PULPIT SPARKS Or Choice FORMS OF PRAYER, By Several Reverend and Godly DIVINES Used by them, both before and after SERMON. With other PRAYERS, for extraordinary occasions, TOGETHER, With Dr. HEWYTTS last PRAYER, BY, Dr. Reeve. Dr. Gillingham. Dr. Jer. tailor. Dr. Hewytt. Dr. wild. Dr. Griffith. Mr. Tho. Fuller. M. Ball. M. Goddard. M. Nat. Hardy. M. Hall. M. Jo. Marston. M. Mackerness. M. Sparks, London, Printed for W. Gilbertson at the Bible in Giltspurstreet, 1659. TO The Judicious, and Religious READER. THe most pious eye is that which doth look upward; heaven cannot be scaled without prayer; it is zeal which doth distinguish betwixt a Christian and an Atheist; we must number our comforts by the number of our ejaculations; we are not Temples of the living God if we have not our consecration by devotion, 1 Cor. 6.19. Worship will save us sooner than Wisdom. If the Pulpit hath made our mortal wounds to bleed, or ache, we ought to prepare healing balsam for them in our closerts. Nature is not humbled until we bring her to her bended knees; we live miserable in wants, until we do petition for a supply. We are but barren Professors, when Prayer is not the fruit of our lips, Heb. 13.15. we receive little from above, when we do not knock at heaven gates, Mat. 7.7. we understand the virtue of prayer, and yet neglect the duty; and we know that Prayer doth heal a land, 2 Chro. 7.14. make up the hedge, Ezech. 22.30. open the heavens, James 5.17. and yet that we do so seldom entreat the face of the Lord, or lift up a cry, Jeremiah, 7.16. How happy might we be, if we would join reverence to our religion, fervency to our faith, holy exercises to our holy titles! But alas the power of godliness, and the ardency of Christianity is antiquated. We might be every way wretched, for we scarce seek for one blessing; we might burn beneath, for we quench no flames above. How are our hearts hardened because we do not mollify them by Prayer! how is Gods bosom shut, because our lips will not open! Can those Children be looked upon as comfortable heirs, which are still-born? can we expect an Advocate to pled for us, when our indevotion hath silenced him? Many may doubt of their ransom, for they never sent, or sought for it; many may despair of their felicity, for they have been no earnest suitors, or solicitors for it; shane to this dumb profession, horror to this undevout age. The Papists spend out half their lives in Prayer, they are seldom but creeping to their Images, and kneeling before their Shrines, and we cry down superstition with security, and will-worship, with no worship. blushy at their beads, beware lest their caconical hours do not make us think Prayer as some Apocryphal duty. Oh let us learn this Mother tongue of the Church; let us account our selvs but Jews outwardly, if we cannot speak this language of Canaan; perfume Religion with these fragrant scents, for doubtless prayers are the golden Vials full of sweet odours. By prayer let us awaken torpulency, mortify sensuality, appease conflicts, stock ourselves with endowments, strengthen faith, redeem time, and prepare for eternity. We are most separated from the world in soliloquies; we are deafning our ears to nature, when we are crying in Gods ears; we are a kind of translated Creatures, when our hearts are elevated; we are pluming ourselves with Cherubims wings, when we are soaring a loft in prayer. Let the Saint appear in his transformed visage, let us consecrate some portion of our lives to Meditation, let us have our destined hours to devotion. We are in the valley of tears; some of the penitents drops, Pilgrims sighs, and wayfaring mens groans would do well. Prayer carrieth in it great fervour, and splendour. Now that this flamme may burn, I have taken some coals from the Altar to kindle it; that this brightness of Devotion may be resplendent, I have set before you stars in the right hand of God, casting forth their radiant beams. Here are variety of prayers from variety of men rarely qualified, singularly gifted; peruse, prise, admire, imitate: Let face answer face in water. Buy this dispensatory, and learn the medicinal art of soul-cure, which is the fervent desire of Thy Christian wellwisher, Tho. Reeve. Dr. REEVE his Prayer before Sermon. LET the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be now and ever acceptable in thy sight O Lord my strength and my Redeemer. O most glorious Lord God, in thy Son Jesus Christ our most merciful and loving Father, we miserable and wretched Sinners, dust and ashes, worms and no men, do here in all humility of soul, prostrate ourselves before thy glorious Majesty, humbly acknowledging & confessing against our own souls, that we are a sinful Nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil doers, that by our sins have defiled ourselves, defiled our habitations, defiled this good Land that thou hast given us to inherit, which now groans under the burden of the Native sins, and is ready to spew out her inhabitants; O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of face as it is to this day; for we have sinned against thee; our Princes, our Nobles, our Priests, even to this our People, this whole Land, we have sinned against thee, and done amiss, and dealt very wickedly, and have added to the number of our fore-Fathers number-lesse transgressions; notwithstanding thou hast multiplied thy blessing upon us, having not dealt with any Nation as with us, having in many blessings and prerogatives advanced us far above the people that are round about us; but to our shane O Lord we confess that no Nation hath been so unthankful unto thee as we have been; for in stead of bringing forth the Fruits of righteousness and holiness, we have turned all thy blessings, graces and mercies into wantonness, so that we have been a provocation of thine anger, and of thy fury, from that day that thou didst plant us here a Christian Church, even until this very hour; there is no mercy, no truth, nor knowledge of God in the Land, by lying, & swearing, and killing, and committing Adultery, and by many other crimes we break out, and blood toucheth blood, and though thou hast called us to the knowledge of the Faith in thee, and thou hast revealed unto us that inestimable treasure of thy love unto us in Jesus Christ, yet notwithstanding we have retained onely the name but nothing of the work of Christians, but have dishonoured thee in dishonouring of our holy calling; yea O Lord, by presumptuous sins committed with a high hand against thy divine Majesty, we have crucified again the Lord of Life, we have trodden under foot the Son of God, we have counted the blood of the Covenant whereby we are sanctified an unholy thing, & have done despite unto the spirit of grace; in stead of making head against those temptations and lusts that hourly beset us, by prayer calling to thee for thy grace to assist us against them, and by fasting and austere mortification, by beating down our bodies that wee might not conspire with Satan and our own corruptions that betray us unto sin; we have pamperd the flesh, and suffered ourselves to be lead Captives at the will thereof; we have not subdued or mortified the works of the flesh; we have not endeavoured to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit; we have not made a Covenant with our eyes, neither have we kept the door of our lips, but as if thou hadst sent us into this world not to serve thee but to serve our own lusts, we have been abominable in all our ways; yea, O Lord, we have committed two great evils, we have departed from thee the ever-living God, and leaving the fountain of all blessedness and happiness, in our hearts have set up the creature; we have set our affections not on things above, but on things below, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, these have been the Gods that we have served. Thus have we sold ourselves to commit wickedness; we have made all the members of our bodies instruments of sin, and all the faculties both of souls and bodies weapons of unrighteousness, to obey it in the lusts thereof; yea, O Lord, thou hast found iniquity even in our holy things; we have been negligent in hearing of thy word, unprepared at the receiving of thy Sacraments, indevout in our Prayers, without fervency and zeal, weary of their length, displeased at the returns, slothful without advertency and presence of spirit in the execution of them, with what wearysomnesse hath been unto us in the hearing of them. Thus the duties whereby we should have been bettered in the ways of Godliness, thus performed, have made us worse; our very prayers have been turned into sin, and those sacrifices whereby we should have propitiated thee, have removed thee at a further distance from us; and though thou in thy mercy and tender compassion hast opposed us in our sins, and called us to repentance, yet notwithstanding we have rushed into all manner of wickedness, as the horse into the battle, and have gone from bad to worse; neither have thy judgments awaked us, nor thy mercies won us to obedience; we have not hearkened to the voice of the Ministry, nor to the secret checks of our own Consciences, nor yet