THE AMBASSADOR BETWEEN Heaven and Earth, between God and man..  
OR A BOOK Of Heavenly and Healthy Meditations and Prayers for earthly and sickly Souls and Sinners.  
Fit to be borne in the hand, and worn in the heart of every good Christian.  
By W. C. Preacher of the word.  MATH. 7. 7. Ask and it shall be given you, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. 
LONDON Printed by N. O. for Lenard Becket and are to be sold at his shop in the Inner Temple. 1613.   

To the Christian and supplicant Reader.  
REligious reader, the manifold miseries and calamities of this our wretched life, our Saviour jesus Christ, the Apostles, and fathers of the Church; these & every one of these, with as many motives, as there are thoughts in the heart, or spectacles to the eye of man, teach us and have taught unto us the necessity, force, & use of prayer, and withal inciting us both to frequency and fervency therein, without which besides many other benefits which thereby we either obtain or lose, can neither sathan be resisted, nor our faith manifested, nor God daily honoured: with an innumerable consideration on the other side, us likeways thereunto moving, as the shortness of our life, but a span, the suddenness of Christ's coming in a moment, the strict and fearful account that must be rendered at the day of his appearing. And for that prayer is a mourning and desire of the spirit to God for that which she lacketh, even as the sick-man sorroweth for his health, whereby being reconciled to God by faith we may enjoy the thing we crave or have need of; In what a desperate danger & security may we be then thought, if we shall show ourselves slack or careless herein, in this so available a duty, let us therefore pray in all places, and at all times calling to mind the largnes of Gods gracious love, and his loving kindness in Christ jesus our saviour, who biddeth us ask and it shall be given, knock and it shall be opened, and whensoever thou art burdened or oppressed with thy sins, or any other misery or calamity in the world, be thou assured the Lord will offer himself to be reconciled to thee if thou thyself be ready and faithful to call for the same at his hands, to the furthering whereof, and as it were the tracing a path thereto thou hast hear good reader both the manner and the method, both the form and the fashion, both how to pray and what to pray; moulds and methods, fitted unto several occasions and purposes for thy relief and benefit, as time and necessity shall require in that behalf, which requisite regard and serious consideration (that these heavenly Ambassadors may be the more gracious in the eyes of God, and successful in our occasions) is most entirely to be tendered thereunto. So that God may bless both them and us, with an happy earnest in this world of the eternity in the world to come, whither by his blessed will (so prospering this intended means that it be able to bring us) he grant, for the glory of his own great name Amen.  
Thine in the Lord. W. C.   

IF by the absence of the author, difficulty of the hand, misplacing of points, some syllables or words mistaken, the sense in any place be obscured, the judicious reader may be pleased to correct such easy faults as by these means have escaped, which I trust are not many.   

A view of the Contents and Prayers as they orderly stand in this Book.  

1 A Treatise of the vanity of all earthly pleasures, and the misery of our life, such as they are to enjoy them.  
2 Of the force, the use, and necessity of Prayer.  
3 A Morning Prayer for the Saboth day.  
4 An Evening Prayer for the Sabbath day.  
5 A Description of Heavenly jerusalem, and the happiness there, out of the Manual of Mr. Crashaw.  
6 An every-dayes sacrifice, or a Morning prayer for any day in the week, or every day in the week.  
7 An Evening prayer for any day in the week, or every day in the week, for a private person, or other, changing but the number.  
8 Another Morning prayer.  
9 An Evening Prayer to the same.  
10 A Morning prayer for a private family▪  
11 An Evening prayer for a private family▪  
12 A prayer to God the father for the forgiveness of sins.  
13 A prayer to be said before the undertaking of any journey.  
14 Another for the same, somewhat more ample, both by sea and land.  
15 A prayer for internal and external peace, and against debate, and contentious going to law.  
16 A prayer for seasonable weather, upon sensible consideration therefore.  
17 A Meditation of God's love and mercy towards us, and our unthankfulness towards him, alluding to the phrase of Saint Austin.  
Misereri mei Domine indigna facientis, & digna patientis.  
18 A meditation against the fear of death written in French by P. M. S. de Plessis.  
19 The sick-man's Prayer.  
20 The commendation of the soul to be said at a sick man's death, out the Manual of Mr. Crashaw.  
21 Six signs upon the which a man may rest confident of his salvation.  
22 Another meditation against the fear of death, and for strength and patience in that last hour.  
23 Sir Thomas moors verses of the uncertainty of life.  
24 A Prayer or Meditaion before the receiving of the holy Communion.  
25 A meditation or thanksgiving after the receiving of the Holy Communion.  
26 A thanksgiving to God the father, used by the R. W. Musc. and fit to be used of all good Christians.  
27 Martin Luther's Prayer.  
28 Saint Augustine's Prayer.  
29 A Prayer for a woman with child, or in travail.  
30 The Prisoners Prayer, written by a Gentleman in passion and penitence a few days before his trial.  
31 A thanksgiving for our Redemption, and for other both corporal and spiritual blessings.  
32 Of the danger of deferring our repentance, with a prayer suddenly to conceive it, and soon to practise it.  
33 A Prayer against that dangerous and deadly sin of Desperation.  
34 A prayer in time of pestilence.  
35 A prayer for Humility.  
36 The living words of a dying man, closed up in that virtue.  
37 The sum of the prayer of the Lady I G. at the time of her execution.  
38 A general thanksgiving to God for all his benefits and mercies to man.  
39 A thanksgiving before meat.  
40 A thanksgiving after meat.  
41 Two other for the same.  
42 Certain Rules and Precepts for the good ordering and government of a man's life.  
43 Certain Sentences, or Rules of good life, & pertinent to the precepts going before them.  
44 The Derivation of man.  
45 Admonition against sin.  
46 Zacheus certain gain, the world's imagined loss.  
47 The five thoughts of a Christian.  
48 Four kind of men, according to David, that are most indebted unto God for their lives.  
49 A Prayer for Constancy and grace against all worldly vanities and allurements.  
50 A short Memorative of the mortality of our life, and folly of our living.    

SHORT CALENDAR NOTES.  

Of the Year, and the parts thereof.  
A year is properly that space of time that the Sun runs through the whole Signs and Zodiac.  
A year containeth 


Months Solar. 12  
Lunar 13  
Weeks 52 and a Day.  
Days 365  
So many veins in the body of man..  
Hours 8766     
The year Astronomical addeth thereunto 6. hours, and 8. minutes, which every fourth year increase a day, which maketh the Leap-yeare, and taketh place on the Eve of Saint▪ Mathias▪ than adding to the month of February one day.  
a day Natural hath 24 hours Artificial 12   

A Rule to know how many days be contained in every month.  

November and September say  
They have great wrong to want a day  
And june and April likewise lame,  
That more than thirty cannot claim.  
When all the rest, as they pass by,  
Have one and thirty wet or dry,  
But February more bereft,  
That hath but eight & twenty left,  
Except a Leap-yeare, once in four,  
That sends her one day & no more.    

Holidays.  

The holidays within the year,  
Are three tims ten, or very near;  
But if you reckon Sundays so  
there's two and fifty more you know.   
For Kalends, Nones, and Ideses, and such like, that are more for knowledge then use, I pass them over, being store of Tables in that kind.    

Of the vanity, imperfection, and sudden decay of all earthly Pleasures, and the Shortness and Misery of our life, such as they are to enjoy them.  
UNTO all the sinful and wayward generation of mankind, the eternal wisdom of that great God of heaven and earth hath so decred it, that the life and period, and existence of man, be it lengthened as the days of our forefathers the most fullest of years, or shortened as to these abridged times of ours, not a handful in their comparison, be it more or less at his pleasure that gives it, for the uncertainty, folly, and dimness thereof it is but compared to a shadow, and for the swiftness and shortness thereof resembled to a span, and his few, not many days, are not  with few, but many evils: And that if Ambition and Pride and the height of worldly happiness did not so dazzle our eyes with looking upwards thereunto, that we run our poor and ungoverned bark headlong upon sands & shelves that lie under us, whilst w●e sailing upon this dangerous sea, without our compass, which so overmaskt with vanity and deceit present a safeness that we cannot perceive them, until we shipwreck thereon: we should else discern to inambush in multiplicity of pleasures, but in numerability of desires, in enlargement of possessions, but more copiousness of care, in diuturnity of days, but assiduity of sorrows, Eccles. 2. 10. 23. and fix we our thoughts and desires on our Tabernacles but Tents, or on what may more delight us, with the most assurance we can, we shall find in them but a changeable and fleeting uncertainty of estate, being oftentimes snatched from the land of the living when our thoughts have scarce traveled to the habitations of the dead, let the earth be summoned to council, and all the generations both past and present examined, what true content ever set foot upon the face thereof, since there was a touchstone of sense to try it, and a wisdom truly to survey it? if our affections, might feed on the food of Angels, it would in time grow distasteful unto us, if our possessions stretched our themselves, from the rivers unto the ends of the world, from one circle thereof unto the other, yet would we strive to enlarge them: if our eminency were above the stars, yet would we strive to exalt our heads higher than their firmament, for the thoughts and desires of man are endless, above all things, and he hath an unfaithful heart, as deep as the sea, and who can find it out? The Ambitious hath his thoughts as large as hell, the voluptuous his thoughts more large than his belly, for when his stomach was full, his desire was unsatisfied, come, let us eat and drink, not because we are hungry, but because to morrow we shall die, and better is a living dog, than a dead Lion: The covetous man his whole thoughts are, Soul t●ke thy rest, to d●y, or to morrow we will go into such a City, and there continue a year, and buy, and sell, and gain much: Hereditary misery of mortal and wretched man, first begot in the thoughts of our first parents, and so descended lineally down, as by a vein or issue of blood, to us, and the very last of their seed and propagation upon earth, who thought not Paradise circuit enough for their unlimited habitation, nor all the luscious delicates and unspeakable perfections of that selfe-planted Eden of God sweet enough for their taste, nor the fruition and fellowship of God himself a society good enough for their presence, O soul where is thy rest? O life where is thy love? And ò God how are they mistaken then, that in this transitory and all changed world, seek content, which upon earth, in Paradise itself, was not to be found. As some do in riches, some in honour, some in beauty, some in carnal love, possessed with a madness thereto, beyond imagination, and the more, although with the less reason, in these latest, barren, and declining days of ours, than ever heretofore, where if desire might at any time meet with content, it is so fading, brittle, transitory, and subject to decay, that it dies before it lives, and withers in the blossom, before it spread the leaves, or bud out to any perfection, and if there might be found a heaven upon earth, a pleasure without any allay or limitation in itself, it were nothing, for yet it would be thought a hell upon earth, to think of the sudden dissolution thereof, yet lamed and decrepit cripples, as they are, how many have run themselves headlong to hell to for the momentary enjoying of them for a season, a little time, and a very little season: But where the heart, and the rebellious thoughts of man are so subdued and brought under, that godliness is accounted gain, and the holiness and goodness of the Lord of life of most precious esteem, there the lust of the world, and the dust of the world, the riches of the world, & the pleasures thereof, shall be valued together as things of equal worth & continuance, that is of neither worth nor continuance at all. For what minion did she ever produce as her greatest favourite upon the circle of the earth, amongst the sons of men, that either enjoyed all pleasures, or that had wisdom, that found not vanity & vexation of mind to attend them? Enjoyest thou a fair house, a bountiful table, a comely wife, generous, affable, well-descended children, Like the Olive branches round about thy table, heritage's to bequeath to thine heirs after thee? Be thou thyself beautiful, valiant, strong, healthful, learned, excellent in arts, so that the world favours thee, and all things succeed prosperously unto thee? if the wheeze of fortune lift thee to the stars, if thou reign happy in all these a thousand years? What then? they so suddenly pass and vanish away, as things that had never been; and a man inspired with true wisdom from above, finds so much content left behind after the use and possession of them all, as a poor man that had dreamt he was a King, and that he had had all the pleasures and contents the world could afford him in his power and fruition; and being afterwards awaked, finds nothing so. What man that ever lived before, or after Solomon, that had a greater portion in this world of eminency and glory than he? and yet this Solomon, King Solomon, King Solomon in all his royalty in some particulars inferior to the Lilies of the field: let the power of the wicked be never so potent, the heart of the most cruel tyrant that ever reigned, never so envious, and though his pleasure therein be as great as his power; neither he nor it can exceed Pharaohs: and yet was both he and his exceeded, vanquished, and brought to confusion, and his whole Egyptian Host by the unsensible creatures of Gods most sensible power, the course of waters, or the waters of the red sea, wherein they were overwhelmed, & put to confusion. Let the power of his command be never so absolute, never so unquestionable, that it be of force throughout territories and dominions, to stifle and strike dead that vapour and breath of life (that was first breathed by GOD in the face of man to make him a a living soul) that it keep not his wont progress and passage throughout the gates of his body: let his voice be as terrible as the roaring of a Lion, be it never so fearful, be it never so ample, more fearful and ample than Nabuchaddonezers it cannot be; yet was he in the midst of his pride and jollity, compassed and environed in for seven years, within the walls of wild Asses. Let his clothing be never so sumptuous, the Throne where he sits never so Majestical, his speech and eloquence never so plausible, and his praises never so general, yet in these was Herod his equal; and yet not defended by these from the worms that gnawed out his bowels. Take a survey in the present from the Monuments, Histories, Traditions and Relics of ancient ages, going up from these low descended times of ours, to those first that began the world, and long since expired, and imagine that if the best and most judicious observer that lived in every age (since that time that God said: Let there be Day and Night, and Times and Seasons, or shall live whilst these creatures of his world that give rest and labour shall last & endure) should stand up to report, and point out, the chiefest men and virtues that in them ever lived and were; whether for wealth or wisdom, fortitude or temperance, eloquence or learning. For continency or patience, beauty, magnanimity, or whatsoever else might be numbered in the bead-roll of excellence that could say in the perfection and largest endowment hereof here is munition against the grave, and with this will I preserve my body from corruption, they would all in their several turns confirm and testify the grave hath closed them up without resistance of quality or virtue, and they sleep with their excellencies together raked in the earth. Is it then so, and are we no more but thus? Is there not one man of former ages can stand forth to be darted through with all eyes of wonder and admiration, as a monument never yet beheld, to say, I have perverted the sentence, and the decree hath passed by me, & I have made a League with Death, and a Covenant with the Grave, and I shall live for ever, and my body shall not descend into that bed of darkness? If not, what true content can be taken in this life, in any thing we enjoy, which goes not warranted with an hours security, but in the peace of conscience, wherein is true joy, present, given as a taste or earnest of that real eternal joy and gladness we shall inherit in the kingdom of heaven to come. Unmindful, wretched, miserable man, shall the best find no evasion to escape, and do the worst think to be freed from thence? Shall beauty descend into corruption, and yet will it idolize itself in conceit of immortality? will it plaster over that earth with colours like the morning-Sunne, which must be suddenly transformed into earth, and true earth indeed, and make her bed in the darkness, more obscure than the clouds of the night. Will not wisdom defend a man? What folly is it than not to have so mu●h wisdom as to make ● serious preparation thereunto? can strength, nor magnanimity make no resistance? how suddenly then will weakness and infirmity yield itself? Will not riches defend a man? the rich man in the Gospel answers no, for they sooner transport him thither, whether then we run over the lives of the virtuous, and godly, such as withstood the temptations of Satan and the illusions of the world, with that most forcible precedent, the innumerabilitie of her followers, which without thought carries so many headlong to perdition. Or the state and condition of the most dessolute & unrepentant sinners, such as run through the race of there lives, in a most careless and dessolute security, not regarding there end, nor the cause of there being, we see an equal conclusion, and period, and end of there da●es, all bound up and shackled together in the same bundle of corruption, and there resolution so, that the eye of man cannot distinguish in the grave between the bones and ashes of the one and the other, between Vashti the most beautiful Queens and the blackest Egyptian bond-womans' that ever was: yet when the Lord both of life & death shall come to judge both the quick and the dead, he alone can distinguish, which shall raise up the one to everlasting life, and the other to an endless death, ever dijng yet never ending, and herein let the godly take comfort, who have not taken there por●ion and pleasure in this world, that they shall be known, and raised up, and distinguished from the wicked, and let them willingly and joyfully therefore, without the least fear inbrace this messenger of the Lord, which to their bodies brings but a quiet sleep, from the which they shall be awaked to joy. And let the wicked, who have cause fear him as their enemy, that is the subduer and danter of all flesh & the finisher of all worldly pleasures, that takes the earth and ashes of the most majestical composure, stuffed with ambition and pride, with thoughts beyond bound, without warrant, from trampling and wounding the breast & bosom of there mother, in scorn and contempt, into the darksome and solitary chambers of her womb, where that earth, taken out of that earth that thought itself more than earth and yet was but earth, becomes earth, & less than earth, even to moats and grains in confusion. Let us cast up our days by jacobs' account, & value them not to be more, not to better than he did his few and evil as he that truly considers it, shall most rightly find it true, for the first that they are few, what age since there were creatures that lived and breathed & died in it, and hours & years to waste and spend themselves, to give it a quantity and quality thereof, that might speak with more probability and exemplary experience hereof then ours, when our young men in our streets, in our houses, oftentimes part with there health, there life and all within an hour, and others fall down dead as they travail upon the way, and the latest years of our old men, accomplish not the childhood of our forefathers, with such daily other presidents of death before our eyes both of untimely youth, and old age, that might move us to look into ourselves, yet as if we took leases of our lives, as we do of our houses, we encroach and build, & set up, & pull down, & alter & repair & like earth-deluing-moles, press & crush our own bowels and consciences, to heave up little piles of rubbish, and earth, toil our bodies and beat our brains to join our possessions together, dispeopling whole villages that we may be Lords alone, drawing the earth from the poor that they live & tread upon, by exactions, plots and tyrannies, pulling the bread from out there hands, and the food from out there mouths, calling our habitations after our own names, as if we should for ever live, or our posterities after us succeed to the worlds end, or world without end; when he that sits in heaven laugheth them to scorn, for he that thinks to be rich or great without him, in the profaneness of his heart, Esay. 14. 15. let him know, Gen. 11. 7. that the least breath of his mouth shall so batter his seat that the place thereof shall be no more found, and scatter his riches as the dust before the wind, or the chaff that flies in the air, and all there thoughts & intentions more vain than vanity itself; if we lived like Adam without any precedent of death before our eyes, and the length of our days in some measure stretched out like to his, it were some little security for presumption to build upon, but we that have seen our thousand, & three-thousand, weekly, & such a dearth of health that the sick have been more than the sound, the dead more than the living, and death hath so laid about in our streets, and in our houses, that grass, hath grown in the one, and solitariness so taken up the other that the sight of a man in either hath been more precious than the gold of Ophir, sometimes come so near us that it hath pulled away the wife from our own bosom, children from our own loins, reveld in the dark of the night, at the noon of the day, disposest us of neighbour and friend, near, and distant far of; spared none from the child, supported by the hand for weakness, to him that walks with the staff for age; with such an innumerable and daily witness, in which number our own bowels sometimes a part, the sentence of God upon all flesh, as a forerunner, and the accomplishment thereof with such a ●ercenesse succeeding, all crying with a loud voice and proclaiming this proclamation of God Statutum est omnibus semelmori, O but may the young man, or some not aged say, although we must once die yet we may live many years, and therefore we will take our pleasures whilst we may, and when they have forsaken us, when age shall cease upon us with her whiteness & die our locks into another colour, then will we repent us and think of our end. O but who ever thou art that thinks so deceive not thyself with this vain procrastinating folly, but let salomon's experienced council be the tutor to thy youth, forget not to remembe his Memento: To remember thy creator in the days of thy youth before the evil days approach, and the times wherein thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them, and being a reasonable creature offer not God that indignity that hath made thee both body and soul, given thee both health and strength, thy being, thy benefits, all that thou hast, as to offer him the husks and refuse of Satan. What earthly master, that but for a few temporal benefits, as in sustaining our years of infancy, although all that he could for us, were but as a gravel stone, in comparison to the whole sea shore of his goodness, that would not expect in recompense hereof the ability of our best service to his employment, which if we should neglect him in, and forsake him unacknowledged so long until our youth and strengths were spent, and old age were crept upon us, and we disabled to help ourselves, much less to stand him in stead, or deserve his former kindness, yet then with blushless faces should offer to put ourselves upon him for a second suppertance, that with the acclamation and consent of the earthly masters in the world, would not only turn his face away, but utterly reject, & forever cast us off from his acknowledgement. Is it then just with us, and is it not much more just with God? We are all servants to him in a thousand duties, he fashioned us in our mother's womb, carefully took us out from thence, ever since protected and preserved us, upon the finger of whose providence we stick as the sun in the firmament, and shall we from him that hath done so much for us, dedicate the joy & marrow of our bones to the enemy of our God, our good, & the welfare of all mankind, to him that compasseth the earth seeking whom he may devour? shall we I say in our ripest judgement and ability of largest consideration make no use hereof but run one with the spur of the flesh, and the prick of the devil all the sunshine of our days in oblivion and forgetfulness of him we should ever remember? If we do the evening will bring heaviness unto us, which will not endure for a night, and joy approach in the morning, but a night without end of sorrow and lamentation, whom no day shall ever arise to clear, and he that hath lost Christ, in a large youth, and run from him many years must not think that few will untread that path again and recover him, but rather that a year may so lose him, that many shall not find him again, though with joseph and Mary he be sought in sorrowing, Presume not upon that text of mercy to much: At what time soever a sinner, although it be an Oracle of truth & truth itself, for if thou refuse the time of grace that is offered thou knowest not whether it will be offered thee again, whether thou shalt ever after have a time to repent thee of thy sins from the bottom of thy h●rt that thine own conscience shall not disquiet, and the devil drive thee to despair in; so that thou canst not truly repent, and late repentance is seldom true repentance: and besides it stands not with the Lords honour to be so often shaken off when he would lodge with us: and how many in these thoughts have perished suddenly, prevented by death of their expectation & preparation proposed, & if notwithstanding all this, that neither consideration, nor persuasion can move us to be early wise for our own good, & the good of our souls let us know if we defer our repentance to the last, judgement shall but justly requite us, if either death do strangle us before we speak, or the wrath of God rebound upon us when we have gone out and wept betterly, wept our fill, therefore I say again, prevent it, lest thou be prevented by it, and frustrated of they expectation cast from the favour of God, thou be condemned for ever to that lake that burns with fire & brimstone, the terror and torture thereof as inexplicable as unsufferable, which cannot be endured, and yet must be induced without ceasing or determination. By this we are now resolved we must die, either in youth or in age, at one season or at another the cannon & decree so direct to all, that no one shall ever find an evasion, the son of God himself having taken our nature upon him was not exempted, but died & was laid in the bowels of the earth to sweeten it to all mankind, we know in regard of our time we have but a short time to live, and that short, not sweet but full of misery; we know that as we live so we shall die, according to that ancient & true sentence Qualis vita finis ita, ut cecideris it● eris, and as we die so shall we rise to judgement: we know that our sins of Omission and Commission, of desire & consent, our thoughts and our deeds, shall be brought unto judgement with us, & we must render an account of our idle words, if so, no marvel that the scripture telleth us (when these all in us, and all in all of us are let lose at liberty, without any restaint or reckoning) That many are called, but few are chosen. And we know that we have broken all thy Commandments, and the breach of the least is eternal damnation. These things considered, and daily and seriously laid to heart, which concerns the welfare of every Christian, what cause have we but to mourn and sorrow? For what will it profit a man to win all the world, to enjoy all the riches and pleasures thereof, and to lose his own Soul? And if we stand upon pleasure, what pleasure is like unto this: To lay up Treasure in Heaven, which the moth shall not corrupt, nor thieves break through and steal, to walk in the paths of the Lord all the days of our life, to live in his fear, that we may die in his favour, that at the last day we may stand with confidence unshaken, when the wicked shall tremble at his presence, like Poplar in the Forest. What are all the pleasures of this world but Vanity, but vanity, and vexation of the mind, and there is no true content under the Sun: And in their passage, (which is very sudden) they leave a kind of sting behind them: and there beside is more grief in a little sorrow, then content in a great deal of pleasure. And this is the sour reckoning that ever kills the sweet welcome of all earthly pleasure. And therefore once again, if we stand upon pleasure, what pleasure is like unto this (and the more pleasant because the more secure) to think how sweet that breath that flows from the lips of our Saviour, shall be unto us above: Myrrh and Cassia: Come you blessed, I was hungry, and you fed me, I was naked and you clothed me, inherit the Kingdom of my Father, prepared for you from the beginning. On the other side, the thought of that heavy Sentence, the thought & imagination whereof, like the upper and the neither Millstone, is able to crush and grind in pieces all the pleasures of the world, and the sensual appetites thereof, and to throw them into the air, like Chaff against the wind, that endanger or bring us within the compass thereof. The tenor whereof shall be more grievous, against whom it is pronounced that day, than all the pleasures of the world, in the fullest sail, were ever contentive: Ite Maledicti, Go you cursed, descend to the lake of perdition, you that have had your portion in this world, Purple and fine Linen, and fared dilitiousoy every day, that have neglected me in my members, in charity and pity, and in deeds of mercy, that being hungry, gave me no food, and being naked, gave me no raiment. Will this be the answer of Christ at that day, to those that to him in his persecuted and afflicted members, denied their relief, when they therewith plainly evicted excuses, shall crave mercy at his hands, and shall not obtain it. Si in igne ardebit, qui non dedit propria sua, ubi ardebit qui surripiat aliena. Si sterilitas in ignem mittitur, rapacitas quid merebitur. All the sons and daughters of men in the world, from Adam the first man of the race, to the last that shall stand upon the earth, shall to their joy or grief receive one of these two sentences,  

