strive after saving grace the power of religion and true godlinesse that so for a few and evill daies we stand wisely and resolutely for thy honour and truth and with comfort and courage running the race of sanctification may bee provided and furnished with assurance of glory clearenesse of conscience strength of faith against the day of our visitation that when we shall lie downe upon our deaths-bed and wee know not how soone we may be able to meete with the fearefull temptations of our sinnefull flesh the fiery darts of Satan to encounter with the pangs of death and terrours of the grave and so passe with joyfullnesse and triumph to those glorious mansions of light and blessed immortality with thee in the highest heavens Lastly Gracious Father for this present holy businesse we have now in hand we humbly beseech thee to let thy blessings bee mightily upon thy Word at this time that it may pierce and enter through to the dividing asunder of the soule and the spirit of the joynts and the marrow and to discover the very thoughts and intents of the heart Keepe we pray thee out of our hearts and heads all troubles cares wandrings humours passions prejudice distractions deadnesse or whatsoever other cursed let shall be suggested by the divell or our owne wicked hearts So sanctifie unto our soules this holy ordinance of thine that we may handle and heare it with all feeling power and reverence as the Word of thee the true and everliving GOD and as that by which we must be judged at that last dreadfull day Make it to be a Word of conversion and enlargement to all them that are yet in the snares of the divell waies of death but of strengthening encouragement and comfort to those that are already thine that so by thy mercifull blessing it may prove unto every one of us the savour of life unto life and thy mighty power unto us for salvation and that for the LORD CHRIST JESVS his sake In whose glorious Name and mediation we beg these and all other needfull blessings concluding in his owne prayer Our Father c. O LORD heare us in these our weake requests and grant them unto us and all other things necessary for us for our bodies our soules our callings or this present action and for every member of thy Church wee beg them all in the name and mediation of CHRIST JESVS thy Sonne and our onely SAVIOVR to whom with thee and the holy Spirit be all praise and power and might and dominion and thankesgiving ascribed at this time and evermore hereafter Amen BLessed are all they that heare the Word of GOD beleeve it and doe it The grace of our LORD JESVS CHRIST and the love of GOD the Father in him and the most comfortable fellowship helpe and communion of GOD the HOLY GHOST be with us all blesse us preserve us and keepe us and every member of his Church in faith a good quiet and peaceable conscience the rest of this day and evermore hereafter Grace before meate LORD GOD who hast created all things for the use and comfort of man and man for thy owne glory Make we beseech thee these thy creatures wholesome for our bodies and us thankfull for them for CHRIST JESVS his sake A Prayer before Sermon MOst holy and righteous LORD GOD we humbly and heartily thanke thee for our preservation this night past pardon wee beseech thee unto us the sinnes thereof And now prepare and sanctifie us for a right and comfortable serving of thee in this morning sacrifice and holy duties we take in hand Illighten our mindes and inlarge our hearts by thine owne good Spirit that wee may rightly conceive of the great mystery of grace and true meaning of thy holy Word that we treasure it up in our memories with an holy greedinesse and after walke by the strength thereof with all fruitfullnesse and power in all thy waies all the daies of our life and that for thy CHRIST his sake A Prayer after Sermon O LORD our GOD thou clearely seest and beholdest from Heaven what hearts we now bring into thy glorious presence from the businesse of this day how full of earthlinesse deadnesse listlesnesse and unfitnesse to speake unto thee Wee pray thee for CHRIST his sake to possesse quicken and sanctifie them by thy blessed Spirit that they may bee ever feeling and fruitfull in these holy exercises Make us every day more and more wise with all thy Saints and elect children unto our eternall salvation in the right understanding beleeving and obeying of thy blessed Word and great mystery of godlinesse in JESVS CHRIST our LORD An Evening Prayer most usefull in time of warre or invasion O LORD our GOD high and mighty great and fearefull which dwellest in the highest Heavens and light that no man can attaine unto which by thy great power hast created Heaven and Earth and all things therein contained and by thy wise providence directest every thing unto an excellent end If thou shouldest deale with us in justice wee deserve to bee plagued with all the horrible and fearefull plagues of Egypt in this world and hereafter to be perpetually damned both in body and soule in the lake of hell fier where there is nothing but endlesse woe weeping and gnashiâ—g