to the good motions of thy holy Spirit, all teaching us, This is the way, walk in it, and ye shall find rest unto your souls; yet notwithstanding all the good means thou hast used to reclaim us, and to bring us home, we have still gon on in a stubborn course of sin, to the dishonour of thy name, the wounding of our own souls, the scandal of others, and the increasing of that great and dreadful account that we must one day make at the Judgement Seat of Christ; for these, O Lord, and many others of our sins, all thy waves & storms have gone over us; thou hast smitten the land with a curse, & mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof; we are become a Nation voided of counsel & understanding, a Nation meated out to destruction; thou hast permitted a lying spirit in the mouth of thy prophets who prophecy falsely, and the people love to have it so; thou hast unsheathed thy Sword, thy glittering Sword, and given it a charge against this land; here thou hast appointed it; thou hast given us up into the hands of brutish men, who are skilful to destroy, who have slain us with a rage that reacheth up to Heaven; thou hast dashed us one against an other, the Son against the Father, the Subject against the sovereign; thou hast poured out upon us the fury of thine anger, and the strength of battle: but yet, O Lord, that which is the height of all our sins and miseries, and the great demonstration of thy wrath upon us, we are so far from being humbled under thy heavy hand, that we are not sensible of it; thou hast kindled a fire and it burneth, yea it burneth us, and we lay it not to heart, nor consider that it is an evil thing and bitter thing that we have departed from the Lord our God, and his fear is not in us; woe unto us, we have pulled away the shoulder, we have stopped the ear that we might not hear, we have made our hearts harder than the Adamant, and the nether Milston impregnable; for all thy judgments, have not pierced us, nor made those impressions of compunction & sorrow which are the end wherefore thou didst sand them; so that as our spots are not the spots of thy Children, so we have just reason to fear the judgments under which we groan are not the Chastisements of a loving father, but of an angry Judge; we have too just reason to fear thy Judgments under which we groan, they are not a wind to fan and to purge us, but a whirlwind to scatter and utterly to destroy us, as if the sentence were already past and the decree gone forth, as if our dayes were at an end because the shadows of the evening are so far stretched out; but yet oh Lord be not weary of thy repentings; though thou hast been prest under the load of our sins, be not angry with us for ever, but in the midst of judgement remember mercy; though the three be barren, yet let not the decree go forth to cut it down; let not the decree go forth, but spare us good Lord, spare thy people whom thou hast redeemed with thy most precious blood, and be not angry with us for ever; though we have kindled a fire in thy anger, yet let it not burn to our utter destruction; thou art a God of mercy and compassion, pardoning iniquity, transgression and sin, oh pass by the transgression of the remnant of thy people, enter not into judgement with us, pass by the iniquity of this Land, say not unto this land and nation thou hast no pleasure in it; but, O Lord, hear the prayers, look upon the tears, consider the sighs and the groans of those that intercede, and, O Lord God, grant a gracious return of our prayers, and return once more, we beseech thee, thy old returns, thy old mercies and thy old loving kindnesses both to Church and people. And now, O Lord, having powred out unto thee our souls in the humble confession of sins under which we stand guilty before thee, we become humble suitors unto thee for grace to preserve us from sin for the time to come; for without thy grace preventing us, we cannot but sin; visit us therefore, oh Lord, with thy salvation, that we may live undefiled in the way of thy commandements, and see the felicity of thy chosen, and rejoice and give thanks with thine inheritance; to this end sand thy holy Spirit into our hearts, to teach us to deny ungodliness and fleshly lust, that we may live righteously, godly and soberly in this present world, remembering the great account that we are to make at the last day; oh let it subdue every thought and imagination that shall exalt itself against the sceptre of thy kingdom, and bring it into obedience unto thee; give us, we beseech thee, either peace from temptations, or victory over them: in all assaults of our Ghostly Enemy, let thy mighty hand have pre-eminence and bring mighty things to pass, even victory and deliverance unto thy servants, that so by the assistance of thy Holy spirit we may crucify the old man, mortify the works of the flesh, subdue our corruptions, vanquish Satan, and triumph over the powers of the kingdom of deceivableness; O put thy fear into our hearts, that we may never depart from thee; put thy love into our hearts, that our lukewarmnes being raised up to the flames and fervency of Cherubims, we may love thee above all things, and loving thee above all things we may fear to offend so good and so gracious a God. And now, O Lord, we become humble suitors unto thee for the good estate of the remnant of thy holy catholic Church, dispersed far and wide over the face of the whole Earth: more especially be gracious to that part yet left amongst us in these kingdoms; as thou hast planted it in humility and poverty in the death and passion of thy son Jesus Christ, so didst thou water it with the blood of thy Apostles and Martyrs, and she still continues a Lily among the Thorns, she still wears the Crown of Thorns, and purple rob, she took from the Head, & side of her dearest Lord; but yet O Lord, though thou hast made afflictions the portion of thy Children, though thou dost give them the bread of afflictions, makest afflictions their portion, feedest them with the bread of tears, and givest plenteously of tears to drink, yet in the midst of Judgement remember mercy, we beseech thee; deliver not up the soul of thy Turtle Dove into the hands of the multitude of her enemies, but hedge her about with thy mercies, protect her by a custody of Angels, confounded her enemies; confounded the devices of those that are risen up against her, let not heresy corrupt her doctrine, or Schism profane her worship, nor libertinism dissolve her discipline, nor sacrilege invade her portion, but deck her Priests, by what Names or Titles soever they be called, with health, then and then only shall her Saints sing with joyfullness; be gracious we beseech thee and merciful to all those that are any way afflicted either in soul or body, or state, or all; more especially be gracious we beseech thee to these thy servants who have recommended themselves to our prayers; make thou their bed in all their sickness, sanctify their afflictions unto them, lay no more upon them than they are able to endure; bless we beseech thee all those means that thou hast appointed for their recovery, if it be thy will restore them to their former health; speak but the word and they shall be healed; if they shall exchange life for death, give them all grace fit for their condition, wash them with the blood of thy Son Jesus Christ, that he may be unto them both in life and death advantage. Lastly we come unto thee for ourselves here assembled in the Courts of thy house to hear & receive thy holy word; O Lord, it is thine own ordinance, therefore be present with me that am to speak; thou hast ordained the weak things of the world to confounded the wise; magnify thy power in my weakness; thou that hast the key of David, that openest and no man shuts, open my mouth that I may show forth thy praise; open the hearts also of this congregation here present that with fear and trembling they may hear and receive thy holy Word; that I preaching, and they hearing, we may all study to express it in life and conversation, to the glorifying of thy name, the edifying of our brethren, and to the salvation of our souls, in the great and terrible day of the Lord Jesus, in whose name, &c. Dr. Gillingham his prayer before Sermon. O Lord God whose power is infinite, and purity such that cannot endure the beholding any thing that is unclean; how should we that are forlorn dust, and sinful flesh, presume or dare to present ourselves before thee? When we look on the vileness of our natures, and the sinfulness of our lives, we cannot choose but cry out and say, Woe unto us, we are undone, for we have been men of polluted lips; The very prayers we make to crave pardon for our sins, are stained in the uttering, and must needs ad to our transgression, if in judgement or justice thou shouldst weigh or examine them; but O Lord thou art a God of infinite compassion, that wouldest not the Death of a sinner, but that he be converted & Live; thou hast not only allowed us, but commanded us to call upon thee, in all our troubles and distresses; thou hast promised that at what time so- a sinner doth repent him of his sins, thou wilt put away all his iniquities out of thy