against us be brought to nought and by the providence of thy goodness they may be dispersed that we thy servants being hurt by no persecutions may ever more give thanks unto thee in thy Holy Church thro' Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Particular Prayers I. For Integrity and not seeking to any evil ways for Help OH Almighty Lord thou hast reserved us for days when he that will depart from evil is like to make himself a Prey But grant me Grace to esteem no Loss comparable to that of Innnocency and of a good Conscience nor to harbour any fear like to that of thy displeasure and of the intolerable and eternal pangs of Hell-fire Let thy Laws O! my God direct all my steps in my greatest dangers Keep me more studious in all my Counsels of what is lawful for me than of what seems safe and serviceable in my necessity And never suffer me to stoop to any sin in hopes thereby to put by fleshly trouble or to serve any worldly turn In thy Providence O! Father of Mercies lyes all my safety and protection And Oh! that I may ever commit my self to that protecting Providence by keeping close to thy Commandments Oh! that I may never in any case forsake them but always look upon that as the ready way to have thee forsake me Whatever streights or dangers encompass me the ways of my duty O! Lord are the surest ways of thy mercy and of my own safety And Oh! that I may find them to be ways of preservation and deliverance at present and of everlasting peace and joy in the end through our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen II. For Constancy in Persecuted Duties 1. Against being turned aside by Worldly Dangers or Losses O! Almighty and Everlasting God Keep me constant to thy Truths and Precepts amidst all these violent Persecutions which are ready to come upon me for the same Oh! that I may stand fast in thy ways and be nothing terrified by the Adversaries thereof That I may stand fast in the evil day and contend earnestly for the Faith Let me not grow weary of well-doing or of godly suffering nor wax faint in a good Cause Enable me to stand to my duty at all hazards and to be ready if the will of God be so to witness it unto Bonds yea or even to seal it with my blood and to dye for thee as thou Blessed Saviour hast done for me Let not the fear of men make me forsake thee nor let my love of this World make me throw up my blessed hopes of a better Nor give me up for the sake of any Losses or Terrors to fall from my duty or to deny thee before men that thou mayst not finally deny me before the Angels which are in Heaven Oh! that I may never leave thee Oh! Holy Jesu because thou art a Man of Sorrows But give me Grace with Moses always to prefer the Afflictions of the godly when they are persecuted before the Joys of the wicked and to choose to be among those who suffer for Righteousness rather than among those who seem best to thrive and prosper in the ways of violence Oh! that I may not grudge to take up the Cross when that is in my way to win the Crown nor to endure a short tribulation for the Kingdom of Heaven which thou art ready to give to all that faithfully serve and suffer for thee thro' our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen II. Against being shaken in mind or scandalized 1. By the Defection of others or by Variety of Opinions O Almighty and most Merciful God! keep me from being any ways unsettled or shaken in mind about the way of thy Truth and of thy Righteousness Oh! that thy Judgments may not make us harbour any suspition of the Truth of our Holy Faith but make us see that they all come upon us to try how far we can suffer for it or to punish us because we have not been true to it They are sent O! Righteous Lord to punish the Loosness and Wickedness of our Lives amidst the Orthodoxy and Holiness of our Professions And let not any other Persons unsteadfastness in thy ways how great or numerous soever they be cause me to waver or once think of varying from the same Oh! that I may never follow weak minds in their fickleness and inconstancy nor worldly minds in Varying Belief and Professions according as they are blown about with every blast of worldly Interest or Convenience Let me not think the worse of thy Truths because others forsake them Nor run in to those who prefer the ways of worldly ease before the ways of innocence Nor grow weary of the ways of everlasting Life because others setting more by worldly enjoyments are ready to exchange them when there is hopes of present security thereby for ways of everlasting death Thy Truth O! Lord are everlasting and still the same And Oh! that my Belief and Love thereof may always be one and the same too for our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ's sake Amen 2. Or By a Reverence of any Mens Persons ESpecially O! Lord let not my reverence of any Mens Persons cause me to erre from the way of thy precepts Let not them carry me against my own Knowledge Nor suffer me to ascribe more Authority or to have more Belief in their Examples than in the plain Voice of thy Word or in the clear common Notions of Right and Wrong and of Natural Conscience If they would have me shut mine eyes against this Light let me no longer reverence or give ear to them Yea Though an Angel from Heaven should come and preach against the same let me not believe him Let God be true though they be held Lyars And let these Monitors be ever firmly thought to speak right though the most admired Persons gainsay it and both act and speak wrong Make me know O! God that thy plain Word and the known and received Dictates of Natural Honesty and Conscience are always true and faithful but that every man even the best of men are lyable to fail Let me ever bear in mind that good men may alter and lose their goodness but that evil and unrighteous things do not alter nor can ever lose their unrighteousness So that whensoever a good man falls to do a manifestly evil and unrighteous thing his doing it can onely make us think the worse of his Person but is not in any wise to make us think better of the unrighteous Action Teach me O! Lord that it is thy Law and not their Example which is to be my Rule That I am thy servant not theirs and am to hearken unto thee not unto them and to call no man Master upon earth in opposition to thee my great Master who art in Heaven Oh! therefore let thy Truths O! my God and not other mens practice be my Guide and let thy approbation and acceptance not their
wickedness Arise then O! Almighty God and plead thine own cause Arise and right the oppressed and make the proud and the Men that rage in ways of ungodliness and violence to know themselves Return not upon them what they have done to us O! Lord. But fill their faces with shame that they may seek thy Name and give us ease from their violence and grace to turn it to thy praise and to the performance of all holy and thankful Obedience through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen 14. Intercessions or Prayers for others in Times of Persecutions 1. A Prayer for Persecutors who at any time or any where are oppressing Truth or Righteousness O! Most Gracious Father shew mercy we humbly intreat thee towards our Persecutors though they neither shew mercy nor justice towards us Cure the delusion of seduced and seducing spirits Let them not be led away with errors any longer nor intoxicated with the love thereof Let them not continue to resist thy truth much less proceed to blaspheme and reproach it and least of all to set themselves to fight against it by an arm of flesh and cruelly to persecute and extirpate the professors thereof Pity those who are ignorant and set straight those who are perverse among them Remove those prejudices which blind their eyes and sweeten and mollifie their spirits that they may no longer be driven aside by malice and bitter passions and dispose them by humility and meekness and a sincere love of truth and righteousness to a joyful reception and acknowledgement thereof that instead of persecuting they may fall resolutely to profess them and if need be to suffer for the same But if any still harden themselves in their error and violence and think that by destroying thy servants they please thee and do God service yet deal not thou with them O! God as they deal with us but save their Lives though they seek to take away ours Though we suffer yea or die by their hands let them not die in their errors and wicked violence But curb them Good Lord in their carier and stop it in thy due time And if it may seem good to thee work this blessed change in them by mild and gentle methods But if nothing else will touch their hearts with remorse afflict their bodies O! Merciful Father and let the Rod give understanding and teach them repentance Yea let all thy crosses come upon them rather than the curse of a seared Conscience And when there is nothing left but smiting to reduce them Lord give not off smiting them till they are brought to see the wickedness of persecuting the ways of truth and righteousnes and to make the best amends they can by standing up zealously for the same Say not unto them as thou didst to the Revolting Jews who still grow worse and worse under their corrections Why should you be stricken any more Nor deliver them up to the wretched ease of incorrigeable sinners who are therefore at ease because their state is hopeless and whose ease and respite is only that of condemn'd Prisoners who are sealed up for sudden and inevitable vengeance But by what-ever means thou shalt see sit to work the same let their repentance prevent thine eternal vengeance through the Merits of our Dearest Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen 2. Prayers for the Persecuted who happen in any place to be suffering for the cause of Truth or Righteousness 1. O! Almighty and most Merciful Father extend thy help