of teeth If there bee any sinne we have not committed it was because we wanted meanes opportunity enticement temptation or something not for want of a sinfull disposition in us If thou shouldest deale with us as we have dealt with thee wee should bee presently damned eternally If thou shouldest be as carelesse of us as we have beene of thee and the salvation of our soules we should never see thy face in Heaven O LORD fright our heart with a true sight and sence of all our sins O LORD perswade our hearts that since thou didst not curse and damne us when we lay wallowing in horrible sinnes thou wilt not now cast us away when wee are converted c. Thou wilt rather pitty us for our infirmities then condemne us for them Perswade our soules by that good experience we have had of thy goodnesse that thou wilt be our GOD for ever Let us not so much feare and abhorre the punishment and guilt of sin but also the power and tyranny whereby we are enforced to offend so loving and so gracious a Father Give us soundnesse of knowledge purity of heart holinesse of life contempt of the world conquest over our sinnes the comforts of thy blessed Spirit a joyfull expectation of our deliverance from sin and sorrow The spirit of meeknesse and wisedome the spirit of courage and constancy the spirit of love and joy and of a sound mind Let us be just in our dealings conscionable in our callings mercifull courteous Let us so comprehend the glorious state to come that we may bee willing to bee dissolved and to bee with CHRIST LORD grant that in the middest of a darke world we may see the
thorowly even to the bottome of my heart and beginning of my being for besides that I came into this world loaden with an heavie burden and confused Babell of crookednesse and corruption in every part both of soule and body thou knowest what a cursed confluence of all manner of pollutions filthinesse uncleanenesse strange abomination abominable lusts and every villanous corruption that is wont to spring out of our impoysoned nature made my poore soule a very sinke and Sodom before I was converted Reckon up here unto GOD particulars out of abundance of feeling with a plentifull and sincere confession and then goe on Thus O LORD thou knowest when thou very mercifully at the first didst call and knocke at my heart by the Ministery of thy Word with what stubbornenesse reluctancy and delaies I withstood the worke of thy blessed Spirit for the salvation of my owne poore soule How loath I was to open the eyes of my understanding to let in the heavenly light of that holy truth which onely could make mee gracious here and glorious in thy Kingdome hereafter And when thou hadst something conquered the hardnesse of my heart so that in some measure I saw the hatefullnesse of my sin and felt the horror of thy wrath for them O LORD thou knowest I did not so grieve sorrow and take on as so great and grievous a sinner ought to have done I did not mourne for them as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddo I was not sorry for them as one is sorry for his first borne I was not throwne downe into the dust and into the place of Dragons and into that depth of humiliation which the villany and variety of my many most horrible transgressions farre as much as the sins of the vilest wretch that ever lived upon earth required at my hands Nay and when after the sence and acknowledgement of my vile and damnable estate I saw the blood and merits of my blessed Redeemer to be the onely meanes to save me from out of hell I did not feele in my selfe that hunger and thirst that panting and longing those groanes supplications and strong cries for that soveraigne and saving Plaister to heale my wounded soule as mine owne misery and the excellency of my CHRIST should have moov'd me unto And when at length it pleased thee upon thy owne free mercy to offer unto my sorrowfull and sinnefull soule thy deare Son and all his pretious sufferings my unbeleeving and naughty heart did not embrace and lay hold upon him with that fastnesse and faithfullnes as the certainty of thy promises the truth and sweetnesse of thy mercy most plentifully revealed in thy Word doe straitly enjoyne mee Thus LORD even every step of my passage out of nature into Grace out of corruption into Christianity and the snares of the divell into the kingdome of Christ was as thou knowest fearefully hindred with the hardnesse of my own corrupt heart and fowly polluted with the lusts and rebellions of my sinfull nature Nay and that which grieves me the most and should justly make my heart even to bleede within me since I gave my name unto religion came into the communion of Saints and entred the waies of new obedience I have beene dragd back by the cruell pollicie of Satan and the accustomed yeeldingnesse of my sensuall dispositions into some vile and hatefull abominations of the daies of my vanity and time of unregeneration and also overtaken with some new knowne scandalous sins to the grieving of thy good Spirit the grievous wounding of my conscience and the disgracing of my profession I