remembrance; In obedience therefore to this thy command, and in confidence of this thy promise, we are bold at this time to appear before thee, renouncing all merit, and trust, and confidence and affiance in ourselves, and relying only on thy mercy & the sovereign mediation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, in whom only thou art well pleased, and through whom thou canst not be offended with us. O Lord hear thine own Son for us; O Lord hear thine own self in us, that blessed Spirit of thine, which makes intercession for us with groans and sighs that cannot be expressed. Pardon and forgive all our sins, both Original and Actual; of Omission or Commission; of thought, word, or dead; of Ignorance, infirmity, or presumption, which we have at any time committed against thee; nail them to the across of Christ, that they may never rise up in judgement against us either to shane us in this world, or condemn us in the world to come; bury them in the bottonles Sea of thy mercy and forgetfulness, that they may never appear before thee to hinder thy favours unto us; Seal the remission of them to our Souls and consciences, that they may not distracted or disturb us in our devotions; and crush and subdue the rebellion of our natures, that they may no longer reign in our mortal bodies; and having cleansed and purified us from all spots and stains of Sin, we beseech the O Lord to pour thy grace and holy Spirit into us, that may enable us to walk before thee in holiness, & in righteousness, & in sobriety all the dayes of our Lives. We are members O Lord of that mystical body whereof thy Son Christ Jesus is the head, and therefore are sensible of the necessities of the catholic Church; we beseech thee to be merciful unto it, and to every member of the same wheresoever dispersed, howsoever distressed, or by whomsoever despised throughout this universal World; oh Lord call them that are yet strangers, and have not heard of thy name; reduce and bring home those that are gon astray & wander; raise up all that are fallen, and confirm and strengthen such as do stand; bind up all that are broken, and heal all that are bruised; unite us all in soundness of doctrine by the Spirit of Truth, in holiness of life by the Spirit of Sanctification, and in brotherly compassion & Christian affection by the Spirit of Love. O Lord, we beseech thee to open the bowels of thy mercy, and to pour out of thy tenderest compassion upon all such as mourn in our Sion; many are the troubles of thy poor saints and servants, and thou only knowest how to deliver them out of all their troubles; whether therefore any be inwardly distressed in soul, mind, or conscience, or outwardly afflicted in body, estate or good name, we beseech thee give them speedy ease out of their misery, or patience to endure what thou shalt be pleased to lay upon them. And more we beseech thee to open the eyes of these thy sick servants who desire at this time to be recommended to our prayers; Oh thou that art the God of health, and sender of sickness, sanctify this thy visitation unto them; make their Beds in their sickness, lay no more upon them than thou wilt give them strength and patience to bear, and if it may stand with thy gracious will, grant that they may recover their former health to do thee service hereafter; but if thou that knowest what is best needful for them hast determined at this time to take them or any of them unto thyself, O Lord we beseech thee to fit and prepare them for the hour of death; give them a true sense and feeling of their sins, and a lively apprehension of thy mercy in Christ Jesus, that so surely repenting of the one, and cheerfully laying hold on the other, they may with confidence and comfort resign up their souls into the hand of thee their most merciful Creator and Redeemer. And lastly we come unto thee for ourselves gathered together in the fear of thy holy name to hear and handle thy holy word; oh Lord thou hast ordained preaching to be an ordinary means for the Salvation of our Souls, give a blessing therefore to this thine own ordinance; open my lips that my mouth may show forth thy praise, and open the ears and hearts of this present congregation, that with meek hearts and due reverence, they may hear, receive, believe, and practise thy holy word, to the glory of thy name, and salvation of our souls, and that for our Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus sake, in whose blessed name and words we conclude these our imperfect prayers, as he in his holy Gospel hath taught us, saying; Our Father which art in Heaven &c. Dr. Jeremy tailor his Prayer before Sermon. O Eternal God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Lord, and sovereign of all the Creatures, we though most unworthy by reason of our great and innumerable transgressions, yet invited by thy essential Goodness, and Commandement, do with all Reverence, and humble confidence, approach to the Throne of Grace, begging of thee for the passion of our dearest Lord, to remove our sins, as far as the East from the West, and to remember them no more, lest thou smite us in thy jealousy, and consume us in thy wrath & indignation, which we by heaps, and conjugations of sin, most sadly have deserved to feel, and sink under to eternal ages. For we confess( O God) to thy Glory, who so long hast spared us, and to our own shane, who so long have resisted, & despised so glorious a mercy, that we are the vilest of sinners, and the worst of men, lovers of the world, and neglecters of Religion, and undervalue its interests, being passionate for trifles, and indifferent for eternal treasures; weak to serve thee in our natural powers, and not careful to employ, and to improve the aids of the Spirit. We are proud, and envious, lustful, and intemperate, prodigal of our time, and covetous of money, greedy of sin, but loathing Manna the Bread that came down from Heaven. Willing we are to suffer any thing, or to do any thing, to please our senses, and to satisfy Ambition, or to purchase the world, but are neither willing to do, or suffer any contradiction for the cause of God. In prosperity, we are impudent, and proud; In adversity, pusillanimous and cowardly; ready to promise any thing in the day of our calamity, but when thou bringest us to comfort, we forget our duty, and do just nothing. We are full of inconsideration and carelessness, desirous to be accounted holy by men, but careless of being approved so to thee our God. In all our conversation we are uneven, soon disturbed, quickly angry, not quickly appeased; petulant, and peevish, and disordered by a whole Body of sin, and evil is our portion; w● are Heirs of wrath, infirmity, and folly; shane, and death is our inheritance. But O God, thou art our Father, gracious, and merciful; thou knowest whereof we are made, and remembrest that we are but dust. Be not wrath very sore, O Lord, neither remember our iniquities for ever, for we are ashamed of the sins we have desired, and are confounded for the pleasures we have chosen; O make us penitent, and obedient, careful as the watches of the night, that we may never return to the folly whereof we are now ashamed, but that in holiness, and righteousness, we may serve and please thee all our dayes, working out our salvation with fear and trembling. O Lord, Father, and governor of our whole life, leave us not to the sinful counsels of our own heart, and let us not any more fall by them. Set scourges over our thoughts, and the discipline of wisdom over our hearts, lest our ignorances increase, and our sins abound to our destruction, Let our Repentance be speedy, and perfect, bringing forth the fruits of a holy Conversation. Give unto us a Faith that shall never be reproved, a Hope that shall never make us ashamed, a Charity that shall never cease, a confidence in thee that shall never be discomposed, a patience that shall never faint, a noble Christian courage that shall enable us, in despite of all opposition, to confess thy faith, to publish thy laws, and to submit to thy Dispensations, to glorify thy Name by holy living, and dying that in all changes and accidents, we may be thy servants, and thou mayst take delight to pardon us, to sanctify us, and to save us, that we may rejoice in the mercies of God, in the day of recompenses, at the glorious appearance of our Lord Jesus. Bless O Lord, thy holy catholic Church, with all blessings, and assistances of thy Spirit, and Providence: Let the daily sacrifice of Prayer, and Eucharist never cease, but for ever be presented unto thee, united to the Intercession of our Lord, and for ever prevail for the obtaining to all her Sons, and Daughters, grace, and blessing, pardon, and holiness, perseverance, and glory. In particular, we humbly recommend to thy Care, and Providence, thy afflicted handmaid the Church of England. Thou hast humbled us for our pride, and chastised us for our want of Discipline. O forgive us all our sins, which have provoked thee to arm thyself against us. Blessed God, smite us not with a final and exterminating Judgement. Call not the watchmen off from their Guards, nor the Angels from their charges; let us not die by a famine