and pity in these trying times to all the necessities and back-slidings of thy Servants Have Mercy upon all who either by their own worldly fears and covetous desires or by the Art and cunning of Seducers have been made to fall from thee and raise them up again Neither suffer them to rest secure nor to grow desperate in their wickedness but fill their hearts with such awakenings as may put them in the way of true Repentance And when any of them grow doubtful of what they have done Lord carry on their doubts to a full Conviction And when once they are convinced of their Errors give them no rest till they have amended them Let their Prayers and Alms ascenâ— up before thee and bring down Grace still more and more to see their fall and to fit and fortify their Spirits to recover from it Enable them to overcome all fears of shame and worldly loss to place their truest and their only honour in Repentance and their highest interest and safety in rectifying and repairing what they have done amiss and to study above all things how despising worldly considerations they may recover thy Peace and save their precious and immortal Souls Shew Mercy also O! Gracious God on all those who are shaken in mind by these Storms and begin to stagger in the Faith and fix and settle them therein And on all those who by thy Grace have resolutely withstood the same and daily perfect and confirm them Oh! Lord daily make them more numerous and let their Sufferings like that of thy faithful Servants and Confessors of old be a fruitful Seed of a truly righteous and holy Church Lengthen out their Patience whilst thou prolongest their Sufferings and strengthen their Faith that they may stedfastly persevere therein Let thy Providence supply those wants which any of them are reduced unto for a good Conscience Give them comfort under their Sufferings and in thy due time an happy riddance thereof and endless and unspeakable joys at last in exchange for them The more their Enemies seek to root them out by unrighteous Persecution Oh! that they may answerably strengthen themselves the more in fervent and godly Devotion Make them to have a strict and conscionable eye to all thy Laws that whilst in these Persecuted points they suffer as Saints they miss not at last of their reward by taking liberty in any other things to live as Sinners Oh! that they may study in all things to please thee in their Lives that so they may be accepted in their Sufferings for our Lord Jesus Christs sake Amen 2. AND tho' here O! Righteous Father for thine Holiness and for thy Truths sake they are vile in the eyes of Men let them be precious in thine Eyes and do thou own them from Heaven Plead thou the cause of thy Servants against those that oppress them Let their Persecutors see that there is no fighting against thee Make them find that Truth is stronger than they and will at last prevail over them And that Persecutions which they use for rooting out the sincere Professors thereof are over-ruled by thine Almighty Power and Wisdom to propagate and multiply them And when all others are ready to forsake us in our afflictions do thou O! God stick by us Do thou stick by us in our extremities and deliver us Let not the mischievous imaginations of the wicked always prosper lest they be too proud Let not the
Rod of the Wicked rest upon the Lot of the Righteous lest they put forth their hand unto Iniquity Shorten the days of these Sorrows and make hast to help and deliver us And work that Deliverance if it please thee by the Conviction rather than by the destruction of our Enemies for our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christs sake Amen 3. Prayers for a Kingdom when in any Time or Place it happens to labour under Persecutions for any part of Gods Truth or way of Righteousness Or when it is torn to pieces by Intestine Divisions about the same 1. O! Almighty and most Merciful God have Mercy upon this most wretched and sinful Land and exalt the greatness of thy Mercy by curing the Height of our Misery And in the first place purge our Sins O! Lord which are the chief cause of all our Sorrows and which are the heaviest Plague that we lye under tho' alass we are least sensible thereof Oh! give us not up to a Reprobate mind and a seared Conscience Let thy Correction open all our Eyes to see and abhor all that iniquity and ungodliness which calls aloud to thee for Vengeance Oh! that we may see what it is to be false and faithless to God and Man to forsake thee in our Distress and seek to unrighteous ways for Refuge That we may lay to heart all that Hypocrisie and Prophaneness all that shedding of Innocent Blood all that Violence whereof our hands are full and the Spoils and Oppressions and other Wickednesses which have reign'd amongst us And by these foretasts of Sorrows which we have already felt in the course of these Iniquities Grant O! Lord that we may be struck with Terror of those insupportable Plagues and after-reckonings which are yet to come if we continue in the same And that we may learn thereby to Sin no more but apply our selves faithfully to seek and serve thee that we may be fit for thine Eternal Mercy through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen 2. AND when thou hast cleared us of the Guilt then Deliver us O! Gracious Lord from the Curse of our Transgressions Let not Power be employed to suppress thy Truths or a Righteous Cause but to support them Let not violence be able to force the Seat of Justice nor to hinder or pervert the due and free course thereof Bless the Labours of all those who seek to have Truth and Equity take place and to plant and settle Peace on Righteousness And set thy Face against them whose hearts and hands are set on ways of unjust Violence and publick Disturbance Turn their hearts O! God to be in love with Peace and Justice Or if still they will be obstinate against the same weaken their hands that they may not be able to hinder us of the speedy and happy influence and settled enjoyment thereof Bind up our breaches O! Father and make all our unnatural broils and bloodshed cease We are a People shaken to pieces do thou settle us We are all in confusion do thou bring us into order We are broken by our Sins Oh! do thou repair and heal us by restoring us to ways of Righteousness Our guilt and misery have made us heartless and void of courage Oh! let Innocence and the light of thy Countenance raise our Spirits We lye comfortless in our Iniquities Oh! Oh! Let thy Spirit reform us and then speak comfort to us Heal all the Sores of our Souls and then lighten our Earthly Burdens Keep Life in this exhausted Kingdom which is ready to faint and daily encrease it in the same and settle us once more in Justice and Holiness Peace and Safety for Jesus Christ's sake Amen 4. Prayers for the Church when in any any Time or Place it is called to suffer Persecution for Truth or Righteousness 1. A general Prayer for things needful to the same in such Times of Persecution O! Almighty Lord who hast purchased to thy self a Church with thine own Blood look in Mercy â—pon the same however Distressed â—ro ' all the World Especially upon â—â—at part thereof which languisheth in this Land and suffer not the Adversary to lay it wasâ—e or utterly to deface it after thou hast paid so dear for it Let not either Superstition or immoral Wickedness Corrupt and Prophane thy Worship nor let Schism any longer tear thy Body to pleces Let not vile Men go on to make Religion a Cover and Pretence for acting against moral Honesty and Justice lest the Hypocrisie of some beget Atheism in others and lest thereby loose Men be tempted to think and take occasion to say That there is nothing under any Professions of Religion but serving Worldly ends because they can see nothing else under theirs Oh! That Truth and Righteousness may be set up in thy Church and that Love and Unity may be set up in our Hearts That we may once more hear the Voice of Joy and Peace and receive Beauty for Ashes Pity a Church O! Blessed Lord which has long maintained Truth of Doctrin and Purity of Worship in the Nation and which has openly professed and bore out the Doctrin of patient Suffering for Righteousness and not resorting to any evil means for Relief in the Eyes of Men. Pity those who suffer and are in danger to be destroyed for their stedfast adhering to these thy ways when others generally fall off from them and set themselves violently to persecute the same And hear their Crys who mourn in Sion and are afflicted for the Dishonour that is brought upon thy Name and for all the Violences which are done to an Holy Religion Preserve them Holy FATHER by thy Power and give them not up to the VVill of their Oppressors But stir up thy Strength and come and help us Give us Constancy against the Errors of our Persecutors and in thy good time give us rest from their Violence for our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ's sake Amen The Collect for the Fifth Sunday after Trinity GRant O! Lord we beseech thee that the Course of this World may be so peaceably ordered by thy Governance that thy Church may joyfully serve thee in all Godly Quietness through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen 2. Prayers for particular Graces or Blessings when at any time or any where it is violently broken or pressed by Persecutions to forsake the way of God's Truth or Righteousness 1. Prayers for its Purity and Integrity 1. O! Father of Mercies who seest all the Back-slidings and Calamities of thy poor Church amongst us pity its misery and possess it with such a Spirit as is fit to enliven and actuate thy Body Oh! Keep it in thy Truth and save it from Heresie and false Doctrines either about Faith or Practice Give it not up to teach Errors for Advantage or to justifie unlawful ways for worldly Ends and Securities Nor suffer it to suit its Doctrines to secular Turns or to change Religious Principles as it shall be driven thereto by worldy Necessities Fix