have beene very slack and slow and faint-hearted in promoting thy glory furthering good causes and performing holy duties I have beene very dull and cold cowardly and formall in all the waies of godlines and my Christian warfare in respect of many Christians who have not neere beene so great sinners before they were converted or receiv'd the thousand part of those favours from thee as I have done I have beene too heavie heartlesse and uncomfortable in my profession conferences godly exercises and practises of grace I have not so rejoyced as I ought in all the good things which thou hast done for me I have not walked so cheerefully towards a crowne of life as formerly towards the damnation of hell Nay LORD and even in those things wherein I should have the greatest comfort when I examine my naughty and deceitfull heart I finde nothing but confusion of face Even my prayers hearing and reading the Word receiving the Sacrament meditations conferences c. are so mingled with temptations worldly thoughts by-respects deadnesse and drowsinesse of spirit so mard with privie pride and secret hypocrisie that I cannot remember them without griefe of heart neither dare I thinke upon them without prayer for the pardon of their imperfections I finde great matter of humiliation in the best of them and I know thou mightest there also finde much matter of damnation if thou shouldest deale with me as I have deserved O LORD my GOD this is my state nay and indeed a thousand times worse and more wofull yet then I or the tongue of an Angell can make it And I have nothing in the world to say for my selfe I have none to goe unto either in Heaven or in Earth but onely to intreate my blessed Redeemer to speake unto thee in my behalfe to make intercession for me with his glorious merits and pretious blood-shed and to flee unto those melting bowells of thy Fatherly compassions and tender-heartednesse with which thou art wont to meete and fall upon the neck of every humbled sorrowfull and broken-hearted sinner I do therefore beseech thee mercifull LORD upon the bowed knees of my sin-grieved heart to pardon and put away all my many horrible hainous and abominable sins in the pretious blood of thine own deare Son It is onely the pretious blood of that spotlesse Lambe which hath power and force to turne the deepest staine of scarlet and crimson sins into the whitenesse of snow wooll And there was never poore sinfull wretch had more need of the multitude of thy mercies and abundance of that saving blood to doe away the multitude of my sins and to wash purge and rinze my filthy and polluted soule I pray thee therfore for Christ Jesus his sake for thy holy names sake for thine infinite mercies sake and for thine own Covenants sake to make good unto me the true sweetnesse utmost comfort of all those gracious promises of life which ere flowed from thy free mercy through the Passion of thy Son upon any poore soule who sought thee with truth of heart truly lov'd the glory of thy name I strangely deceive mine owne heart if I doe not hunger and thirst for thy favour and pleased countenance more then for all the treasures of the earth the glory of the whole world Make mine heart I pray thee as thou wouldst have it and then
direct we beseech thee and sanctifie all our courses that for a few and evill daies in this vale of teares wee may so store our selves with spirituall comfort with a sound heart with a strong faith and a good conscience that we may stand firme and sure at the day of our visitation and when upon our deaths bed we shall bee set upon by the weakenesse of our owne flesh the terrors of death the fearefullnes of the grave and the firiest darts of Satan we may comfortably passe thorow them all in the name and power of thy Son and be receiv'd with joyfulnes triumph into those sacred mansions which he hath already made ready in Heaven for all those that truly love and feare thee In his blessed name we powre out our soules in thankfullnesse for all those many blessings and comforts which thou hast vouchsafed us both upon our soules and bodies both for this life and a better For our health wealth and liberty our peace plenty and prosperity our food apparell and preservation from our infancy to this very hower and for all the good meanes of all these For the free passage of thy glorious Gospell now so many yeares amongst us But amongst all other temporall blessings of our times let us never forget nor we nor all our posterity for ever how it pleased thee in our daies miraculously to magnifie the glory of thy mercy in our wonderfull deliverance from the most secret bloody and fiery plot of the Gun-powder Treason that great astonishment of men and Angels All these outward comforts both publicke and particular are excellent and pretious yet they are such as wee have common with the reprobates and those that shall never see thy face with comfort but after a short time spent in the miserable pleasures of this vaine world shall bee turn'd to hell and everlasting fire Wee therefore more especially magnifie thy great name