Then  
If   
Let us all therefore labour to be partakers of the best of the blessed, and that we may, let us serve him in love: For servire eo regnare est, his service is perfect freedom. Let us obey him in fear: for The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Let us be acquainted with him in this world, that we may not be as strangers and aliens to him in the world to come: Let us hear him when he speaks unto us, and not with our ears stopped pass by him, like the deaf Adder, not regarding the Voice of the Charmer, charm he never so wisely, lest the Prophets and Preachers of the Word, the Law and the Gospel, our Parents and Tutors, our own Consciences consenting and witnessing thereunto, send us unto the judgement seat of GOD, with this Inscription written on our Foreheads: No●●erunt i●cantari, they would not be charmed, they would not be acquainted. Let us not waste our time, and weigh ●t not; heap up sin, and fear it not; awake GOD'S wrath, and sorrow not; lie fettered in death, and struggle not; slip into the Grave, and see it not; lest we perish, and prevent it not. And let us not have less regard of our time, than we have of our treasure, which we sometimes reckon by grain and weight, that we reserve with heed and care, employ with diligence and forecast, and let that pass a thousand times more precious without Arithmetic and Balance, thought or regard. Let not the slashes of vainglory, that fly through the world like lightning, and the subtle plots and policies of our flesh, grounded upon such weak and tottering foundations of dust and sand, shaken with every little blast of adversity, and the foundation of our hopes here on earth under-propped with such slender basses, so quickly weakened and thrown down, that we leave the rock Christ jesus that we should build upon. Let not Honour, Ambition, Pre-eminence, Titles, and such like, occupy our thoughts, and possess our bodies and minds with a weariness in longing and pursuing after them, which being attained bring not content, but lie level to a thousand discontents, envy ever lying at the root as a canker, to blast what ever good we expect from thence. Be we in authority or subjection, be we rich or poor, be we young or old, of what estate or degree soever we be off, were we as we could wish, had we all that this earth could yield, yet our estates and our desires would never keep a concordant Harmony, For the Sun as yet, never looked upon that son of man that found not a defect, a satiety, or loathing, in what estate soever he possessed, and desired to see a change. In our young youth, we wish for gravity, and age, because we want the respect and reverence that it goes accompanied with, and being attained and clothed therewith, we wish that the heat & jollity of youth might again be renewed in us, ever perverting the times, and preventing the means that God hath prefixed, and wearing and wasting ourselves soon▪ in possessing that we would enjoy longest. In want we desire riches, persuaded if we enjoyed them we should be contented, these attained, deceive us, than we seek for honour, and from one step thus we would climb unto another, to seek that which is not here to be found.  

For who did ever yet in honour, wealth,  
Or pleasures of the sense contentment find?  
Who ever ceased to wish, when he had health  
Or having wisdom was not vextin mind?   
S. I. D.  
The way then to balance ourselves and our desires is, to fix our whole hope, confidence, and desire in him, who is the fountain of all happiness and content, within the compass of whose protection, and their fruition we are no longer than we walk within the bounds of his direction, and miserable are those that wander out of the arms thereof, & his safeguard, yet if the Lord should forget us, as we forget him, nay if he should not remember us a thousand times, ere we remember him once, and keep us in▪ we should daily and hourly wander out and perish, but his mercy is above all his works, and his benefits so generally extended, that the wicked have their portion therein, as well as the godly, his enemies as well as his friends, if the Lord should revenge our injuries and ingratitude against him▪ and contempt of his will and commandments, and deal with us, as we deal amongst ourselves, what would become of us, but woe and confusion? Let us therefore learn from him, the pattern of all goodness, in some poor measure to be like unto our Lord and Master Christ jesus▪ from whence we derive our name, and are called Christians, let us, whose image we carry stamped by the fingers of his own hands, be not only shadows but bodies moving after his steps that is our Head, let us walk here, as Ambassadors sent from heaven on the Lords message, to give the sons of men a pattern of good life, and imitation, in such humility and sobriety, as our Lord, the true pattern of all goodness and piety, hath walked before us, the print of whose blessed feet we daily▪ look on with our eyes, and consider in our hearts with joy and comfort, for if we will be his Disciples, We must take up his cross and follow him, making it our glory, that we are the people of his Pasture and the sheep of his hands, who although in simplicity grazing on the mountains, are either fleeced of the Shearer, grown into wool, or snatched up by the Butcher, grown into flesh, and the water of affliction be wrung unto us out of a full cup, and we be exposed to the shame of the world, and the winds still beat on our sails, & our lives bound up in vexation and sorrow, whilst the Wicked, like the bramble, in confidence of their shadow, dare challenge to be Kings over the trees of the forest, judg. 9 15. and though they sail calmly, as in the haven, and their breasts are full of milk, as job speaketh, job. 21. 24 and their bones of marrow, and though with David in the 73. Psalm, wherein the property of the wicked is lively set forth, How they come not to misfortune like other folk, neither are they plagued like other men, their eyes swell with fatness, and they do even what they list: yet let us take comfort to ourselves and stay our souls on the anchor of his providence, as the same Prophet did, although in the consideration of his chastisement, all the Day long, and every morning, and the prosperity of the wicked, he himself confessed and said, Pene moti sunt pedes, my feet had almost slipped, Yea and I had almost said as they, until I went into the Sanctuary of God, then understood I the end of these men: Namely, how thou settest them in slippery places, and castest them down and destroyest them, how suddenly they come to a fearful end: so when death shall make us both even with the earth (here is our comfort) the grave shall be to us as a fold till our Shepherd come, and to them a shambles, till the destroyer of their souls shall have received an endless commission to torment them: Therefore they are not the pleasures of this life, neither health, nor wealth, nor liberty: which at the best are but candied wormwood, that delight the taste, but destroy the stomach, without a true and sanctified use therein, that makes those happy and blessed that have them, for if with all the goodly branches of delectation and pleasure they cast, their tree answer not with fruit, these leaves will not protect her from the fire, And cursed is he that is blessed in this world to be cursed in the world to come, yet here we have the eloquence of the flesh to persuade us, the enticements of the Devil to allure us, the company of the wicked to associate us, all these to divert our course from whither we are bound, and the world with her enticements to train us furthest from what we seek, and the pride of our life to persuade us for trifles to forego the interest we have in heaven, and our branched corruption, every way ready to set us forward, being Ambitious like Adam, Gen. 3. 5. who if he may be as God, there is no command can restrain him, vainglorious like Esau, Gen. 33. 1. who if he may have a train of men at his heels will soon digest the loss of his birthright, and so by usury if our bags may thereby be made fuller, the word of God shall not restrain us from it, if the sons of men shall take the devil at his word, as the Son of God did not, and for the glory of the world, which he shall show, and cannot give, shall fall down and worship him, if he show honour, preferment, pleasure, riches, saying, all these will I give thee, though the Minions and Lovers of the world, that seek for their heaven upon earth, shall be ready to betray their souls, as judas betrayed Christ, with their hail Master, shall be ready to embrace him, to serve him, to serve themselves, yet with the Son of God Math. 16. 20. after his fasting, be thou so strong in thy strength as he was in his weakness, to bid him departed and to say him nay: For it is but a bitter recompense to buy the pleasures at so dear a rate, as at the prize of thy soul, in thy everlasting confusion, for a short and fading life, and but the length of a span: if thou think it more, take the counters into thy hand, and see what reckoning thou canst make of it, what is passed grieveth thee with the remembrance thereof because so much of thy time is spent, what is present burdeneth thee with the weight thereof, because in sweat and sorrow, study, and travel, thou dost waste thy time; what is to come troubleth thee with the uncertainty of it, lest the grave do swallow thee before thou see it: yea make thy account as as thou oughtest, and thou shalt find it swifter than the weavers shuttle, job. 7. 6. and speedier than a post on the wings of the wind: job. 9 25. Then in consideration of this, and whatsoever hath been spoken to the uncloathing of our nakedness, and humbling us before God, to the pulling off of our robes of levity and lightness, and the preparing our bodies to the grave, and our souls to this ensuing exercise, whether (to the daunting of all flesh) all must come; and the hour may be near but it cannot be far off, and howsoever we forget it, it will be sure to remember us, and therefore let us know that here as Pilgrims and strangers we wander, having no abiding City, but we seek for one to come, but we must not seek to find it here, nor suffer the vain applause of the world, and the vainer conceit of ourselves, to make us forget where we live, what we are of ourselves being but as a tree turned upwards, having no sap from the earth, but refreshed and moistened with the dew of heaven, let us so husband our journey that we miss not the City we seek for, let us so run our race that we obtain the victory and reward we run for, and therefore if thou expect in thy labour blessing, in thy peace continuance, in affliction comfort, in thy death triumph, in thy judgement joy, respect in thy life sobriety, in thy calling honesty, in thy pleasure's judgement, in thy sorrows mercy, in thy life religion: For if God be not with thee to direct thee, that thou stray not, to correct thee that thou presume not, to sustain thee that thou famish not, to pardon thee that thou despair not, to support thee that thou stumble not, to strengthen thee that thou fall not, and to sanctify thee that thou sin not, and to glorify thee that thou perish not. If the Lord throughout the whole course of thy life, and in thy death, be not present and powerful to thee, thou faintest in the one, and failest in the other, and desperation environeth thee on every side, for where the Lord keepeth not watch, or turneth away his face, all the miseries in the world lay their siege, therefore to him let us day and night send up our supplications and prayers, without ceasing, like incense into the air, to continue what we have, and give us what we want, to support us by his grace, to direct us by his Spirit, and so lead us through this exemplary world of sin and wickedness, with our eyes so looking forward fixed on him that we let not temptations in at their windows, so captivating our desires unto his will, that with Lot we may be righteous, in a City, in a world of uncleanness, that so we may save our souls at the last (though we lose all the pleasures in the world beside) the loss whereof would more rejoice Satan, than he sorroweth for the damnation of his own, which grant Lord for thy mercy's sake, Amen.   