constant Practice of Faith and Patience Meekness and Charity and of a Heart mortified to this World and full of the Thoughts and Hopes of a better Give them Grace O! Lord to watch over thy People with willing Minds and with unwearied Diligence Oh! that they may Rule them prudently and skilfully as wise Guides And feed them faithfully as good Shepherds Oh! that they may wholly apply themselves to Preach thy Word and to administer thy pure Worship and Saâ—rament to comfort the Afflicted â—o strengthen the Feeble-minded â—o confirm those that Stand and to raise up those that are faln to quicken the Indifference and Lukewarmness of some and to curb and bridle the inordinate Heat and undue Passions and Violence of others And let them not think of quitting the trust and Charge of Ministring to Souls when the Wolf approacheth or leave of caring for thy Flock to take care of themselves But keep them ever mindful O! Holy Jesu that thou art the true Shepherd who gavest thy Life for the Sheep and that as thy true Followers and faithful Ministers they must be diligent at such times in Ministring to their wants and attend upon the same at all hazards Let them shew then that they love thee by feeding thy Sheep Enable them to shew perfect Love which â—asteth out Fear And give them Grace to speak thy word and to do thy work with Boldness and Uprightness neither fearing the Faces of their Persecutors nor tolerating and muchless feeding the Diseases or Vices of their Flocks but remembring always that in thy Church they preside and Minster for thee and as they who are to give an Account for Souls Possess their Hearts O! God with such vigilant Care and Love for Souls and Holy Zeal and Godly Courage and Prudence as is requisite for Men iu their High Trusts and Stations and under the present wants and Difficulties of thy Church And be with them in all they do and in all they suffer for thy Cause for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake Amen 2. COmfort up their Spirits also O! Lord with the visible Effects and good Fruits of their Labours and Sufferings among thy People But whatever success they meet withal let them not desist from thy Service nor fall to do thy Work negligently but when there is the least appearance of their working good up others let it however satisfie and support them that they have thereby shown their Fidelity and Love to thee and have delivered their own Souls And keep them from all vain Janglings O! thou Blessed Spirit of Love and Peace and from falling into desires of vain-Glory or Emulation among themselves Let them not defile their own Spirits or disparage thy Cause by turning aside to vent humane Passions or to seek or serve any worldly ends But in all their Labours and Sufferings for thy Church help them to approve themselves pure and sincere as Men whose great care and chief business is to serve thee and to watch for the Good of Souls And whilst they are watching for thy People Lord let thy good Providence watch over them When thy Service and the neâ—ds of Souls do most endanger and expose them let them be safe in thy keeping Put by the Malice and Machinations of their Enemies and give them Patience and unwearied Perseverance under all their Difficulties and Distresses Support and Comfort them under the same at present and turn them all in the end to the furtherance of thy Truth and to the encrease of their own Everlasting Peace and Happiness through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen 4. A Prayer for both Clergy and People O! Lord whilst thou art trying us with Losses and Worldly Sorrows make us easie under the same and careful to bear them with Patience and raised Affections But let us not betake our selves to Pride and self-pleasing and to feed those corrupt Passions which our Afflictions should purge out nor ever fall to seek or think of great things here for our selves Oh! that our Tribulations may teach us to be humble and to mortifie our own Passions Oh! that our worldy Sorrows may cure and turn us from being any longer fond of this World and from feeding our selves with any vain and ensnaring Hopes or Desires thereof And that whilst we are daily crossed in our Fleshly Desires we may cease to be any longer bent upon our own Wills and may in all things resign our selves up to thine Let not our Persecutions O! Gracious God be lost upon us nor let us be unprofitable Schollars in the School of Affliction Let it not be justly chargeable on us that Tribulations could not mend us nor the fiery Trial resine our Spirits and purge away our Dross But bring us by our Sufferings to know our selves and to set light by all Earthly things and to take up with thee for our Portion and with the Sure and Blessed Hopes of thine Everlasting Mercies thro' the Merits and Mediation of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen 5. A Prayer for the Churches Defence and Deliverance from Persecutions UNder all its Wants and Backslidings Sorrows and Distresses look thou upon thy Church O! Lord and support and deliver it Many are they who Combine against it and great is their Power and Vigilant and Earnest is their Care and Endeavour to suppress and destroy it And against all their Assaults it has no other Defence but thy Grace and good Providence Do not thou forsake it then O! God for it flies to thee and rests on thee alone for Succor Maintain it for it is thine own Cause And if it be cast down thine Enemies and theirs will tryumph Take the Matter therefore into thine Hand for no other is sufficient for it and thou art most concerned therein Bring it safe through this Fiâ—ry Trial and let it not be consumed thereby but as Gold is only purged and putrified of its Dross Give it a Cure O! Lord of all its Errors and Impurities and quietness in the End from Persecutions and Grace not to grow careless or be Corrupted by days of Ease but to improve the same in doing thee Honour and Service with more Freedom and fewer Interruptions thro' Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen 15. A Thanksgiving for any Comfortable Cessation or for Rest and Ease from Persecution BLessed be thy Great and Glorious Name O! Father of Mercies and God of all Comforts for the comfort of these days of ease from our former Tribulations Thou hast in great pity considered our Frailty and Weakness and hath not suffered the Rod of the Persecutors to lie too heavy or rest too long upon oâ—r Backs Thou hast not been Deaf to our Desires when we called upon thee nor suffered our Hopes in thy Gracious Promises to â—ail Thou hast fulfilled thy Word unto thy Servants who served and suffered for thee in Confidence thereof and hast made the Wicked to cease from troubling us and exchanged the Fiery Trial of their ungodly Violence for
Breach of Confidence from all Faithless or strained and false Accusations as thou canst turn or defeat the Malice of my Foes And to thee O! merciful Father do I trust that neither my Foes shall have their Wills in working of my Ruin nor the weakness of my Friends shall carry them against their Wills to do the same And oh as thou art my Confidence so let me be thy Care Keep me safe here under thy custody and receive me at last to thine Everlasting Mercy for thy blessed Son and my only Saviour Jesus Christ's sake Amen 3. A Prayer for Graces at such times under his Sufferings and Persecutions for any ways of Truth and Righteousness IN the mean time O! Righteous Lord whatsoever thou hast appointed for me in this Tryal I am content to bear it And give me Strength and Ability to bear it yea though it proceed to Blood I resign my self up to thy good pleasure therein I humbly and meekly submit to it as it is thy doing and as it is infinitely my Deserving and own thy Judgment upon me for my Sins to be most Just and Righteous therein But then Holy Father I most earnestly intreat thee that I may have all my Punishment in this World but rest with thee in thy Heavenly Kingdom Yea as my Tryal is a Suffering for thy Righteousness I thankfully receive it at thine Hand But then O! my God whilst I am tried for thee do thou shew forth thy Power and the abundance of thy Grace in me Grant me a Serene Patience calmly to bear my Sufferings and contentedly and quietly to wait the end thereof Give me Courage and constant Presence of Mind to behave my self undauntedly and Prudence to act and answer in all things wisely and becomingly Give me Faith in thy power and promises to hold on without Fainting in sure Expectation of thy Succors and to endure all without weariness in Confidence of thy joyful and eternal Recompences Fill me with an inflexible Integrity and Constancy in my Duty that I may not waver therein at any time much less fall from it or from any Precepts thereof to rid my self out of my own great Troubles or to bring any desired Events to pass Yea fill me with such Constancy in thy ways as will not suffer me how long soever the Rod of the Unrighteous rests upon me to put forth my Hand unto Iniquity And give me Charity after thine own Example O! blessed Jesâ— freely to forgive my Malicious Enemies or Frail and Faithless Friends and heartily to pray for them tho' they continue to persecute me Whilst thou keepest on my Trials deny me not these Graces O! merciful Lord nor any others which thou seest needful for me that I may acquit my self well and acceptably under the same for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake Amen 4. A Prayer for a Mind raised above Earthly Things O! Father of Mercies raise my Mind by these Afflictions above the Love of all Earthly Things Yea even of those things which I have lavishly spent most time upon and have been the most inordinately fond of I see now and make me daily to see it more and more how vain