for the more speciall pledges and tokens of thy infinite love for that it hath pleased thee to confirme and seale unto us by our effectuall calling and the earnest of thy good Spirit our Election to eternall life from all eternity our particular Redemption from the powers of hell by the death of thy Sonne and an undoubted assurance of the joyes of Heaven in the world to come Increase in us good LORD wee beseech thee daily more and more this blessed assurance which we infinitely esteeme more deare then tenne thousand worlds by making us to grow in repentance and faith and spirituall wisedome and framing us to the obedience of thy Sonne in all knowledge love and obedience Furthermore gracious Father wee humbly intreate thee with the bowels of thy tenderest compassions to be mercifull unto thy whole Church and every member thereof Fence it mightily wee pray thee with the Spirit of truth knowledge and zeale and constancy that in these worst and last daies it may make a strong resistance against the great maine floods of Popery Schisme profanesse and Atheisme Be gracious unto this sinnefull Kingdome and enter not into judgement with the horrible and crying sinnes and the many fearefull provocations thereof In the same looke downe with the speciall eye of providence and protection upon our dread Soveraigne JAMES by thy grace King of great Brittaine France and Ireland Defender of the truly Catholike faith and in all causes and over all persons next and immediatly under thy Sonne CHRIST JESVS in all his Dominions supreme Governour O LORD as thou hast enlarg'd his royall heart even as the sand which is on the sea-shore for understanding learning and wisedome so wee beseech thee to continue unto him a proportionable measure of holinesse zeale and sanctification for the execution of that great place wherin thou hast set him and the enlargement of thy Kingdome here on earth Settle his crowne fast upon his head that he may long and religiously raigne over us in despight of all his enemies both at home and abroad Vouchsafe all the graces of thy good Spirit unto his gracious Queene Plant the true feare of thy great Name in the Princely heart of his Sonne and let thy watchfull providence and thy loving mercies for ever rest upon all that royall family Inspire his Honourable Privie Counsell his Nobility Gentry and Magistracy with spirituall wisedome and heavenly understanding Leade them all into thy Sanctuary and teach them out of thy holy Word first and chiefly those things which concerne thy honour and glory the good of the people which depend upon them and lastly the comfort of their own soules at the dreadfull day of judgement when they shall give an account of their stewardships Enrich we pray thee with thy best graces all the Reverend Bishops and Ministers of this Land Endew them plentifully with knowledge zeale sincerity and discretion that by their faithfullnesse and conscionable discharge of their duties the many multitudes in this Land that lie in darknesse ignorance profanesse Popery and Schisme may be brought to the knowledge of thy truth into a holy obedience to thy heavenly Gospell to their owne everlasting salvation Blesse and be mercifull to both our Universities Oxford and Cambridge Comfort all thy distressed children wheresoever or howsoever afflicted whither with Pestilence Warre Famine banishment sicknesse poverty imprisonment disquietnesse of minde vexation of conscience want of spirituall comfort or what other crosse or calamity soever it pleaseth thee to exercise them with Give them in the meane time a sure faith in thy promises and inward comfort in thy blessed Spirit and in thy good time a happy deliverance whither by life or death as it shall be best for thy glory and the good of their owne soules Lastly gracious Father for this sacred businesse wee have now in hand wee humbly beseech thee to blesse and sanctifie unto us at this time the preaching and hearing of thy holy Word it is the ordinance of thy owne infinite wisedome it is the glorious instrument which thou hast appointed for the conversion and salvation of the soules of men But unto us miserable wretches it hath beene many times thorow the barrennesse of our hearts the secret and deceitfull corruptions of our nature much sleepinesse and drowsinesse but as water spilt on the ground and even the breath of thy Ministers scattered in the aire Forgive us deare Father all our former untowardnesse irreverence and unprofitablenes in these holy exercises and now at length before we goe downe into our graves into black and cruell habitations from whence we must never returne to praise thee upon earth let us feele thy divine finger working in us effectually at the preaching of thy Word Let us have the sence of thine Omnipotency in conquering our corruptions and temptations that we being thorowly sanctified both in our soules and bodies forsaking all our knowne sinnes and labouring with sincerity to please thee in all things may have our fruit in holinesse and the end everlasting life Heare us c. A Morning