Of the Force, the use and necessity of Prayer.  
SInce all the days and hours of the life of man, the consumers of the world & the measurers of time itself are the subjects & succeeders of the Lords own hands, and by him only lent to thy use, be not thou then so unnatural against the Lord the owner thereof and against thine own good as not sometimes to lend him some of his own hours to his service for thine own good; Amongst the many perturbations and troubles of this life, as sickness, imprisonment, loss of friends, vexation of spirit, wrought by the brethren, with us of the same inheritance, in the portion of the same infirmity, from the loins of our first parent Adam, The world in Rebellion offering divers assaults against the peace and tranquillity of her children, and nothing to be found under the sun but Vanity and vexation of Spirit. The unruly passions, and affections, of our own nature, and the headstrong lusts of the flesh, and the concupiscence thereof ever at enmity with the spirit, ever ready to entangle us in the snares of sin and death, our proneness unto evil, and our backwardness unto good, The Many that are called and the few that are chosen, the certainty of our death, the uncertainty of the time when, or the manner how, the fearful account that must be rendered unto thee at the day of thy appearing in Majesty and power, to judge both the living, and those that are departed; the consideration whereof in the heart of a Christian touched with the least finger of his grace that can heal all our infirmities, will call him aside into his retired clofset or chamber, where he may not only find ease for his body, but ease also for his soul and spirit within him, by calling to mind the promises of God, the largeness of his love, the extension of his favour, the inheritance laid up, the kingdom prepared from the beginning, the peace and rest everlasting, which no distraction, tumult, nor vexation shall annoy, which by the over-eager pursuit of our affections, and love to this world, which is but a sea subject to all passions, and Mare amarum, a bitter sea with all kind of misery, we may lose (if we take not heed) And being so withdrawn with most prostrate humility and obedience, we may sacrifice the good thoughts of the spirit, and send up prayers like the smoke of incense into the air, laying our mouths to the ears of that wisdom that knoweth our wants better than we understand them ourselves, be we new so afflicted, before we utter them, going unto him that calls, come unto me all you that travel and are heaven loaden and I will refresh you, To him therefore let us go, to him let us send up these trusty ambassadors our Prayers, Prayer the sweet cistern and conduit of grace, by the which all the benefits and gifts in that heavenly treasure-house, are continued, reserved and renewed unto us. Prayer the key that opens where no man shuts, and shuts where no man can open, that enters where no man hath passage, and returns where no man can hinder. Prayer the life of the soul, when being perplexed with such grief of heart, as neither Wine nor strong drink, according to the advise of Solomon, can comfort her misery, having no word to speak, nor comfort to apply, when it is day wishing for nights approach, and when it is night saying to herself, when shall it be morning? how ever the season no comfort succeeding neither by light nor darkness, nor in any worldly felicity, wishing as often as she openeth her lips, and draweth in breath into her nostrils; if God were as hasty to fulfil as she to desire: O that thou wouldst hide me in the grave, and keep me secret until thy wrath were passed, job. 14. yet then, even then, she assumeth the wings of a dove, the motion and agility of the spirit of God, she flieth by the strength of her Prayers into the bosom of God's mercy, and there like the ark upon the mountains of Armenia is at rest, Therefore if any be afflicted, let him pray, let us not presume in the height of our prosperity with David, to say as he did: I shall never be removed: thou Lord of thy goodness hast made my hill so strong, least with him we suddenly shall see a change, Thou didst but hide thy face and I was sore troubled, then cried I unto the Lord and prayed unto my God saying: what profit is there in my blood. Psal. 20. therefore let him that stands take good heed that he do not fall, let us put our confidence in the Lord our God, and pray unto him, and to none other; neither let us presume upon ourselves, nor any earthly means beside, for her was never contemplation, exercise or any kind study in the world so acceptable to the majesty of God, so gracious in his sight, so linked and true a friend to him that makes use of it as prayer is. It waketh in the night season, it rests not in the day, it forsaketh us not by land nor by sea, in health nor in sickness, in prosperity nor in adversity, in weal nor in woe, living nor dying, it is our last friend, and most indissoluble companion. Let us therefore love it, and therefore let us use it. There was never name in heaven or earth so worthy to be called upon, so mighty for deliverance, so puissant for protection, so gainful for success, so compendious to abridge unnecessary labours, as the name of JEHOVAH, our most merciful Father, and the image of his countenance, jesus Christ. Therefore to the Lord, there was never Sanctuary so free for Transgessors, in the strongest privilege never such safety, never holes in the rock so open for the doves of the field, the arms of any mother so open to her child, as the bowels of God's compassion to all faithful believers. Therefore to him, and therefore faithfully, and in that method, fitness, and propriety as Thomas, having the object of his prayer before his eyes, even Christ jesus, my Lord, and my God. There was never creature living under the line of the Sun, that saw not affliction in his days; never was there any to whom affliction was not grievous and irksome: yet never was there affliction so great, but it hath been under the correction of the Lord, whose hand hath been able to master it. Therefore to every affliction, as they come in several kinds, for our several sins and transgressions, so our prayers must be several, and framed, and fitted thereunto, and powered forth both with wisdom and zeal, that they come not harshly, undigested to those ears that can both sift and try the one and the other, the delicacy and tenderness whereof must be wisely entreated, and the favour of his countenance carefully sought: after the example of him that knew in his soul, that a faint and dissembled prayer would return empty into the bosom of him that sent it up; But a broken and contrite spirit the Lord would not despise, never sent up his petitions but with the deepest affection, and zeal of his mind, with the most sincere integrity, and meditated zeal that might be: for Every night washed he his bed, and watered▪ his Couch with tears, the blood of the soul, and the wine of Angels, the precious and significant pearls of contrition, that prevail without words, and effect where words fail. And therefore fervently after his example, that thou mayst have the force of two tongues in thy suit, the better to speed: And to avoid the malediction which thou mayst else receive in stead of a blessing: for cursed is he that doth the work of the Lord negligently. And as we may learn precepts, and draw many excellent examples from the lines of the heathen Philosophers & writers, so here to this we may learn a zeal in our prayers, even of those wooden Priests, K. 1. 18. of whom it is written: that they called upon the name of Baal from morning to noon, and when they had no answer, they cried aloud; nay they cut themselves with knives till the blood flowed: so they prayed not only in tears, but in blood: and shall not we, the children of the light, be as zealous in our generation? And from the agony & zeal of the son of Righteousness, that in the days of his flesh offered up prayers & supplications with strong cries & tears to him that was able to help him; learn to address ourselves in our necessities, of whom the Gospel further declares, not only that he kneeled at the naming of whose name all knees have bowed both in heaven & earth, and under the earth, but that he fell upon the ground, the footstool of his own majesty, and lay upon that face that never Angel beheld without reverence: and when he had prayed before, he prayed more earnestly, as the Scriptures record, he once prayed and departed, and a second time, and yet a third time departed, and departed evermore using the same petitions, his prayer ascending by degrees, like incense and perfume, and not only his lips went, but his agony and contention within was so great, that an Angel was sent from heaven to comfort him, and with the trouble of his soul, sweat like drops of blood, trickling down to the ground. Let us not therefore offer up this sacrifice, but remember this blessed example of this our blessed saviour, in our imitation, that they may be blessed in their speed, and we in their success, and not to utter them remiss and careless, as if our spirits and tongues were strangers, ignorant of either's purpose, the lips babbling without, the heart no compunction within, honouring God with our mouths, but our spirits far from him, our hearts not bleeding, whose drops should be heard and pitied: our Altar without fire, prayer without heat, words without intention, suppliancy of the body, without the harmony and consent of the inward man. And as they must be zealous, so directed to him alone: for neither to Angels nor Saints, Mediators or Friends, one or other, greater or lesser, in heaven or in earth, they are not due, are not to be offered, but to the ears of him and his anointed, after the example of so many, both ancient & righteous patriarchs, Prophets, judges, Kings, recorded in the book of God, and in an hundred and fifty Psalms, a hundred whereof, at the least, are prayers and supplications, and in all the devout requests that the Apostles of Christ, and other his Disciples sent into heaven to him alone, and his blessed Son our Saviour, without intercession or request to any other: And by the example of that Kingly Prophet in the 86. Psalm: Bow down thine ear unto me, I am poor and needy, my distress requireth thy help. Be merciful unto me, O Lord, I cry unto thee continually: Rejoice the soul of thy servant: for unto thee O Lord, do I lift my Soul. Whom have I in Heaven but thee? and in earth that I desire in comparison of thee? But it is good for me to hold me fast by God, to put my trust in the Lord God, etc. Psalm. 73. And to whom we must not only pray with zeal and desire, but with fitness and congruity, and application unto our several necessities: as for the general blessings and benefits of God, there must be general thanksgivings for sins in general, general confessions, ancient and usual forms of prayer, for ancient and usual occurrences, we may take unto us words, as the Prophet Hosea speaketh, and say unto the Lord at all times, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips. But as the diversity of our sins, our newness, and strangeness, and abominations therein, shall pull from the judgement seat of God, new and varied, and diu●rs●●y of punishments, and judgements therefore: so we must accordingly vary our prayers, and speak in the language of their necessity. In time of plague or infection. sickness and mortality, our prayers must be to God, that he would stay and sheathe up the sword in the hand of his devouring Angel, that on every side strikes down to the grave, emptying houses and streets to fill up Churchyards, and vaults, making them a mithridate, or preservative against the Contagion and danger thereof (which indeed is the soverainest restorative under heaven, to make sound again what sin hath hurt and wounded) acknowledging with a sorrow from our hearts, that our sins have procured ●t▪ and the hand of GOD most justly inflicteth it therefore, acknowledging the original cause thereof to proceed more ou● of our own corruption and nature, than the air or any other secondary cause, beseeching his majesty, as Phinees did, that the plague may cease, and that he will visit no longer with that kind of judgement. If a barrenness possess the land, leanness, and scarcity, and famine dwell upon her borders, so that the Children thereof cry for bread, and swoon as they go in the streets for food, we must pray in another style, that the Lord will vouchsafe to hear the Heavens again, that the Heavens may hear the Earth, the Earth the Corn, and Wine, and Oil: And these Israel and all other his distressed people, Hosea 2, and that he will visit no longer with this kind of judgement. If the enemy shall threaten our Land, to invade our Territories, to make a devastation, spoil, and havoc of all that we have, that may fall in his way, saying: Come, we will devour, we will devour, the name of Zion shall be no more had in remembrance, joel. 2. We must address our petitions to the Lord in another key and form of Supplication: Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thy heritage to reproach, that the Heathen shall rule over them. Wherhfore should they say amongst thy people: Where is now their GOD? O cease to visit thy servant with this kind of judgement. If the clouds yield not their moisture upon our fruits upon earth, so that the labour of our hands, and the fat of our fields perish through sterility and drought. Still as the Plagues are new, so let us come before him with new Complaints, new Songs, new Intercessions and Obsecrations, meekly Kneeling before the Lord our maker, lowly prostrate at the footstool of his mercy, that these judgements may be diverted and turned away from us. Thus did that great pattern of wisdom and experience, Solomon, whose footsteps are worthy our imitation, beseeching the Lord, that when the people should pray unto him, according to their several necessities, whether afflicted with the assault of their enemy, or with want or superfluity of rain, with pestilence, famine, or mildew, captivity, or any other affliction, either in body or in mind, he would then in heaven hear their complaints upon earth, and be merciful unto them. And as our prayers will not ascend unless faith and devotion bear them up, nor will speed unless they issue from a heart that vows an unfeigned repentance: which that we may the more effectually do, we must call to mind our sins and transgressions, that have procured those judgements, that we may repent, and wash them from us, that God may hear us, and have mercy upon us. But this Repentance, that here is meant, is more bitter than many imagine: For as concerning Repentance, every sorrow is not repentance, for than should worldlings repent. Some think every confession to be repentance, than had Pharaoh and Saul repent. Others imagine every weeping repentance, which is not, for than had Esau repent. Others take every little humiliation repentance, but mistaking, for than had Achab repent. Others, that every good word, & promise is repentance: if that were so, them should sick men repent. Some think to cry God mercy is repentance, then should every fool repent. But true repentance indeed, and such as is here meant, is more than the hanging down the head like a Bulrush, or to wring out a tear, to sob out a sigh, to wear sackcloth or haircloth, or only with a verbal sound and pronunciation of the lips, without the privity of the heart within, to cry, Lord have mercy on me, and so cease, but it is the scourging, renting, wracking, and lancing of the very soul, and a down right shower of tears from a broken and bleeding heart, and a filling of the rai●es wi●h exceeding bitterness of sorrow and anguish for sin committed, And to this school of▪ sharpness, but sweetness, of pain but of pleasure, let no man think it too early to go, too early to begin, o go to it in thy youth, and let Solomon be thy Tutor: Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth, let it be often recited that it may be once remembered. Nor no man think it to late, lest he omit and lose that which he might otherwise have gained: For at what time soever a sinner shall repent him of his wickedness from the bottom of his heart, the Lord will forgive and forget it, and his sins shall vanish from his sight and presence, as the dew before the Sun, O heaven before heaven! o heaven upon earth, and the contrary persuasions on the other part, o hell before hell, o hell upon earth, and damnation before the time; I say again, if he repent of his wickedness, it is not the misery of this wretched life, nor terror of conscience, nor malice of foes, let them be men or devils, let them be seven in one, a legion in another, all the Principalities and Powers of darkness in the third, that shall hinder the ascension, and blessing of his prayer, that shall ●inder the forgiveness of his sin, for never was the shadow more faithful to the body, than a blessed forgiveness to a faithful repentance, on the one side, then good success hath been to a fervent prayer; on the other side, zealously conceived in the breast and powerfully uttered by the voice of the tongue and the spirit, I cr●●d ●n ●● affliction 〈…〉 to ●he Lord and he heard me, but this success, as formerly instructed, must not be looked for if it want these necessary adiunctes, these undenayed, undelayed assistants, that bless the company wherein they come, and speed the suit wherein they are Solicitors and Plaintiffs, that beat not the air with sounds, that arise from the hollow and emptiness of them, like brooks that roar and make a noise, but show their empty bottoms, that contain nothing but gravel and filthiness within them, like the dissolute and fashionable prayers of us and our times, both at home and abroad, in chamber & Church, who like hypocrites or Gentiles utter a form of words rather of custom then of zeal, as the Parrot of Ascaniae recited the Creed, flattering God with our tongues, but dissembling with him in our hearts, & withal so full of toys and fancies for want of faith and reverence that when we have prayed we had need to pray again, that he would forgive our sins in our prayers, because we think least of him, when we pray unto him; Never remembrng the Majesty of his Person to whom we speak, nor the excellency of the work we take in hand, never rousing up our spirits with the thoughts thereof, or if we stir them up then to pray, leaving them again as Christ his Disciples before we have thoroughly awaked them, as if the offering of the halt and the lame body without soul, or soul without devotion, sound of our lips without the thought of our heart, one part of ourselves without the other▪ or the whole without a whole, intention without clamour, & crying aloud could please him, The prayers of David we may read were not thus cast off at random in the 55 Psalm, saith he, I mourn in my prayers and make a noise, evening, and morning, and noon, will I pray and make a noise. and in the 38 Psalm, before I roar for the very grief of mine heart, Lord my whole desire is before thee, and my sighing is not hid from thee, Cor meum palpitat, my ●e●rt is in travel, runneth to and fro, I have no rest, no quietness within me: Such were the pangs and prickings of jobs heart, Ilb. chapter 3. My groanings cometh forth before I eat, & effund●ntur velut aqua rugitus mei, And my roar are powered forth, and wave like waters, not groaning, nor crying, but plain roar, with a continual in-undation, Velut unda, impellitur unda, as one wave dasheth forth another, now when the soul is thus prepared to speak, the ears of the Lord are ever open to hear, these are wonderful passions, the hungry Lion in the desert oppressed with extremity of suffering and want, never roared so much for his prey, nor the heart braying after th● w●ter-brookes, as the goodness of the Lord, in the soul of the faithful after him, The mighty Lord of heaven and earth blessed and hallowed Bee whose name for ever, in earth as it is in heaven, and blessed are those that are in love with his goodness, and trace nearest unto his steps, to give us here another example hath been fervent, and even roared in his supplications as we read for Lazarus and Martha and others whom he loved, and afterwards in his own cause, when his soul was hedged in, and environed round about with vexation, even unto death and anguish, and sorrow encompassed him on every side, as also then in his greatest agony, when he cried with a great voice, not for particular persons, as before he wept, but undergoing the burden and punishment of all the sins and sinners in the world, My God my God why hast thou forsaken me ' and crying again with a great voice grave up the ghost: therefore that blessed Apostles mentioning the days of his humanity and the exercise of his sacred life and fruit of his lips and the passions of his spirit thought it not enough to give notice to the world that he prayed to his father, that he prayed with tears which distilled down his blessed cheeks and watered the ground, nor of a cry alone weakly sent out, but of a vehement and strong cry which if heaven were brass were able to pierce through it and find way into the sanctuary, into the ears of the almighty & such a prayer as it ascends lightly up, borne upon the wings of faith so it ever comes laden heavily down with a blessing on the head of him that first gave it flight, thus then this lantern of our direction, and composition of humility and goodness, this glorious & never enough admired Lord of life, who priest and oppressed with the weight and burden thereof groaned under the affliction of our sins, in a most perfect form of exact obedience with his bleeding tears for them, for us, showed us the right form of saithful supplications for ourselves, biddeth us be importunate and fervent in our prayers that they may wrestle with God and overcome him: Was he thus grieved for us, and shall not we grieve for ourselves? groaned he under the weight of our deservings of no infirmity in himself but in compassion and pity towards us? whom we continually grieve and no way so much as in committing of sin and drinking it down the throat with greediness and appetite as Behemoth, drinketh down jordan, without sense, or sorrow, or grief for the same, the consideration whereof and what it may procure us hereafter biddeth us be importunate and fervent in our prayers to prevent it before the dreadful Majesty of the omnipotent Lord of heaven, and earth, whom we stand before, the royalty of his nature. sublimity of his place, dominion over men and Angels, that boweth the heavens and saileth upon the wings of the wind who with the breath of his nostrils is able to destroy our both bodies and souls, change the world and the beauty thereof into a chaos and heap of confusion, turn the sun into darkness and the moon into blood and alter the property and being of all the creatures in the world at the twinkling of an eye, considering what we are that speak, that offer the Calves of our lips and the fruits of our repentance, poor naked, impotent, unworthy wretches damnatos antequam natos, all these considerations & many more bid us be importunate & fervent in our prayers, the survey & consideration of our wretchedness & mortality, our nakedness in all good works that it may make us ashamed as it did our first parents when they hid themselves from the presence of their God, & as M●riam of her leprosy altogether abashed & astonished, after mortality exceedingly mortal, the view of our sins exceedingly sinful, the number, the weight, the danger thereof, that hang about our necks like millstones that we are not able, are not worthy, to cast up our eyes to heaven and after our sins, our misery exceedingly miserable that the Prophet of God was astonished to see either man or the son of man so kindly visited, biddeth us be fervent in our prayers, lastly the success we expect, unless we call in question or doubt of the promises of God which are Yea and Amen, and more stable than the pillars of the earth, or the base of the surest foundation, except we will cast our grain into the earth and expect no harvest, plant vines and not drink the wine thereof, power out our plaints and petitions, and think that God either heareth not or regardeth not at all, or will not grant as far as is expedient for our good, which if we shall do the contrary upon the truth & security of his warrant, there is another motive for fervency in our prayers; lastly the preciousness of the favour of his countenance which must be carefully sought for our own benefit and all these respects and consideratitions thereunto tending, do cry unto us to cry unto him, to be servant in our prayers, for we must not think that the noise of our lips, as the ringing of basins, mere sounds and voices that wake and fly up whilst the inward man doth slumber and keep down procure us audience at the hands of God, V●lentiores enim voces apud S●cretissimas d●i at●res non faciunt verba sed d●sideria the strongest and most effectual speech in the secret cares of God proceedeth not from words but from intention, he that heareth without ears can interpret our prayers without our tongues, he that made both the one and the other knows the language of both a like, he that saw & fancied Nathaniel under the figtree before he was called: saw and sanctified john Baptist in his mother's womb before he came forth, and hard the heart of Zacheus before his conversion, seethe and blesseth our prayers fervently conceived and sown in the root of our consciences before they spring forth, but if they are only verbal and vocal sounds, without wring any drop of contrition from the conscience, blood from the spirit, they may beat the air with empty sounds, but the ears of the almighty shall they not enter, but their want of devotion shall be answered by him as the prayers of those idolaters in Ezechiel. 8. Though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice yet will I not hear them, therefore enter not hereunto unworthily, presume not to speak with God but with due respect and reverence of his majesty to whom thou speakest, stir up both thy tongue and thy spirit that they may join hand in hand the sooner to prevail, and if thou hast oftentimes powered out thy petitions and plaints to God and hast not prevailed, yet be not discouraged thereby, go on still in thy sure, importune him more and more, weary his patiented ears with thy clamours and thou shalt at last obtain although peradventure not in the same manner thou desirest yet in that which he sees more convenient for thee, be of jobs mind though he kill me yet will I trust in him, though he deny thee yet despair not in him: how long did the holy patriarchs and Prophets expect the fullfilling of there Prophecies, yet in the fullness of time they were fulfilled: heaven and earth shall pass but not one title of his word shall fall to the ground; and therefore I say again and again, when thou hast ended thy suit, begin it a new, repeat it and recite it, ingeminate it and dwell upon it, & be not beaten by any distrust or temptation from thy hold, learn adherence to thy suit from the mariners constancy, we beseech thee o Lord, we beseech thee, set thy heart truly a work and it will find this theme to think on, for where the affection is fastened the tongue is easy and willing to dwell thereupon, O Absalon, o my son Absalon, o Absalon my son, my son, was the mourning of David, when he heard of the death of Absalon, and as if his affection had only dwelled upon the name and memory of his son, & his tongue had forgotten to pronounce all other speech save only Abs●lon, It manifesteth likewise what love our Saviour bore towards that holy City, in that he ingeminated and repeated his sorrows over and over it, O jerusalem jerusalem, if I forget jerusalem let my right hand forget her cunning, so must our affections be in love with him and his blessed name more than son, or City, or any worldly delight that it may be ever meditating in our hearts & walking on our tongues, my God, & my Lord; and the more we are held off the nearer let us press, let us attend his leisure and pleasure, with patience, without distrust, without weariness, the longer Abraham talked with God the more he prevailed he brought him from the whole number to fifty and from fifty to ten before he gave him over: Behold I have begun to speak unto my Lord and am but dust and ashes, let not my Lord be angry and I will speak again, and semel and iterum, once more I have begun, and again I will speak and let not my Lord be offended, and so far was God from it that he gave him both a patiented ear and a gracious answer in that his most importunate request. If ten be found there I will not destroy it, consider and behold herein the force of prayer from the tongue of a righteous man that it so far was powerful with God that if in the whole City, a City so exceedingly sinful that the cry thereof ascended up into heaven, & they entered into the Sanctum Sanctorum even into the ears of the holy of holiest with such continual loudness and clamour that they gave him no rest, yet notwithstanding in his wrath and resolution of there overthrow, and his determinate decree passed thereupon, in that populous and sinful City if there had been but ten righteous persons to have stood up betwixt his wrath his judgements and there sins, for there sakes it had not been destroyed, It pleaseth the ears of his majesty right well to be longer entreated, whose blessed condition & nature is never so truly leveled at as when we persuade ourselves our importunacy therein can never be burdensome unto him, as he that hath twice and ten-times together ingeminated and recited over and repeated again the riches of his mercy, as Ex: 34. The Lord, the Lord is merciful, gracious, s●ow to anger abundant in goodness, & truth, reserving mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and sins and transgressions: what did he mean thereby but that twice and ten-times together we should ingeminate, recite and repeat over again our requests and petitions, and cry for his mercy, and then though he seem deaf for a while unto our petitions and make as though he heard them not, yet through our importunity at last we shall get him to confess an Audience, & if our words and prayers alone will not prevail let us then join thereto our tears that God may say to us as he said to Ezekiah, I have seen thy tears, for they are such powerful Ambassadors that they can no sooner appear but the eye & compassion of God is upon them, yea David saith that God hath heard the voice of his weeping, and tears are weighty words, texts that contain in them large commentaries▪ for in the ears of God a vehement desire is a strong cry, a remiss and earelesse intention, a silent and still voice, a tear in sorrow for our sins, that with the Publican cries, Lord be merciful unto me a sinner shall be more justified and acceptable to God than all the Pharisitical brags and ostentation of our worthiness we can make, therefore glorify God with thy body and thy spirit and all the facultes of both as is most meet and requisite, for all are his: lift up thy soul with David, lift up thine hands also with Moses; thine eyes with S. Peter, and thy voice▪ with Deborah: and thus seeking you shall find, thus knocking it shall be opened unto you, give but thy prayer a voice to ask with, for it must not be dumb and silent, give it an eye to seek with, for it must not be blind and careless, give it an hand to knock with, for it must not fear to molest & disquiet, and not only the doors but all the treasures and jewels of the kingdom of heaven shall be open unto you, whither and to which our blessed Saviour himself invites us, come unto me, all you that labour & are laden▪ O love without example! where the king himself commandeth our appearance who shall keep us back? where he commands, open ye gates of righteousness and be ye opened ye everlasting doors, who shall oppose them against us? what need we hear of mediators, intercessors or friends, where he himself hath given his voice, & calls us to himself alone, and yet though the francknes of his love hath given us this access, let us not come unto him with the less respect or reverence (which doth deserve the more in a far greater degree, that notwithstanding his omnipotency & state that sits in glory at the right hand of his father, & we poor worms creeping upon the footstool of his earth that he will vouchsafe we should speak unto him as it were face to face, power out our petitions with our own voices into his most sacred ears) then to an earthly king: we all know by daily experience the kings of the earth keep themselves within strict watch & wary regard, and there persons are full of majesty & terror, & not spoken unto but with difficulty & friendship, beside the infinite distraction of suits & business more than the ears of any mortal man can receive, drive them of necessity to the deputation of subordinate ministers, whose breath is in there nostrils, & whose life is the life of there country & there people with whom they live, & therefore requisite that wary regard & attendance should dwell about there persons, but in God who rideth upon the Cherubins & maketh his enemies his footstool, there is neither danger in his person, nor defect in his hearing, for he that planted the ear doth he not hear? he that standeth & knocketh at our doors & calleth for entrance when we knock at his, will he not grant entrance. In earthly courts, amongst which we live, we may have many impediments, few that will hardly favour us, but many that may hinder us, before we can deliver our message. But at these heavenvly gates, at which we must always call, the Lord is porter alone, for when the friend knocked in the parable of Luke at midnight, the heaviest & deadest hour of the night, who was nearest the gate first awoke if he slept at all & first answered O quam d●re vult! O how willing is he to grant, that is so willing to be disquieted, how glad to here thy knock that hath placed his bed so near the gate O quam non ad ianuam tantum sed ipsa janka. dominus fuit, and how truly may we say, that he was not only near the gate but the Lord himself, and the very gate, who when his children were fast a sleep, the ears of Angels and Saints shut up, first and at very first call, nay only amongst the rest made answer unto it, the Lord is always nearer unto us than we are to him, Psal. 10. He heareth the des●re of the poor, he first prepareth the heart and setteth it on work to pray, and when he hath so done bendeth his ear unto it, giving unto us both the cause and the effect, both the blessing and menanes of the blessing, doubtless the trustiest and most effectual messenger we have to send is prayer, if we send up merits the stars in heaven will disdain it, that we that dwell at the footstool of God dare presume so far, when the purest creatures in heaven are impure in his sight, if we send up fear, and distrust the length of the way will tyre them out, and with the weight they will sink to the ground, before they come half way upto the throne of salvation, if we send up blasphemies and curses all the creatures in heaven and earth will band themselves against us, the Sun and the Moon will rain down blood, the fire hot burning coals, the air thunderbolts upon our heads, but prayer is a messenger freed from all these imperfections, which neither the tediousness of the way, nor difficulties of the passage, can hinder from her purpose, quick of speed, faithful of trust, able to mount above the Eagles of the sky, into the heaven of heavens, as a Chariot of fire leading us aloft into the presence of God to seek his assistance and grace, the least finger of whose right hand, is of more puissance than the whole arm either of flesh or any spirit beside, yea then the whole loins, whole substances, whole bodies of Angels, or of Men, silver, gold, silk, purple, all other creatures, so it shall walk through life and death without controlment, if it find Angels, Principalities, powers, things present, things to come, or any other creature in the world stopping her passage, and rebuking her forwardness, she shall clear her way notwithstanding and climb into the presence of her God, and in his ears deliver her message, Be we in sickness to him the true Ph●sition that knows both the cause and the cure, she comes for health: be we in imprisonment there she solicits a release from him the Lord of liberty: be we oppressed with poverty or want, The earth is the Lords and all that dwell therein, to him she comes, for the blessing of the Lord maketh rich, are we afflicted above measure, beyond the strength of man, insomuch that we doubt whether we live or no, receiving the sentence of death, within our selves, so as in our opinion, we comprehend no delivery, no evasion, but lie open to the direct accomplishment thereof, yet in this exigent and extremity we come to God in this means, even almost beyond hope, without expectation, and by his good pleasure we are delivered, therefore herein let us receive comfort: he hath, he doth and will deliver us, not only from the death of our bodies, when worms and rottenness have made their long and last prey upon them, but from the death of our minds too, when the spirit is buried under sorrows▪ & there is no creature found in heaven or earth to give it comfort▪ Therefore be our misery, be our affliction never so great, and though in our weak imagination we can imagine no delivery, no release, when all earthly means and comforts forsake us, let us not yet forsake this refuge, let us not despair in his help, no more than jonas did, who in the bottom of the sea within a prison, within that bottom, in such an affliction, so great, so strange, as greater nor stranger could not be, nor to human reason more without hope, yet saith he, jonas 2. 2. I cried in mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me, out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice, Therefore I say again, in adversity let us not despair, but pray with hope, In adversity be it never so great, let us pray with confidence, In our prosperity let us pray, in our prosperity never so flourishing let us pray, let us pray continually: In our health and prosperity let us pray to continue it; in our sickness and adversity, let us pray to release it, And if we consider our estate rightly, we shall perceive many reasons that may move us to this exercise daily, to seek his favour and loving countenance, without whose protection and care over us we are ready to fall into a thousand dangers, to perish continually, let us therefore in time and season, with words suitable to our purpose and intention, either thankesgivings for benefits received, or with petitions, and entreaties for necessities implored, in the time of sickness, in the time of our health, in the time of our adversity, in the time of our prosperity, let us come before him, suiting our words in the habit of our occasions, with such fitness and decency, that they shall not harshly and from the purpose in the ears of the Almighty. And to that end good Reader I have here compiled and set down many forms and moulds of prayer fitting for several persons, occasions, and times, after the example of our Saviour Christ, the true pattern of all wisdom and goodness, who hath given us the first and best form thereof himself, who hath both taught us to pray, and taught us how to pray, and that will both hear our prayers and grant our requests, as far as seems expedient to his unsearchable wisdom, that knows our wants before he hears our complaints, & our necessities better than we ourselves, & for because Prayer is so excellent a thing, so ready, so swift, so powerful, so unseperated from us, that it cleaves unto us when all other means forsak us, & therefore that we should the more earnestly embrace it, more zealously imply it, more dearly esteem it, there is great reason that it finds us oftentimes out comfort in greatest extremities, that when we find ourselves in misery, our ways hedged up, as with thorns, that we cannot stir to deliver ourselves there. hence, when we are overflown with the deluge of sin as with a flood, and judgements environ us on every side, this is the Dove that brings unto our souls the Olive branch of comfort, yet because for the most part we kill the life therein through the coldness of our devotion, and carelessness of our delivery, and unfit preparation thereunto, and find not the sweetness and success that else we might expect, and obtain at the hands of God thereby, Therefore I have here drawn them out to life, showed both the excellency thereof, and preparation thereunto befitting, that these forms hereafter following and all other whatsoever in this kind may be the more powerful, blessed, and comfortable to all that shall use them, without the which it is impossible that they should please God, or any good success follow thereupon.   

The Ambassador between Heaven and Earth.  

A morning Prayer for the Sabaoth day.  
MOST merciful God and eternal father, what may we render unto thee for all thy loving kindness; for the which blessings and thankesgivings for evermore be heaped upon thy holy name, in whom the treasures of mercy and loving kindness dwell bodily, who of thine own good will and pleasure hast been pleased to communicate unto us so many of thy favours, so many several ways without any manner of desert of ours, to the which may it please thee to add still to the number, by taking away those iniquities of ours, that take away thy favours and blessings from us, or as a stranger that knoweth them not pass by our transgressions, retain not thine anger against us forever, though w● retain our sins, the cause of thine anger, but return to us by grace who return not to thee by repentance, and have compassion upon us who have not compassion on over own souls, subdue our reigning and raging unrighteousness and drown our offences in the bottom of the sea, which else will drown us in the bottom of destruction, raise up our souls from the dead sleep of sin as thou hast raised up our bodies from this night of darkness, protect us from all dangers from the which no minute we are secured of ourselves, but in thee, brought us to the beginning of this thy blessed Sabbath of rest which good father so sanctify unto us through thy blessed spirit that thy name may be hallowed, thy power admired, thy mercy magnified, and thy love manifested to thy glory and our everlasting comfort, fill thou our hearts with such a desire and longing after thee (that no earthly felicity the trains and allurements of the flesh wherewith this vain world with her multitudes is told a long) take hold on us, that see me honey in the mouth but are found wornewood in the stomach, that say peace, peace and all is well when destruction and death is baited over with them, but let our delight be in thy law and therein to exercise ourselves both day and night our whole felicity: Let that treasure be our pleasure that is laid up in heaven, all other joys are brittle and fading and there end is bitterness, but in this there is neither bitterness, nor end, bless good Lord the seed of thy word that shall this day be sown in our hearts, and all faithful teachers and hearers of the same, that it may fructify and bring forth fruit to the amendment of our lives and the salvation of our souls in that great day of joy and sorrow, and for the better furtherance thereof, good father enlarge and reform our understanding, keep the watch of our tongues and the door of our lips in such sort that no ill word be uttered by or through the same, and so rule and govern our hearts that they think not, our hands that they touch not, our feet that they go not too, our eyes that they see not, our ears that they hear not, our senses that they taste not, our hearts that they consent not to any thing but that which is to thy glory and our good, that thereby thy love may be confirmed in us and we in it; that so we may walk cheerfully in our vocations, waiting for that full redemption and crown of glory that remaineth for all such as persever in thy ways, without weariness to the end: which grant and whatsoever beside in thy wisdom thou knowest needful and necessary for us (good father) for thy dear son jesus Christ his sake, in whose name we further entreat thy mercy and goodness towards us in that form of prayer which he himself hath both commanded and taught us saying our father etc.   