and unprofitable they are when the evil day comes And oh what I may learn thereby and learn it perfectly to fix mine Eyes and Heart on thee who hast deserved more of me infinitely than I can express to thee and who canst always help and comfort me and wilt never leave me especially not then when I am driven to thee for Succour and find the greatest Need to have thee stand by me Make my Duty good Lord to become my Delight and Heavenly things my Treasure For they are Comforts in Distress stable Comforts that will accompany us to the Block or the Grave and beyond them and will not fail to make us infinitely and for ever happy in thy Presence Which Grant O! Heavenly Father to me a wretched Sinner for the sake of my dearest Saviour and Redeemer Jesus Christ. Amen 5. A Prayer for Peace with God and a quiâ—t Conscience ABove all O! blessed Lord let me have the Comforts of thy holy Spirit and a clear and quiet Conscience to support me under all these hard Tryals Shew me all my Sins and give me Grace intirely to repent of them and to be perfectly set against the same But assure me at the same time of thy Mercies towards all true penitent Sinners and make me see O! Gracious Father that for Christ's sake thou art not only willing but desirous and joyful to receive them yea to run out and meet them as the tender Father did the Returning Prodigal And as for my Sins O! God tho' with the Prodigal I have gone far and have lost my self in evil ways yet by thy Grace I am come also with him heartily to return from mine Offences I am weary of my Sins and am earnestly desirous to forsake them Tho' I have been lamentably careless in times past yet now my sincere desire and full purpose is to shew a Godly care and diligent endeavour against the same for the time to come And I humbly depend upon thy Grace and trust to thy precious promises thereof to perfect and give strength to my sincere Endeavours Look upon me therefore O! Father and give me the Comfort to look upon my self as one who though he has been an offending is now become a Returning Son Lot not my Sins rise up against me after once I have truly repented of them Let them not be able to provoke thy wrath or to trouble my Conscience But make me know that however offensive I was in the ways of my Wickedness thro' the Blood of thy Son I am acceptable to thee in the ways of my Repentance And that my Sins however provoking whilst I lay in them give thee no more provocation after once I return from them Yea tho' great and strong in themselves yet that after true Repentance they are not too great for my Saviour's Merits or for thy Mercies not too grievous for thy Goodness to forgive or too strong for thy Grace to cure I am ready O! my God to return to thy Laws not only in doing what they call for but if thy Will be so in suffering for the same Yea if thou callest me to it I desire not to leave the way of Righteousness for any hazards but to suffer for it even unto Blood And tho' I know O! Righteous Lord that it is not enough to die a Martyr for one precept if I allow my self at the same time to live a known Transgressor of others Yet give me the Comfort to look on Martyrdom as a sort of Baptism as thou blessed Jesu wast pleased to style it when thou spakest of thine own and like it to purge and wash away our Sins if at the same time when we are suffering for one Duty we are inwardly resolved and prepared in Heart to observe all Lord in the midst of my
worldly Troubles let me have Peace with thee and with mine own Conscience And whilst thy Comforts do refresh my Soul by thy Grace strengthening me I shall better bear any other Misery which thou shalt give my Enemies leave to inflict upon my Body and persevere faithfully to serve and patiently to suffer for thee till thou shalt Graciously take me out of their Hands to thine Everlasting Rest and Mercy for Jesus Christ's sake Amen 6. A Prayer for Graces needful for him at the Tryal when he is to be judged for his Stedfastness to Gods Truth or Righteousness O! Blessed Lord if by thy wise ordering 〈◊〉 I meekly submit I shall be carried from the place of Cusâ—ody to the place of Tryal or of further Examination do tho vouchsafe to go along with me When I am question'd teach me what I shall say that I may answer so honestly as not to offend or dishonour thee and so prudently as not to prejudice my self nor bring Trouble on any other Righteous Persons for their bearing a good Affection to Righteous Things Give me presence of mind and clearness of Spirit in appearing before all Tribunals and wisdom and readiness in answering all Questions Let my Carriage be without Fear or Confusion or any evil or insincere Arts in all things acceptable unto thee and becoming my Person and Condition Suffer me not to be made a Sacrifice by the Fears or Forgetfulness the mis-representations or false Accusations of Witnesses nor by the Fetches and false colours of Council nor by the partiality or misguided Zeal of Judges and Juries Or if thou hast otherwise determined and I must fall enable me Good Lord to bear thy Will And tho' my Blood which is shed in this Cause be vile in the sight of Men let it be acceptable and of a sweet smell in thy Sight for my Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ's sake Amen 7. Prayers after Sentence of Condemnation is past upon him for his Stedfastness to the same EJACULATIONS THE Cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it Joh. 18. 11. Not my Will O! my God but thine be done Luk. 22. 42. Lord I thank thee for counting me worthy to receive this Sentence for the sake of thy Righteousness Lord lay not this Sin to their Charge Acts 7. 60. Forgive them for they know not what they do Luk. 23. 34. A short Prayer upon his receiving the Sentence LOrd I meekly submit to this heavy Sentence yea I thank thee for it and Glory in this shame since it comes upon me for my Love unto thy ways And I humbly pray thee to look upon their Ignorance for their excuse than upon their Blood-Guiltiness for their punishment If they understood the ways of thy Righteousness they would not shed my Blood for keeping stedfast to the same But now they think alass to serve and please thee by slaying me Father forgive them for they know not what they do And bring them timely to see their Errors and thoroughly to repent thereof That they who now in their misguided Zeal for thee are my Enemies may yet however at length be Loving and Happy Sharers with me of thine Everlasting Mercies through the Merits of our dear Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Amen A Longer Prayer afterwards O! Righteous Lord since thou art pleased to call me to give Testimony to thy Righteousness with my Blood I am content to do it Yea I thank thee O! Father that thou hast counted me worthy to lay down my Life for thy sake But as thou tryest me to the utmost sâ— strengthen me to the utmost I most humbly beseech thee that in this highest and last Service I may shew stedfast Faith in thee and Charity towards my Persecutors and meet my Death with that constancy and devout Chearfulness which befits one who is pasing thro' the Red Sea to the Heavenly Canaan and laying down his Life for thy Cause Tho' I stand Condemned and viliâ—ied among Men for this adherence to thy ways yet I humbly hope that thou O! my God wilt acquit and lovingly accept me And if I have thy Approbation my Heart shall rejoyce therein and account it enough for me whatever the World thinks of me Shew them their Error and our Uprightness O! Lord in standing firm to these points for which we suffer But if we cannot satisfie them that the way for which they persecute our Souls is Innocent and Holy let it however satisfie us that so it is and that so it will be â—ouâ—d and declared by thee before all thine elect Angels when tâ—ou shalt appear in thy dreadful Majesty to pass Sentence both upon our way and theirs And to the clearing of that Day and the Tryal of thy Righteous Tribunal do we humbly commit our Cause and Sufferings Where our Hope is that thou Blessed Jesu wilt Graciously own and receive both tho' they disdainfully reject them And that thou Righteous Father for Jesus sake wilt both pardon the real Guilt of our other Sins and openly clear us of the fancied Guilt of these ways wherewith our Persecutors do falsly asperes thy Truths and Reproach us Which grant O! merciful Lord that we may all comfortably expect in our Lives and comfortably find at our Deaths for thy dear Son and our only Saviour Jesus Christs sake Amen After this he may at any time use such of the Prayers as he likes best in the preceding Office for Sufferers for Righteousness to exercise and strengthen his Faith his Patience his Charity or other Graces proper for his Circumstances or to assist him in making Intercessions for others 8. A Prayer for Dying without Fear O! Almighty and most merciful Father perfect thy Strength in my Weakness and support thy Frail and most unworthy Servant in this last and greatest Service which I have now to pay thee of laying down my Life and leaving all that is dear unto me in this World for thy Cause Oh! let not me dishonour the Cause and Truths for which I suffer by shewing any mis-becoming Fears or unwillingness to suffer 'T is not my mistrust of the Righteousness of this Cause O! my God but the Conscience of my other Sins and of the common Errors of my Life from the Rule of thy Holy Commandments which makes me at all afraid to appear at thy Righteous Bar. But cleanse thou me from all my Sins by the Blood of my dearest Lord and then I may meet Death with an humble Confidence and Triumph over it I know O! blessed Lord that when Sin and Guilt which are the Sting of Death are taken out there is still an aversion in Nature which is common to us all against this Change and which found place in our Blessed Lord himself But let the Influences of thy Grace though not wholly purge off this averseness yet subdue and over rule it in my Spirit Possess my Mind more with the Righteousness of the Cause for which I dye and with the