Prayer for a Familie O LORD our GOD we pray thee bee mercifull unto us stirre up we beseech thee our dull hearts out of a true sence of our sinnes and miseries and a lively faith in CHRIST JESVS and his pretious deservings to lift up our soules in prayers and praises unto thee O LORD how are we bound to magnifie thy great Name for all the loving kindnesse and great mercies vouchsafed us for preserving us this night past from the ills and dangers which no doubt have befallen many of our brethren as good by nature as our selves for refreshing our fraile bodies with quiet rest and sleepe and bringing us in health in strength and vigour of body to see the light of this day for that it hath pleased thee to reveale unto us the mysteries of godlinesse and some measure of saving truth which thou hast hid from many thousands of the greatest and wisest of the world For that thou hast preserv'd us from many fearefull transgressions and excesses of iniquity to which our corrupt nature would otherwise have led us For giving us the being of reasonable creatures and being borne in this blessed time and part of the world when and where thy glorious Gospell is on foot for the continuance of our health and strength of body for the usefullnesse and vigour of the powers of our soules and sences of which for abusing them we have deserv'd ere this to have beene fearefully deprived For our ingenuous and godly education for our Christian company and good counsell we have many times by thy mercies enjoyed For thy Word and Sacraments the glorious meanes of our conversion and continuance in grace For many gracious mercies by which thou hast laboured gently and fairely to draw us unto thee For those judgements which thou hast sent to humble us and to bring us to repentance For the inlarging of our time for storing our selves with Grace and comfort against the day of our visitation For our freedome from many miseries crosses and vexations which befall other our brethren better then our selves For that it hath pleased thee by thine everlasting decree out of thine owne boundlesse goodnesse and blessed pleasure to save us from many thousand others which perish everlastingly and to make us heires of endlesse happinesse as we are verily perswaded in the world to come For preventing and following us with thy saving graces O LORD we pray thee to open our eyes daily more and more to see and acknowledge these thy great and undeserved mercies upon us and to enlarge our hearts sincerely and feelingly to magnifie thy great Name for the same And as wee humbly intreate thee upon the knees of our soules for pardon and remission of all other sinnes so especially for our monstrous and harefull ingratitude for thy great and many mercies towards us most wicked and sinfull creatures We are ashamed and confounded that so much favour and mercy and long forbearance should bee extended to such rebellious and carnall wretches as we are For besides that naturall pollution we drew from the loines of our sinnefull parents wee have heapt up a great measure of actuall sinnes since we had the use and exercise of reason and power and ability to sinne O LORD our GOD wee humbly beseech thee to give us a full sight of them all and a true sence of thy great wrath indignation against them Let us have remorse and compunction in our hearts and consciences for them all in our affections a perfect hate and detestation of the least corruptions and infirmities And bee thou pleas'd gracious Father thorowly to purge and wash our soules with the precious blood of thy deare Sonne deliver us quite wee beseech thee from the guilt horrour and damnation due unto them And grant that hereafter wee may walke conscionably and carefully in all our waies that we suffer no more our poore soules to bee stained with these foule pollutions we have formerly delighted in Wee confesse and acknowledge to our shame and confusion that wee have many times vowed betwixt thee and our owne soules that wee would watch more carefully over our owne hearts least they should breed and nourish profane idle and wandering thoughts and imaginations over ourtalke least wee should offend with our tongue that wee would be more zealous and faithfull in the duties of our calling in sanctifying thy Sabbaths receiving thy Sacraments hearing thy Word in Christian conference company meditation and all other holy duties but alas all these good purposes have beene but as the morning dew we have even in short time broken our vowes growne cold againe dull and formall to the much greefe of thy good Spirit and discomfort of our owne soules Now LORD wee pray thee deale mercifully with us in this point forgive our many frailties and infirmities herein and at length thorowly sanctifie us draw our affections from the false glory and sinfull pleasures of this vaine world and fasten them there where true sound and lasting comfort is to be enjoyed Give us wise and understanding hearts that we may see and perceive those things that belong to thy glory and the salvation of our own soules and sanctified wills and holy affections to