sake O Lord heare us O Lord help us O Lord relieve and succour us O deliver us and be mercifull to our sinnes for thy Son Christ Jesus his sake to whom with thee and the holy Ghost be all honour and glory world without end Amen A short Prayer to be used upon the undertaking of any just designe or enterprize for peace O Lord I blesse thy holy name for that good motion which thou hast put into our hearts for the procurement of peace unto these Nations I confesse O Lord I am not worthy to be an instrument of so great a blessing neither is there any strength or wisdome in me thy poore Creature that I should be able to mannage so excellent a worke but thou art the God that pardonest sins And art pleased to make use of weake and worthlesse meanes that the glory may be so much the more thine I beseech thee be thou glorified in us thy Servants pardon our sins heale our infirmities supply us with wisdome and thy strength and assist us by thy spirit make us to set up thy glory before us and sincerely to seeke the good of thy Church and people Shew us the waies that are conducible thereunto and conduct us and speed us therein and give a happy issue thereunto to the glory of thy Name to the comfort of thine Annointed and all his People to the furtherance of thy Gospell and to the good of me and mine c. and of these whole Nations through Jesus Christ our Lord. A Prayer for the restoring of an happy and setled Government in this Nation O Lord God who rulest and governest all things by thy Son Christ Jesus and hast ordained Magistracy and the power of Government amongst men as a ray or branch of that supreme authority in Christ Jesus to be the guardian under thee of peace and righteousnesse among thy people The foundation of humane society The Pillar of the world The shield of thy people and of all the blessings that they enjoy And of all other Governments hast most approved in thy holy Word of that excellent forme of royall Monarchy as that which is the most lively Image of thy rule and the most fruitfull Channell of safety and peace and felicity unto a people Weblesse and magnifie thy holy Name for this thy great and holy Ordinance whereby thou hast so provided for the fecurity and preservation of thy poore Creatures And more particularly we blesse thy holy Name for that comfortable portion which thou hast given unto this Nation heretofore in this thy blessing and in the benefits thereof in setting over us Kings and Princes to take the charge of the Government of this Land whereby thou hast been pleased for so long a time to preserve this Nation of ours in peace and plenty and prosperity and happinesse We confesse O Lord that there never was any the least merit in us that could challenge the least part unto us of so great a blessing whilst we
put it in practice beseeching thee that thou wilt take pitty upon them and that thou wilt be pleased now at length to sosten their hearts and to open their eyes That they pursue no further their workes of violence and rebellion but that having a true sense of their great iniquities and being truly humbled before thee for their sinnes they may lay hold upon thy gracious offers of mercy toward them in Christ Jesus and leaving all their evill and seditious courses may returne unto thee their God their obedience unto their Soveraigne and to the affections of justice and charity toward their Brethren That upon their unfaigned repentance thou mayest receive them into thy favour and that their souls may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus Lord we know thou art a God thou art able to doe all things Thou stillest the raging of the Sea the noise of the wayes and the madnesse of the people Thou canst tame the fiercensse of the most savage Lyons and make the Woolfe to dwell with the Lambe and the Leopard to lye downe with the Kid Thou canst cause the fire to forget its fury and rage and thou refrainest the wrath of man Thou by the power and might of thy grace didst meet Saul in the midst of the very heate and violence of his persecuting zeale and didst turne him into a Paul a meeke and faithfull servant unto thee and madest him of an enemy to become not only a member of thy Church but also a glorious fellow-sufferer with thy people Lord shew the like power of thy mercy and grace unto these our persecutors smite them to the ground with an apprehension of their great cruelties and bloudy oppressions that they have exercised against thy poore Church and people and raise them up againe in the apprehensions of thy tender love and goodnesse in Christ Jesus Thou who hast pardon for the greatest sinners that come unto thee with penitent hearts and a firme beliefe in thy Son Christ Jesus as thou pardonedst Paul so Lord pardon