HOLY INCENSE FOR THE CENSERS of the SAINTS OR A method of Prayer with matter and formes in selected Sentences of sacred Scripture ALSO A PRAXIS upon the HOLY OYLE shewing the VSE of SCRIPTURE-PHRASES And Choyse Places taken out of the singing PSALMES digested into a Method of Prayer and Praises Pray alwayes with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watch thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all Saints Ephes 6. 18. LONDON Printed for Robert Milbourne at the signe of the Greyhound in Pauls Church-yard 1634. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFVLL Sir EDVVARD AYSCOVGH Knight and to his religious and noble Lady the best blessings of this and the blessednesse of a better life through IESVS CHRIST Right Worshipfull IT was the Farewell-clause of HER Letter who is the Honour of this Country the Praise of her owne Sexe and the Glory of your Noble family Mistresse ANNE AYSCOVGH Martyr Pray Pray Pray and in another Letter written to IOHN LACELS Sacrificed with her in the same fire for the Word of God and for the Testimonie which they held Farewell Pray This hath beene the practice of all the Saints Bishop Latimer is famous to Posteritie for his three Grand-petitions which God most graciously granted Master Luther not lesse powerfull with God by Praying than prevailing with Men by his Preaching daily breathed his soule herein like Iacob wrastling with God and not letting him goe without a Blessing and thus the Captaine of our salvation our blessed Saviour continued all night in Prayer to God and in the dayes of his flesh offered up Prayers and Supplications with strong crying and teares unto him that was able to save him from death and was heard as the Apostle tells us Heb 5. 7. PRAYER doubtlesse is the very element in which the Soule liveth the very aliment by which it subsisteth Saint Paul as soone as converted Behold hee Prayeth O Lord by these men live As well may a fish live out of Water or a bird without Ayre as the Christian without Prayer 'T is the vitall breath of Faith stop it and take away Spirituall life And though at sometimes hee breathes short and hardly and insensibly in his deliquium animae fits of Spirituall desertion and temptation yet his life is still in him as in Epilepticks the man possessed with the dum be Spirit Mark 9. 26. who was as one dead yet when Christ takes him by the hand he ariseth Sinne prevailing may tongue-tie him a while that hee chatters not with Hezekiah yet when his lips move not nor his voyce is heard his desires will beate strongly upward his heart works and pants and grones and sighes and breathes and breakes in its longing and looking towards Heaven O thinks hee that my sinnes such and such were Pardoned ô that I had more grace to serve my God! O that I could master such and such a prevailing Lust O that I could more abound in fruits of righteousnesse in my conversation thus his heart is fired alway thus fixed And who can marvell that the children of God are so much herein seeing all the blessings of this and the hopes of a better life are assured and conveyed unto them hereby yea and that the whole service and worship of God is in Scripture stiled a calling upon the name of the Lord the Church a house of Prayer and God himselfe a God that heareth Prayers O thou that hearest Prayer unto thee shall all flesh come Psal 65. 2. Vpon this sacred subject is the ensuing treatise which though but now presented to you Right Worshipfull long since was intended in that mournefull and praying time when Gods chastening was upon the City of my habitation the space of almost two whole yeares together Your noble house was then the Zoar whither I was invited whereto I fled where I was above my deserts freely entertained Those and many other your favours before and since challenge my Prayers and best services Accept of this I intreate you as a testimonie of my thankefull observance towards you yet not as mine but as it hath received spirit and life from the word of life 'T is Holy Incense for the Censers of the Saints dropping from the Tree of Life smelling sweetely in the coales of the Altar hearts enkindled with true devotion flaming and blazing upward Prayer will make the face to shine as Moses talking with God in the Mount The more time we spend herein the more heavenly is our life on earth Godlinesse hath the promises 't will make your names to live and flourish when other Magnifico's whose portion is in the huskey profits frothie pleasures windie honours c emptie shadowes of this life shall bee written in the * earth and rot And though now it bee undervalued and the price beaten downe as a merchandize not worth the owning much lesse of buying at any low rate yet it will quite for cost and be of high esteeme in another world a pearl of price that good part and that one thing necessary You are happy Right Worshipfull above many in that God hath given you a mind to know him a heart to love him Presse on still toward the marke study which way to honour God most and to live to him this will bring you peace at the last 'T is not a forme of godlinesse which even the civill gentry affect hereby gilding over their baser courses rotten practises but the power of it in a sanctified life which before God is much set by Goe on in that good way you have begun count all things but dung that yee may winne Christ and bee found in him Take up the crosse which lies in the waies of God Deny your selves This doe and you shall cause the blessing to rest on your house and posteritie after you and those Olive plants about your table shall become trees of righteousnesse the planting of the Lord for so long as you hold you fast by him you shall you cannot but prosper and grow as the Lilie as the Olive-tree as the Vine and spread out your branches as the Cedars in Lebanon Thus praying to God for a blessing on these my prayers and on you both I commend my selfe and them to you you and yours to God and to the word of his grace ◠which is able to build you up further and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified by faith in Christ Jesus In whom he resteth that is Lincolne May 6. 1634. Your Worships in all Christian services to be commanded IOHN CLARKE TO THE READER TO gratifie the expectation of friends and to satisfie some to whom I have long beene much obliged rather than for any conceited worth of any thing that is mine in these formes and method of Prayer are they thus now presented to thy view Christian Reader There be many blessed be God in manifold respects farre beyond these of mine Excellent moulds