A COMPANION FOR The Persecuted OR An OFFICE for Those Who Suffer for RIGHTEOUSNESS CONTAINING Particular Prayers and Devotions for Particular Graces and for their Private or Publick Wants and Occasions Printed in the Year 1693. The Introduction Reader I Here present thee with Prayers and Devotions fitted to support the spirits and to direct and improve the virtues of those who at any time or in any place are call'd out by the wisdom and goodness of God to suffer for the cause of Truth and Righteousness The Charitable helps and offers of this kind are very needful and will be very acceptable to those who are actually labouring under the Cross and bearing affliction for the blessed Jesus And as for others who think they have no need thereof for themselves yet may they at all times find occasion enough if they please to puâ— up such Prayers for their persecuted Brethren and Fellow-Members For the Church of Christ is still bearing his Cross in one part or other and whilst in one place he is cherishing some with the comforts of Peace he is elsewhere proving others of their Brethren with Tribulations Nay since these Tryals are common to men and more especially to Christians he who says at present that he is most free from them knows not how soon the All-wise God may see fit to bring him under the same And 't is good to be fore-armed and provided for a sharp conflict which we are lyable to be tryed withal and the rather because in the heat thereof when these helps are most needed they are usually hardest to be got and 't is not so easie then to put them into the hands of those who want to be directed and assisted by them Indeed by the bounty and indulgence of Almighty God the true Disciples of Christ have here their intervals of rest and quietness and are oft-times comforted and refreshed with worldly peace and the favour of Princes But when God gives them this outward ease it is more than his Gospel promises Their profession is to be followers of a man of sorrows and to look for Crosses and Persecutions in his service and when they come to take them up and bear them patiently after him So that it must neither be contrary to their spirit nor expectations to hear of sufferings it should never be thought a service out of season to instruct them how to bear them and to furnish them with such Prayers and proper Reflexions as may afford them both direction and support therein The first care in this Case is to see that their sufferings be for the Truths sake or for a good Cause Without this the hopes of sufferers are but a Dream and there is no true ground of comfort or support in them If they suffer only for their own follies or fancies what reason has their blessed Lord to thank them for being fanciful or foolish Or if they suffer for maintaining dangerous Errors and for turning out of the way of Truth and Righteousness these are not things for him to reward but to punish 'T is only their suffering for some Doctrines or Precepts of his that can render them his Martyrs or Confessors And when they take care to be found in that way and suffer for hearkning unto him he will support them whilst they suffer and afterwards make them ample amends for the same But when they take care to be found in a Righteous Cause they must be careful withal to honour him and approve themselves by all the parts and virtues of a Righteous and truly Christian Carriage Their study then must be to shew minds advanced above all earthly fears and desires to support themselves with the comforts of Religion the belief of Gods Promises to bear their Afflictions for Christ's sake with patience and thankfulness to weary out their persecutors fury with their Religious constancy to vanquish all their injuries by returning prayers and kindnesses and in all things to evidence a spirit that is full of love and holy zeal and humble confidence in God but that is not either to be corrupted by the ease and comforts or shocked and broken by the threats or losses of this world And by these and such like virtues they will be made conformable to the image of their suffering Saviour and perform a service most fragrant and pleasing unto him and most honourable to Truth a Righteous Cause For the world doth not afford a more glorious sight than to see a Christian with Religious bravery constancy bearing Christs Cross and by magnanimity and meekness triumphing over all the powers of Error and unjust Violence These indeed are hard services But as they have great difficulties they will at last have glorious Rewards and at present have great assistances The Almighty Spirit of God will support those who seriously and Religiously set themselves to suffer Christianly in his Cause They will be set above themselves and will be guarded and fortified against human weakness by the powers of the Divine Grace And this as they must humbly and firmly depend upon so must they constantly and earnestly seek from him by Prayers and Devotion In the following Offices it has been my aim and study to be as helpful to them as I can for this purpose And therein according as I was able I have not only suggested the true comforts and supports but directed their eye to the true spirit duty and carriage of Gospel-sufferers And have taught them under the same to express such resentments and aspire after such raised affections as may become those who would honour God and secure their own future happy reward by their sufferings and who count it a priviledge to be thought worthy by the Blessed Jesus to suffer in his Cause And on this Account this little Book may be put into the hands of the Persecuted not only as a Form of Devotion to be put up to God in holy and fervent Prayers but likewise as a Treatise of Instruction to be read for the Knowledge of their Duty and as a Guide to their Practice since therein they have a draught and delineation of that Spirit which they are to nurse up and shew forth and of those habits and virtues wherein they are to dress up their souls at such times I have been very particular in the Devotional provisions and supplies for these purposes and have had regard both to private and publick necessities Which pains I hope will be acceptable to devout minds who when they are desirous to express their devotion on those particulars will not be unfurnished with fitting Forms and may at any time use more or fewer thereof as their leisure permits or as their needs require And to the Body of Prayers and Devotions I have prefixed a Collection of select Scriptures upon the several Duties and most important needs and desires of sufferers for Righteousness And this I have done for the sufferers guidance and instruction as well as for their
devotion For besides the kindling and quickning of devout affections and the strengthening and supporting of their spirits amidst their Heavy Tryals when they use them as sacred Hymns or as matter of their Religious Meditations These Texts will teach them the necessity and help to shew them the Nature and Offices of all those respective Duties which are as the salt to the sacrifice without which their own Oblation of themselves would be insipid and their Losses for Christ's sake would neither gain his favour and acceptance nor effectually recommend and do Honour to his Cause And both the Scriptures collected and the Prayers composed for these ends are as follows An OFFICE for Sufferers for Righteousness under Persecutions Scriptures for those who suffer for Righteousness Psal. 94. Ps. 125. Heb. 12. to v. 18. 2 Cor. 1. to v. 13. Ps. 12. Ps. 14. Is. 51. Heb. 10. v. 23. to end I. For Receiving Persecutions as Chastisements for former Offences WHen we suffer striving against sin we are chasten'd and corrected of the Lord Heb. 12. 4 5. 6. 9. The time is come that judgment must begin at the House of God 1 Pet. 4. 17. I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him until he plead my Cause and execute judgement for me Mich. 7. 9. O Israel Return unto the Lord thy God for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity Hos. 14. 1. Remember your ways and all your doings wherein ye have been defiled and loath your selves in your own sight for all your evils that ye have committed Ezek. 20. 43. Remember from whence thou art fallen and repent and do thy first works or else I will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy Candlestick out of his place unless thou repent Rev. 2. 5. If the Fig-tree continues barren the Lord will say to the Dresser of his Vineyard cut it down Luk. 13. 6 7. Without Repentance the Kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a Nation bringing forth the fruits thereof Matthew 21. 43. II. For Receiving Persecutions as Tryals of our Obedience and as they bring upon us Losses for Righteousness 1. To be received with Contentedness and with Thankfulness If the world hate you you know that it hated me before it hated you Remember the word that I said unto you the Servant is not greater than the Lord. If they have persecuted me they will also persecute you If you were of the world the world would love his own but because you are not of the world but I have chosen you out of the world therefore doth the world hate you Joh. 15. 18 19 20. If any man suffer as a Christian let him not be ashamed but let him glorifie God on that behalf If ye be reproached for the name of Christ happy are ye for the Spirit of Glory and of God resteth upon you Rejoyce in as much as ye are partakers of Christs sufferings that when his Glory shall be revealed ye may be glad also with exceeding joy 1 Pet. 4. 13 14 16. Rejoyce and be exceeding glad and leap for joy for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you Matth. 5. 