them As thou convertedst Paul so Lord convert them c. and let them not pursue the destruction of their owne soules If it be thy blessed will O Lord bring them home unto thy fold Let not their successes beguil them any more nor any evill engagements detaine them in their sinnes Suffer them no more to set up their carnall policies against thy spirituall and heavenly wisedome but bring down every high thought in them unto obedience to thy heavenly Word make them to know that there is no shame but to be wicked and that their greatest honour will be to forsake their sinnes and to returne speedily and entirely unto thee their God O Lord breake in sunder those chaines of corruption whereby they are held from thee and deliver them out of the snares of the Devill O quench the fire of that malice and rage which is enkindled in them against us thy poore people and inflame them with Christian affections towards us againe As for us O Lord make us patiently to endure what thy fatherly hand shall be pleased to inflict upon us whether by them or by any other meanes and give us alwayes a readinesse of heart to forgive all those injuries that they have done unto us and to embrace an hearty reconciliation with them whensoever they shall be moved by thy grace to give over their unjust cruelties against us and Lord lay not those sins unto their charge Grant this O Lord for Jesus Christ his sake Amen * ⎠* A Summe of divers principall things contained in this Booke 1. AN Introduction consisting of various incitements unto Humiliation and seeking of God 2. A discovery of the sad condition of the present estate of the Church and Commonwealth of England First In a paralell thereof with the miserable condition of the Jewes set forth in the Lamentations of Ieremy pag. 57 Secondly In a more peculiar and expresse delineation of the cerruptions depravations and devastations thereof illustrated by the consideration of our former happy condition in matter of Religion of Peace of Liberty of Government of honour and reputation First in point of Religion and things conducing thereunto pag. 91 1. Of Corruptions on the rule of Religion pag. 99 2. In the mannage of the worke of Instruction pag. 110 1. By seaucing Doctrines Ibid 2. By running from one extreame to another pag. 124 3. By uncharitable censures of moderatâ— spirits pag. 124 4. By the spirit of contradiction and tyrannising over the consciences of men pag. 127 5. By partiality and prejudice c. The evill fruits whereof are described p. 128 6. Pulpits and Presses made marts of division p. 141 7. Hunting after applause p. 148 8. Pusillanimity and lukewarmenesse in the Ministry where an exhortation to Christian con-age p. 155 9. Neglect of Catechisme p. 159 2. Of corruptions about the Sacraments 1. Of Baptisme p. 190 2. Of the Lords Supper Ibid 3. In abolition of Excommunication p. 194 4. In rejecting the grave and learned Ministry and putting up youths and raw novices to be the guides of the people p. 196 And Lay men without any lawfull calling p. 29 A discussion of that point at large of popular Elections c. p. â—52 Of the ordination of Ministers the Apostolic call way p. 278 5. In the sacrilegious taking away of the revenues of the Church as Tythes c. where the Question about Tythes and of things devated to Gods Service is discussed p. 293 6. In Conventicles and unreverent carriage in the Church abolition of formes of Prayer and the evill effects thereof p. 361 7. In matter of Church government the sad causes and sountaines thereof p. 373 A discovery of the miseries and Corruptions of the civill State 1. In matter of Peace p. 388 2. In matter of Libertie p. 399 3. In matter of civill Government p. 415 4. In matter of Honour and Reputation p. 429 Of the sonntaine of these calamities which is the great wickednesse of this Nation p. 437 God the only Physitian p. 454 No way to obtaine deliverance from God but by Humiliation for sin p. 484 Conversion from sin p. 490 Prayer p. 497 Faith in Christ Iesus p. 501 The conclusion with exhortation to the Kingdome in generall p. 514 To the suffering Party p. 527 Directions concerning the exercise of the said daties p. 535 An help to Humiliation 1. A Confession and Supplication laying open the sinnes and miseries of this Nation and imploring Gods mercy p. 1 2. Certaine Psalmes for that purpose The first p. 41 The second p. 44 The third p. 46 3. Another Prayer for these Kingdomes p. 59 4. A short Prayer to be used upon the undertaking of any just designe or enterprize for peace p. 72 5. A Prayer for the restoring of a happy and setted Government in this Nation p. 74. 6. A Prayer for the King p. 86 7. A Prayer for Peace in the Church and State p 99 8. A Prayer for the two Houses p. 109 FINIS