An evening Prayer for the Sabaoth day.  
O eternal God and most merciful father which art the Lord of heaven and earth, of Angels and men, principalities and powers, light & darkness, day and night, in whose hands is contained that overflow of goodness, that filleth all the empty and indigent creatures in the world, in the air, in the earth, in the sea, and on the land, who ordaynest times and seasons, successions and discentes, old age, and childhood, a beginning and an ending, a rest and a labour, an increase and a decrease, and a perpetual motion and change over all the sublunary things in this world▪ the lively witness whereof is this day which not many hours since broke out of darkness and cheered the world with her light, and the sun arose and came forth as a bridegroom out of his chamber, and rejoicing as a Giant to run his course, and his beams are now steeped in night & darkness, the true resemblance of all earthly glory, and transitory pleasures, and delights, which have there increase, there height, and there sudden decrease again, and there is no continuance or stability in any thing under the sun, and by this motion and change the time is now come that thou hast appointed for rest, which Lord so bless unto us that as this day thou hast graciously ministered strength unto us to walk in our vocations, & bless our good endeavours, studies and labours, our hearing & meditating on thy word to the comfort of our bodies and souls, so we may be thankful therefore, having always thy hand to sustain us, to effect and finish those counsels and labours which we undertake for thy glory; so good Lord bless this night unto us that we may now receive that comfort and strength which thou hast granted to our weak nature, by the which we are sustained and daily renewed and refreshed to our labours, and further we beseech thee as the night shadoweth & darkeneth all things that they are unseen, so for thy dear Christ's sake hide our sins from thy sight that they never stand up to accuse us unto thee, being buried in eternal oblivion, that as our bodies shall have the rest of sleep this night, so our minds by the hope of thy mercy may enjoy the rest of a quiet conscience for ever: that so being wholly refreshed both in body and in mind we may arise with alacrity & cheerfulness unto thy service this day ensuing and all the days of our life after succeeding, that when death, which is the end of all flesh, shall remove us from thence into the grave of corruption where our bodies shall dissolve to the matter they are, though now they seem not, from the which it is as easy for thee to raise them up from the smallest grain of dessolution as from our natural sleep, for I believe that the time shall come when all that are in the grave shall hear the voice of the son of God, when he shall speak unto the earth give, and to the sea restore my sons and daughters, and to all the creatures in the world keep not back mine inheritance, and to the prisoners of hope, lodging a while in the chambers of the ground, stand forth and show yourselves and the earth shall disclose her blood and shall no longer hide her slain▪ and the sea shall find no rest till her drowned be brought forth, nor any creature in the world be able to steal one bone that it hath received, but all kinds of death shall be swallowed up in general victory, and in his name that hath won the field for us, we shall joyfully sing thanks be to God that hath given us victory through our Lord jesus Christ, whence our bodies being awaked to that everlasting day of light which shall never be obscured with darkness more, where we shall be made partakers of that unspeakable inheritance that thy saints and holy ones enjoy, which is honour, & glory, and peace, a garland of righteousness, an incorruptible crown, fruit of the tree of life, sight of the face of God, following the lamb, fellowship with Angels and Saints, and the congregation of the first borne, new names & white garments, pleasures at the right hand of God and fullness of joy in his presence for evermore: whither he bring us that hath made us, that must raise us from both these sleeps for the glory of his blessed name.  
Amen.   

A further Description of this heavenly jerusalem, and blessed happiness therein, taken out of the man.. Cathol. of W. C.  

IN Zion lodge me Lord for pity,  
Zion David's Kingly City,  
Built by him that's only good,  
Whose gates are of the crosses wood,  
Whose keys are Christ's undoubted word,  
Whose dwellers fear none but the Lord,  
Whose walls are stone, strong, quick and bright,  
Whose keeper is the Lord of light.  
Here the light doth never cease,  
Endless spring, and endless peace.  
Here is music heaven filling,  
Sweetness evermore distilling.  
Here is neither spot nor taint,  
No defect, nor no complaint,  
No man crooked, great nor small;  
But to Christ conformed all.  
Blessed town divinely graced,  
On a Rock so strongly placed:  
Seated sure from fear of war,  
I salute thy walls from far:  
Thee I see, and thee I long for,  
Thee I seek, and thee I groan for.  
O what joy thy dwellers taste▪  
All in pleasure, first and last.  
What full enjoying bliss divine?  
What jewels on thy walls do shine?  
Ruby, jacinth, Chalcedon,  
Known to them within alone.  
In this glorious Company,  
In these streets of Zion, I  
With job Moses, and Eliah,  
Will sing the heavenly Heluiah.    

An Euery-dayes-Sacrifice, or a Morning prayer for any day in the week, or every day in the Week.  
TO thee the God of Heaven and Earth, that by thy wisdom ●ast ordained all things by thy power created all things; and by thy bounty and mercy, as the two breasts of thy never dried goodness, preservest and sustainest all things, all the Creatures in the world, that thy hands have fashioned, both man and beast, both plant, and flower, whatsoever, and wheresoever. To thee alone, most merciful Father, and into thy protection do I render my soul and body, and the whole government thereof, as an unworthy sacrifice, beseeching the● that it may be acceptable unto thee: preserve me, O Lord, this day without sin, this week following, and all the days of my life; and as thou hast renewed this day unto me, and brought me safely to the beginning thereof, so give me grace to renew my life from my former sins, that I may now amend whatsoever heretofore hath been amiss, that I may be more careful to walk in thy ways, than ever I was careless to run out of them: I confess, O Lord, that it is thy mercy that endureth for ever, and thy compassion, which never fails, that is the cause that I have not been long ago consumed: for with thee, o Lord, there is mercy, & plenteous redemption, Psal. 130. 4. In the multitude therefore of thy mercies, and confidence in thy merits, I entreat thee that thou wouldst not enter into judgement with thy servant; neither be extreme to mark what hitherto I have done amiss: for if thou dost, than no flesh can be justified in thy sight, I have been borne in sin, and in iniquity hath my mother conceived me, and in thought, word, and deed I have broken all thy Commandments, and there remains nothing for me but shame and confusion; I have done more against thee this week, than I have done for thee since I was borne, following the desires of mine own will, and the lusts, and concupiscences of mine own flesh, not caring to be governed by thy holy word and Spirit: and which is worse, yet have I not resolved to amend: what father but thou, would suffer this contempt, and be neglected still? O where is my fear? O where is my love? yet when I think upon thy Son, all my grief is turned into joy, because his righteousness for me, is more than my unrighteousness against myself: settle my faith in thy beloved, that I may truly meditate what he hath done for me, that that sin that lanced his side, may also lance my soul, with such effect, that I may never again commit that with delight, that thou hast sustained with such passion and heaviness. And here, O Lord, from the bottom of mine heart, I render unto thee thanks for all the blessings and benefits thou hast bestowed upon me, both in my soul and body; for my election, redemption, sanctification and preservation from my youth, until this present day & hour, by thy most gracious love and providence: And so good Lord, I further beseech thee, protect me this day, and all the days of my life, from all evil that may hurt me, and from falling into any gross sin that should offend thee: be thou present and assistant to all my good endeavours, and bless thou my purposes and intentions; and let thy good spirit so rule my heart, that all that I shall do, think or speak, may be to thy glory, and the good of others, and the peace of mine own conscience. And for the better success therein, into thine hands I commend myself, my soul, and body, my ways and actions, and all that appertain unto me, to thy gracious protection, and direction; be favourable unto me therefore, O Lord, and unto all them that fear thee, be near unto all such as faithfully call upon thy name, and comfort all such as be sick, or comfortless, or by any cross or affliction that thou hast laid upon them, either outwardly in body, or inwardly in mind, and by daily and hourly presidences of death and mortality before mine eyes, teach me to be mindful of mine own end, to set it always in my view, & to make my preparation by faith and repentance thereafter, that I may be ready whensoever thou shalt call me out of this wretched life, and that whether I live or die, I may rest in thee, to thy eternal glory & my everlasting salvation, through jesus Christ, my only Saviour & Redeemer, in the mediation of whose blessed name I conclude this my unperfect prayer, in that form & model of prayer which he that must hear our prayers, & have mercy upon us, or we perish everlastingly hath prescribed in form, & sanctified with his own lips, saying, Our father, etc.   

An Evening prayer for any day in the week, or every day in the week for a private person.  
O Eternal God & most merciful Father, the faithful guardian both of our bodies and souls, who art about my bed, & knowest my downlying, & mine uprising, and art ne●e unto all such that call upon thee in truth and sincerity, be present therefore O Lord, I wretched sinner do beseech thee, and with thy mercy cover the multitude of my sins, which like a leprosy have run over my whole body, and so defiled both the outward and inward man, that but for thy word & promise sake, and the examples of thy mercy and forgiveness so frequent and usual to sinners of so high a degree in offending, such as were Peter, Mary Magdalen, the Publican, the Prodigal child, the Thief on the Cross, and others, thy praying for thine enemies, thy torments, thy crucifiers, & many such examples of my comfort, & thy compassion, that else with judas, in the bitterness of heart, and desperation of mercy, I should cry out: My sins are greater than can be forgiven, & so be utterly discouraged from presuming to come into thy presence, considering the hardness of mine heart, and the unruliness of mine affection, and the uncleanness of my conversation, by means whereof I have transgressed all thy laws, and broken thy Commandments, and deserved thereby thy heavy displeasure, which in justice might draw from thy hand some fearful punishment upon this wretched body of mine, and my soul to languish the death of sin, my reputation & name to perish upon earth, as salt that hath lost his savour, & my temporal estate to be ruined by casualties and loss: For why should any thing prosper that I take in hand, being thus overgrown in wickedness, and wherefore shouldst thou give good success to that which I attribute not unto thee, how ever it fall out? bu● to the work of mine own hands, and the policy of my contriving, robbing thee of thy honour, and due to whom it belongs: O Lord, as thy mercy hath thus long preserved me sound in all these, so let it work in me, that at last I may ●ee my error, and amend it, see my wound, and labour to cure it, my fins, and repent me of them from the bottom of my heart, that thou mayst forgive me them. Turn me, O Lord, and I shall be turned, wash me clean with water, and I shall be cleansed, renew me as the Eagle her days, and I shall be renewed, gather thy thosen Flock from th● mountains and deserts wherein they stray, to fulfil thy fold, & I shall be gathered, sweep thy house and find thy great and I shall be found, be gracious unto me hereafter, as thou hast been good unto me heretofore, let not my unworthiness weary out thy goodness, but continue it unto me to the end: & now O Lord I give thee hearty thanks and praise for that thou hast this day preserved me from all harms and perils, notwithstanding all my sins and ill deserts, so I beseech thee likewise defend me this night from all the dangers and assaults that may accompany this uncomfortable season, and to this end I commend into thine hands myself, my soul and body, beseeching thee my Lord and God not to suffer sathan nor any of his ministers to have power to do me any hurt or violence this night, & grant good Lord▪ that whether I sleep or wake, live or die, it may be unto thee & the salvation of my soul, which grant Lord for thy mercy's sake. Thy grace o Lord jesus Christ, thy love o heavenly father, thy comfort and consolation, o holy and blessed spirit be with me and dwell in me both in heart and mind, in soul and body this night, and all the nights and days of my life.  
Amen.   

Another morning's Prayer.  
Either private or public, changing but the number.  
MOst gracious God in the name of Christ jesus our most merciful Saviour and redeemer we give thee most humble and hearty thanks for the quiet rest and repose, this night thou hast bestowed upon our weary and tired bodies to the refreshing and nourishing of the same, and for thy gracious providence and vigilancy over us, all the days and nights passed ever since we were borne and came into the world, for our creation, redemption, for thy most sacred word, a lanshorue to our feet, and a light unto our steps, for thy long and unwearied patience, so long expecting our repentance and turning unto thee, that day by day have put thee off, till we have heaped up many years of iniquity by grievous sins in tedious times over and upon our own heads, able and weighty enough to pull us down to the pit of perdition, where long since we have deserved to have lain in endless woe and misery, but that thy mercy and loving kindness hath prevented us, o Lord give us grace to be mindful of these mercies that our tongues may speak and hearts may meditate thereon in exultation and joy, and Lord give us grace to consider and make use thereof, that as the night is passed wherein our spirit and vigour is renewed, which brought us into sleep, the true image of death and laid us in our beds the representation of our graves, for, ut somnus mortis sic lectus imago sepulcri, and that the day hath taken us up again to begin our toil with his, which suddenly finds a period and conclusion and sets itself again in darkness which afterwards must give place to the light, and that these two consumers of the world, the day and night, which with there easy lenghts, there spans and fathoms since the commandment was first given, let there be day and night, have brought age and maturity, the scythes and sickles that have reaped down whole harvests of flesh and laid the growth of nature in the dust, teach us o Lord with this remembrance to way the instability & transmutation of time and nature, the incertainty of all worldly things, our unwarranted lives that hang upon a brittle third, a dials point, that with the sun in the morn with strength and splendour address ourselves like giants to run our course, when many times we are taken up within few minutes after and carried into the bowels of the earth in the beginning of our race, becoming worms and not men, guests for the solitary tabernacles of silence, and forgetfulness, and to frame our lives and actions thereafter, that whensoever thy good will and pleasure is to take us out of this world of misery to bind up our bones in peace and rest, we may yield up our souls and bodies into thy hands, with full confidence and assurance that our sins and offences are washed away in the blood of that pure and immaculate lamb Christ jesus, and shall not condemn us, prosper us o Lord in all our actions, give good success to our true endeavours, and grant that this day and all the days of our life may be so spent, by thy council favour and direction, that we may so bear ourselves through this dale of misery, that at the last we may reign with thee in eternity and glory.  
Amen.   

An evening Prayer to the same.  
MOst gracious God and merciful father in Christ jesus we do hear how down the knees of our souls and bodies in thy presence, offering up our prayer and praise unto thee with all possible thanks for all thy favours towards us, namely for electing us unto eternal life, for creating us unto thine own image, for redeeming us by the blood of thy son, for sanctifying ●s by thy holy spirit, for our health, peace and liberty, and all thy blessings that we rejoice in, for the which we can give no reason for, but thy mercy: and if thou shouldest withdraw them all back again, we cannot accuse thee of injustice, not deserving the least, of them by reason of our sins which are so grievous and infinite that we cannot reckon them, able to make a perpetual separation between thee and us but that thou art a merciful, patiented, long suffering God & thou desirest not the confusion of sinners but that they should turn from there wickedness & live, and to that end thou hast forborn us hitherto with a heavy and grieved aspect, and hast not reigned down thy punishments upon us, therefore now o Lord give us a time of grace as thou hast given us time of mercy, that we may take a survey of our estate, that perceiving the danger we are in from the which none can deliver us but thy outstretched arm, we rely not upon ourselves, nor continuing therein forsake thee so long, till at last thou forsake us and we perish utterly, but Lord (preventing it) so rend our hearts that they may bleed in sorrow for the same, that thou mayst forgive us our great unthankefullness, end all the rest ●● our sins, our ignorances, wilfulness, necligences, presumptions, and all other our transgressions and rebellions, o Lord forgive them all unto us for jesus Christ his sake, wash them all away in his blood, nail them fast unto his Cross and bury them in his grave, where let them consume to nothing having not that resurrection that our bodies shall have from thence, lest thy should come to judgement with us, cloth us we pray thee with his robes, and honour us with his spirit, work in us godly sorrow and remorsfull minds, mortify our sinful lusts and adorn us withal thy graces, open our eyes that we may see thy will and incline our hearts to follow it, direct us in thy ways and keep us from declining from thee, teach us so to frame our lives before thee in this world; that we may live for ever with thee in the world to come: and to that end we beseech thee be merciful unto us at this time, and receive us into thy fatherly protection, pardon the weakness of our prayers, watch thou over us to our good, and give us such rest and sleep that we may be fit enabled to serve thee the next day in our exercises, studies and callings: hear holy father from heaven, and grant us all these our requests and whatsoever else thou knowest may be for our good for jesus Christ his sake thine only son and our only savious, to whom with thee and thine holy spirit one most wise glorious and eternal God be rendered all power praise and glory this night and for evermore.  
Amen.   

A morning Prayer for a private family.  
It is in vain to rise early and to lie down late except the Lord be with us, so vain a thing is man, therefore we will not attempt any thing before we have taken counsel and strength from the Lord that he may deliver us from every evil work, if we ask that thing which is evil deny our ignorance, if we ask that thing which is good Remember thy promise.  
IN peace and safety we laid us down and rose again for thy gracious eye watched over us, that we might take our rest The heavens declare thy glory, and the earth is full of thy goodness: yet thou hast not so respected all nations, and thou hast loved Zion thy little hill, a nook and corner of the world far separated from the serpent, and fenced from the wild beast yet who considereth, the evil we have deserved, is gone into other lands, because their Gods be not like unto our God we have had much experience of thy goodness, & yet we try thee still, we prove thee still, and yet we see thy works, thou hast separated us from schism & heresy, that we should be joined unto thee even a new creature come out of darkness to light, according to the working of knowledge in us. O bind our hearts with thy fear, that we part not from thy love: for ourselves and for our brethren, we here prostrate our souls before▪ thee, O Prince most excellent, for the name of thy only Son, one drop of mercy to cool this ●ire of sin, nothing, good Lord, ●o change thy mercy: yet the whel●es do eat the crumbs that fall from their masters Table, first we yield thee hearty thanks▪ for all at once: next, we humbly beseech thee for the general quittance which thy Son hath sealed for our sins: then for all graces we pray thee, let us not want the thing without which we cannot serve thee, plant in our hearts true fear of thy name, obedience ●o● our Prince, and love to our neighbour, give power, good Father to our prayers, that they may be effectual solicitors for thy grace and favour in all occasions, and seasons, grant us true humility in prosperity, perfect patience in adversity, peace in Christ, and joy in the holy Ghost. This is our desire to live godly, righteously, and soberly; so bless us and keep us, good Father, to the end of our lives. Turn us O God of our salvation, grant that we may grow from strength to strength, that thy Church militant may be like thy triumphant in heavenly charity, and all communion of Saints, writ thy Laws on the Table of our hearts, with the finger of thy good Spirit, that by us they may be often & evidently read & practised in our lives and conversations. Bless them which bless us, look upon this realm in thy mercy, preserve our King, let not the eye of Great Britain become dim, or lose his sight: be gracious and merciful unto our friends and parents according to the flesh: comfort thy afflicted Saints and members, confound the power of Antichrist, send thy fear amongst them, make their time short, and defend thine own cause: and as thou art sanctified in us before them, so be thou magnified in them before us, that all the world may convert & say: En Deus Christianorum, Great art thou O God of the Christians, and there is none omnipotent besides thee, just, and merciful, recompensing righteousness, and revenging iniquity & transgressions, yesterday and to day, and the same for ever, and every where. Grant these things, O heavenly Father, with thy blessing upon this family, O Lord lead them out, and bring them in, be at the beginning, the middle, and end of all their businesses, that thou mayest see them accomplished to their best advantage; and for because the world is a forest of briars, & many dangers therein, that may entangle us, so that when we part and go out▪ we are not sure to meet and come in again, unless thou guide us by thy hand, and protect us under the wings of thy safeguard. Therefore be present and assistant unto us, and every one of us; then happy shall we be, and all things shall prosper that we take in hand, which Lord fulfil unto us, and whatsoever thy good pleasure shall better foresee for our good, even for his sake who died for sin, and sinned not: in whose name we further pray unto thee, as he hath taught us, saying: Our Father, etc.  
God the Father which hath made us, bless us; God the Son which hath redeemed us, preserve us; God the Holy-ghost which hath sanctified us, confirm our faith, to the end, and in the end. Oh God, Father, Son, and holy Ghost, save us.  
AMEN.   

An Evening prayer for a private Family.  
Our transgressions are more in number then the hairs of our head, we repent us of them all from the bottom of our hearts. O Father, be merciful unto us, and forgive us them.  
O Lord God, our most merciful Father, unto thy divine Majesty what might we render as an Oblation acceptable unto thee, which hast made us when we were not, moulded us from the dust of the earth, an element so base and contemptible, to so excellent a perfection, to a creature so glorious and admirable as man is, not only the work of thine own hands, but the Image of thine own Person, from the very jaws of Death and damnation delivered us, if we wilfully run not into it again, that in continuing thy blessings day by day upon us, hast showed thyself to be our most gracious, merciful, and loving Lord, and hast hitherto preserved us by thy powerful providence, that we have drawn out the third of our life unto this time: these are thy mercies our God, and not our merits, given us freely without any desert of ours: for the raiment of our backs, for the food of our bellies, for the air that we suck in and breathe out, for the fashion of our bodies, for the motion of the members thereof, for our capability & reason, the creation of all thy creatures in the world, to the use and subjection of man, and so many thy benefits that whatsoever we express, the more we remember: yet for all these thou requirest nothing else of us but that we know and acknowledge thee to be the Lord and giver thereof: what couldst thou require less of us then to acknowledge thee, to obey thee, to fear thee, love thee, and to keep thy commandments? and y●t do we scant thee of that moitye of thy due, that easy task, but the sound of our lips, and the consent of our hearts, that so we might become thy faithful children, and be made true heirs and partakers of thine everlasting kingdom, and reign with thee for ever. Guilty therefore, O Lord, in this gross offence we stand forth to accuse ourselves of wonderful folly, and ingratitude, having strove, as much as in us lieth, to stop the stream of thy mercies, that land-comfort to our souls in all our extremities, that they should not come near us: we have been careless of thy word, neither have we taken any delight to fulfil thy laws and Commandments: and therefore if thou hadst long ago, as a flower before a Sithe-man, mowed us down, as many, more worthy of▪ these blessings than we, have been, and brought us to the Bar of thy judgement, and from thence cast us (who are before thy face, but as chaff before the wind, or as stubble before the fire) into the laks of perdition, who is he that could accuse thee of injustice? nay, our own consciences would acquit thee, and condemn us: for seeing thou hast sought us, and we would not be found, it is good reason we should cry unto thee and find no mercy. But O Lord, thy mercies are above our iniquities, so thou hast spared us many years, and past over our manifold transgressions, as one that were ignorant of them, in silence and sorrow, in witness whereof the heavens, with their apparitions si●ke of disasters and events have been portenders unto us, that we might be forewarned, the earth upon her bases, props and foundations so firmly laid hath of late been shaken at the aspect of thine anger, and tottered to and fro like a drunken-man, thy waters and the whole courses thereof, that roll with indignation up and down there channels being tied within bounds and limits (as the lions in there dens) dash themselves with indignation against there dams & there shores, stops to there fury fixed there by thy word, Hitherto shalt thou pass and no further, have of late by thy sufferance borne down there keepers many years, and swelled higher than there brinks and in there merciless furies preyed upon whole countries leaving nothing but desolation behind them, and all for our sins and forwarnings, besides thy threatening us by drought, famine and pestilence, the fearful denunciation of thy word applied unto our guilty consciences, that so perceiving thine anger we might fear and be saved: even so I Lord as thou hast been gracious in forewarning us by these, so give us grace that we may be forewarned by them, that in time we may repent and turn from our wicked ways, and no longer abuse thy patience, but run unto thee in repentance and humility, that so we may be saved in the day of thy appearance, which so work in us that overcome at length with thy goodness & patience, we may no longer delay to ask council of thee and thy holy word what we ought to forbear, and what we ought to follow, that we be not puf● up with prosperity, nor to much dejected in sickness and adversity, that we may despair of ourselves & the help of our own hands, but may expect all things from thy goodness, that we put not our confidence in transitory things, but wholly rely upon thee & thy promises. Bless this family O Lord and every member thereof, bless also our parents and friends according to the flesh and nature, and continue thy blessed word unto us and to our posterities after us, even unto the ends of the world for thy dearly beloved son Christ jesus our saviours sake into whose hands and protection we commend our souls and our bodies this evening and the rest of our lives the were bought and redeemed with his most dear & precious blood: whose acceptance he grant for his own dear sake. Amen.  
Let thy mighty hand and outstretched arm o Lord be still our defence, thy mercy and loving kindness in jesus Christ thy dear son our salvation, thy true and holy word our instruction, thy grace and holy spirit our comfort and consolation, unto the end and in the end. Amen.  
The Lord bless us and save us the Lord make his face to shine upon us and be merciful unto us, the Lord turn his favourable countenance towards us, and this night and evermore vouchsafe to send us thy everlasting peace. Amen.  
The grace of our Lord jesus Christ and the love of God, and the fellowship of the holy Ghost be with us all evermore.  
Amen.   

A prayer to God for the forgiveness of sins.  
MOst holy, most just, most merciful and omnipotent God thou alone dost punish and no man can relieve, thou alone dost chastise and no man can control, thou alone dost save, and no man can condemn, thou bringest to the grave, and bringest back again pardon I beseech thee my sins, more in number then the drops in the sea, than the stars in the firmament, and purge my corruption, beyond bound, without measure, look not upon my merits, for they are none at all, for the purity of mankind is defiled in sin, wherefore to me O Lord, to me thy poor servant belongeth nothing but shame and confusion, but to thee is mercy and judgement and glory inherent, destroy not I humbly entreat good father of mercy, the creation and frame, and composition of thine own hands de●ace not the image wherein thou thyself art so lively portrayed, but haste to comfort me, make thy corrections my instructions, that in patience awhile I may hear possess my soul, and in thy promise have an assured hope to live with thee for ever in the life to come, through jesus Christ my Lord and only Saviour.  
Amen.   