11. 12. Luke 6. 23. 2. With free Confession of Christ and his Truths If ye suffer for Righteousness sake sanctifie the Lord God in your hearts And be not afraid of their terror neither be troubled and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and reverence 1 Pet. 3. 14. 15. Whosoever shall confess me before men him will I also confess before my Father which is in Heaven But whosoever shall deny me before men him will I also deny before my Father which is in Heaven Mat. 10. 32 33. For with the heart man believeth unto Righteousness and with the mouth Confession is made unto Salvation Rom. 10. 10. 3. With Integrity and Prudent Caution And let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls unto him in well-doing as into the hands of a faithful Creator 1 Pet. 4. 19. Hold up my goings in thy paths that my foot-steps slip not Psal. 17. 15. Tho' all this is come upon us yet have we not forgotten thee neither have we dealt falsly in thy Covenant Our heart is not turned back neither have our steps declined out of thy way Tho' thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons and covered us with the shadow of death Psal. 44. 17 18 19. Stand having your loyns girt about with Truth and having on the breast-plate of Righteousness and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace Eph. 6. 14. 15. Walk in wisdom towards those that are without redeeming the time Let your speech be always with grace seasoned with salt that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man Col. 4. 5 6. See that ye walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise Redeeming the time because the days are evil Eph. 5. 15 16. Beware of men for they will deliver you up to the Councils And ye shall be brought before Governours and Kings for my sake Behold I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves Mat. 10. 16 17 18. 4. With Steadfastness and Constancy Finally my Brethren be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might Eph. 6. 10. Stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel and in nothing terrified by your Adversaries Phil. 1. 27. 28. Contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered to the Saints Jud. 3. Put on the whole Armour of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil That ye may be able to stand in the evil day and having done all to stand Eph. 6. 11. 13. Let us hold fast the profession of our Faith without wavering for he is faithful who hath promised Not forsaking the assembling of our selves together as the manner of some is but exhorting one another and so much the more as ye see the day approaching Heb. 10. 23. 25. And now Lord behold their threatnings and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word Act. 4. 29. 5. With Faith 1. Wherefore take unto you the whole Armour of God Above all taking the shield of faith wherewith ye shall able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked Eph. 6. 13. 16. Cast not away therefore your confidence which hath great recompence of reward Heb. 10. 35. 38. Look unto Jesus who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross despising the shame and is set down at the Right Hand of the Throne of God Heb. 12. 2. It is a faithful saying if we suffer with him we shall also reign with him 2 Tim. 2. 11 12. Our light
applause be my recompence thro' the Merits of our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen 3. A Prayer for Faith O! Almighty and most Merciful Father who both seest sendest all these sufferings which are come upon us from the Adversaries of thy Truth give me Grace to live by Faith in thee and not by fear of them and in all my Actions under the same to order my self as one who regardeth what thou promisest and not what they threaten Though I converse in the midst of them and they are full of rage yet keep me ever mindful O! Lord that their Malice cannot hurt me more than Satans Instruments could touch Job till thou givest them leave Whatsoever they devise against me it will come to nothing till thy time and my hour is come So that however they threaten I know I am secure till thou callest me out to suffering And since I shall suffer nothing from them but at thy time and under thy direction in the midst of all this fear and danger I rest my Soul O! my God upon thy care and cheerfully resign my self to thy protection and good pleasure And if it seem good to thee to send some sufferings thou O! Merciful Father wilt graciously suit my Tryals to mine Infirmities Thou wilt order me no more than by thy Grace I shall be able to bear and the remainder of wrath wilt thou restrain If thou tryest me it will be only for a season Thy Grace will take off their Violence before it has driven me beyond mine Innocence nor wilt thou suffer the Rod of the wicked to rest upon the back of the Righteous till they are wearied out thereby to put forth their hand unto Iniquity And when thou hast brought me into my troubles make me believe assuedly O! my God that thou wilt not leave me there Tho' I am in no wise sufficient for them of my self thy Grace shall be sufficient for me for thy strength is made perfect in our weakness Still as I need thee O! Father thou wilt be with me Thou wilt strengthen me by thy succours when my Burdens grow too heavy for me Thou who sendest me tribulations wilt send me comfort in them and make my consolations abound by Christ as my sufferings abound for him And make all the sorrows which I endure to work for thy greater Glory and my greater good in thy due time And Oh! that in the mean while I may look steadfastly from the Cross to the Crown and be firm in the belief and expectation that they who patiently suffer for Christ shall be sure to reign with him Set the joy before me that for its sake I may willingly endure the â—ross and despise the shame And hold my eyes fast on the exceeding weight of Glory which shall Recompence our present Ignominy and on the things eternal wherewith thou wilt repair our Loss of Temporal for our Lord Jesus Christs sake Amen 4. A Prayer for Trust in God O! Almighty and most Merciful Father whilst I walk here in the midst of fear and danger I humbly and cheerfully trust my self to thy care I place my safety in an humble confidence in thee and come to meet these difficulties and prepare to bear them not in any vain presumption of my own strength which alas at best is but weakness no nor of any earthly supports but onely in the Name and Power of the Lord my God Lord I trust to thee who art able to save me and hast promised to help me I trust to thee who lovest to be trusted and hast always been true to me and never failest those that trust in thee I look for all my succours and deliverances from thy Grace and am not hasty to fix times to thy Providence or to set bounds to my own patience but am contented yea thankful to receive them in thine own way and at thine own time even at thy set-time of sending them Oh! help me therefore O! my God for thy Faithfulness and thy Mercies sake and let me not be disappointed of my hope for our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christs sake Amen 5. Against trusting more in other things than in God and fixing too much on Earthly Dependances GRant O! Gracious Lord that under all our tryals troubles we may be duely sensible of the vanity and inconstancy of all earthly supports Oh! that we may never depart from thee to trust in them Nor give over our patient looking up to thee and thy wise Providence whose Ways and Methods are far above out of our reach to presume on our own vain fancies and bold surmises and lean to our own understandings Lord give us not up to feed on wind which serves not to preserve us but only to puff us up Nor to turn aside from regarding thy sure Promises to support our selves delude one another with lyes vain confidences and to warm our selves at imaginary Fires and walk in the Light of those Sparks which are not of thine but onely of our own kindling Let us not rest our hearts O! God and place our confidence in any Arm of Flesh for there is no trust in them For surely men are vanity yea to be layd in the ballance with thee they are altogether lighter than vanity We cannot know all that is in their hearts and they dayly and suddenly change their minds and purposes or their power fails and they cannot bring their devices to pass For where they are the most fixt on things and seem best prepared for them 't is not their device O! Lord but thy purpose which shall stand in a moment thou breakest all their measures And in a little time they turn to their dust and in that very day all their thoughts perish They are no staff of support O! God but a staff of reed to lean upon and will break and run into our hands and pierce them when we lay our weight upon them Teach us then O! Father in looking upon them not to look off from thee and to consider them even the best of them only as means of thy Care and good Providence which can preserve and deliver us without them by a thousand other ways tho' there is not any of them that can profit us without thee And make us all to look upon thee as the Lord from whom cometh our help and in whose sole Grace and Mercy we repose our intire and chiefest Trust through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen 6. Prayers for Patience 1. In easie and unwearied endurance O! Almighty most gracious God who suitest thy Gifts to our Necessities in these suffering-times give me a suffering spirit and enable me to bear hardship as a good Souldier of Jesus Christ. Endue me with such patience under the same as no heaviness or length of my Tryals shall overcome Let me not be driven by