of thy word and Sacraments; If thou smitest us with the rod of a man, thou canst sanctify every stroke, and bring good out of that evil: But nothing can make recompense to us, if thou hatest us, and sufferest our souls to perish. Unite our hearts, and tongues; Take the Spirit of Error, and Division from us, and so order all the accidents of thy Providence, that Religion may increase, and our Devotion may be great, and popular, that Truth may be encouraged and promoted, & thy Name glorified, and thy servants instructed, and comforted, that the Spirit may rule, and all Interests may stoop, and obey, publish, and advance the Interests of the Lord Jesus. In order to which end, we pray thee to look down in mercy upon thy servants, and where thou hast placed the Right and Supreme Authority over this Nation, give the supreme and choicest of thy blessings, health, and peace, strength, and victory, a long and a prosperous Government, a Portion in the Kingdom of Grace here, and glory hereafter, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Give a double portion of thy Spirit, to the Ministers of the Church, the Dispensers, and Stewards of the Holy things of God; Grant that by a holy life, and a true belief, by well doing, and patient suffering, by diligent, & sincere Preaching, and assiduous Prayers, and ministries, they may glorify thee, the great lover of souls, and after a plentiful conversion of sinners from the errors of their way, they may shine like the Stars in Glory. Give unto the Ministers of Justice the Spirit of government, and zeal, courage, and prudence. To the Nobility, wisdom, valour, and Religious magnanimity. To old men, piety, prudence, and liberality. To young men, obedience, temperance, health, and diligence. To Merchants, Justice, and faithfulness. To mechanics, and Artisans, Truth, and Honesty. To all married Pairs, faith, and holiness, charity, and sweet compliances. To all Christian women, the ornament of a meek, and a quiet Spirit, chastity, and charity, patience, and obedience, a zeal of Duty, and Religion. To all that are sick, and afflicted, distressed in conscience, or persecuted for it, give patience, and comfort, a perfect repentance, and a perfect resignation, a love of God, and a perseverance in duty, proportionable comfort in this life, and an eternal weight of Glory in the great day of our Lord Jesus. Give to all Schools of Learning and Nurseries of Religion, peace, and q●ietness, powerful, and bou●tiful Patrons, the blessings of God, and of Religion. To the whole Land fair seasons of the year, good Government, health, & plenty, an excellent Religion undivided, undisturbed, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Give unto us thy servants the assistance of thy holy Spirit; Grant to me to speak thy word piously, prudently, and with holy Intention. To these thy servants to hear it reverently, obediently, and without prejudice, with hearts ready to comform to thy holy will & pleasure, that we living in thy love and fear, may die in thy favour, and rest in hope, and rise in Glory to the participation of the blessings of a blisseful immortality through the mercies of God in our Lord Jesus Christ, our dearest Saviour, and ever-glorious, and most mighty Redeemer, in whose Name let us pray in the words which himself commanded. Our Father which art in Heaven, &c. Doctor Jeremy tailor his Prayer after Sermon. almighty God, our Glory, and our Hope, our Lord, and Master, the Father of Mercy, and God of all Comfort, we present to thee the Sacrifice of a thankful spirit, in humble and joyful acknowledgement of those infinite favours by which thou hast supported our State, enriched our spirit, comforted our sorrows, relieved our necessities, blessed and defended our persons, instructed our ignorances, and promoted our eternal Interests. We praise thy Name, for that portion of thy holy word, of which thou hast made us partakers this day Grant that it may bring forth fruit unto thee, and unto Holiness in our whole life, to the Glory of thy holy Name, to the edification of our Brethren, & the eternal Comfort of our Souls in the Day of our Lord Jesus. Have mercy on all that desire, and all that need our Prayers. Visit them with thy mercy, and salvation. Ease the pains of the sick, support the spirits of the disconsolate, restore all that are oppressed to their rights. Remember them that are appointed to die, Give them comfort, perfect and accept their repentance, Give them pardon for Jesus Christ his sake, that in the glories of Eternity they may magnify thy mercy for ever, and ever. Hear the cries of the Orphans, & Widdows, in their calamity, let all their sorrow be sanctified, and end in peace and holiness, in the glorification of thy Name, and the Salvation of their Souls. Lord, pitty, and pardon, direct, and bless, sanctify, and save us all. Give Repentance to all that live in Sin, and perseverance to all thy Sons and Servants, for his sake who is thy beloved, and the foundation of all our Hopes, our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus, to whom with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, be all honour, and Glory, Praise, and adoration, now and for evermore. The Peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge, and love of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, and the Blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, & the Holy Ghost be amongst you, and remain with you always. Doctor Hewet his Prayer before Sermon. OH thou that hearest the Prayers, unto thee shall all flesh come; for our help standeth in thy name O Lord which madest Heaven and Earth: therefore we beseech thee let our Prayers come before thee as incense, and the lifting up of our hands as an evening sacrifice; and let the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be now and ever acceptable in thy sight, O Lord my strength and my Redeemer. OH most glorious & most powerful Lord God, whose dwelling is above the Heavens in light in accessible, and thine eyes run to an fro to behold the things that are in heaven and in earth; neither is there any thing which is not naked and open unto thee; for thine eyes are ten thousand times brighter than the Sun, beholding all the ways of men; we thy most unworthy Creatures, sinful dust and ashes, being conscious to ourselves of those many foul transgressions that we have committed against thee in the sight of Heaven, do here humbly throw ourselves down before the foot-stool of thy divine Majesty, humbly confessing besides that original guilt contracted by the disobedience of our first Parents, and derived unto us in our mothers womb, wherein we were conceived in sin, and thence brought forth in iniquity, for which as soon as we were born thou mightest have fand us like chaff from off the face of the Earth into the Lake that burns with fire and brimstone, yet as if all this had not been enough to undo us, we have ever since we were born so corrupted our ways, and that continually, as if we were born to do nothing else but sin: Lord, who can tell how oft he offendeth! our secret sins, our sins of incogitancy, and of ignorance, and our sins of infirmity have defiled our souls; how much more then have we polluted them and provoked thee by sins of wilfulness and of malice; by sins against the light of nature, and against the light of grace; against thy law, and against thy Gospel; against thy promises, and against thy threats; against thy mercies, and against thy judgements; against our vows of better obedience; against the reproofs of thy word, against the many motions of thy grace in our souls, and against the check of our own Consciences, by slighting thy ordinances, neglecting thy Sabbaths, dishonouring thy name, grieving thy holy Spirit, bringing a scandal upon thy Gospel, and our own Christian profession, injuring our Brethren, and wounding our own consciences, by doing those very things which our own consciences have condemned! and how much more greater art thou O God than our consciences, that knowest all things, that the very best of our actions are sinful! for when we confess our sins, we sin in confessing of them, and act them o'er again by remembering of them with too much delight, and by speaking of them with too little remorse; and when we pray that thou wouldst forgive us our sins, we sin in praying, through deadness and dulness, and drowsisinesse of Spirit, through idle thoughts and wandring imaginations, through unbelief and misbelief, so that even our prayers turn into sin, that when we have done praying we had need fall down upon our knees again and entreat pardon for our prayers. If thou Lord God shouldst be extreme to mark what is done amiss, Lord who were able to abide it? and yet how shall we escape it? for whither shall we go from thy presence, or whither shall wee fly from thy Spirit? if we climb up into heaven thou art there; if we go down into hell thou art there also; if we take the wings of the morning & fly unto the utmost parts of the earth, even there shall thy hand find us; if we say peradventure the darkness shall cover us, darkness is no darkness with thee, for the night and the day to thee