A prayer to be said before the undertaking of any journey.  
O Eternal, wise and glorious God, that foreseest the end of all things before they come to pass, and blessest the endeavours of those that go forth in thy fear, and direction, be present therefore O Lord, and protecting in this my travel, guide thou my course and shorten thou my way, by the blessed communication of thy spirit within me, give thine holy Angels charge over me to keep me in all my ways & to guide me to and fro in this my journey, as thou didst to Toby the younger, who by thy Angel Raphael was guided unto Gabaell a City of the Medes: our whole life O Lord is as a pilgrimage and the days thereof are few and evil, by thy appointment we sojourn upon the face of the earth for a time and our spirit also within us, it cometh and returneth as a traveler upon the way, or bourdeth with us as an inmate or guest or tenant at will, whom we hold by no lease nor condition but thy pleasure, which art the owner thereof, a quarter, a year, or perhaps many years, till thy messenger from heaven to earth knock at our doors with a Ilinc migrate coloni, slit hence my tenant, and then exit de terra nostra, it departeth from us and our bodies fall down to the earth and our pilgrimage is at an end: teach me to use this world as in my travail I shall use mine inn, taking up my rest for a night, and preparing for my passage in the morning, knowing there I am but a stranger and have no abiding place, for so the world is but mine inn and because it is fair and beutious, full of many goodly rooms and spacious walks, beautified with the firmament and the greater and the lesser lights thereof, the Sun, the Moon▪ and the stars, yet that I seek not to make it my habitation for ever, but give me grace to use it as if I used it not, providing me with such necessaries as may sustain me in my travail, not overburdening my conscience to clog me in my way, ever looking up to thee the star of my direction, whither my course is bound, as the haven from this impatient and troublesome sea, where at the last I shall anchor at rest, whither Lord conduct me with thy right hand, as in this my temporal and present journey defended from all perils and dangers of the day, I may happily accomplish my desire with thy will, and all the days of my travail & labour assigned, ended, I may there arrive where all tears shall be wiped from mine eyes, and drops from my brows, weariness from my bones, sighs & sobs from my soul, all dried up in the presence and joy of thee and thy saints and Angels for evermore, which grant good father for thy mercy's sake.  
Amen.   

Another Prayer or med: to be used before the undertaking of any journey or business either by sea or land.  
GOod father, the misery and blindness of our nature is such, and our ingratitude so great, that we steal thy benefits, and take them absolutely to ourselves, and enjoy them freely to our own use as if they were originally the work and labour our of our own hands and we had them without thy knowledge and assistance, that riches are the succeeders policy, that health is either recovered or kept by observation or diet, & lost by disorder or abuse, that success or defect in any our proceed, suit according to our wisdom or industry in contriving the same, and so in a settled persuasion, & resolution hearin we go forward in this blindfold course ask council nor craving success of any but ourselves or creatures of the same frailty and being that we ourselves are of, whereby oftentimes we fail of our purpose, and know not the reason thereof, Lord give us grace to correct this error, and give us light in this our blindness, teach us to know that we are ashamed, we are ignorant of that, Except thou build▪ the house, they labour in vain that build it: For it is thou that must command thy blessings to be with us in our storehouses, & in all that we set our hands unto, or our labour dieth between our fingers▪ like an untimely fruit. And as a sparrow falleth not to the ground without thy sufferance, so there is nothing that cometh to pass without thy appointment and direction: therefore what business soever we have, what regard soever we have thereunto, let us have so much regard thereto as to regard thee that must regard it, or else all will fall to the ground: let us go out in thy name, with thy assistance implored on our knees, let us lose so much time to gain so great advantage: for it abridges the way, and cuts off many tedious imperfections in whatsoever: in thy protection let us enter again, let us not take our bread, our daily food, our sustenance without thankfulness to thee: let us not couch ourselves in the bed of our rest, but close our eyes in thy favour and blessing: for it is that that must be upon the building of our houses, opening of our Shops, and warehouses, watching of our Cities, tilling of our ground, in feeding of our bodies, in the education of our children, or whatsoever pain, industry, or labour in the securest course we can devise: for without this aid and assistance all falleth into emptiness and vastity; Lord give us grace to consider it, and bless this our outgoing and our coming in, the fruit of our bodies, and the fruit of our hands, our intents and purposes: Be regardful unto our labours, whatsoever we take in hand; walk by us on the land, on the water, as thou didst by thy Disciples, & save us, or we perish: for neither the land the safer, nor the sea the more dangerous, can protect us, nor destroy us▪ till thou hast sealed thereunto thy consent, nor any creature nor casualty in the world offer either violence or injury, where thy hand but takes our part; and where that is opposed, though all the creatures in the world, the whole host of heaven and earth should join with us, we go to rack and ruin. Give us therefore grace to be mindful hereof, and thoroughly persuaded herein, to make our preparation thereafter, that we may ask, and thou mayst give thy success and blessing upon all that we take in hand, or enjoy, which grant us Lord in this present occasion, and in all occasions and times hereafter, for thine own dear sake.  
Amen.   

A prayer for true peace, which is the peace of God in the peace of conscience, and for the external peace of the body, disquieted often with revenge, debate & contentious going to law.  
O Lord my God, which art the author of peace, and lover of concord, and the hater of all those that are not lovers thereof, but delight in contention and strife: therefore I beseech thee, because I would not be as one out of thy favour give unto me that mind that a peaceful man should have: and let thy spirit assure my spirit, that my sins are washed away in the blood of thy son Christ jesus, that my conscience within me may have peace and rest, without which all joy will turn into bitterness, and I shall mourn in the midst thereof, as the Pelican in the wilderness; The body will bear the infirmity thereof, but an aching and wounded Conscience who can sustain? O Lord settle this assurance in me, that I have peace with thee, and I shall have peace with all men, with whom to have peace, and to be at wars with thee: to be at peace with the world, and at enmity with thee, is to make unto myself a dangerous truce, a league of peace against the king of peace, the very breath of whose nostrils is able at once to destroy a thousand worlds, and all the Creatures therein; and therefore vain is the combination that is plotted against thee. Give me patience, O Lord, to digest and pass over the injury and malice of those that contentiously and causlessely by the malice and instigation of Satan, seek to stir up strife and disturb my quiet, wherein in the mediation of thee, and thy mercies towards me, I might meditate day and night free from this troublesome and entangled world, with her thousand snares, & whereby by righting my wrong a little, I wrong myself a great deal, and the remembrance whereof, (as my means) with her so many branches, to the vexation and expense of my mind and body, & substance endlessly eat me up, that I forget what I live but to remember, & woe to him that goes to law for that which the gospel hath taken order for. Therefore good father, give me such a patiented & digesting mind, that I desire not to injury others, to molest myself, but rather by the example of thee, the true pattern of all imitation, that to thy accusers didst not open thy mouth, but wast dumb like a sheep before the shearer, & wast so far from revenging the injuries of man, that thou didst not defend thyself. And if at any time I be forced to use the means to take this sword into my hands, that I do it not with delight, but unwillingly, and with such moderation and clemency, that it be to defend myself, and not offend others, that I offend not in the true use thereof but that I labour to have peace with thee, & peace with all men, which grant thou that art the God of peace, for thy Son Christ jesus sake our Saviour.   

A prayer for seasonable weather, a punishment the Lord hath lately inflicted upon us and our whole land for our sins.  
Eternal, Almighty, and Everlasting God, forasmuch as by thy holy word we are taught that when thine anger is incensed against us for our sins, amongst other thy punishments, thou dost shut up the heavens, that there may ●●no rain that the earth thereby may deny her fruits unto us, and now thou dost justly manifest this thy displeasure unto us, in shutting up the heaven which was wont to drop down her wholesome showers in due season upon the fruits of the earth, hardening them as Iron or brass, in dispersing the clouds, so that they drop not upon the dry and parched soil, burnt up and withering in the heat of thine indignation. O Lord, though we are sensible of this thy displeasure kindled so heavily against us at this time, yet groaning under the weight of our manifold sins and transgressions so great and so innumerable, we are afraid in ourselves to approach unto thy Tribunal, to crave a release of this thy punishment, or to beg any other mercy at thy hands; yet because such is thy gracious goodness towards mankind, that by thy Prophet Zachary thou hast mercifully promised us the first and the latter rain, to make white clouds, and give showers to every one grass in the field. Therefore we acknowledging our own unworthiness, & relying only upon thy mercies, with lowly contrite & broken hearts, do presume to power out our humble supplications before thee, beseeching thee that thou wouldst hear our prayers, as thou didst sometimes the earnest supplications of Helias, who prayed, & the heavens gave rain, & the earth brought forth her fruit. And as it hath pleased thee, most gracious God, likewise to promise by the mouth of Moses thy servant unto Israel. And in another place by thy Prophet Hosea, that if that people would forsake their sins, & turn wholly unto thee the Lord their God, thou wouldst give rain unto the land in due time, the first rain and the latter, that they might gather in the wheat▪ & the oil; and that thou wouldst send grass in their fields for cattle, that they might eat enough; and that if they would turn unto thee with unfeigned repentance, thou wouldst hear the heavens, & they should hear the earth, & the earth should hear the grass, the corn, the oil, & thou wouldst have mercy upon them that were not pitied. Merciful Father, with an humble confession of our great ingratitude, a hatred, & loathing of our former transgressions committed with a high and presumptuous hand against thy sacred majesty, and with a serious purpose to walk in the ways which thou hast commanded: & so in the grief and agony of spirit for our former sins we turn unto thee, turn then unto us most merciful father, and extend thy great goodness and compassion towards us, that we may taste and see how gracious thou art, in hearing of these our prayers, & answering them graciously in the seasonable supply of this our necessity, to the honour of thy great name, and the comfortable refreshing of thy servants, for the merits of thy son jesus Christ our only Lord and Saviour.   

A meditation of God's love and mercy towards us and our unthankfulness▪ towards him alluding to the phrase of S. Augustine.  
Miserere mei Domine indigna facientis & Digna Patientis.  
Eternal, Almighty & most merciful God upon the knees of our hearts we prostrate ourselves, our souls and bodies at the throne of thy grace, being altogether wretched and unworthy sinners, unworthy of the least of those benefits, that have not fallen unto us seldom, now and than and that in a weak and restrained measure▪ but in bundles and shows of a large allowance daily and hourly thrown upon us from thy royal and plentiful hand, as though we had always performed thy will and our delight and been to walk wholly in the paths of thy commandments, which we have been so far from, witness (dear God) our own consciences that we have derided them and set them at light, trod them under foot, upon the least advantage or occasion, nay in sport and merriment, and to show us men of resolutions presumptuously we have taken them in vain, and that in so careless and high ameasure that it is thy uncomprehended mercy, that before this thou hast not abridged our days, cut us off and cast us into the bottomless pit of hell, from whence there is no redemption or thought of mercy but in vain: wherefore bouldened by this one mercy of thine, thy patience, and long suffering, (more than all our deserts can ever recompense) we will presume to beg another, which is that thou wilt touch our hearts with a godly sorrow for our sins, not small but grievous, not a handful but innumerable, not past but present, not secret but exemplary and open in the face of God and man, so that if thou shouldest deal with us according to our deserts, Satan would rejoice, but we should mourn, never to see thy face again, the sun nor the moon, the day nor the night (although a perpetual darkness) the heaven nor the earth, nor any other of the blessed works of thine hands that of thine infinite goodness thou hast prepared for man: what shall we then do but under the wings of thy mercy seek our refuge, beseeching thee to extend thy goodness and compassion towards us, which thy dearly beloved son our Saviour and redeemer with a love above all love hath so dearly purchased for us by his innocent and precious blood, the least drop whereof is sufficient to heal all our wounds, and to wash away all our iniquities, to relieve all our wants, and blot out all our transgressions but without thy grace, a light unto our feet and a lantern unto our paths we are able to do nothing but sin, losing ourselves in the thick mists of iniquity: Therefore good father as thou hast appointed all the creatures in the world to serve man, and hast ordained him only to serve thee, so give us grace that we, considering the largeness of our privilege and the honour thou hast endued us withal, with changed affections our wills and natures regenerate and purified by thy gracious spirit we may serve thee in holiness and righteousness all the days of our life, until we be renewed to the image of thy son, in whom thou art well pleased, and in us wilt be well pleased if we displease not thee to please ourselves, if we be angry with our sins, the devil, our vanities and all that would separate us from thee, and with hearty repentance for our former misdeeds, and a zealous indignation against ourselves that ever we have fallen into so beastly corruption, taking heed that we fall not again into the same relapse▪ upon pain of thy heavy displeasure, and yet there is no cause O God, most just, why thou shouldest be pleased with sinners which art displeased with sin, but for his sake that dearly paid therefore in the heat and burden thereof, and sinned not, the bosom of whose merry, (in this desert of his) if it be not open with Abraham's to receive us poor and impotent Lazars, with the rich glutton we go down into hell, from the which deliver us for thy mercy's sake sweet Saviour Christ.  
Amen.   

A meditation against the fear of death written in french by the learned P. M: s. du Plessis.  
THe Crown and end of all wretchedness and misery, the key to let us out of this world of sorrow, the door and the passage to all eternity, why should we fear, why should we think of, with so leaden an appetite, why should we fear to find that we live to seek, why should we not hearken to the summons thereof with joy as the sick man hearkeneth to the clock which to the godly brings an end both of sin and sorrow and all the miseries which are due unto either, being so many and so great that they pass the explication or comprehension of man, for the best of this life what ever was it, but as a bed of flowers overgrown with a field of weeds, but as a calm of the sea disquieted with the breath of every wind, the temper of what man's breast was ever so seasoned that it was not subject to a thousand passions, wrested and wrung with so many discontents that the weight and burden thereof hath overbeared the patience of suffering. In beauty, honour, riches, wealth, or in any other sensual pleasure who ever found contentment that hath wisdom to way them and esteem them truly as the were, for the first who ever possessed it in the greatest desire with the largest extension that found not satiety or discontent in the fruition and possession, that was not tormented with envy or jealousy, the one lancing within, or the other reveling without, in honour or riches or any other corporal or mental gift, the fairest and most admired flowers that the earth brings forth to the delight and pleasure of mankind, from the which pre-eminence or praise or pleasure may be derived, or nature something soothed up, which itches after ambition and admiration, that found not under these flowers, weeds ' nay serpents to poison and sting the very life blood of that felicity, if any there were in them, from the fullest fountain of worldly joy floweth some bitterness, & there was never pleasure so absolute, were it as short as the flash of lightning, that before a man hath power to say behold▪ enlighteneth the world & then dies in obscurity, that was not allayed with some abatement, and if it were absolute for the time, the time is so short that there is a grief therein, & what are all pleasures but as a vapour that appear for a little time and afterwards vanish away, sometimes pleasure assuageth pain, but most commonly pain killeth pleasure, and if our days were distinguished the good with white and the evil with black stones, at the end of our lives we should find more black than white, the pleasures, in the days of Noah, there eating, drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, thy gave there content for a time, till the flood came and took them all away, the youngman hath is pleasure to rejoice in, the days of his youth, the cheerfulness of his heart, and the lusts of his own eyes, but in all these there lies a bitterness, the richman hath his pleasure Luke. 16. Purple and fine linen & delicious far every day and he knoweth not what the grief of Lazarus meaneth, and yet there li●s a worm under the root of all these goodly branches, and surfeits, and sacieties with these creep in upon him, and if he set his heart thereupon let him know with the youngman and all that are carried away with any pleasure in the world, that there is a heavy re●conning to be rendered for these things, the thought whereof in the midst of all ●ollities shall be strooken dead therewith, and to these the thought of death will be grievous. Be not therefore drunk with these sensual delights and pleasures as with new wines, which are not pleasures absolute but limited, allayed with a thousand discontents, and if they were absolute yet of no continuance, and therefore grievous, & since there is nothing else but the injoing of these, that seem what they are not, as we have already examined, that make thee to desire life, that thou mayst rejoice therein the forsaking whereof maketh it death unto thee to think of death, yet know they are all but vanity, & thou must die aut sero aut setius either sooner or later, for there is no prevention, no resistance can hinder it & therefore that which must be embrace willingly make a virtue of necessity and though thou mightest escape it yet it were but a madness, because (if we pervert not the true nature of it) it is the end of all misery▪ and sorrow, and labour, and travail & the gate that opens the may unto all true pleasure & happiness, whereof all in this world are but counterfeits and shadows, so resolve thyself hereof, & prepare thyself hereto that the remembrance of thy passed days augment not the bitterness thereof at the last hour, and then thy pains shall not dismay, thee because thou travelest to bring forth eternal life, which for the merry-madnesse of one hour take heed that thou lose not for ever. But use thy pleasures with such moderation, ever remembering they are momentary & he that hath most hath not all, and he that lest hath some, that for a moment's joy thou reap not eternity of sorrow, that thou love them not so much that you forget God, in whose presence is fullness of joy & at his right hand pleasures for evermore psal. 16. and who giveth us drink out of a whole river of pleasures psal. 36. contemn therefore these transitory pleasures and reserve yourselves for pleasures there eternally complete, where neither envy, nor jealousy, nor sickness, nor taint, shall alter or distaste your happiness where your joy shall be ever present, & yet you cannot be filled, rather you shall be filled but cannot be satisfied, or if not satisfied then there is hunger, or that you may, then there is a loathing, I know not how to express it, Deus habet quod exhibeat, God hath something there to bestow which I know not, but, ibi beata vita in font there is blessedness at the head of the spring, not in cisterns that thou may be sure of, and could you drink up the pleasures of the whole world at a draft, as Cleopatra drunk the value of 5. thousand pound, yet remember it is but a draft & quickly down the throat and there hath an end, and therefore I say again use them with moderation to sweeten and allay the many anguishs, that if ever perdominant would untimely weigh us down to our graves, and we should faint in the midst of our race, ever looking up from these to that eternal rest and peace of mind which hereafter we shall enjoy, and then when death shall approach near unto thee his aspect shall not be fearful which shall end all our miseries, heal all our infirmities, wipe away all discontents, & in it we shall there find an end of sinning▪ an end of all uncleanness, an end of all wandering thoughts and cogitations, by it we be freed from this wicked and exemplary world when the soul cannot look out at the eye as her window, but a whole army of vanity is ready to seize upon her, nor use any of her servants whereby treason is not offered unto her, by death the soul shall be delivered from this thraldom and bondage, and as the Apostle speaketh this corruptible body shall put on incorruption and this mortal immortality, 1. Cor. 15. 53. O blessed, thrice blessed be that death that ends in the Lord, which delivers us out of so evil a world, and freeth us from such corruption and bondage. Why then should we fear that we would not escape▪ because our chiefest happiness is behind, where we cannot come: but we must pass through this door of death: and if every hour of our life we should die a death, were too little to keep us from thence. And but that our portion and felicity is behind: and when this our shadow of life ends, our true life gins, and the grave shall not ever enclose us in her womb▪ which if it should, than woe were man above any other creature living, when senseless and irrational creatures, as the Stag, the Raven, and the Daw, Rocks and Trees, and such like, have an age's date beyond man, for whose use they were all created and made, but that he hath an everlasting inheritance in heaven, with that great God that created & made both him and them, when so we shall rain everlastingly, whilst they upon earth in distance of time shall moulder and rot, and drop down to nothing. O let us not then dote so much upon these unprofitable and fading vanities, upon our wooden cottages, & our tottering buildings of painted clay, such as our bodies are, which are but the tents of ungodliness, and habitation of sinners, but let us look and long after this heavenly City, whose builder and maker is God, whither that we may the sooner come, let us with the Apostle, desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ.   

The Sick-man's Prayer.  
O Gracious God, look down from heaven with the eyes of mercy upon me a most miserable & wretched sinner, grievously afflicted in body and in mind, a worm, & no man: if a man, such a one that never any with more need lifted up eyes, nor heart to the throne of thy mercy, from whence all comfort cometh, look upon me, O Lord, with the eyes of thy mercy, give me patience to endure this my affliction & trial, and give me grace O Lord, to make such use thereof that it may be to thy glory and my good, put into my mind all the▪ precepts, comforts, instructions, I have heard, or read of all my life before, as strong meditations to comfort me in this my extremity. Be not far from me, O Lord, lest Satan prevail over me, make thou my bed, and I shall rest in peace: visit me O Lord, as thou diddest visit Peter's wives mother, and the captains servant: for unto thee belongeth health and salvation, thou bringest to the door of death, and to the brink of the grave, and yet if thy good will & pleasure be, thou restorest to health and perfection again. And gracious and loving father, seal in my heart by thy holy spirit, the forgiveness of all my sins, throughout the whole course of my life, that what I have done or said amiss, may be buried in the wounds of thy son, so that they be never laid unto my charge, nor imputed against me: in his blood purge my body and soul from all their corruptions; and if this my visitation be not unto the death, may it please thee to help me upon the bed of my sorrows, speak but the word, and it shall be done, renew my former health unto me, that I may take up my bed and walk, and by a happy transmutation turn my whole heap of sorrow into a bundle of joy. heal me, and I shall be whole, save me and I shall not be condemned: deliver me from the pit of corruption, that openeth her mouth, & shutteth us therein, and keepeth us as part of her own bowels: For the grave will not acknowledge thee, nor the dead confess thee; but the living shall extol and magnify thy name world without end. But if to thy uncomprehended wisdom (to balance against which all the wisdom in the world is but folly) it seem better to thee that I die then live, then deal with me according to thy good pleasure, give thine Angels charge over my soul, that it may be received in peace, which into thine hands I commend, that gavest it me: strengthen my faith in thee, and in thy Law, that I may willingly resign that into thy hands that was due unto thee the first day that I lived, if it had pleased thee to call for it, by a double right; nay so many rights that might claim a thousand lives, if I had them to lay down for thee, that hast laid down thine own Sons, and done so many things for me, and for my sake, and for all mankind: and teach me, O Lord, to make such true use of this my sickness, that the former miseries of this wretched life, joined with my present grief & anguish, make me weary of these times of sin, and willing to resign my soul into thy hands, prepared by this unwelcome, yet wholesome summoner, that will transport me out of this vale of misery, to that everlasting kingdom which thou hast purchased for me; which grant I beseech thee, for Christ jesus sake, my only Saviour and Redeemer.  
Amen.   

The commendation of the soul to be said at a sick man's death, out of the man.. of M. Crashaw.  
I Here commend thee to Almighty God most dear brother, and I commit thee to him▪ whose creature thou art: Go forth therefore, O Christian Soul, get thee gone out of this filthy world, go forth in the name of the Almighty Father, who created thee, in the name of jesus Christ, who died for thee; in the name of the Holy-ghost, who hath been powered out upon thee: and when thou, happy soul, art delivered out of the prison of the body, the glorious quire of heavenly Angels meet, and the Company of all holy Saints entertain thee, the loving countenance, and cheerful face of jesus Christ shine upon thee, a merciful judge be he unto thee, that thou mayst have sentence to sit for evermore amongst his Saints on his right hand: thy dwelling be in peace, and thy habitation in the heavenly jerusalem for evermore: far be it from thee ever to feel or know how horrible the darkness, how terrible the flames, how intolerable the torments of hell are, Satan and all his hellish g 〈…〉 be confounded at thy presence; and if he dare set upon thee, victory and triumph be on thy side, shame and trembling fall upon him from the presence of God's Angels, and be he banished into the black mists, and confused Chaos of eternal darkness. But let the Lord arise, and his enemies be scattered: and as the smoke vanisheth, so let them fly away, but let the just be exalted, and rejoice in the presence of the Lord: let the infernal legions not dare to touch thee, nor all Satan's Hellhounds presume to hinder thee; and he, who disdained not to die for thee, be he thy Saviour and deliverer from all spiritual vexation. Be the gates of Paradise open unto thee, and thy Christ give thee thy place and mansion in the same: and he that is the true Pastor, and great Shepherd of the sheep, acknowledge thee for one of his true sheep, and receive thee into his fold. jesus Christ absolve thee from all thy sins, and place thee on his right hand, among his elect, that there thou mayst see thy Redeemer face to face, and in the society of blessed souls mayst enjoy the comforts of heavenly contemplation, and the blessed vision of God for ever and ever.  
Amen.  
W. C.   