prophane Negligence Make us all see that we can have no excuse in rejecting Prayers and publick Ministrations more than in rejecting other Duties only because they are persecuted and have the Cross upon them Yea Lord let nothing seem so terrible to me as being debarred the opportunities of waiting upon thee Nor any Loss seem so hard to be endured as losing this way of access to God and the devotion of my Spirit Whilst I am serving thee make me confident O! my God that thou wilt protect me My safety at all times lyes in the care and guardianship of thy good Providence And I can never have more reason to expect that careful Providence than when I am taken up in thine immediate service But if suffering shall happen to meet me there let me comfort my self to think that it finds me at a good work and can not come to me when I am better employ'd And whatever I lose in this case make me sensible O! Lord that it is not lost but most wisely and well layd out and that I can not part with my Worldly Substance for a better Cause or to my greater Advantange Oh! that I may rejoyce in such spoyling of my Goods as what is a laying up Treasures for my self in Heaven And be glad to have my poor perishing substance thus lent to thee to be repayd with an Eternal Inheritance in thy Kingdom through the Merits of my Blessed Saviour and Redeemer Jesus Christ. Amen 9. Prayers for Godly Prudence and Caution in Days of Peril and Persecution 1. For Prudence BUt though I am ready to come and suffer for thee when thou callest me to it let me not run upon it O! Gracious God before thy Call Suffer me not to expose my self to their Violence needlesly Nor to bring it upon my own Head for things that are no part of thy service Nay nor even for doing good things unseasonably or with such Unnecessary Provocations or improvident Carriage and indiscreet Circumstances as are fit to fetch down troubles when I might have been safe in doing the same with due foresight and godly caution Oh! that Conversing as I do in the midst of dangers I may learn to beware of men That knowing * the days are evil and that trouble is hasting on apace of it self I may not throw away my quiet before I need but redeem the time Grant me the skill and care O! Merciful Lord to be provident in all things and walk circumspectly To walk in wisdom towards those that are without that they may find nothing for which to lay hold of me but my Love and Zeal to thee and a wise and faithful discharge of my duty which though they persecute thou O! my God wilt graciously accept for my Dear Lord Jesus Christ's sake Amen 2. For Integrity therewith BUt together with the wisdom of the Serpent give me Grace O! Holy Father in all my tryals to shew forth the innocency and sincerity of the Dove Let all my wisdom and waryness be shewn in doing of my Duty but never in letting it fall And in doing it faithfully without maim or disobedient reserves diligently without remissness and resolutely and undauntedly when thou callest me forth to shew boldness Let it never carry me to secure my self by neglecting thee or thy service or by acting against the rules of Truth and Righteousness or against the Honour and Interest of thy Cause Under all my sufferings O! Lord help me constantly strictly to attend to the ways of Religion that I may suffer with innocence and not to the worldly ways of Parties which abound too much with wickedness And let me never forget that there is as much need of a good and righteous Carriage under sufferings for Christ as of a good and righteous Cause for the same But in serving thee faithfully O! Gracious God let me not shew rashness nor give the Enemies of thy Truth Advantage against me by any culpableness or unadvisedness of my own Carriage Whatever I suffer let it not be as the Fruit and Chastizement of my own folly and precipitancy But grant that in that day I may have the comfort support to think that 't is all come upon me for my duty towards thee and for an acceptable and well guided Zeal for thy Glory which however it is spitefully treated by them at present will be graciously received and remembred by thee at last for mine unspeakable and Eternal Comfort through the Merits of my onely Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen 10. A Prayer for Patience and Charity towards our Persecutors O! Blessed Lord whilst we are suffering at their hands for thy Cause fill us with Patience and Charity towards our Persecutors Keep us always mindful that there is as much need of a meek and forgiving Carriage as of a Righteous Cause in those that suffer for thee And that thou sendest Persecutions for a Tryal of our Patience and Charity towards our Oppressors as well as for a Tryal of our Constancy to thy Truth and Righteousness Let us not fail O! God of a gracious Acceptance with thee by our impatience and wrathfulness against them Yea and let not the way of Truth and Righteousness miscarry in our hands through the scandal of our angry Passions Let us not prejudice any against the goodness of our Cause by the bitterness and implacableness of our spirits nor tempt good minds to be hasty in concluding that we want Truth because they see we can not be easie in suffering for it and want Charity In all our Tryals O! Blessed Jesus let us steadfastly consider how meekly and charitably thou didst endure thine And learn of thee to suffer without threatning and not only to bear our Enemies but to love them To beat back their Violence by unwearyed Patience and to overcome their inclinations of heaping Injuries on our heads by our dayly heaping Forgiveness and Kindnesses on theirs And instead of being angry at those by whom we suffer let it please us O! God that we are counted worthy to suffer for thy Name and enable us to rejoyce at our Losses in this World in hopes of the Blessed Recompence thereof in thy Heavenly Kingdom through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Particular Prayers for Patience towards them 1. HOwever Cruel or Unjust their usage be give us Grace O! Almighty Father to bear it patiently Let us not seem fretful and uneasie at our Worldly Losses as if we payd thee this service with ill will and were more affected with those things which they have taken from us than with the Blessed Hopes of a better and a more enduring substance Let us suffer meekly without wrath and quietly without noise And neither disturb our own spirits by discontent and impatience nor our Persecutors by bitter Reproaches Accusations nor our Neighbours by wearisome Complaints In the midst of all their Troubles give us inward composedness and Patience to possess our souls and
it in ways of Holiness O! Lord that all its Ministrations may be such as become Saints Suffer it not to mix sin in thy Service or to teach it to thy People To pollute holy Offices with any ungodly or unrighteous Petitions and prostitute and prophane thy Worship by falling therein to offer any abominable things Oh! let not its Ministrations become the Ministrations of Unrighteousness but be Holy and without Blemish as besits thine House and becomes thy Spouse Whilst thou art pleased to try it with Tribulations Lord let them only purge it but not lay it waste And revive a suffering Spirit among us when it labours under a suffering State Make it willing then and ready to quit all Interests of this World and live upon the hopes of a better Enable it contentedly yea joyfully to take up thy Cross and to bear it after thee Oh! that at such times it may always be more afraid of Sinning than of Suffering Oh! that it may never fall to make the way of Gain to pass for the way Godliness or to Preach up what is Unrighteous because it is become serviceable and safe Nor ever seek to Error and Wickedness for Refuge instead of seeking to God and trusting in him and in his holy ways for the same Oh! Father in thy Mercy guard it against all Error and Ungodliness rescue it from all Schisms and Divisions and free it in thy due time of its Distress and Persecutions for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake Amen 2. O! Almighty Lord Direct and Rule the Hearts of thy People by the Power of thy Grace that they may no longer run furiously upon Unrighteous Expedients nor by their Violence drive their Teachers into the Practice and Justification thereof Oh! that they may seek to hear true and not pleasing things and not only hear but love to be faithfully dealt with And give them not up O! Father to persecute the Preachers of Righteousness who are ready to warn them of the Error and Danger of their ways or to despite them and treat them as their worst Enemies only for telling them thy Saving Truths Lord let not the love of Error and Hatred of those Truths which are according to Godliness and Honesty always Reign in them Let them not persist therein without Remorse Or when they are smitten with Relentings let them not lie sealed up in their Iniquity as the fallen Angels do by despair of Mercy and seat themselves among those Sinners who when once they have done ill think they cannot be safe but by doing worse Especially O! God deliver them not over to a Reprobate Sense nor shut them up under a Spiritual Blindness But open their Eyes to see from whence they are fallen and to seek after those things which are necessary to their Everlasting Peace through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen 2. Prayers for cure of Schisms and for Graces in divided Times 1. DEliver this Church O! Almighty Lord from Schisms which have torn it to pieces And grant that all those Members who are broken off may return to offer up their Religious Services in due Dependance upon their own Orthodâ—x and Lawful Pasters and to make Conscience of keeping Union and of continuing Subject and Obedient unto those who are Rightfully set over them in the Government of thy Church Let them not think it enough O! God to have Holy Prayers But teach them moreover to put up these Prayers in such Assemblies as keep Obedient and United to those Spiritual Fathers whom thou hast called to be the Rightful Governors