are both alike; seeing then we cannot fly from thee, we come unto thee, and appeal from the throne of thy justice, unto thy mercy-seat, and beseech thee; Oh God the Father of Heaven, thou great Creator and preserver of man, despise not the work of thine own hands; Oh God the Son that camest into the World to save sinners, remember not our offences, neither seek thou vengeance of our sins, Lord spare us, good Lord spare thy people whom thou hast redeemed with thy most precious blood, and be not angry with us for ever; Oh God the holy Ghost that despisest not broken and contrite hearts, let it pitty thee to see these thy temples our souls and bodies thus ruined by sin and wickedness; O holy, blessed, & glorious Trinity, three persons but one God, have mercy upon us miserable sinners; Sinners and grievous Sinners we are; teach us oh God, to grieve that we are so; give us broken and wounded spirits for all our transgressions; break these stony hearts of ours, yea take away these hearts of ston from us, and give us hearts of flesh, that we may tremble at the voice of thy law, and melt at the sight of thy judgments and accuse and condemn ourselves, and be ready to join with thee to do justice upon our sinful selves; but lest we should faint through the smart of the many fresh bleeding wounds which our sins have given our souls, oh do thou uphold us by thy right hand, and pour into our wounds that precious Balm of Gilead, a true and a lively faith in the full satisfaction that thy Son hath made to thy justice for the sins of the whole World, and through his across and Passion, through his most precious death and burial, through his glorious resurrection and ascension we beseech thee be thou reconciled unto us. Lord for his sake pardon all that is past, lay none of our sins to our charge, but blot them all out of the book of thy remembrance; wash us, oh wash us thoroughly from our sins, and cleanse us from our unrighteousness in the blood of Jesus Christ. Lord, let his blood that speaks better things than that of Abel, cry louder for mercy in thine ears than do our sins for vengeance; be-sprinkle our polluted but penitent souls in the blood of Jesus Christ, that thy wrath may pass over us, & that the light of thy countenance may shine upon us; seal unto our souls the free pardon and forgiveness of all our sins, and say unto each of our souls I am thy salvation. Oh do thou by thy Spirit assure our spirits that we are thy children, and that thou art reconciled unto us in the blood of Jesus Christ; and to this end work in us a detestation of all our former wickedness; help us to mortify in us all our vile and corrupt affections; crucify in us the old man, the whole body of sin, that we may die unto sin, and live unto righteousness. Without thee O Lord we are not able to do any thing, much less any thing that is good; come therefore Oh thou Father of lights, and dispel and scatter from our souls the foggy mists of Sin and ignorance, that in thy light we may see light; come O thou Power of God and set up thy throne in our Souls, and sway thy sceptre there, and bring into thy subjection every high thought and every high imagination that exalteth itself against thee: come O thou wisdom of God and discover unto our Souls the folly of Sin, the vanity of the world, and the deceitfulness of our own hearts; teach us we beseech thee to eschew the evil, and to do what is good: come O thou Goodness of God and shed abroad the love of God in our hearts, that we may love thee our God above all things, and our neighbours for thy sake, yea our very enemies for Jesus Christ his sake, and after his example, who dyed for us when we were yet his enemies; fit us with all graces necessary for all events, with strength to resist all the temptations of Satan, to keep ourselves unspotted of the world, to subdue our own passions, our own vile and corrupt affections, with patience to bear afflictions, and with a contented resolution to undergo whatsoever thy hand shall be pleased to lay upon us, that whether it be in life or in death, in both we may be thine. Neither do we pray for ourselves alone, but enlarge our petitions to thee for thy whole Church militant here upon earth; Lord be favourable and gracious unto thy Sion the Church; let not the ungodly have their desire; O Lord let not their mischievous imaginations prosper, But abate t●e pride, and assuage the malice, and confounded the devices of all the implacable malicious enemies of thy Church and people; and of that Universe look mercifully and compassionately we beseech thee, on that part of thy Church that thou hast planted in these sinful Lands and Nations wherein we live: O Lord, our sins are increased above measure, and our iniquities are gone over our heads, nay they are gone up to Heaven and have pulled down thy vengeance upon our heads; for thou art wrathfully displeased with thine own inheritance, and thine anger is grown hot against the sheep of thy pasture; yet how long Lord wilt thou be angry? for ever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire? O remember not against us the Sins and offences of our Lives past; let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us, for we are brought to great misery; help us, O help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name; O deliver us and be merciful unto our Sins for thy names sake: Lord, in the midst of judgement remember mercy; pardon all our crying Sins; reverse thy fearful though justly deserved judgments, and that which is the most dreadful of all judgements and continues thy judgments, hardness of heart, contempt of thy word and commandement: restore unto us thy wonted though undeserved mercies; sand peace again in our time, O God, and let the Gospel of peace and truth flourish again in our streets, and that continually even until thy Sons coming to judgement: let not thy scourge end in a desolation, nor thy wrath go on to the height of an everlasting ruin, but O thou that takest no delight in the misery of one single Sinner, spare merciful Lord a great though a most sinful nation; pitty a despised Church and distracted State; heal up those wounds which our sins have made so wide that none but th●ne own hands can close them; and in the tenderness of thy unspeakable compassion hasten, O Lord, hasten, we beseech thee, to put so happy an end to these wasting divisions, that thy service may be more duly celebrated, that that authority which most represents thee which art the sole Monarch of Heaven and Earth may be most conscientiously obeied, that the Church may be restored to a true Christian unity, and these unhappy Realms to their former peace; and that for his sake who is the Prince of peace, and that shed his most precious blood to purchase our peace, even Jesus Christ our Lord: O thou that art the author of peace and lover of concord, compose we beseech thee all the unhappy differences and divisions that are among us; take away from all mens hearts the spirit of division and contention, the spirit of blood-thirstiness and revenge, the spirit of pride, blindness of heart, vain-glory and hypocrisy, of envy, hatred, malice and all uncharitableness; and give us the Spirit of peace, unity and concord; the Spirit of moderation, the Spirit of due obedience, and above all the Spirit of thy fear, that we m●y at length meet and live in the unity of the Spirit and in the bond of peace, and with one mouth praise thee our God; and as with one heart love one another; and as fellow-feeling members of one anothers miseries, we beseech thee to succour all those who in this transitory life are afflicted with any kind of cross, tribulation or misery; those that suffer for the testimony of a good conscience, Lord give them patience under all their afflictions; make them valiant for thy truth, faithful unto death, & even in death itself, if thou shouldst call them to so great a trial, and after death give them a crown of eternal life; and those that are under any other kind of adversity, Lord help the helpless, comfort the comfortless, visit the sick, relieve the oppressed, help them to right that suffer wrong, set them at liberty that are in bondage, restore the banished, and of thy great mercy in thy good time deliver all thy people Israel out of all their troubles; and those that are commended to our devotion, we recommend to thy fatherly protection, those whom thou hast visited upon their beds of sickness, O Lord look down from heaven, behold, visit, and relieve those thy sick servants, look upon them with the eyes of thy mercy; O give them sure comfort and confidence in thee, defend them from the danger of the enemy, and keep them in perpetual peace and safety through Jesus Christ our Lord. Hear us Almighty and most merciful God and Saviour we beseech thee, extend thy accustomend goodness unto those thy servants that are grieved with sickness; visit them O Lord as thou didst visit Peters wives mother and the Captains servant; so visit, and restore to these sick persons their former health, if it be thy gracious will, or else give them grace so to take thy visitation, that after this painful life ended, they may dwell with thee in life