Six signs, according to S. Anselme, upon the which a man may ●est confident of his salvation.  

1 If he believe the articles of Chrian faith, as many as are determined by the Church.  
2 If he rejoice to die in the faith of Christ.  
3 If he know that he hath grievously offended God.  
4 If he be heartily sorry for it.  
5 If he resolve to forsake his sins, if God give him life.  
6 If he hope and believe to come to eternal salvation, not by his own merits, but by the merits of jesus Christ.   
Then say to the sick person: If Satan object any thing against thee, oppose thou the merits of Christ betwixt thee and him. And thus without all doubt he shall be saved.   

Another Meditation against the fear of death, & for strength & patience in that last hour.  
Statutum est omnibus semel mori.  
THe metal and substance whereof we are made, being but dust & ashes, slime & corruption, might alone, without▪ further motive & reason, persuade us that we are not everlasting, nor made for continuance, what is man therefore, O Lord, that he should be proud? or what are our bodies, that we should so regard them, the beauty & delicacy whereof so much pampered and adorned, so much accounted & esteemed of, so curiously & carefully preserved & kept, must so suddenly descend to corruption amongst the worms & creepers of the earth, and to double and ashes. This mutation and dissolution of our bodies, the separation and severing of two ancient Inne-mate-friends, must needs, as in the act, so in the consideration thereof, strike a strange amazement in a weak and unresolved Christian, that truly understands not what death is, which is indeed to the godly, and those that have made a preparation thereunto, the gate and passage to a better life, the end of sorrow, and a rest from labour: yet O Lord, consider the weakensse of our nature, and help us in that, which even thy blessed Saints, Prophets, and Apostles, that knew thee in a measure above our knowledge, that have given rules, and motives, and reasons against the ●eare thereof; yet in the trial and accomplishment thereof, have found the imbecility of flesh and nature repugnant against it; and for the adding of a few lingering days of further cares and sorrows, some have forsworn thee, others have wept unto thee, and all have been willing to stretch it out to the last minute; and yet it is but a prolonging, not a preserving. Ezechias may turn to the wall and weep, and mourn like a Dove, and pray for life, yet at the last he must render it up. O Lord, give us therefore patience to part with it, being no inheritance to us, but debt to thee, being most certain, and assuredly persuaded, that thou wilt one day restore it to his former, nay fuller perfection▪ lessen our love toward the world, and ourselves, and increase it towards thee, and thy Kingdom. Make this, good Father, the frequent thought and meditation of our hearts, to think that we must die, that it may breed in us humility and godliness, as a happy preparation thereunto: let us resolve patiently and resolutely to undergo that task assigned by thee, the dissolution of nature: for the corruption of nature, the sting is gone, and we need not fear it, being but that which all the several ages and generations of the world that are past, have accomplished; and in the●r times and seasons descended to corruption, and others have taken their places, and all that are to come must drink of the same portion. Mathusalem. though he live 969 years, yet must he not live ever: the portion never so long, the person never so eminent, his preservation never so great, to this at last he must surely come, and all mankind beside, although not all by one means, yet all brings to one end, though some by water, some by fire, some by famine, some by pestilence, some by the jaws of wild beasts, some by the hand of an enemy, some in the bed, others in the field, Haman by the gallows, jesabel by dogs, Herod by worms, the Sons and daughters of job by the fall of an house, the Mothers and Infants of jerusalem by famine. One crieth my head, my head, as the Shunamites son, another my bowels, another my feet, feet, as Asa, the Stone, the Gout, the Fever, and a thousand other punishments, not yet equal to our sins, thy just Executioners of that sentence: Thou shalt die the death, pronounced against our first Parents, and in them to the whole race of mankind: Remember thy end, saith the wise man, & thou shalt not do amiss. Teach us, O Lord, to remember it, and make use thereafter, that will in time remember us, if we gorget it, Though we escape the pit we shall be taken in the snare, we shall fly from a Lion and a bear shall meet with us, or lean our hand upon a wall and a serpent shall bite us: we may be delivered from six troubles and the seventh shall dispatch us, for neither council nor art, nor means can preserve us ever for it is the will of God and the cannon of his own lips, against the which there is no evasion, no convenant to be made with death & the grave, let this meditation be unto us as the star that lead the wisemen unto Bethleem, where Christ then lay in a manger in akin that now sits at the right hand of his father in heaven, from whence he shall come to judge both the quick and the dead that it may lead us to the throne of his majesty where now he reigneth in glory for evermore, sweeten O Lord this remembrance of death and the grave unto us with this cogitation that it was thy bed, that in our strength and youth our veins full of blood, and our bones of marrow, in our livelihood and jollity we may think of our dissolution with a quiet mind, and with S. Paul desire to be dissolved & to be with Christ, whose presence in such full and ample measure as we shall there enjoy it, far exceedeth all the pleasure and delight that this transitory world afford thee: give us more wisdom O Lord then to esteem the ruinous and rotten cottages and houses, we live in fortresses and castles of everlasting refuge, not built upon rocks for continuance, but upon tottering heaps of sand & ashes, shaken about our ears with the winds and storms of infinite casualties and afflictions, gaping still for ruin and confusion, teach us to know that hear, we have no abiding City, but we look for one to come, that we pass not our time in this vale of misery day & night, youth and age, in pleasure and delight, that so we make our end, & the remembrance thereof bitter unto us, neither let us think that because we have fatness in our bones and health in our joints, that therefore we shall live many years, and see the succession of our sons and nephews, if we do, what will become of this? if we flatter ourselves, soul take thy rest and upon the sudden are snatched to hell, once more let us speak like Abraham, one thing, and one thing more we will beg at thy hands, that since thy decree is set down and thy word is past, the accomplishment whereof never fails in the least title, that all shall die, confirmed by so many millions of creatures, since the beginning of the world to this present, which shall not cease to run on whilst there are creatures breathing upon the circle of the earth to the end of the world & dessolution of all things, since we must all wax old as doth a garment, and from one defect to another draw thereunto, since the son of God himself upon the earth was not privilege, that now in this time of preparation we make sweet and honey our passage, by a due and godly preparation thereunto, that when our friends and our children forsake us with grief and sorrow on both sides, the Physician gives us over, (wisheth us well but can do us no good) that then when no comfort, is left unto us, beside we have comfort in our souls through the forgiveness of our sins, and though we have a grave before our eyes, greedy, inexorable, unsatisfied, opening her mouh to receive us, and having received us closing hereverlasting iaiawes upon us, never to return us back again till the worms and vermin of the earth have devoured us, we despair not though the strongest man living a heart of marble & iron shall find terror enough in the thought & accomplishment of these things, yea Aristippus feareth death as well as the common people, but if the wrath of God which consumes like a river of brimstone for our former transgressions shall accompany them, thrice woe unto us, our dull and heavy cogitations will then exclude all thought of mercy, and our souls shall sleep in death clogged with a burden of sins which were never repent of: therefore O Lord teach us true and timely repentance for our sins that the extremity which then outrageously will assault us may be lessened, and the sting thereof pulled away before hand that now we may live the life of the righteous, that then we may die the death of the Godly, that we now gird on our armour before the battle begin, that we now think of repentance and do it before it be to late, before this welcome or unwellcome guest, as we ourselves make him, cometh, which brings in his hand, either tidings of great joy or a message of everlasting sorrow giving with all such grace, unto us to possess these transitory things, that they possess not us, that we may so use this world as if we used it not: to pass through this vale of misery, our few and evil days, with such regard to our life, such love to thy law, such obedience to thy precepts, that we may enjoy the first, and avoid▪ the later, which grant Lord for thy mercy's sake. Amen.  

Sir Thomas Moor.  

Fleers si scires unum tua tempora mensem.  
Rides quid non sic forsitan una dies.   

Knewest thou a month should end thy days it would give cause of sorrow.  
And yet perhaps thou laughs to day, when thou must die to morrow.     

A Prayer or meditation before the receiving of the holy communion.  
MOst merciful and most worthily beloved Lord the eternal son of the eternal father, thou blessed jesus Christ what should we render unto thee for all thy loving kindness, for all that thou hast done and suffered for us, thy creatures, of privilege above all the creatures in the world, the sons and daughters of men, endued with wisdom, capability, and understanding, the steps of thy foot the prints of thy hands, fixed in a spattous world, and the innumerability of creatures there, of delight and admiration for us to contemplate thereon, and employ to our use a delight more heavenly and truly entire alone, than all the irration all & hudwinked creatures in the world can taste beside, & therefore all those in subjection under our foot, beside fashioned and framed us to thine own image with a stature ascendant, shooting upright into heaven, when all other creatures go groveling & precipitated down towards the earth, yet O Lord for all these benefits and excellent endowments that we should behave ourselves so ungratefully towards, thee, that it should repent the to have made man, that our rebellious and unnatural sins should unwillingly on thy party draw thy punishments even from out thy grasped hand: Oceans of waters from thy clouds to drown all the world but eight persons, shall pull fire from heaven to burn whole Cities and towns as Sodom and Gomorroh were, and not ten righteous persons to be found, amongst ten thousand unrighteous, and yet thy love to be so f●r continued, notwithstanding that when all mankind had perverted their ways, and there was not one that did good, no not one, and we lay bare and open to the law, and sathan triumphing over our infirmities leading us captives under the bondage of sin, that thou shouldest send thy son into the world, descending from the throne of his majesty into the bowels of humanity, from thy right hand in heaven, to thy footstool the earth, there to be laid in a manger, persecuted by Herod being a child, to pay tribute, to preach, to pray, to fast, to be tempted, to be betrayed, to be mocked, to be scourged to be crowned, to be crucified, & all by ungrateful man, that would oppose a power against him that gave them power▪ to take away his life that was the author of life, and breathed the breath of life into there nostrils yet O love without example, without imitation: that very night that he was betrayed, when the hour and the power of darkness met together, when the blackest consultation that ever day or night was witness too was held, to darken the sun, to extinguish the light, to undermine the intirest innocency, that ever possessed the breath of being: yet O love above all love, that night and that hour of that night, when these heads were combining against thee wast thou instituting and ordaining this thy blessed Sacrament, to the salvation of there souls, and all the wretched sinners in the world beside, as many as by a lively faith, shall apply it to there wounded consciences, O gracious God open thou our eyes in the largest consideration, that we may see thy love and consider what thou hast done for the sons of men, that for thy love unto us, more strong than death, we may return our love to thee more weak than our own life, cold, dull and frozen, which let us seek to warm in the hottest zeal of our affection, that in some poor measure we may be worthy to receive this thy sacrament of thy most blessed body/ and blood then by thee ordained to our everlasting salvation & the admiration of men and Angels, and that we may so do, prepare us O Lord to this thy heavenly banquet with all due and requisite regard, with penitent and bleeding hearts that we come not there without our wedding garment lest we turn that blessing into a curse and by eating and drinking our own damnation, be guilty of thy body and blood which is otherways able to save our souls, and to that end we beseech thee, set a part in us whatsoever thy majesty is most offended with, or maketh us unworthy of this thy blessed sacrament, and give us new hearts and new desires, purged and swept, and prepared fit for the entertainment of so worthy a guest, and though with the Centurion in the Gospel, we be not worthy that thou shouldest come under our roof, yet speak but the word and we shall be saved, and then having so received thee, we may boldly with Zacheus confess, hody salus jehovae, this day is salvation come unto my house, come unto my soul, the which cause, and effect, preparation and blessing, grant Lord for thy mercy's sake.  
Amen.   

A meditation or thanksgiving after the receiving of the holy communion.  
HOnour, glory, and praise be given to the O God, the everliving son of the everlasting father, the stay and comfort of all Christian souls, at whose right hand in heaven thou sittest and reignest for evermore, what may we render unto thee as a sacrifice acceptable, that hast given thyself a bleeding sacrifice for us and for our sins, A broken and contrite heart O Lord that thou will not despise, which daily in the meditation of this thy love and mercy towards us, and what thou hast undergone for us our sakes, shall be rend and torn, that it may be healed in thy wounds, and bound up in the bundle of thy mercy, that so we may stand spotless before thee the day of thy appearing, and good Lord so continue thy favour unto us, that this learnest and pledge of thy love, left as a monument to all after-worldes' and age's to come, may be so powerful and effectual unto us that it may seal in our hearts the forgiveness of our sins washed away in the stream of thy blood, and buried in thy side, never to open there mouths against us being there condemned to everlasting silence, and if at any time the frailty of the flesh by the instigation of Satan shall draw me unto sin, forgetting what thou sufferedest therefore, yet let my wandering thoughts, be called home to thy fold, in remembrance of these visible signs, whereby the breaking of thy body and the shedding of thy blood is so lively presented unto me, that I behold it as with my eyes mourning in myself, not accusing the jews, the scribes nor Pharisees, high priests nor elders, judas nor Pilate, but my sins that tormented, wounded, crucified the Lord of life to death, they were the cause, these were but the instruments whereby it was effected, O what is man that thou shouldest so regard him, or the son of man that thou so kindly visitest him: let every nail that was driven into thy hands and feet, by the hammer of our sins, be a thousand daggers at our hearts, to launch and let forth that putrefied corruption, that returned such muddy channels, to thee the fountain of living waters, that but with so a high a price, and dear expense could not be purified, but now being thus purged and made clean let us be wary we pollute them not again, having received so pure a guest, let us not harbour with him the unclean, least to our everlasting loss he take his flight, and forsake us, when then our unclean thoughts and cogitations, which his presence expelled and kept a loof of from us, retire themselves, every one accompanied with seven worse than themselves, and our end be worse than our beginning, and so that become unto us the savour of death unto death, which otherways had been the savour of life unto life, wherefore O Lord bless us at this time, and this thy holy institution that by our unworthiness we turn not that to evil which was ordained for our good, make it O Lord the plaster to heal all our wounds, the garment to cover our nakedness, the spiritual and corporal bread to the stay of our bodies and souls, let it be the cock to remember our sins, and the rock to stay our souls upon that we never fall from thee again, & to that end so bless us most gracious God, that this thy sacrament now received, may be to our everlasting good and welfare, so conducting us through this vale of misery with so godly a direction & guide, envy, contention, and malice laid a side, forgiving the offences of our brethren towards us, as we expect forgiveness at thy hands, that so in a godly society in this world we may live together in peace until we shall reign with thee in glory, which art the end of peace, where we shall then behold thee with our bodily eyes, as we behold thee now with faith, by the eye of the Spirit, and see that body that was broken and bruised for our sins, those hands that have made us, and fed us, that head that was crowned, now all glorified, never to be debaced more. To which blessed vision, & fruition, he bring us, that hath so ransomed us, for the glory of his sacred Name.  
Amen.   

A Thanksgiving unto God the Father, used by the reverend and learned, W. Musc. and fit to be used of all good Christians.  

LET all true Christians say and acknowledge with one heart and mouth, say also with them, O my Soul, say in this mortal body, without this mortal body, Glory, Honour, and Praise be unto thee, most merciful God, throughout all ages and Generations of the world, which hast not spared thine only Son, but offered him up a bleeding Sacrifice for the sins of thy people given him to death even to the death of the Cross, for most wretched mankind, to that end that through him we might be saved and delivered from destruction and brought into the liberty of everlasting life, grant unto us by thy spirit that we may perfect and continue in this thy grace for ever and ever.  
Amen.   

Mart. Luther's Prayers.  
confirm in us O God that which thou hast wrought, and finish the work thou hast begun in us, to the glory of thy name, and the saving of our souls at the dreadful day of thy Visitation, for thy mercy's sake.  
Amen.   

Saint Aust.  
O Deus omnium miserationum, pater Abyssus misericordiae tuae absorbeat abyssum peccatorum meorum.  
O Father of all goodness and mercy, let the depth of thy mercy dry up the depth of my sins.    

A Prayer for a Woman with child, or in travail, to be said by those present with her.  
O God most wise, most just, the blessed Father of our blessed Lord and saviour Christ jesus, creator, preserver, and governor of all things, next under thee under the subjection of man, so largely entitled by thy love, extended by thy favour, created with so goodly and beautiful a perfection in the estate of Innocency, that he was the model, and figure, & lively Image of thee, the fountain of all perfection and happiness: but through sin is our image defaced, our beauty and perfection darkened our whole disposition and purpose altered, the earth made barren, and cursed for our sake, and we cursed in the curse, by the sterility, labour, and manuring thereof, that now denies the increase that before she brought forth without the sweat and sorrow of the heart and brows of man. And for the woman, a party in the sin, a party in the curse: In pain and sorrow shalt thou bring forth. And to the Serpent, upon thy belly shalt thou creep, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. Yet to this woman, O Lord! as her present necessity requireth, be propitious, & near unto her, let thy birth sweeten her sorrow, that broke the head of the Serpent, that was the cause of the breach of thy Commandment, that hath sweetened the sorrows of all mankind. Hear her, O Lord, and answer her favourably, and be not angry with thy servant for presuming to cry unto thee, for the uncessant beating thine ears with her clamours, for grief compelleth her to speak, and the misery she endureth enforceth her to cry unto thee: have mercy upon her, O fountain of mercy, and hearken to her agony, that crieth for thy help. To her, and all women with child, or in travail, be merciful, and give them grace with patience to undergo and suffer the decree and pleasure of thy holy will: let them never strive against thee through impatience, but in true faith, and invocation of thy name, suffer thy cross contentedly, which their own original sin and wickedness drew from thy hands unwillingly. O Lord, if her heaviness induce for a night, let her comfort come in the morning, for joy that a child is borne into the world: and to that end, blessed God, be thou present and powerful in the exigent and strait of her greatest extremity (for as all thy works are wonderful, and past finding out, as our souls know right well, so are they not manifested in a shallow measure) in the connexion, creation, and nourishment, and preservation of the infant in the womb of the mother, in the birth and bringing forth of their little limbs into the world, all whole and perfect; to the which if thy aid and hand be absent, though all help beside in the world be present, they perish undoubtedly, both the one and the other. Wherefore thou God of wonders, and Father Almighty of heaven and earth, as thou hast by the death of thine only Son, taken away the sins of the whole world, and condemned sin in the flesh, so take away the anguish of Childbirth, brought forth by sin to all womankind, especially to this woman now in thy hands, that she may joyfully bring forth that which by thy blessing, she hath happily conceived, that she may be to her Husbands and her own comfort, as the fruitful vi●e on the walls of his house, and his children like the Olive branches round about his table. Thy blessing upon those that fear thy name, which blessing for thy blessed name sake grant thou God of all power & goodness.  
Amen   

The Prisoners prayer, written by a Gentleman, in passion and penitence, a few days before his trial.  
O everliving God, & most merciful Father, that art present in all places, and near unto all such as call upon thee, have mercy upon me most wretched sinner, odious in the sight of God, hateful in the eyes of man, banished from thy favour, from the lights of the Sun and firmament, all human comforts denied me, fettered in body and in soul, with the links and chains of my sins, and even bound to destruction, unless thou send me secure from above. My life I have abused and diverted my course from the paths of thy commandments, by the which I have not only offended my brethren in the flesh, & the law of man, by the which my body is condemned to die, having only power over that: But thee, the great God of heaven and earth (that madest me, and induedst me with many of thy good gifts, and blessings, as health, strength, agility of body, had I had but one blessing more, that was grace, to have used them well) that art able to cast both body and soul into hell-fire: yet though by my offences against David's choice, I have fallen into the hands of man, from whom I expect no favour for my life, yet with thee there is mercy for the forgiveness of my sins beyond expectation, which with that happy Thief, not in his life, but in his death, I trust in thy goodness to find so, that when the day shall come that shall finish the Sentence that shall end my misery and wretchedness in this life, That day I shall be with thee in Paradise, though evil have been my life ever since I had power to think or execute, so far forgetting humanity and nature, as if I had sucked the Dragons in the wilderness, having done those things that I ought not to have done, and left undone those that I should, never remembering thy dreadful name, but in the abuse thereof, never hearing thy word, but with contempt, never taking admonition, but with scorn, and quenching the good motions of the spirit with the whole deluge of sin, dishonouring my parents, and all good men, delighting in riot, drunkenness, whoredom and sloth, yet never toutht in conscience for any, nor for all, so far had custom hardened me, and Satan possessed me, that I was sick, even to death, and felt not my ill. I was at the brink of hell, and yet perceived not my footing. For the which O pardon me, my God, and show thy mercy upon me, and all prisoners and captives: teach me, that by this my restraint, that my liberty and lose life never pointed finger unto, that it is a happy compunction in the body, that makes a blessed compunction in the soul; And it is not thy least favour unto me, that thou hast stopped my headstrong course in the midst of mine iniquities, in the readiest path to destruction, that the Devil could prescribe, or flesh and blood follow, ere I had filled up the measure to the brim, are my condemnation was sealed, and thy face for ever turned away from me. Give me grace, O Lord, to make such use of this little time I have to live, that what with many days and sins I had lost, with many tears and sobs I may recover; and that whether my life be prolonged beyond my expectation, or ended according to my account, I may never from this time fall from thee, but take such deep root by this thy mercy, that being fully persuaded my sins are washed away in the blood of the lamb, and my transgressions do●e away in his satifiying, I may endeavour to live in such newness of life and conversation amongst men, that whom my evil life corrupted by example, my better may restore again by imitation, to the praise of thy name, the good of thy Chiloren, and and the salvation of my soul, and the magnifying of thy mercy world without end.   

A Thanksgiving for our redemption, purchased through the blood of Christ, and for other both corporal and spiritual blessings.  
WHat can man say that he enjoys amongst the innumerability of all thy benefits and mercies, that he hath not received from thee, and for the same aught to be thankful, but especially ought thy glory to be magnified by us, for our Election, Creation justification, Sanctification, who hast preserved us from day to day, and from a thousand dangers threatening both body and soul to their utter confusion. O most gracious and loving Father, which art beloved for thy goodness, honoured for thy greatness rejoiced in for thy happiness, praised for thy merits, and prayed unto for thy mercies, I acknowledge myself all too mean & unperfect to sound forth thy praises in such a key as I ought, or thou deservest: when I think thereof, a debility ceizeth upon all my parts, and I want words to express & power out my soul before thee. Enlarge O Lord, mine understanding, that I may the more fully conceive and apprehend thy benefits, that the abundance thereof may teach me new language, and phrase of more copious signification and content, and fill my heart with joy above measure in the apprehension thereof. By thy love I was elected, by thy goodness I was created by thy spirit I was called, by thy mer●y I was justified, by thy grace I was sanctified, and by thy power I am preserved, and by thy sufferings I shall be saved. By thy permission & goodness I move, live, and have my being: naked came I out of my mother's womb, and thou hast clothed me; hungry have I come to thy gates, and thou hast fed me; harbourless have I been exposed, and thou hast taken me in: well therefore may I admire thy mercies in silence, but speak of them as is meet I cannot, for there words forsake me, & my tongue becometh mute. Merciful father for all these thy benefits have I laid them to heart, resisted the motions of the flesh, the temptations of the devil? No, I have sinned grievosly in thy sight, preferred the desires of my flesh before the precepts of thy law, choosing rather a short and momentary taste of days in jollity and pleasure in this world, which at their fullest height are ever waning, and attended on by sorrow, than the eternal joys of thy kingdom in the world to come, nothing dreading the displeasure of thy Majesty, whose breath shaketh the foundations of the earth, and maketh the spirits of darkness to tremble, & burneth unquenchably in the bottomless pit of hell, whose power is so infinite, that in the twinkling of an eye, or more sudden the the flash of the lightning is able to consume what ever his hands have made: yet notwithstanding, sinful & careless creature that I am, have I been bold to do wickedly, to persever in the same, so now touched in conscience by the finger of thy good spirit, I am bold to speak, being but dust & ashes, prostrated before the throne of thy majesty, heartily to beseech, and humbly entreat thee, that thou wilt not deal with me according to my deserts: for then O Lord, where should I stand to plead my case? fire and brimstone should be my portion to drink, that have drunk down sin as Behemoth drinketh down water: but thou art gracious & compassionate, therefore under the shadow of thy wings will I seek for refuge, desiring thee to nail all my sins to thy cross, that through thy sufferings I may obtain remission thereof. I am a sinner, yet redeemed by thy precious blood: a sinner I am, remember thou camest into the world to save sinners, whereof I am chief, lost in a wilderness of errors, wandering from thy presence: help me, O Lord, or else who can deliver me? save me, O Lord, or else I perish, for there is no redemption no salvation without thee: hear him O Lord that condemneth himself, & caleth upon thee. O Saviour, whom wilt thou save, if the sinner shall descend to perdition that dispaireth of himself, and trusteth in thee? O blessed Saviour and Redeemer of the world, assuage my grief heal my diseases: thou hast called me when I, like the deaf Adder, would not hear thy voice: wilt thou then turn away thy face when my cries come unto thee? wilt thou suffer that to be lost which thou purchasest at so dear a prize? No Lord, for thy mercy's sake, for thine own sake sweet jesus.   