of the Body And make them know that when as good Christians they are careful to joyn in none but Holy Services they must take care also as good Church-Members to present those Services to thine Hands in the Unity and Communion of thy Church there to be accepted with thee through his Merits and Mediation who is the Head and Saviour of the Body even thy most Blessed Son and our only Saviour Jesus Christ Amen 2. BEnd the Hearts of all amongst us O! blessed Lord to have Peace amongst themselves Teach them Humility and Submission to those whom thou hast put in Authority over them Let Love and Lowliness increase and all self-denying and amicable Tempers And remove far from us Covetous and Aspiring Thoughts and Pride and self-pleasing and all Wrath and bitter Passions Reconcile all jarring Spirits and cause all Discord and Division to cease And dispose us all O! Jesu thou Prince of Peace to see those Truths which make for Peace and tend to close our Breaches and willingly to submit to them Let us not give way so far to Anger and bitter Passions till none but violent things will please us and till we grow fond and greedy of any Error that will make the Breach wider but Zealous against such Truths as might serve again to unite and bring us together Oh! keep us strictly careful both of Peace and Truth And as we humbly pray that we may never give up thy saving Truths for Peace so do we likewise that we may never divide from each other and be averse to Peace when thy Holy Truths stand in no need thereof And whilst we labour under our unhappy Breaches Let us not be wanting in any mutual Offices of Humanity good Neighbourhood or common Justice towards each other Let us not fancy that their being of different Opinions or of different Churches from us must put a stop to the Just Acts and Offices of Gratitude and to the Remembrance of former kindness or that they must give us a discharge from any mutual Obligations of natural Kindred or of civil Relations Especially O! Merciful God keep us from placing all Religion in the Notes of a Party Let us not so over-ratc the real or fancied Virtues of our several Divisions as to take up therewith and become our selves as culpable for the Breach and allowed Neglect of some Duties as we charge our Brethren to be for the Breach of others But whilst on all sides we are zealous in pursuing those points wherein we differ let us be zealous for others too aud not overlook or lay aside the care of good Life and of that common Religion wherein we all agree and which at last must deliver us all from thy Wrath and prepare us for thine Everlasting Mercies thro' our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Amen 3. Prayers for the Bishops and Clergy under Persecutions 1. O! Almighty Lord under all these Persecutions which are sent to prove and purge us have an especial care of the Bishops and Pastors of thy Church who are set to take of thy People and to defend thy cause and fill their Hearts with the power of thy Spirit and with all those Gifts and Graces which are needful to maintain their own Standing or prevent the Falls of others Make them clear Examples O! God of Holy Living and of truly Christian and Righteous Suffering to thy Flock setting before their Eyes the lively Draughts and
the least let thine O! thou blessed Helper of the Helpless appear the most for me Give me a Body O! my God fit to bear the Inconveniences of this close place and Grace to be content therewith Whilst I lie up here let me not want necessary Provisions nor repine at the meanness thereof Suit the lowness of my Desires to the hardship of my Circumstances and let the greatness of my study and care be to do Justice and shew Temperance and Self-denials not to please my self or to gratifie my own Carnal Ease and Appetites Whilst I am here kept apart from my former acquaintance Grant O! Lord that I may carefully retire into my Self and call mine own ways to remembrance And Oh! that I may amend whatsoever is amiss there and set all so streight with thee that I may delight to look into my own Heart and to search out my own Spirit Lord now thou hast left me nothing else to do make me apply my self wholly to the one thing necessary To grow in Holy Reverence and Devotion of Spirit in the study of dealing justly and fairly with all who are any way concerned with me in Humility apud mortified Affections in Patience and Contentedness Oh! plant and fill my Soul with all Heavenly Virtues and make bright all the cloudy and dark parts thereof with the Rays of thy divine Image And then O! my God I shall see something of thee as oft as I look into my self and learn to be pleased with my own Company though others are kept from me And in whatsoever want I am of other Comforts grant O! Father of Mercies that both here and ever hereafter I may have the Comfort of thy Presence When all else are taken from me do not thou forsake me Though I dwell in a disconsolate Room let thy Spirit dwell with me Let thy Law at all times direct me and let the Sense of thy Love comfort me And after thou hast Graciously improved this Melancholy Restraint to wean me from vain and carnal Delight and to set my Soul free in thy good time O! my refuge and strength deliver me out of this Prison and set my Body too at Liberty for my dear Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ's sake Amen The Prisoner for Righteousness may use the preceding Prayers for Integrity for Constancy in persecuted Duties for Faith for Trust in God for Patience for Charity towards Persecuters c. in the foregoing Office for Sufferers â—or Righteousness as he sees cause And for more particular Circumstances and needs of such as are Prisoners for the same they may express the Devotion of their Spirit in these Prayers following 2. Particular Prayers 1. A Prayer for the Prisoner for any part of Truth or Righteousness to use in his Family O! Father of Mercies who takest the Poor and Helpless under thine own more immediate and especial care when thou takest those from them whose part it is under thee to take care of them shew the Riches of thy Grace and Loving-kindness I humbly intreat thee to my Dear Wife and Children Guide them always by thy Holy Spirit and watch over them with an indulgent providence Keep them obedient to Councel and continue them under the Blessing of her care Preserve them from Want and protect them from Danger and make them a mutual Comfort and Support to each other And in the midst of all my Troubles continue both her and them a constant Comfort and Refreshment to me thy poor unworthy Servant And let me not O! Gracious God make them unhappy Or if we suffer in common for standing off from prevailing Violence and because we will not concurr or stake in with the wicked Actings of an unrighteous Generation let none of us repine at such Sufferings but look upon them as Afflions that are willing to be embraced yea rather Triumphantly to be rejoyced in I humbly desire O! Father that may all trust thee with our selves and cheerfully rest upon thy Faithfulness to make up to us any Losses which shall befal us on such accounts Thy good Providence is a great and blessed portion in such cases as praised be thy Name thy Saints have found in all times by joyful Experience And to that good Providence O! my God do I trust It shall always be my Hope and Confidence and oh that as it is the truest Blessing so it may ever be the happy portion both of me and mine thro' Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen 2. Prayers for the Prisoner for Truth or Righteousness to use for himself 1. A Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies and Prosecutors when at any time or any where he is put in Prison for any Parts of Truth or Righteousness O! Merciful God who art the Helper of the Helpless and a Refuge for the oppressed in the Day of their Troubles be thou my Fortress and Help against my Persecutors They are mine Enemies O! Lord for thy sake and therefore set themselves thus violently against me because they cannot drive me to leave thee And I have no visible way left to appease their Hatred because I dare not forsake a jsut Cause or go along with them in speaking and acting against that which is right And these mine Enemies are many and Mighty and they persecute me violently and have laid a Trap for my Soul and there is none to help me But though I can neither appease their Hatred nor withstand it yet thou O! Lord canst alter it at thy Pleasure or if they persist therein thou canst disappoint them And to thee do I flee and look for Succour Help me therefore O! my Ged for in thee do I trust Help thou me for I have none else to help me for Deceitful are the Promises and vain is the help of Men. Make haste to help me for Trouble is hard at Hand Turn the Hearts of mine Enemies for seeking my Life or if they will persevere therein bring to nought their evil Purposes Forgive them Gracious Father and bring not them into such a Pâ—t as they have digged for me But Preserve me from falling into it and from being lost in the Depth thereof for my dearest Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ's sake Amen 2. A Prayer for Deliverance from Frail and Faithless Friends when they are brought in at such Times to accuse him for the same YEA O! Gracious Father not only the Envy and Malice of mine Enemies but the weakness of my own familiar Friends is made use of to destroy me And a violent Temptation is laid before them to compass their own Safety by joyning to compass my Fall But the Hearts of all Men O! Almighty Lord are in thine Hand Thou canst at thy Pleasure fortifie the fearful and fix the wavering and unresolved Spirit and give Fidelity Honour and Conscience such Power with them as shall prevail over their corrupt Fears and worldly Interests Thou canst as easily strengthen the weakness of my Friends and keep them from