everlasting. Lastly, O Lord, we return unto thee for a blessing upon this thine own ordinance, the handling and hearing of thy holy word; thou hast promised that when two or three are gathered together in thy name, thou wouldst be in the midst of them, perform we beseech thee thy most gracious promise; thou only hast the key of David, that openest, and no man shutteth; open thou my lips O Lord, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise; open the ears and hearts of this thy people, that they may hear thy word attentively, keep it retentively, and practise the same in their lives and conversations with a care and good conscience: let it be a lantern unto their feet and a light unto their steps; let thy grace like the morning light of the house of David wax stronger, and corruption weaker in all of us; quicken us by thy lively and holy Spirit, rouse up our inward man from this lethargy and sleep of sin; and as thou callest us from this hereditary habit of sluggishness, so prevent us by thy grace, lest we double our disease by the relapse into the spirit of slumber: so that I preaching, these hearing, all of us understanding thy heavenly will, we may believe and practise the same in our lives and conversations; and all for Jesus Christ the righteous sake, in whose blessed name & words we farther call upon thee, as he hath taught, commanded and encouraged us in his most holy Gospel, saying, Our Father &c. Meditationr and Prayers for the sick by D. W. HEar my prayer O Lord, which I make unto thee upon my bed of sickness: incline thine ears unto me in this time of my trouble; O hear me, and that right soon. Behold thou hast made my dayes as it were a span-long, and my age though it be great in respect of others, yet it is nothing in respect of thee, for verily every man living is altogether vanity. My dayes are consumed away like smoke, and my bones are burnt up, as it were a fire-brand There is no health in my flesh because of thy displeasure, neither is there any rest in my bones by reason of my sin. My wickednesses are gon over my head and are a sore burden too heavy for me to bear. But I will confess my wickedness, and be sorry for my sin. O Lord be merciful unto me, heal my Soul, for I have sinned against thee. Call to remembrance, O Lord, thy tender mercy and thy loving kindness which hath been ever of old. O remember not the sins of my youth, nor the offences of riper years, but according to thy mercy think thou upon me. Cast me not away in the time of age, forsake me not now that my strength faileth me. go not far from me, O God, my God hast thee to help me. Thou O God hast taught me from my youth up until now: Forsake me not therefore in my old age, when I am gray-headed. The dayes of our age are threescore years and ten; and though some be so strong that they come to fourscore( which is a mercy wherewith is a mercy wherewith thou hast crwoned me thy unworthy Servant) yet is their strength then but labour and sorrow, so soon passeth it away and we are gone. But, Lord, suffer me not to go hence in thy displeasure; O suffer not my Sun to go down in thy Wrath, nor my dayes to be shut up in the darkness of thine anger. But as thou art pleased to bring me to my grave in a full age, like as a shock of Corn cometh in his season, so let me be gathered at last like Wheat into thy Heavenly Granarie. And let mine age be renewed as the Eagles in thy Kingdom of Glory. Glory be to the Father, & to the Son, &c. Lord if thou wilt, thou canst make me whole. Thou in whose Hands are the Keys of the Grave and the issues of life and death; Lord if thou wilt, thou canst make me whole. Thou in whose alone power it is to kill, and to make alive, to bring down to the grave, and to raise up again; Lord if thou wilt, thou canst make me whole. Thou who hadst compassion upon Peters Wives Mother by recovering her out of a Fever; Lord if thou wilt, thou canst make me whole. Thou who didst show thy mercy to those Daughters of Abraham, the Woman that for twelve yeers together was diseased with an issue of blood, and another who by the space of eighteen yeers was so bowed together, that she could in no wise lift up her self, thou that didst loose both these and many others from their long infirmities; Lord if thou wilt, thou canst make me whole. Thou who didst restore to life the young maiden that was dead, Lord if thou wilt thou canst restore me to my health who am an aged sinner, and a sick feeble Creature. Thou canst mitigate my pains, and renew my strength, and lengthen my dayes. For thou makest our beds in our sickness, and art the Lord of life, and health, and strength; even thou art the Almighty God and the Horn of my Salvation, O thou ancient of dayes. But, Lord, as for these outward blessings, I wholly submit myself and them unto thy good pleasure. If it be thy blessed will to have the dayes of my Pilgrimage prolonged upon earth, make me to live always to thy glory & to my own souls comfort: as thou dost add dayes to my yeers, so do thou likewise add Repentance to my dayes. But if thou thinkest it more expedient for me that I should die than live, then welcome my death and dissolution, without which there is no entering into Life Eternal, nor hopes of being with Christ: Welcome Jesus, who by thy death hast taken away the sting of death: welcome that Cup, whereof thou my dear Saviour hast drunk before me, and which( even to the very dregs) thou hast drunk off for me. And therefore I will readily take this Cup of death,( which thou hast begun unto me) and Praise the name of the Lord. I will praise thy Name O sweet Saviour, who givest me with this Cup of Death the Cup of Salvation. I will praise thy Name who hast born all our sicknesses for us, and all our infirmities. I will praise thy name who art the Physician of souls, and callest all such unto thee as are weary and heavy laden, that thou mayst refresh them. Amongst which great number, behold me O Lord, thy poor and aged, thy sick and weak servant; weary in my bones, and laden with my sins. But Lord I come unto thee in obedience to thy call; and of those that come unto thee thou castest none out. Lord, I come unto thee for Ease and Refreshing. O my Beloved Saviour Jesus, in the midst of the weariness of my body, in the midst of the load and burden of my sins, in the midst of the sorrows which are in my heart, O let thy Comforts and Consolations refresh my Soul. And when the snares of Death compass me round about, let not the pains of hell take hold upon me. But by all the Merits of thy Nativity, Death, Resurrection and Ascension, I beseech thee to seal unto me( in thine own precious blood, and by thy most holy Spirit) the full pardon of all my sins, and to admit me who am thy own Purchase to a Participation of thy Glory. Amen. A thanksgiving for ease in sickness, or recovery out it. BLessed be thy name, O Lord, for blessing the means which are applied unto me. It is thy hand, and the help of thy mercy that thou hast relieved me. The waters of affliction had long since drowned me, and the stream of death had gone over my Soul, if the Spirit of the Lord had not moved upon these waters, and lead me forth besides the waters of Comfort. O spread, O most gracious God, as thou hast, thy hand upon me for a Covering; and also enlarge my heart with thanksgivings or thankfulness, and fill my mouth with thy praise. Praise the Lord, O my Soul, and all that is within me praise his holy name, who hath saved thy life from destruction, and crwoned thee with mercy and loving kindness. Grant Lord that what thou hast sown in mercy, may spring up in duty. Let my duty and returns to thee be so great as my needs of mercy are. O let thy grace so strengthen my purposes, that I may sin no more, lest thy threatening return upon me in anger, and thy anger break me in pieces. What am I O Lord? what is the life and what are the capacities of thy servant, that thou shouldst do thus unto me? praised be the Lord daily, even the Lord that helpeth us, and poureth his benefits upon us. He is our God, even the God from whom cometh salvation; God is the Lord by whom we escape death. In the midst of the sorrows which were in my heart, thy comforts O Lord have refreshed my Soul. It is thou O Lord who hast made my flesh and my bones to rejoice. Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth; therefore despise not the chastising of the Almighty. For he maketh sore and bindeth up; he woundeth & his hands make whole. In the midst of judgement he remembreth mercy. Lord, thou hast lifted up the light of thy Countenance upon me. Yea Lord thou hast put gladness into my heart; O, be thou graciously pleased to put thankfulness thereto. I will lay me down in peace, and take my rest, for it is thou Lord only which makest me dwell in safety. O Lord, I give thee humble and hearty thanks for thy great and almost miraculous bringing me back from the bottom of my Grave; What thou hast farther for me to do or suffer, thou alone knowest. Lord give me patience and courage, and all Christian Resolution to do thee service and grace to do it, and let me not live longer than to honour thee through Jesus Christ, Amen. Lord I have been sick and feeble, and thou hast recovered my strength; I am very aged and greatly strike in years, yet thou art still pleased to add unto my days; Sanctify therefore good Lord the remainder of my life, and sweeten unto me the approaches of my Death. Amen. Dr. Griffith his Prayer before Sermon. OH Eternal, most gracious, & merciful Father, we are here come into thy house, with confidence, seeing that our consciences tell us, we have broken all thy Commandements, and as we have sinned in thoughts and words, in thoughts more than we can think, and in words more than we are able to express; for the number of them, that we have scarce room for any more; now we are impure, but thou of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, therefore if thou shouldst enter into judgement with us, there is not one of a thousand able to stand before thee; we confess there is but one way, to fly from thee as an angry God, but to fly to thee as a reconciled Father, reconciled in the blood of thy Son Jesus Christ, to fly from the strict bar of judgement, to thy tender bowels of compassion, not according to our merits, but according to our necessities, so we humbly beseech thee pardon all our sins past, and strengthen us against all sin for the time to come, and to this end we beseech thee awaken our dead consciences, confirm our Judgments, enlighten our understandings, comform our wills, reform our lives, inflame our zeal, confirm our faith, and that from henceforth we may live unto thee, and serve thee, Lord give us repentance not to be repented of, and that hope which will not make us ashamed, and that peace of conscience which passeth all understanding; give us the world, but that world which passeth knowledge, give faith, but that faith which is in Christ, and that wisdom which leads us to undestanding; give us these, and all other we beg of thee, for of ourselves we are not able to think a good thought, and so for thy former favours, we are altogether unworthy of the least of thy mercies, in the behalf of thy holy catholic Church, do good to Sion, build up the walls of Jerusalem, do good in the place where we live, and we pray thee sand in all places painful labourers into thy vineyard; these things, and whatever else thou knowest to be expedient for us, we beg at thy merciful hands, not for our own merits, but in whose blessed name we conclude as he himself hath taught us, saying, Our Father which art, &c. Mr. T. F. his Prayer. LEt the Words of my mouth, and the thoughts of all our hearts be now and ever acceptable in thy sight, O Lord our strength and our Redeemer. O Eternal Lord God, infinite in thy greatness, incomprehensible in thy glory, whose pure and just Eyes cannot behold either sin or sinners with the least look of approbation; be not offended with thy servants; it will be little comfort for us in these glorious attributes; we come to them that may tender most consolation to us: Oh Lord God, who in Christ Jesus art merciful and a reconciled Father to all such sinners as sincerely from their Souls desire and endeavour to repent and believe; thy providence hath brought us unto this place to offer unto thy Majesty our evening sacrifice of prayer and thanksgiving, and to be made partakers of a portion of thy most holy Word; truly Lord we have just cause to fear les● our prayers, instead of that blessing we now desire, draw down that curse which they deserve upon us; we have inflamed the corruptions of our natures with the manifold rebellions of our lives, which have been nothing else but one constant breach of thy ten commandements; true Lord, the law in our minds, our spirit, our new creature, our regenerate half, our light, clearly knows and cheerfully acknowledges all and every one of thy commandements for pure, and just, and holy; but the law in our members, our darkness, our flesh, our old Creature breaks them daily in thought, word, and dead; we all of us h●●e been foul and fl●t Idolaters, erecting the Idols of our own profit and pleasure in the Chapels and closerts of our hearts, and then and there have fallen down upon the bended knees of our Souls, and worshipped them, by regarding our lust more than the fulfilling of thy will in thy word; that sacred name of thine whereby we hope to be saved, we have taken in vain; we have done that on thy day, the Lords day, which we can justify or avouch on no day; we have not given that reverence and respect to our Superiors placed over us which thou requirest at our hands; we have broken all the commandements of the second Table in our demeanour towards our neighbours, and in our deportment to our own Souls and bodies; and here Lord we are ashamed to confess the manifold circumstances of our sins in the presence and hearing of man, who vile, bold wretches were no whit ashamed or afraid to commit them when we knew full well that the high God of Heaven and Earth did at that instant behold us; now lend us of thy Spirit effectually to admire at thy patience and long suffering towards us, who permits such profane and presumptuous sinners at this hour of our lives still to remain from Hell fire; surely Lord there are many in that pit of perdition, whose sins against thee were never aggravated with those high circumstances; O Lord, we have no variety of reasons to move thee to mercy, we have no exchange of motives to persuade thee to pitty, but only the same over and over again, for thy own sake, for thy names sake, for thy mercies sake, for thy Son and our Saviour Christ Jesus his sake forgive our sins, for they are great; wash the guilt & filth of our sins away in his blood; and Lord for the time to come give us grace to spend the remainder of our dayes in our several Callings to thy glory; Lord grant that we may not only labour to have our sins pardonned to us, but also strive to have so much favour with thee, that before our deaths we may have our sins forgiveness assured; for our comfort, grant Lord that we may betake ourselves to do the one thing necessary; let us not have our oil to buy when we should have it to burn; teach us O Lord that sickness is a time not to do but to suffer; and gracious Lord grant that our work being done, and the books crost in the times of our healths, we may be comforted when we come to die, and to resign our Souls into the hands of a faithful Creator and gracious redeemer. bless us with thy whole Church scattered far and wide over the face of the whole Earth; Lord, what particulars to pray for, we know not, we dare not, we humbly tender a blank into the hands of an almighty God; writ therein Lord what thou wilt, when thou wilt, where thou wilt, by whom thou wilt, only in thine own time work out thine own honour and glory; in the mean time give us faith to believe it, patience to expect, diligence to observe, and zeal to pray fervently for it; to this end bless all those whom thine own self in lawful authority hast placed over us, by what name or title soever known unto us; bless their counsels & consultations, and make them under thyself the happy instruments of the good of this Nation. Be present with us and President amongst us, at this time in the hearing and handling of thy holy Word; Lord let not the manifold corruptions and the more imperfections of thy servant hinder the operation of thy word, but give me to speak it plainly to every capacity, methodically to every member, effectually to every conscience that shall be here present, so that it may sink in all our hearts, and bring forth fruit in the amendment of all our our lives and conversations. This, and what else thy wisdom sees fitter for us than we can ask or desire, we beg at thy hands in the name and mediation of Jesus Christ. Our Father &c. Mr. Goddard his prayer before Sermon. MOst glorious, most mighty, most holy and ever-living Lord God, and in thy Son Jesus Christ, our gracious, merciful, and ever-loving Father, who art the God in whom we live, and move, and have our being, who art good, and dost good, we thy unworthy servants, and sinful creatures, dust and ashes, are emboldened to appear before thee upon this thy day, humbly beseeching thee, for the Lord Jesus Christ his sake, that thou wouldst be pleased to accept of this our morning sacrifice of Prayer, & praises: O Lord we come not here before thee to excuse or justify ourselves, but to accuse & condemn, and judge ourselves worthy of the rewards of Sin. O Lord, we do aclowledge that we are miserable sinful, sinful in our conceptions, sinful in our births, and have been sinful through the whole course of our lives, and have so lived ever since we came into this world, as if we had been born for no other end but to sin against thee. O Lord we do confess that we have made not only the faculties of our souls, but also the members of our bodies, instruments of sin, and weapons of unrighteousness; our understandings are darkened, our wills are perverse, our affections are disordered, our hearts are hardened, our consciences are seared, and our bodies which should have been the Temples of the holy Ghost, are become the cages of unclean birds, and the sinks of all filthiness; our eyes are become the windows of vanity, our tongues the trumpets