thy feare in our hearts that we may not depart from thee Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering CONTENTATION that we may learne in whatsoever state we are there with to be content knowing both how to be abased and to abound every where and in all things being instructed both to bee full and to bee hungry both to abound and to suffer need Because godlinesse with contentment is great gaine for we brought nothing into this world and it is certaine wee can carry nothing ouâ— Having therefore food and rayment let us bee therewith content That our conversation may bee without covetousnesse being content with such things as wee have For thou hast sayd thou wilt never leave us nor forsake us Casting all our care upon thee for thou carest for us What shall we receive good the hands of the Lord and not evill Take no thought for your life what ye shall eate or what ye shall drinke nor yet for your body what you shall put on the foules of the ayre they sow not neither doe they reape nor gather into barnes yet your heavenly father feedeth them Which of you by taking thought can adde one cubite unto his stature Consider the Lillies of the field how they grow they toyle not neither doe they spin If God so cloathe the grasse of the field which to day is and to morrow is cast into the oven shall he not much more cloathe you O ye of little faith take no thought saying what shall we eate or what shall we drinke or where withall shall we be cloathed Your heavenly father knoweth that you have neede of all these things give me neither poverty nor riches feed me with food convenient for me Lest I be full and deny thee and say who is the Lord or lest I be poore and steale and take the name of my God in vaine PATIENCE under the CROSSE Helpe us to deny our selves and to take up our Crosse daily and follow our Saviour Thou hast fore-told us that in the world we shall have tribulation And that through much tribulation we must enter into the Kingdome of God Let us therefore reckon with our selves that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall bee revealed in us That it may be given unto us in the behalfe of Christ not only to beleeve on him but also to suffer for his sake Let us run with patience the way that is set before us Looking unto Iesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the crosse Consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himselfe lest you be wearied and faint in your mindes Thinke it not strange concerning the fiery triall which is to try you as though some strange thing happened unto you Rejoyce in as much as yee are partakers of Christs sufferings that when his glory shall be revealed ye may be glad also with exceeding joy If ye be reproched for the name of Christ happy are ye for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you GODS VVORD Let thy word be a lampe unto my feet and a light unto our path O make it unto us a word of power converting the soule quicke and powerfull and sharper than any two edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soule and spirit and of the joynts and marrow Give us the hearing eare and the seeing eye make thy word like fire and like a hammer that breaketh the rockes in pieces and as the raine commeth downe and the snow from heaven and returneth not thither but watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth and bud that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eaâ—er so let thy word bee that goeth forth out of thy mouth let it not returne unto thee void but accomplish that which thou pleasest and prosper in the thing whither thou sendest it Lord give the Preacher the tongue of the learned that hee may know how to speake a word in season to him that is weary and create the fruit of his lips peace and let the worke of the Lord prosper in his hand They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatnesse of thy house and thou shalt make them drinke of thy pleasures For with thee is the fountain of life in thy light shall we see light We will goe into his tabernacles we will worship at his foot stoole Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy Law In the way of thy judgements O Lord have I waited for thee the desire of our soule is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee Come let us goe up to the mountaine of the Lord and to the house of the God of Iacob and hee will teach us of his wayes and we will walke in his paths thine eares shall heare a word behind thee saying this is the way walke in it Blessed is the man whom thou chusest and causest to approch unto thee that hee may dwell in thy courts we shall be satisfied with the goodnesse of thy house euen of thy holy Temple And in this mountaine shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things a feast of wines on the lees of fat things full of marrow of wines on the lees well refined Vid. vers 7. 8. Even them will I bring to my holy mountaine and make them joyfull in my house of prayer their burnt offrings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine Altar for mine house shall bee called a house of prayer unto all people SACRAMENTS in Speciall 〈…〉 let a man examine himselfe and so let him eate of that bread and drinke of that cup my father giveth you the true bread from heaven for the bread of God is he which commeth downe from heaven and giveth life unto the world As the Hart panteth after the water-brookes so panteth my soule after thee O God O God thou art my God early will I seeke thee my soule thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirstie land where no water is what shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord Personall Concernments and speciall employments in our particular calling Lord be thou with mee and keepe mee in this way that I goe and give me bread to eate and rayment to put on so that I may come againe to my fathers house in peace O Lord God I pray thee send mee good speed this day and shew kindnesse unto God Almighty give you mercie before the man that