follow and pursue them with all earnestnesse zeale and fervency of spirit Let us even this day get some ground against Satan and forwardnesse in the course of Sanctification Let us store our selves with some new godly purposes and holy resolutions to doe thy will and keepe thy righteous commandements Fill our hearts daily more and more with all saving graces and the virtues of CHRIST JESVS Cause us perpetually to keepe in minde and consider that we are but as pilgrims and strangers here in this world that wee must shortly depart hence and never returne againe but presently come to judgement and receive an everlasting reward according to our workes Weaken wee beseech thee daily more and more the power of sinne in us let us feele it decay and loose its hold and haunt in us and strengthen in us the power of grace the new man and all spirituall comforts Neither pray wee for our selves onely but for all thy deare children fellow heires with us of everlasting happinesse in what part of the world soever they be LORD we pray thee to be continually present with them with all thy comforts and mercies let thy good Spirit leade them into all truth let the wings of thy providence and protection stretch over them all And such as yet lie in profanesse and under the shadow of death hasten their conversion reveale unto them the glorious comforts of grace and let the powers of darknesse hold them no longer LORD be mercifull unto this sinnefull Kingdome wherein we live and enter not into judgement with the horrible rebellions and fearefull abominations thereof Stay the rage of prophanesse that fearefully overflowes in all places to thy great dishonour and griefe of thy children Stop the crying sinnes of the time and recover thine
sinnes both before and since our calling in the grave of CHRIST JESVS and hide them in his righteousnesse for evermore There is no helpe or comfort to be had either in Heaven or in Earth in Angels Saints or mortall men to our wounded consciences but onely in the spotlesse justice of thy deare Son Give assurance therefore we beseech thee to every one of our soules that his pretious bloud was shed for our sinnes in particular that wee may sensibly feele the forgivenesse of our sins and rejoyce in the hope of eternall life In His blessed name we give thee all possible thankes for those many mercies and comforts which thou hast plentifully bestowed upon us most unworthy wretches We thanke thee deare Father for our health wealth and liberty for our peace plenty and prosperity for our food and apparell for our preservation from our cradle to this howre and all the good meanes of these but more especially for the more speciall tokens of thy great love for these we have common with the reprobates and those which shall never see thy face with comfort but after a short time spent in the miserable pleasures of this vaine world shall be turn'd to hell and everlasting fire We thanke thee for chusing us before all worlds to be heires of Heaven and Citizens with thy Saints We thanke thee for confirming unto us our Election by our effectuall calling O happy be that blessed time when thy good Spirit put the first motions into our hearts to become thy children This is the blessing wee infinitely esteeme before al worldly comforts and wherein is the preciousnesse of all true joy and contentment O most loving and gracious Father we beseech thee goe forward with the worke of this our New-birth that thou hast begun in us and never take away thy hand unto the day of JESVS CHRIST Thou hast promised that whom thou hast loved once thou wilt love for ever and thou art without all shadow of change and sooner shall the mountaines bee cast into the Sea before one jot of thy gracious promise fall unto the ground or one title of thy Word be unaccomplisht Take from us therefore wee beseech thee all privy pride and hypocrisie all vanity and vaine-glory all dullnesse backwardnesse and security in thy service which hang so fast on which cleave so close unto our soules and fearefully hinder us in the course of godlinesse but above all things let us never fall backe againe into the grosse and horrible sinnes of our unregeneration Reveale unto us we beseech thee all our sinnes give us tender consciences and a continuall increase in spirituall wisedome and heavenly understanding untill we come unto that happy strength by which the world is crucified unto us and wee unto the world and bee able to say out of the powerfull feeling of thy goodnesse upon our soules with thy blessed servant David GOD is our hope and strength and helpe in troubles ready to bee found Therefore will we not feare though the earth bee mooved and though the mountaines fall into the midst of the Sea Though the waters thereof rage and be troubled and the mountaines shake at the same GOOD LORD bee mercifull with the bowells of thy Fatherly compassions unto thy Church and every member thereof Be gratious unto this sinnefull Kingdome and enter not into judgement with the horrible sins thereof And in the same looke downe we beseech thee with the