Of the danger of deferring our repentance, with a prayer suddenly to conceive it, and soon to practise it.  
MErciful God, and most loving father, what may I render unto thee for all thy benefits, more in number then the moths in the sun, or the sands by the seashore, that hast made to be when I was not, predestinated me from the beginning of the world, to be in due time and season, protected me in my mother's womb, carefully taken me out from thence, ever since been my guardian to these years of my youth: & for all these thou requirest nought but thankfulness towards thee, and remembrance of thee in my younger years & capacities, and shall I neglect and defer then to give thee the gifts of thine own giving? shall I give the first of my life, and best of mine years, the strength and marrow of my days to the service of Satan, and think that thou wilt receive me in my hoary age, when sin leaves me, and I not it? Good Lord wipe all such ingratitude out of my mind, that I may with a present joy & felicity in thee, embrace thee in due time in some measure, which hast done & suffered so many things for my soul and body: put far from me, O Lord, the thoughts and imaginations of wicked men, that upon thy long suffering & patience, pass over their days in mirth and jollity, and think their latest years, or last gaps sufficient satisfaction for a lewd and long mis-spended life. Thy father & thy mother in the days of thy humanity, losing thee in the temple went but one days journey without thee, but sought thee 3. days, sorrowing before they found thee. He that hath lost thee many years, must have many years to find thee again; and late and constrained repentance is seldom true repentance: our time is not when we ourselves will, but when God doth call, hear we must when he speaketh, open we must when he knocketh, else we shall power out our petitions in vain: for when we pray he will not hear us, the first and best is his due, & more than we can give, or he expects; and the last & worst is not sufficient, and he justly may and will reject it. Grant therefore merciful Father, that thy word may work in us so free and voluntary obedience to thy will, that thou mayst accept it, which in us is willing subjection, not by thy judgements, which is constrained obedience for fear of destruction, which thou little regardest. O Lord take from me that common and dangerous sin of presumption, presumption of thy mercies, that thou desirest not the damnation of sinners, that our years & youth, observation of diet, & curiosity of our health, will carry us to the l●st years of our expectation; and when we draw near to our end, that then safely enough we may begin to think upon thee, & all in due season And thus make presumption the rock whereupon we shipwreck our souls, and by the which many millions have perished, it drowned the old world, it threw the rich glutton into hell. Lord make my sense & understanding as a bulwark to beat back all the policies and assaults that Satan can devise to beat against with that engine: that to day I may hear thy voice lest thou harden my heart. And if I will defer upon hope and example, make me that I rather fear the portion of the bad Thief, than the success of the good, and let me not re●use thy grace in my health, when thou offerest it, lest when I shall crave it in my sickness, thou refuse to give it me: Touch me, O Lord, with a consideration of the danger thereof, that in time I may have grace to call for thy grace to prevent it, that I may now amend, and not defer till hereafter, to the end, to my death, when there is no remedy, but either I must to heaven or to hell, to God or to the devil, and when that comfort is seldom, found which presumptuously was imagined, when the memory presents fantasies and dreams, the heart aches, the hands trembl●, the tongue faltereth, the eyes wax dim, checks pale, lips black, feet weak, and the whole body and soul possessed with anguish, and grief, and terror, what repentance shall we then make? when our sins are so great they overpresse us, our comfort so small that we have no feeling of it, our time so short that we cannot think of them, our friends weeping that they put us out of them, amazement & distraction peeping wildly throughout all our senses, miserable is that man in this case whose end and repentance comes so near together-therefore Lord: whatsoever at the time of my death I would wish to have done, grant that in this time of my health I may do it, and Lord make me understanding, capable so wise in my generation, so gracious in thy grace that foreknowing these things I may prevent them, that with the wise virgins I may ever have the oil in my lamp, that is be in readiness to go with thee whensoever it please thee, that now I hear thy voice when thou speakest unto me, be acquainted with thee, that thou be no stranger unto me; but a friend and a friend indeed, as at all times, so especially at this exigent & last extremity, which how long it may be I will not presume, nor how short it may be despair, but prepare myself against it, my readiness being my resolution that whensoever it shall come it shall the less affright me, in that before I have set my house in order and disposed myself thereto which preparation that I may make, and success that I may find, grant me Lord (though so many neclect it) for thy mercy's sake.  
Amen.   

A prayer and meditation for a strong faith and against that dangerous sin of desperation.  
THough our sins were as red as scarlet, thy blood O Lord will wash them as white as snow, though in sin we have been borne, and in iniquity our mothers have conceived us, yet will we trust in thy loving kindness all the days of our life, if we should trust in our own merits, desperation would environ us on every side, yet Lord when we consider the multitude of our sins, and that every day of our life we add to there number, so that all the water in the Ocean-sea cannot rinse us from them, for the least of which in thy justice, thou mayst throw us down to the bottomless pit of hell, our faith faultereth and we begin to despair, but that we trust in the merits of his suffering who in the bundle of his affliction hath girt up ours, and will either nail them to his cross or cast them into the bottom of the sea, and hang millstones about there necks that they shall never rise up in judgement to condemn us, that else would never suffer us to rise up to be saved. Lord give us grace to be wary to our steps, & vigilant to our paths, to have an eye to our souls, for Satan compasseth the earth, watcheth, and roareth and walketh, transformeth himself into all shapes that he may win us in all sins, into an Angel of light being but a fiend of darkness, to sift and winnow us as wheat, grain after grain, that if it were possible he might surprise us: good God what need have we of thy assistance and grace to bear v● out, that have such enemies without, & such enemies within, the weakest whereof is stronger than we, so that we need the prayers of our own spirits, and the spirit of God that grows with groanings not to be expressed, and of the son of God himself who sitteth at his father's right hand and maketh intercession for us that our faith fail not, and that we fall not into desperation, for alas what ability have we of ourselves? or what strength have we in our sinn●wes? who are not as pillars of brass or the deaf rocks of the sea (against the which there waves dash themselves and they are not shaken, being substances so firm & unalterable that cannot be removed) but dust and ashes cracked with every flaw and blast of affliction, and unless thou support us we are not able to stand and there is no safety but under the wings of thy mercy, we have sinned against heaven, and against thee, the father of our spirits, the father of our flesh, against him that gave us his law, and he that gave our nature, birth, and being, by our misdeeds and abominations both the tables have we broken and done very wickedly in thy sight all the creatures in the world have in there kind and degree been more dutiful and serviceable unto thee, than man, so much beloved of thee made according to thine own image, endued with reason, directed by thy law and thy precepts: avering thus offended men and brethren what shall we do, all the creatures in heaven & earth accusing and condemning us, & the Lord himself complaining against us: I have nourished and brought forth children and they have rebelled against me, what shall we say that our sins are greater than can be forgiven? no let us with David, though our faith have almost failed and our feet slided with his, yet let us with him recover out-selues again, by laying hold upon thy promises, support us O Lord where thy Angels fell, Cain, judas, Achitophel, for they despaired in thy mercies and there fall was i●▪ recoverable, even to the bottomless pit of hell, from whence there is no delivery, but we will trust in thy mercies and loving kindness all the days we live in, and kiss the son lest he be angry, and o turn away the favour & light of his countenance from us, and lest his wrath be kindled against us his fierce and furious wrath, which O Lord who is able to abide: the extent and copiousness whereof is as his mercies are unexplicable, and therein sueth an abundance of misery with a train and conjunction of all plagues and punishments out of the ready storehouse of the restrained inundations of his wrath, that let at liberty range in an open field and there is none to resist them, we are all by nature the children of wrath borne to the inheritance thereof as to our father's lands, for nothing remaineth so hereditary to us as sin and confusion, but that the blood of Christ hath purchased favour for us, Lord give us grace to continue it in keeping a wary conscience to offend, and walking carefully in thy fear, but for such O Lord that are already condemned, that run on in an endless labyrinth of sin, the race to destruction without turning unto thee, drawing the unhappy breath, which if it had never been breathed into there nostrils whereby they were made living creatures, (it had been well with them) without repenting, heaping up anger against the day of wrath, & not caring to blunt the edge thereof, there end is the end of the sentence and they are sure to perish, not in the life of the body alone, but in the life and eternity of there souls, not for an age and a period of time but whilst God reigneth in heaven; able to do justice, to avoid which grievous plagues and punishments give us grace O Lord suddenly to turn unto the whilst the time of grace remaineth least the grave open her mouth and sh●t it again upon us, and close us up in our sins, and deliver us guilty into the hands of perdition, from the which we shall never be freed. Let us quench this wrath in time with the blood of the Lamb, stain from the beginning of the world, and through the stream of his mercy, and the riches of his merits, seek acceptance, acquaintance, and friendship with our God, that we perish not: let us not despair in our sins, nor presume on his merits too much, but lay hold thereon by faith, so applying the benefit of thy passion and merits to ourselves and our souls, that we may find favour, and be acceptable in thy sight. Thy mercy, O Lord, is the crown of all thy works, and my sins though they were more than I can commit, are not more than thou canst forgive, the assurance of this promise and the probation of thy goodness, evermore, shall be the rock whereupon my faith shall anchor, & I will sail my brittle bark throughout this sea of uncertainty, temptation and danger thou being the star of my direction, throughout the waves and surges thereof that sometimes lift me up unto the clouds, by the good thoughts and motions of the spirit, and sometimes cast me down to the ends of the earth, even to the bottomless pit of hell, by the temptations and allurements of the world and the devil, till I come unto the haven of my rest to the which Lord bring me for thy mercy's sake.  
Amen.   

In time of pestilence.  
TThe life of man, most glorious Lord thereof, by whose hands it was made, & in whose hands it is enlightened with such understanding, capacity, so large & ample, thy creatures, & benefits so good, so innumerable and all for the delight and service of man, which are so powerful and comfortable to him in the overlooking thereof in his large discourse and reason, that he could wish in this world a perpetuity without change, not knowing in his fleshly and blinded indgement, what may be more in heaven with thee to content his natural desire, that he enjoys, not in this eclipse & glimpse of thy goodness upon earth, that lands, possessions, sumptuous building, gorgeous clothing, the comfort of children, friends, servants with many other adiunctes, cannot be equalled or exceeded in the world to come: we confess O thou giver of all good gifts that we are not worthy of the lest of these thy benefits, not thy friends but thine enemies, & such that have pulled thee from the crown to the Cross, nailed thee there unto death, and not grieving ourselves that we have thus grieved thee, snatched thy benefits out of thy hands not returning that easy courtesy unto thee thou requirest of us, which is nothing but gratuity and thanks, being more ungrateful unto thee for all we have, for by thee we live and move, and have our being, enjoying nothing but from thy al-filling hands, from that overflowing fountain of thy goodness, yet more returning to a mortal man for one single courtesy, then to thee for all these, correct O Lord this fault in nature, this universal defect in mankind: O Lord if thou hast prepared so good things for thy enemies and friends together, what hast thou in store for thy elect there severed: surely such things as the eye hath not seen the ear hath not hard, the tongue cannot utter, the heart cannot conceive, with thee ò Lord there is fullness of joy & at thy right hand pleasures for evermore. Psal. 16. & who giveth us drink out of a whole river of pleasure. Psal. 36. where joy shall be ever present yet we cannot be filled, or rather filled but not satisfied, what it is O Lord thou knowest best, but there is the fountain & spring from whence all goodness floweth, take us into thy bosom, under the wings of thy mercy, into that celestial habitation where the sight and splendour of that heavenly presence, shall more delight then all the obscured and mixed pleasures the world can afford, on the other side we know as a strong motive unto us, the unsupportable and heavy judgement prepared against the day of wrath, for those that have drunk down sin as the Leviathan the waters, terrify O Lord our understanding with there horror & fearfulness, that we never come there to feel them, bring us by one means or other to the heaven of our happiness, what thy promises cannot persuade, let thy threatenings perform, by the terror of thy punishments, which are impossible to be uttered, and yet must be endured, bound hand and foot, & cast into utter darkness, where thy favour nor mercy shall never-more be extended: where neither the light of the sun, nor the moon, or stars, much less the light of God's face shall ever shine, where for ever shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, without determination or ceasing. O Lord who is able to endure it: thy Angel the walks in the darkness, and striketh at noon days, the many dangers that accompany our wretched lives, the lest of which one time or other strikes home, take us in our palace, in our gardens, in ourwarehouses, in the field, on the sea on the earth, in the air, in our beds, at our tables, whatsoever our bodies do, whatsoever our minds think, comes thy messenger in one shape or another takes us by the hand, leads us from whatsoever is dearest unto us, to the tribunal seat of thy justice and mercy, where we are either to be acquitted, or condemned, either to be received or thrust out. Lord therefore deal with us according to thy mercy, that if thou prolong our lives & bring us safe out of this storm & tempest of mortality, that by the fall & slaughter of others we be brought to such a serious consideration of our own mortality & estate that we make our preparation thereunto, all the days of our life, knowing that he may fall in his tent, that hath escaped the field perish in the haven that hath passed the Ocean, & that it must be surrendered one time or another, and if it please thee the we fall by the stroke of this thy devouring Angel, as the corruption & ranlinesse of our nature infectious enough to procure it and bring to pass that thou accept as my deed my will, desire, and purpose to serve thee, my intent for my action that I would, as if I should live to glorify thee, & make me out of love with this wretched world and all the allurements and baits therein, and in love only with thee and thy heavenly kingdom for thy blessed name sake.  
Amen.   

For humility upon these considerations.  
THou mighty Lord of heaven and earth, who holdest the ball of the world in thy hand, and keepest all times and seasons as in a register, who art all hand, all eye, all foot, for strength, for fight, for swiftness, to whom the inmost chambers and retired closets, the tabernacles and habitations of mortal men, nay the hearts and bosoms of all the creatures in the world, are unfolded and laid open as levill to thy sight, as the air which we look on with our eyes, what can we do the is hid from thy sight, ten thousand times brighter than the sun, or whether can we go that our sins & offences lie not naked before thee, surely no otherway there is, but only to involve them in the clouds & mists of sighs & repentance, repentance the gift of God, the joy of Angels, the salve of sins, the heaven & refuge of sinners: O where remains the subject of the title, the Angels sin not and therefore need not repentance, nor the spirits of darkness for the sentence is already past & condemnation sealed, it is only for me most wretched sinner that I am, & for my brethren of the same inheritance, to us alone doth it belong, and we perceive it not, we eat and feed deliciously, we are wanton with thy gifts, O God abusing them in surfeit and riot, and luxuriously, we sin in drinking, in procuring an appetite to exceed therein, we sin in our clothing, most superfluously attired like the rich glutton condemned to hell, as if we would exceed Solomon, and match the lilies of the field, and we ●eed not only ourselves, but our oxen in our meadows and stalls to feed our unprofitable carcases, & our horses in the stable to bear our unprofitable carcases, when the poor in our streets & at our gates, feed upon empty air for lack of sustenance, & we remember not them, not Christ in them, the hungereth and Christ the must feed us which is the advocate for the poor, & the judge of the rich, in this oblivion and height of our sins: what is become of humility, of repentance, we are all begotten in sin, and to misery are we brought forth: concupiscence hath been the nurse whose milk we have sucked from time to time, & as we have grown in years so hath corruption grown up with us as part of our own nature: what remaineth them O Lord for us but humility & repentance, to prostrate ourselves upon the knees of our hearts, and say Lord have mercy upon sinners with the poor publican, & not with the proud Pharise to say I am not like this man, or other my brethren for I do thus and so, let us not be so mad as to forget nature so much, all our imperfections, the substance and metal whereof we are made, and that we must suddenly turn to the earth, upon which now we trample with such contempt and scorn, and must become chamberers and fellows with worms and rotlennesse: and what cause have we then to be proud? Nay, what cause have we not to be humble? when of all the large possessions and inheritances we possess, we have no more truly our own then the length and breadth of our Carcases. And again, let us humble ourselves, that Christ may exalt us, and not exalt ourselves, lest he throw us down, as he scattereth the proud in the imagination of their hearts. Let us learn of him to be humble and meek, which although the King of heaven and earth, having all power and pre-eminence, and proud in subjection under his feet, yet was not touched with this vice himself, that chose poor Fishermen to be his Disciples, paid tribute to his inferiors, road upon an ass, prayed for his Persecutors, embraced young children, cured the halt, and the lame, and the blind, and regarded the low estate of his Handmaid, and will regard us if we regard this virtue, which he so regarded, if we be imitators of his steps, and examples, which he grant that hath thus led the way, the God, the King, the Prince of humility, for his own dear sake.  
Amen.   

The living words in effect of a dying man, closed up in this virtue.  
I Unto thy hands, O Lord, I commend my soul and body, prostrate in all humility and obedience to thy good will and pleasure, Lord jesus have mercy upon thy humble and prostrate servant.   

The sum of the Prayer of the Lady G. at the time of her execution.  
WIllingly and joyfully O Lord, come I hither into thy hands to resign my soul and body, in whose protection I trust they shall be safer and better then in this life (although in the best measure) they ever were: give unto me, my God, thy poor and weak servant and vessel, patience, constancy and strength to undergo this my sentence of death, strengthen the frailty of my sex, in the act of this my suffering: and though I die for that I never of myself desired, yet howsoever lest any sin in the least consent or thought hath defiled my purity therein, for it pardon me my God, and blot it out of the book of thy remembrance; and not only that, but the whole course thereof, throughout my whole life, that my soul with the wings of faith in thy mercy, may cheerfully ascend to thy blessed kingdom.  
And so preparing herself to die with these words rendered her life.  Lord jesus receive my Spirit.  

A general Thanksgiving to God for all his benefits and mercies to man.  
O Eternal God in Christ jesus, most gracious and merciful, for all thy blessings both temporal and spiritual, bestowed upon me, the least of thy servants, and most unworthy to cast up mine eyes to thy heavenly Tabernacle, where thou reignest in glory, do I yield all possible & hearty thanks unto thy divine Majesty for all thy blessings and mercies bestowed upon me, especially for the singular benefit of my justification, and the admirable gift of eternal salvation, purchased by the righteousness and dearest life of thy beloved Son Christ jesus my Saviour. My lot is fallen in a pleasant place, well is me, and yet woe is me, because it is, and I understand it not: hast thou been favourable unto all thy creatures in the world, or hast thou neglected others, and been mindful of me? Good Lord, why shouldest thou bestow thy health, thy wealth, thy rest, and liberty, advancements, friends, possessions, Children like the Olive. Olive branches and their trees for me & them to repose securely under? Why shouldest thou, I say, bestow these blessings upon me more than upon others? I can give no reason for it, but stand wondering and admiring thy mercy, which is the cause of it: and if thou shouldest take a survey of my worthiness to enjoy all these at thy hands, and finding me so unworthy as I am of the least, shouldest withdraw them all back again, what could I say, but commend thy justice? Have I deserved liberty, and joseph thy servant deserved bonds? Have I deserved rest, and thy David to be tossed to and fro upon his watery couch day and night? to have the son of his own loins, and the loins of his own body rebelling against him? Hath thy Lazarus deserved to lie at the gates, afflicted in body & mind, craving but crumbs wherewithal to be refreshed, and I like the rich man, whose dogs more merciful than their master came and licked his sores, sitting at my table furnished with abundance, like his? Have I deserved health, and thy job to lie full of botches and biles upon the dunghill? Are these thy blessed servants tried in the furnace of affliction, laid in the throat of hell, and am I wrapped up into Abraham's bosom? have I their portion, and do they stand at reward, or sent empty? Why my soul is it so well with thee? mercy, abundance of mercy, and why art thou so ill my soul? O mercy, yet most wretched sinner that I am, have I not in a Christian love, and godly nature been moved to serve thee in a larger measure, considering these thy benefits upon me so largely multiplied, than the poor and persecuted Children that never tasted thy mercy but in imitation of their misery. Continue O Lord this thy goodness unto me, and the more to persuade thee thereunto, lift my heart and spirit out of this dull and earthly Centre wherein it moveth, to the meditation of thee, and these thy mercies, with a thankful retribution of all my thoughts and affections, to thee, from whence they come, that I may ever serve thee from this hour, with those duties, which the world, the flesh and the Devil would have me deser until the point of death: and good father grant, that I may love righteousness and pity, with as great good will as ever I loved wickedness and vanity, and that I may go before other in thankfulness towards thee, as far as thou goest in mercy to me before them. O teach me to seek thee in all things, and all things in thee, even for thy name sake, for thy promise sake, for thy sons sake, our Lord and Saviour Christ jesus.   

A Thanksgiving before meat.  
TO thee O Lord, the giver of all good gifts, upon whose bounty and mercy depend all the creatures in the world, which openest thy hand, and fillest us with thy blessings, or we go empty away, and perish: Thy bounty and goodness it is, O Lord, that furnisheth our backs, and feedeth our bellies, and spreadeth our tables, blesseth, preserveth, and upholdeth all that we have, our basket, and our store, the oil in our cruses, provision in our presses, the sheep in our folds, in our stables, the children in the womb, at our tables, the corn in our fields, in our floors and garners, and all that we have, or is in the air, in the earth, in the sea, or wheresoever else the least of which thy good gifts and blessings, let us not at this time, nor no time else presume to touch, make use, or enjoy without an awful reverence and respect to thee the author and owner thereof. Sanctify therefore we beseech thee at this time, them unto us, and us in them, so that thy name may be glorified, and our bodies comforted, through jesus Christ.  
Amen.   

Thanksgiving after meat.  
Dear Father, we render m●st humble and hearty thanks unto thee as is most meet & requisite, for all thy former benefits & good creatures, ordained & given to our use, sacrificed & ready to be sacrificed every day for our pleasures: so now at this time for the large & competent satisfaction thou hast bestowed upon us to the refreshing of our weak & fainting bodies. So good Lord, as thou hast been gracious unto us in breaking this thy corporal and material bread unto us at this time, to the food of our bodies, so likewise give thy Spiritual bread unto our souls in that abundant measure, that the more they eat and drink thereof, the more they may hunger & thirst after thee, to fulfil thy precepts, to walk in thy commandments, and to do the works of charity and mercy towards others, to whom thy bounty hath in some measure been restrained; which grant most merciful Father, for thy mercy's sake.  
Amen.   

Before Meat.  

TO thee the Author of our being,  
Before the world our time foreseeing,  
The time approached thou hadst decreed,  
That thought did cease, effect succced  
Into the world, poor, naked; bore  
We were brought forth, nursed by thy care;  
Of whom ere since we beg and crave,  
For food, for raiment, all we have,  
Bless these thy gifts we shall receive,  
Shall feed, shall taste of by thy leave,  
And all things else, what ere it be,  
That thou shalt send, that come from thee,  
Bless soul and body, basket, store,  
Our health, our wealth, our rich & poor:  
What ere we do, so bless the same,  
That still our mouths may praise thy name.  
Thy Church & king, God save & bless,  
And grace from heaven so send,  
That we may live a happy life  
And make a god●y end.    

After Meat.  