he may And thou who preservest the way of thy Saints hold up my goings in thy paths that my foote steps slip not Give thine Angels charge over us to keepe us in all our wayes that they may beare us up in their handes lest at any time we dash our foot O be thou with us and keepe us in all places whither we goe and bring us againe and leave us not untill thou hast done that which thou hast spoken to us of O that thou wouldst blesse mee indeed and enlarge my coast and that thine hand might bee with me and that thou wouldest keepe me from evill that it may not grieve me Prosper now I pray thee thy servant this day and grant him mercy in the sight of the man and let the beauty of the Lord our God bee upon us and establish thou the worke of our hands upon us yea the worke of our hands establish thou it We know not what to doe but our eyes are upon thee thou also must worke all our workes in us It is in vaine for us to rise up early to sit up late to eat the bread of sorrowes O Lord I know that the way of man is not in himselfe it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps neither is hee that planteth any thing neither hee that watereth but God that giveth the increase Deliverance from Evill 1. Of SINNE Let not sinne raigne in our mortall bodies that wee should obey it in the lusts thereof neither suffer us to yeeld our members as instruments of unrighteousnesse unto sinne but unto God as those that are aliue from the deast and our members as instruments of righteousnesse unto God looking diligently lest any man faile of the grace of God lest any root of bitternesse springing up trouble us and thereby we be deluded that being now made free from sinne and become the servants of God wee may have our fruit unto holinesse and the end everlasting life But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing mee into captivity to the law of Sinne which is in my members O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Cleanse thou mee from secret faults Keepe backe thy servant also from presumptuous sinnes let them not have dominion over me then shall I bee upright and I shall be innocent from the great transgression Subdue the pride of our nature cast downe every imagination and every high thing that exalteth it selfe against thee and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ Let not my heart be haughty nor my eyes lofty neither suffer me to exercise my selfe in great matters or in things too high for me but behave and quiet my selfe as a child that is weaned by his mother Order my steps in thy word and let none inâ—quity have donion over me make me also to be upright before thee and to keepe my selfe from mine inâ—quity Let us lay aside every weight and the sinne that doth so easily beset us that we may run with patience the race that is set before us that we may not love the world nor the things in the world because all that is in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father but of the world that denying ungodlines and worldly lusts wee may live soberly righteously and godly in this present world That we may walke circumspectly not as fooles but as wise giving none occasion to the adversary to speake reproachfully Mortifying our members which are on the earth fornication uncleannesse the inordinate affection evill concupiscence and covetousnesse which is idolatry Putting off all these anger wrath malice blasphemie filthy communication That wee may resist unto blood striving against sinne taking heed lest there bee in any of us an evill heart of unbeliefe in departing from the living God taking heed to our selves lest at any time our hearts bee over-charged with suffering and drunkennesse and cares of this life That wee may bee sober and vigilant because our adversary the devill as a roaring Lyon walketh about seeking whom hee may devoure whom that wee may resist stedfast in the faith let us take unto us the whole armour of God that we may bee able to stand against all his wiles being strong in the Lord and in the power of his might 2. PVNISHMENT Let no evill befall us neither let any plague come nigh our dwelling Send from heaven and save mee from the reproach of him that would swallow me up My soule is among Lyons and I lye even among them that are set on fire even the sonnes of men whose teeth are speares and arrowes and their tongue a sharpe sword Plead my cause O Lord with them that strive with me fight thou against them that fight against me Have mercy upon me O Lord for I am weake O Lord heale me for my bones are vexed My soule also is sore vexed c. Returne O Lord deliver my soule O save me for thy mercies sake For in death there is no remembrance of thee in the grave who shall give thee thankes I am weary with my groaning all the night make I my bed to swimme I water my couch with my teares Mine eye is consumed because of griefe it waxeth old because of all mine enemies Turne thee unto mee and have mercie upon me for I am desolate and afflicted The troubles of my heart are enlarged O bring thou me out of my distresses Looke upon mine affliction and my paine and forgive all my sinnes O my Father if it be possible let this affliction passe from me neverthelesse not as I will but as thou wilt Lord make mee to know mine end and the measure of my dayes what it is that I may know how fraile I am Behold thou hast made my dayes as an hand-breadth and mine age is as nothing before thee verely every man at his best state is altogether vanity So teach us to number our dayes that wee may apply our hearts unto wisedome The HOLY CATHOLIKE CHVRCH of IESVS CHRIST Preserve that little flocke to whom thou hast promised and reserved the Kingdome Be unto it a wall of fire round about Let thy delight be to Mount Sion grave her on the palmes of thy hands let her walls bee continually before thee Let her builders make haste and cause her destroyers and such as would lay her wast to depart from her Feed them that oppresse her with their owne flesh and make them drunken with their owne blood as with sweet wine Looke downe from heaven and behold from the habitation of thy holinesse