speciall eye of providence and protection upon the excellent instrument of thy glory our most gracious Soveraigne Give him the spirit of zeale wisedome and governement that he may long and religiously raigne over us in despight of all his enemies both at home and abroad Blesse all his Counsellors both our Universities Oxford and Cambridge the Nobility of this Land the Gentry all inferiour Magistrates all Judges and Justices of Peace those that are imployd in fighting thy battells either by Land or Sea Give to every one a spirit to his calling Leade them all into thy Sanctuary and teach them out of thy holy Word first and chiefly those things which concerne thy honour and glory the good of the people that depend upon them and lastly the salvation and comfort of their owne soules at the dreadfull day of judgement when they shall give an account of their stewardships Enrich wee beseech thee with many graces of zeale faithfullnesse and sincerity the Ministers and Preachers of thy holy Word blesse their labours that some good may come of them increase their number place over every Congregation a faithfull and religious Watchman that may go in and out before thy people in soundnesse of doctrine and uprightnesse of conversation Touch the hearts of the many multitudes of this Land that at length they may turne unto thy truth and so be delivered out of the tyranny and power of Satan to the freedome of thy deare Son CHRIST JESVS our LORD Give successe good LORD and prosper all those which in their good purposes seeke the preferment of thy truth by good and lawfull meanes Blesse all them that thou hast joyned unto us with any bond of love kinred or acquaintance all those whose hearts thou hast stird up to doe us good any manner of waies and those also which wish and worke us evill if they belong unto thee Comfort O LORD with thy sweetest comforts all thy children which are vexed either in soule or body whether by Pestilence Famine Warre poverty imprisonment sicknesse or banishment trouble of conscience vexation of spirit disquietnesse of minde want of spirituall comfort or whatsoever kinde of affliction of body or mind thou dost try them with Give them in the meane time faith in thy promises and comfort in thy Spirit and in thy good time a happy deliverance whether by life or by death as it shall be best to thy honour and glory and good of their owne soules But especially as we are bound at this time we humbly intreate thy loving kindnesse and tender mercies for our poore afflicted brethren and sisters here about us in London Oxford and many other places of this Land O LORD stay thy revenging hand Though wee bee but wormes and dust yet thou art our Creator and we the worke of thy hands Thou art our Father and wee thy children Thou art our Shepheard and we thy sheep Thou art our Redeemer and wee the people whom thou hast bought Thou art our GOD and we thine inheritance Forget not therefore O LORD to be gracious and shut not up thy loving kindnesse in displeasure turne thee againe at the last and bee gracious unto thy servants And grant wee beseech thee that these great judgements may effect and worke that for which they were sent even true humiliation and undissembled repentance that we all turning unto thee in truth and sincerity thou maist turne unto us with thy mercies and everlasting compassions And whereas we whom of thy great goodnesse thou hast thus long time spared are as deepe
any time since hee had his being he hath either thought or said or done amisse doe it away deare LORD as though it had never beene and drowne it for ever in the bottomelesse sea of thine owne mercy Thou hast promised by thy Prophet Isa. 44. 22. that thou wilt put away the transgressions of thy people like a cloud and their sins as a mist. Now we pray thee let the inflamed heate of thy everlasting love shed thorow the bloody wounds of thy Son and shining through the Sonne of righteousnesse upon his soule disperse and dissolve into nothing all his iniquities transgressions and sins Thou hast promised by thy Prophet Micah 7. 19. That thou wilt cast them all into the bottome of the Sea Now blessed LORD GOD we pray thee as that mighty host of Pharaoh sunke into the red Sea like a stone so that neither Sonne of man nor Sun of Heaven ever saw their faces any more so let all his sins bee swallowed up for ever in the red sea of CHRIST JESVS his blood that they never show their faces againe to his shame discomfort or confusion Thou hast told us with thine owne mouth that thou inhabitest eternity and dwells in the high and holy place and yet with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to give life to them that are of a contrite heart we humbly intreate thee for CHRIST JESUS his sake that thou wouldest make good this promise to this thy servant to the utmost sweetnesse and comfort thereof O blessed LORD GOD let thy glorious presence shine into his heart with all those sweet refreshings with which thou art wont to fill those happy soules which depart in thy favour and at peace with thee Let the pretious deservings