Our bodies thus refreshed and fed,  
Whom thou dost daily fill,  
So let our lives be spent and led  
According to thy will.  
And as thou break'st thy earthly bread  
Unto our mortal hands,  
So break that bread unto our souls,  
Whereon our welfare stands:  
For as the body doth decay,  
Doth languish and complain,  
From food and nourishment debarred,  
That doth her state maintain.  
So will the soul, and all her powers  
Dry, whither, parch, and perish,  
If that thy grace, which is her life,  
Refresh not, feed and chorish.  
Lord therefore stretch thy mighty hand,  
And let thy love appear,  
In feeding this, in filling that,  
In holding both so dear.  
That when we leave this wicked world,  
Whose pleasure is but pain,  
In peace and rest in heaven with thee  
We evermore may reign.   
Amen.    

Certain Rules and Precepts for the good ordering and government of a man's life.  
1 IN the morning when thou first awakest, bless God, give him thanks for his careful protection and watching over thee, for the quiet rest and sleep he hath bestowed upon thee, to the refreshing of thy body, and the renewing of thy mind, but be sure that he have the first place in thy heart.  
2 Call to mind all thy business for the day following, and to thyself propose to the effecting thereof, a good order & method, & ever think of the end before thou undertake any thing; and to all thy honest intents & endeavours, crave the direction of God, and his assistance, otherwise thou toylest in vain, and thy labours will not prosper.  
3 As for the success and effecting of thy business, so before thou setst thy foot out of doors, put God again in mind of thy person, implore his assistance & protection over thee, knowing that many a one hath gone out of his house, & never come in again, and that so it may befall thee if he prevent it not.  
4 At the evening when thou retirest thyself, call to mind what thou hast effected, what thou hast neglected, what evil thou hast healed that day, what vice thou hast stood against, in what part thou art bettered, and as thou went i● out in his fear, so return in his favour, giving him thanks for the ability and motion of thy body in the accomplishment of thy affairs: for of ourselves we are not able to lift our hands to head, food to our mouths, & therefore by his goodness & sufferance, we have all, and enjoy all that we have.  
5 If thou hast neglected any duty wherein thou mayst have pleasured thy brother, not endangered thyself, any common courtesy, that by the law of nature one man is bound unto another, Cor. 11. 13. If thou hast offended any man by deed or by word, by instigation or procurment, call them to mind, condemn thyself therein, & be sorry therefore; and before thou seek to give thy body any rest, rest not till thou hast sought a pardon at the hands of God, which will never be granted, but upon this condition; That thou be heartily sorry for the same, and purpose in thine heart never to offend in that kind again.  
6 When thou preparest thyself to bed, likewise prepare thyself as for thy grave, remembering that many go to bed, & never rise again till they be raised with the sound of the last trumpet, and for aught thou knowest the thing so often resembled thereby, may now be ready for thee: For ut somnus mortis, sic lectus Imago sepulcri, the number of thy days expired, & thou must pass from the land of the living in the moment; or howsover, there is one of thy number spent, and y● art nearer thy end by one day. Therefore every night be so wise as to know the which the fool neglected, that that night thy soul may be taken away, which came to pass upon him when he thought of the enlargement of his barns, but thought not of that at all. Therefore omne crede diem tibi deluxisse supremum.  
7 Health is above gold, and a sound body above infinite riches, therefore keep thyself from surfeting, from drunkenness, from whoredom: for besides that they waste thy substance, and distemper thy body, they expend thy time more precious than the gold of Ophir, which is not lent thee but for other ends & uses. If sickness come, but seek it not, be careful to pass it over, to redeem thy health, but put not thy trust in the Physician: for he may apply, but unless God perfect, his help and thy hope is in vain. Asa may complain of his gout, Ezekias of his ulcer, the Shunamites child of his head, but no help can be had where the Lord doth deny it.  
8 unus introitus innumeri exitus. There is but one manner of entering into the world, but many ways of going out. mill modis morimur, uno bene, we die a thousand ways, and but one way well. In the midst of our life we are in danger of death, in the midst of our pleasures many times it is present, it follows the body of all flesh, as the shadow that waits thereupon, and at one opportunity or another will be sure to strike home. Set therefore sometimes before thy eyes, that which always stan●s behind thy back: Remember thy end, and thou shalt fear to do amiss.  
9 Keep the wandering thoughts of thy heart, the suggestions of the fresh, which are ever rebellious to the will of God within bounds and limits: suffer them not to kindle and burn up the good motions of the spirit, but extinguish the least spark that shall arise, whilst it is a spark, by the wholesome precepts of Gods revealed will, be careful to use the time well which thou hast, for thou knowest not what time will be allotted thee more, & from thy worldly affairs, the mart & traffic of thy businesses, wherewith the multitude that look no further than the example of the world▪ and the eyes of nature give them sight, are carried away, and draw thyself sometimes aside to the exercise of prayer and thanksgiving: for how earnest soever ●hy business be it shall speed the better for this, what haste soever this hinders not the speed.  
9 Whatsoever thou takest in hand, though thou have beaten thy brains, and wearied thy spirits, and it hath succeeded well, yet think not that it brought to pass with thine own endeavours, but by the sufferance & assistance of God, without whose help it is in vain to rise early, and to go to bed late, and eat the bread of carefulness: For except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that go about to build it. Except the Lord keep the City, the keepers watch in vain: And therefore without this aid and assistance implored, his direction and protection craved, endeavour not any thing, ●●t it lead thee forth, & bring thee in, let it be the beginning, the middle, & the end in whatsoever thou undertakest, ut bene sit tibi, that it may go well with thee.  
10 For food, raiment, the fruits of the body, the fruits of the field, for health, wealth, friends, for all the mercy's and benefits thou receivest from God, whether out wardly or inwardly in body or inwardly in mind, receive them not, use them not, touch them not without prayer and praise, & thanksgiving to him, the creator and giver of all good things, whose overflowing goodness & mercy sufficeth the wants and necessities of thee and all his creatures and clientes in the world beside, and as Christ himself and his Apostle upon earth gave thanks for the benefits both of soul and body to God the father, so learn thou by there example to do likewise.  
11 Consider often & seriously of the wisdom, power, omnipotency, majesty of that dreadful Lord of heaven & earth, that created & governeth the whole frame of the world, & all the creatures therein, that hath made thee a creature of such excellence & capability given thee rule & dominion over all his creatures in the world, done so many bleeding wonders & miracles for confirmation of his love, to thee, defended thee by his gracious providence and protection everfince thou wast borne, as the apple of his own eye, the explication of whose love, the height of heaven above the earth, the distance of the east from the west the love of fathers towards their sons, of mothers towards the latest fruit of their wombs, hens towards their chickens, have been but dull shows in a poor measure to express it towards thee, so amply testified: in recompense whereof strive to give him thy heart, thy soul, and best affections, which is all he desires, though much more he deserves.  
12 Be ever careful to lay hold upon the foretop of time, & defer not any thing that must be done: for whatsoever is good is much bettered by the speedy performance of it, and one delay is the mother of many, according to the old proverb, qui non est hody, cras minus aptus erit, he that is not fit to day will be less fit to morrow. Wilt thou observe the time, the season, for the tilling of thy ground for the sowing of thy seed, for the gathering of thy fruits for the setting of thy tree for the lopping of her branches, and wilt thou not observe thy own time, observing so in these transitory and trivial things, which if thou let carelesty pass may never be granted unto thee again and for that neclect thou perish.  
13 Think with thyself thou hast deferred many years thy repentance, & think how gracious the Lord hath been unto thee the he hath not cut thee of in the midst of thine iniquity, and resolve with thyself no longer to delay in the kind, but make this thy present day upon pain of thy peril, lest in the bitterness and anguish of thy soul thou hereafter be enforced to cry out, then was the kingdom of grace but that I have neglected, and now is the kingdom of justice by which I am condemned, them was the saving of souls, now the time of condemning them, the means then delivered by the tongues of men mildly perswacively the account now in the trumpet of the Archangel, fierce and terrible, woe is me therefore that I have thus deferred,  
14 Then came it with tidings of great, joy to the world, but now with terror & amazement to the whole humanity thereof, to all the kindred & generations therein, them with Laus Deo in exelsis, glory to God on high & peace upon earth but now with a changed still ve ve habitatoribus terrae, woe to the inhabitants of the earth then together the lost sheep of Israel into the fold, now to sever the goats from the sheep, then to embrace both jew the gentle, now to divide between servant and servant at the same mil, between man and wife in the same bed, between jacob and Esaw in the same womb, to give a blessing to the one and a curse unto the other, know therefore the danger of deferring thy repentance and eschew that common sin, lest it one day fall thus heavy upon thee.  
15 Often and ever think upon the love of Christ, never enough to be thought upon, the gracious and admired work of thy redemption by the blood of that immaculate and unspotted Lamb Christ jesus, at the very name whereof shall be bowed all the knees in heaven and in earth, but at the thought thereof shall be rend all the hearts of both, a mystery so great that the host of heaven admire, and the Angels desire to pry into, whom in thy poor measure imitate in admiration of his mercy and justice, how they meet, embrace, and kiss each other, and be thankful to him that hath so graciously dealt with thee and all mankind.  
16 Periculosum existimo quod bonorum virorum non comprobatur exemplo: & e contrario.  
There was never that goodness or virtue in the world that might be imitated either with ease or difficulty by life or death in whose steps some have not imitated to tread, the end of whose days hath been peace upon earth, and glory with the saints in heaven, so on the other side there was never vice that set foot upon earth from the least sense that infects, to that which weighs down to the pit of hell that hath not had imitators, whose reward hath been misery and contempt upon earth, and a continuance & augmentation thereof in the lake of perdition in the world to come, therefore let the reward of the on, and the punishment of the other be ever set before thy eyes that thou mayst follow the better and eschew the worse.  
17 Do not that injure to any other that thou wouldst not another should do unto thee though thou canst, oppress not the poor by thy might, be not quarellsome, a company keeper nor gamester, nor surety but for a tried friend & a good occasion because for beside the iosse of time which these expend they draw o● oaths & quarrels surfeits & sickness and for the most part end in blood, & he the hath any of these, cannot rightly entitle his own goods to himself nor anything that he doth possessed.  
18 Again I say, haunt not taverns, alehouses, brothels, but beware of the danger, of the expense, the bane both of body and soul, and take heed that thou take not delight in any unlawful thing for there is no one vice that having wholly possessed a man that is not accompanied with a whole train of wickedness at the heels thereof able to eat up and devour the very root and substance of goodness itself, therefore take heed that thou fall not into the snars thereof.  
19 Keep not company with any notorious or detected person, by whom though not otherways thy reputation and credit may be called in question in the opinion of the world, for by the company, be it good or evil that thou keepest such shalt thou be censured to be for similis similem querit, and in what company soever thou come, have a care that the company may be rather bettered by thy presence then any way impeached thereby & keep a strait watch over the words, thoughts, & deeds of thy heart, restraining the liberty thereof where it would extend further then convenient and honest.  
20 Bee fearful to commit sin, especially any exemplar sin, to show the way, as it were, to others, lest they perish therein unrepentant, and it be one day laid to thy charge, every one shall have enough to answer for himself: woe to him that shall be priest with the weight of his own and others, every sin as a millstone, to press him down to the pit of Hell.   

Certain sentences or Rules of good life and pertitinent to the Precepts going before.  

servire Deo regnare est.  
1 THE service of God is perfect freedom.  
2 Where ignorance finds no mercy, contempt shall sure find misery.  
3 There is no man borne without sin, happy is he that increaseth it least.  
4 Till death there is no man happy, then happy is he that dies in the Lord.  
5 Make use of time for it passeth with a swift foot, and that which follows most commonly is not so good as that which goes before.  
6 He that ungodly dies rich shall have many mourners to his grave, but few comforters at his judgement.  
7 Expect that love from thy children that thou thyself hast tendered to thy parents.  
8 So dispose thy time as if thou shouldest live long and yet as if thou shouldest die suddenly.  
9 Do well to thine enemies that they may become thy friends.  
10 It is the part of a wiseman to prevent injuries ere they happen, of a valiant man to withstand them ere they come.  
11 Out of other men's faults judge how odious thine own are.  
12 There is more trust in virtue then in oaths.  
13 He that will speak what he would, shall hear that he would not.  
14 Delight not to speak ill of the dead.  
15 Strive to be rich in that, that when thy ship shall perish suffers no shipwreck.  
16 Learn that being a child that will adorn thee being a man.  
17 The waist of time is a dear expense.  
18 It is better to fall amongst the Ravens of the air than the flatterers of the earth, for the one strikes the dead but the other wounds the living.  
19 He lives in vain that hath no care to live well.  
20 Greatness is not the cause of goodness, but goodness is the cause of greatness.  
21 So love that thou mayst hate, so hate that thou mayst love.  
22 If by thy labour thou accomplish any thing that is good the labour passeth but the good remaineth to thy comfort, if for thy pleasure thou shalt do any thing that is ill, the pleasure passeth, but the evil remaineth to thy sorrow.  
23 The goodman will not ●in for the love he bears to God and goodness itself; But the evil man for fear of punishment.  
24 Be thou never so old thou mayst every day learn, therefore never be ashamed to learn that thou knowest not.  
25 Despise not old age but grieve to see it miserable.  
26 Swear not often but perform what thou swearest being honest though to thy loss.  
27 'tis tyranny to do what may be done and not regard what ought to be done.  
28 Whatsoever is dear unto thy body forbear it being any way prejudicial to thy soul.  
29 So love thy best friend that thou be not thine own worst enemy.  
30 Desire in any thing rather to be in substance without show, then in show without substance.  
31 Forbear to speak much for he that doth shall not often speak well, and it is better to be lame in the way then to run out of the way.  
32 A good life and a bad make death appear in two shapes, happy is he that lives so that it appear in the best.  
33 He that fears to die, fears to find that he lives to seek.  
34 If death be not good of itself, yet it is the end of many evils.  
35 Health is above wealth, and a competency with content riches enough. And many a one hath the use of much money that hath not the use of himself.  
36 Be silent in thy intentions, lest by the contrary thou be prevented and laughed to scorn.  
37 As the Touch-ston tries so gold tries man.  
38 It is better to be truly reprehended by a friend then falsely flattered by an enemy.  
39 By other men's examples not by thine own, learn what is worst to eschew, what is best to follow.  
40 As he sleeps well that feels not he sleeps ill, so he sins much that thinks not that he sins at all,  
41 Several accidents have several remedies, but patience is appliable to all.  
42 The later day is commonly the scholar of the former.  
43 To conquer the affections of one's own heart is more than to conquer a kingdom.  
44 The covetous man is good to none but he is worst to himself, and wants aswell that he hath as that he hath not.  
45 So trust thy friend that he cannot hurt thee being thy enemy.  
46 He that doth an injury to one threatens it to many.  
47 It is hard to keep safe that that many men desire, as a fair wife, ready money.  
48 The eye near offends if the heart govern it well.  
49 Nothing is thine own truly that thou canst dispossess thyself of.  
50 There is no day of a man's life so happy that something doth not happen to grieve him.  
51 He that gives not willingly will always find some reason why he should not give.  
52 The increase of knowledge is the increase of sorrow.  
53 There was never wise man but saw more cause of sorrow than joy.  
54 That man's end is easy and happy that death finds with a weak body and a strong soul.  
55 Youth and nature pass over many infirmities that are owing till our age.  
56 Who lives most vertuousoy will die most patiently.  
57 Live to die once die once to live ever.  
58 Think of God with wonder, speak to God with reverence, serve him in love, obey him in fear and do nothing but as in his presence, and sight, and thou shalt live the life of the godly & go the way of the blessed, live in his fear and die in his favour.   

The dirivation of man.  
59 Homo ex humo, cadaver ex carodata vermibus.  
60 Sapiens miser plus miser est quam rusticus miser scit enim exaggerare causas dolendi, quas rusticus miser nescit.   

Admonition against sin▪  
61 When sin allures thee, think that thou seest Christ coming towards thee as he lay in the arms of joseph of Arimathea, taken down from the Cross, all wan and bleeding, wounded, the delicacy, beauty and admiration of all his parts, clouded, sullied and stained, speaking thus unto thee, o forbear to commit it, for it fetched me from the arms of my father, from my royalty and glory in heaven whole and untouched, to the arms of this mortal man, all wounded and torn as thou seest, and with this contemplation forbear.   

Zacheus certain gain, the world's imagined loss.  
If Zacheus to win heaven restored fore-fould from those he had but injured single; how do they labour to win hell, that do injury foure-sould & yet make not restitution single.   

The five thoughts of a Christian.  
1 Think of pleasure, to despise it.  
2 Of death to expect it.  
3 Of judgement to escape it.  
4 Of hell to prevent it.  
5 Of heaven to desire it.   

Four kind of men, according to David, that are most indebted unto God for their lives.  
1 Those that have escaped a dearth.  
2 Prisoners there bonds.  
3 Those escaped in a mortal sickness.  
4 Seafaring men, that are neither among the living nor the dead.   

A Prayer for Constancy and grace against all worldly vanities and allurements.  
Give me grace to effect thy will, O Lord, & command me what thou pleasest, give me constancy and perseverance in my calling and duties of life, according to thy will and direction, and then let my course be in what thou wilt appoint; Be I a husband, chastity and content shall adorn my calling, in despite of the allurement of all other beauties, all other accidents. Be I rich, pride nor oppression, nor contempt, the adherent vices of that Mammon shall not seize me with their easiness in their snares: be I whatsoever I am, be thou my guide and rule of my life, and then all my actions shall be squared and fitted by the aim of thy word, to the level of thy will, that so they may end in thy glory & my comfort: and that they may so do, good Lord so guide & temper my disposition with such a regiment of thy goodness, that thou let not the world with her smiles beguile me, nor with her frowns affright me: arm me with sanctity, strength & wisdom, that I may use it as though I used it not, and let not Satan deceive me therein: let not my own condition betray me to his malice: let me every day increase my strength in thee, adding to the spiritual estate and welfare of my soul, that the longer I live, I may walk more securely in the midst of so many enemies: give me a true estimation of all earthly flatteries, vanities, and pleasures, & such deep sight therein, that through the shades & beauties▪ & allurements, I discern the poison the lies at their roots, & so forbear the one that I perish not by the other: let my delight be least taken when my body most lives, but whilst the one walks dully upon earth, let the other soar sprightly to heaven, let me not for the glimpse and shining like a glow-worm in this world, lose the splendour & beauty more glorious than the stars in the firmament in the world to come, prepared for me, and all that persever in thy ways unto the end, which grant Lord for thy mercy's sake.  
Amen.   

A short Memorative of the mortality of our life, and the folly of our living.  

Ashes & earth, stand forth, thou art here acused,  
That thou thy brittle substance hast abused,  
The potter's vessels being earth and clay  
Not safely guarded, suddenly decay:  
And then their use, though needful much before,  
Fails in effect, and are observed no more.  
Thou wondrous workman of unbounded skill,  
That showest so large, art on a stuff so ill.  
What are our bodies made of but of mould?  
And yet how rich a substance do they hold?  
The which so many ways we do deface,  
That for the jewel should preserve the case.  
Sometime a thousand vanities our guide,  
We dash this bark upon the rocks of pride,  
Or on the shelves of gluttony or lust,  
We perish suddenly, and not mistrust,  
Sailing along on this uncertain sea,  
Where we are tossed & turmoiled every day,  
Where we are lifted as the winds do keep,  
Up to the clouds, & down into the deep.  
Where if we pass the danger of the main,  
Within the haven landing we are slain.  
What shelves, and sands, and winds, and waves withstood,  
Yields by infected air, or tainted blood,  
Or useless whilst in readiness we stand,  
And near adventure on the sea from land,  
Yet will continuance where the winds not wear us,  
Dis-joint our joints, & all in sunder tear us.  
Though sea & land, & all their danger saves  
Yet will this crooked cripple dig our graves,  
Where being accepted, world nor friend to mind us,  
Death so having left us, so shall judgement find us.  
For worms that eat our bodies, pierce our skin,  
Waste us to nothing, do not waste our sin,  
Which will not leave us where our friends forsake us,  
But as a witness to that bar will take us,  
Where we poor trembling wretches standing there,  
Quake like the popler with espects of feore.  
Conscience there wounding, and will not conceal  
That which undoes us if it shall reveal,  
Where if the righteous scarce shall favour find,  
What place for graceless sinners is assigned?  
Such as thy precepts have not kept in awe,  
But broke each text, & canon of thy law,  
Been drown● in nature's pleasures all my life,  
At peace with sin & sinners, but in strife  
With thee the Lord that art the king of peace,  
For which my woes begin, my pleasures cease,  
Now all my glass of vanity is run,  
For pleasures past I perish, am undone:  
For appetites untasted, scarce enjoyed,  
Are soul and body endlessly destroyed,  
When to the blessed for a little pain,  
Which was but pleasure, comes an endless gain.  
Where this world's w●, the sorrow & annoy  
They have sustained, is eaten up in joy,  
Where as the light of Gods most glorious face,  
Angels & Ministers of love and grace,  
Prophets & patriarchs there in raiment bright,  
Which spent their oils to lend the world their light.  
Whose blessed examples as the lives they lead  
Brought them to heaven, brings others be-in dead,  
Where their deceased parents, and their friends  
And they embrace in joy that never ends,  
Where they their sons & daughters did deplore,  
That went before them, meet & part no more  
Admetus what I may, the half no tongue can tell,  
But this am sure of, their estate goes well,  
And mine lamented, what they gain I lose  
Deprived of these true substances for shows,  
Soothed by exemplary & headlong times,  
Reckoning the venom'st vices venial crimes  
As these our days fraught with all kind of sin,  
Of ages past, & crimes that near have been,  
New bred in us, that prey upon our blood,  
Our health, our wealth, what's dear, what's near, what's good,  
New sins with their new plagues to stop their tide  
Which more lift, the more they are denied,  
For which the land should mourn & weep in woe  
But it runs forward, & it near thinks so,  
Surfeits & pride, with other such excess,  
Eat up our health, which we might else possess,  
And our untemperance doth dig our grave,  
By which abuse that kills us that should save  
By course of nature set these causes by,  
Our size decreaseth, and our old men die  
Full in account of years, if that they gain  
The childhood that their parents did attain  
And yet they died, though many years god lend  
A day still came, that all those years did end.  
By which we learn the frailty of our kind,  
The truth of God's decree on sin assigned,  
That takes possession on the long-lived man,  
Upon the child that yesterday began,  
Upon the rich in palaces of gold,  
Upon the poor in cottages of mould,  
Spares no degree from sceptre to the swain,  
From the first childhood to the last again.  
Spares no condition, neither Prince nor King,  
Titles are vain, as any other thing,  
As we experience with more truth & w●,  
Then land ere mourned for, to co●irme it so,  
Lays all their pomp & glory in the dust,  
That former times ere had, or latter must,  
Pulls down the plumes, of vanity, and pride,  
Vnpaints our painted flesh, & doth deride  
Our childish follies that we somuch cherish  
That at a moment shall so quickly perish,  
The face, the hand, the body so innured,  
From lights of heaven and earth so much obscured,  
That sun, nor air, nor wind, shall touch the skin  
They so regarded, take so much pleasure in:  
Those thou wilt strip, their trifles cast away  
Into a winding sheet, and bed of clay;  
Whereas the worms & vermin shall destroy  
What was their own delight, & others joy,  
Shall pull the flesh & sinows from the bone,  
And what they leave, corruption seize upon.  
Where that proud earth, that so in height did stand  
Resolves to a heap of dust, a grain of sand.  
When thus it is, let all mankind appear,  
And take a true view what we must be here:  
Within the earth we there must make our bed  
Upon our flesh being worms & verm●n fed.  
Since youth, and strength, and health, and all decay,  
And every one but hastens on the day,  
Since former ages, could not one man save  
To show a monument against the grave:  
But every child & parent that they owed,  
And saw brought forth, they saw again bestowed.  
Thither our carcases sink down & rot,  
Our ill remembered, and our good forgot.  
From out this transitory world of woe,  
From which we part, to God that minds not foe,  
Let us so live, that we forget not why  
We live within this world, which is to die,  
And both so live & die, that when we end,  
Though world become our foe, Christ be our friend,  
And then however, whatsoe'er befall,  
In losing little we have gained all.    
FINIS.