and saving blood-shed of CHRIST JESVS appeare fresh unto the eye of his faith And let the blessed Angell ministring Spirits to thy chosen at thy appointed time carry his soule with peace and comfort into the bosome of thy glory O LORD he is now going the way of all flesh and his habitation is remooving from him like a Shepheards tent Helpe now LORD in this time of need Comfort him wee beseech thee with all the strength of Heaven Thou hast within the rich treasury of thy mercy thine own tender hearted bowells of compassions the unvaluable blood shed of thy deare Sonne the unutterable comforts of thy good Spirit the pretious promises of life and all the joyes of Heaven and he hath a poore soule that hungers and thirsts and longs for thy mercy and favour before all the world O LORD our GOD wee humbly pray thee crown that soule of his with them all Let thine own omnipotent hand encompasse him let the strong arme of the Sonne of GOD mightily protect him from all infernall power let the Spirit of all comfort raise in his heart those heavenly raptures and sweet exultations of spirit which are wont to fill the soules of them which are ready to lay hold upon a crowne of life let thy blessed Angels at thine owne time carry his soule into the bosome of Abraham there to raigne with thee in rest and joy thorow all eternity A Prayer in time of Plague O LORD our GOD remember us wee pray thee in mercy concerning that heavie and sore judgement of the Plague of Pestilence that fearefully walketh in darknesse and wasteth at noone day which thy just wrath hath kindled in the chiefe City of this Kingdome Wee pray thee good Father to blesse us with care and wisedome to meete thee now at first with truly remorsefull and repentant hearts both for our own personall sinnes and the crying abhominations of the times Let us seeke thee with fervency and truth in daies of humiliation and fasting and cry mightily unto thee that so turning al unto thee with unfained repentance and sincere resolution to amend thou maist in mercy heale our Kingdome and turne thine indignation away from us A Prayer in time of Plague MOst gratious GOD sith by thy good providence we are met together at this time solemely to humble our selves and afflict our soules in thy glorious presence and before thy pure eye we humbly beseech thee to give unto every one of us spirituall ability and the saving assistance of thy Holy Spirit that we may all doe it unfainedly fruitfully effectually in the name of JESVS CHRIST O Most mighty and blessed LORD GOD our ever loving Father in JESVS CHRIST We poore wretches thy unworthiest servants do heere humbly prostrate our selves our soules and bodies before thy Throne of grace acknowledging from our hearts that we are the vilest of all Thy Creatures by reason of our manifold and hainous sins we are defiled and polluted in every power and part both of body and soule to the very heart roote and from the beginning of our being we laid at first a bloudy foundation with Adam in Paradise which utterly undid all mankinde and had our hands in that horrible rebellion which brought all mischiefs and miseries all sinne and sorrow upon all the sonnes and daughters of Adam from the Creation to the end of the world yea and all those Hellish woes and tortures which shall lie upon damned soules everlastingly O LORD strike our hearts with remorse for This sin of which we take so little notice that we may bee humbled for it all the daies of our life Wee came into this world very sinkes of all impurity concupiscence and filth we brought with us understandings starke blinde in all heavenly things wills stubborne froward rebellious to every good word and worke Memory sinfull and defiled hard and stony hearts raging and bedlam passions earthly and sensuall thoughts and imaginations dead and guilty consciences eyes full of Adultery wantonnesse and wandrings eare open to all rotten and ribald talke tongues set on fire by hell hands full of iniquity feete ready to carry us to all manner of villany and vanity even bodies and soules ingrafted into the cursed communion of the Divell and wicked spirits by reason of that originall corruption and crookednesse which we drew from the loines of our sinfull Parents And this hereditary masse of naturall filth lurkt in our natures like venome and poison which made us odious and abominable in thy sight before wee were able to sin when wee had power to serve the Divell it broke out upon us into as many fearefull transgressions and abominable lusts as could possibly proceed from so empoysoned a fountaine And since that time good Lord thou knowest we have borne our selves like Traytors and rebells against thy holy Majesty we have actually transgrest all thy blessed Lawes and Commandements every manner of way in thought word and deed fearefully wounding our consciences greeving thy good spirit and treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath O Lord wee have grievously sinned against Thee by contempt of thy Word The crying sinne of this place by Atheisme ignorance profanenesse