of iniquity, our hands the instruments of mischief, and our feet which should have been like Davids feet, swift to run the paths of thy commandements, have been too too forward to run that broad way that leadeth to the Chambers of death; so that from the Crown of the head, to the sole of the foot, there is no soundness in us, but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying soars: O Lord, we have committed two great evils; we have forsaken thee, the fountain of living waters, & have digged unto ourselves cisterns, broken cisterns that will hold no water. O Lord, we have broken not one, but all thy holy Laws, from the first unto the last, from the greatest unto the least of them, both by omitting of the good duties which we ought to have done, & by committing the evil things which we ought not to have done. O Lord we have sinned against all the means of grace, against thy Word, against thy Sacraments, against thy Christ, against thy Spirit; we have sinned against all the times of grace, not only in dayes of childhood and infancy, but in times of riper years, not only in dayes of ignorance when we knew thee not, but in the clear Sun-shine of the Gospel, since thy Word and thy will hath been so clearly revealed unto us; and that not out of weakness, and infirmity, but presumptuously, and maliciously, against thee we have sinned, against all thy works, the work of Creation, by defacing thine Image in us, the work of preservation, by distrusting thy Providence, the work of Redemption, through unbelief and infidelity. O Lord we have sinned against all thy holy Attributes, sinned against thy Truth by our lying, sinned against thy Holinesse by our uncleanness; we have prov●ked thy Justice, presumed too much upon thy mercy; we have abused thy providence, and Long-suffering towards us; we have sinned against thy mercies, which should have alured us to Repentance; We have sinned under mercies, we have like rebellious Israel, provoked thee at the read Sea, when thou hast been heaping mercies and blessings upon our heads; we have not only sinned against mercies, but we have sinned against thy Judgments which should have enforced us to obedience; notwithstanding, thy judgements still are, and have been in our Land, yet for all this we have not learned righteousness, we have not turned unto thee our God that smitest us for our profit, for our amendment, but we have blessed ourselves in our wicked ways, saying, we shall have peace, peace, though we still walk after the stubbornness of our hearts, adding one sin unto another: so that no means, no mercies, no promises, no blessings, no threatenings, no judgements have prevailed with us to wo●k us to a conformity to thy holy & blessed will; if thou Lord shouldst enter into a severe or strict account with us, we were not able to answer thee one of a thousand, but here's our com●ort, that thou hast revealed ●hy self to the So●s of men to be a God gracious, mercifu●l, slow to anger, abundant in goodness, not willing the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn from his evil ways and live; Oh Lord we beseech thee to look upon us, not in justice, but in mercy; not as we are in ourselves vile by nature, and worse by practise; but look upon us in the face of thy beloved Son Jesus Christ, who now sitteth at thy right hand to intercede for poor sinners; O let the precious blood of Jesus Christ which speaketh better things for us than the blood of Abel purify us; cleanse us from all our transgressions, in the pure laver of his blood; Lord wash our Souls, wash them from the guilt of sin, and from the filth of sin, and from the power of sin, and from the penalty of sin; Lord thou hast promised that whatsoever we ask in his name thou wilt give it us; it is in his name O Lord we beg at this time the free pardon and full forgiveness of all our sins; though our sins are many and great, we know Oh Lord thy mercies are more; though our sins be like the sins of Niniveh crying up to Heaven this day for vengeance, yet we know oh Lord thy mercies are above the Heavens; though our sins are as read as Scarlet, thou canst make them as white as Snow; thou art able to do for us above all that we can speak or think; blessed father, we bese●ch thee to magnify the riches of thy grace and mercy to us in the pardoning and forgiving our manifold sins and transgressions; the greater our sins and our miseries are, the greater will thy glory and thy mercy be in the pardoning & forgiving of such sins and of such sinners; neither do we beg thy mercy only for pardoning of our sins past, but thy grace also for the amendment of our lives for the time to come; O Lord work in us all those graces which thou seest wanting in us, and be pleased to continue and increase and perfect all those graces which thou hast already begun in us; Lord if thou wilt thou canst make us clean; cleanse us we beseech thee from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit, that we may perfect holinesse in the fear of God; sanctify us throughout with thy holy Spirit both in Soul and Spirit, and body, that we may sanctify thy holy name in righteousness and true holinesse all the dayes of our lives; teach us we pray thee to walk circumspectly, redeeming the time, even because the dayes are evil; and let grace we beseech thee teach us all to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly and righteously, and godly in this present world; and Lord we beseech thee to sanctify every cross and every affliction to us, that we may be bettered by it, that we may profit under it; Lord grant that these light and momentany afflictions that are here but for a time, may cause to us an exceeding and an Eternal weight of glory in the highest Heavens; make us we beseech thee more and more mindful of our latter end, of the day of judgement, and of that strict account we must all one day there give; mind us we pray thee of the hour of our death, and of the time of our dissolution; Oh that we were but wise to consider our latter end, that we might never do amiss; and grant good God that as we do increase in days, we may increase in graces; and the nearer we draw unto our end unto our home, unto our Grave, the nearer we may draw to holinesse, to happiness, that our last dayes may be our best dayes, our last words our best words, and our last works our best works; that at the end of our dayes we may all attain unto the end of our hopes, even the salvation of our most dear and precious Souls. With us Lord we beseech thee bless thy whole Church and People all the world over; call home thy ancient people of the Jews; bring in the fullness of the Gentiles, that they may be all one sheep-fold under one shepherd. Pitty poor distressed Ireland, which hath been made a Golgotha, a place of skulls, and an Aceldama, a field of blood; and Lord we beseech thee, look with the eye of tender pitty and compassion upon this divided and distracted Nation wherein we live; O that thou wouldst be pleased now at last to heal the many soars, and breaches thereof, for it shaketh, O do good in thy good pleasure, to this our Sion, build up the walls, make up the breaches of this our distressed and distracted Jerusalem; teach us all O Lord, at least in this our day, to know things that belong to our peace, before they come to be hide from our eyes; O that there were such a heart in us that we might fear thee, and keep thy commandements always, that it might go well with us, and our children evermore. O be not wrath with us very sore O Lord, neither remember iniquity for ever; Lord if it be thy gracious will and pleasure, grant once more peace and truth in our dayes. Lord, we beseech thee to bless all those for whom we are bound to pray, and all those that do desire our prayers, and all those that do pray for us; Lord, we beseech thee hear them for us, and hear us for them, and hear the Lord Jesus Christ for us all, and be pleased to give both them and us all needful graces for this and for a better life; and O thou which art the father of mercies, and the God of all consolation, comfort we pray thee all those that are comfortless, all that are afflicted in Soul, or in body, or in both; all that are afflicted in conscience, or afflicted for conscience, all that mourn in Sion, that suffer persecution, or imprisonment, or banishment for thy truth, and the testimony of a good conscience; Lord speak peace unto their Souls, supply all their wants support them in all, their trials, and in thy due time give them a gracious deliverance, which may make most for thy glory, and for their eternal good and comfort. Now O Lord we beseech thee to bow the heavens and look down with the eye of pitty and compassion upon these servants of thine which desire our prayers at this time; speak peace to their conscience, say unto their Souls, that thou wilt be their everlasting salvation. O Lord thou knowest their several wants & necessities, draw near unto them, according to the desires of their hearts; for those that are sick and weak in body, make thou their beds in all the time of their sickness, be thou a Physician both to their Souls and bodies, heal their Souls of their sins, and their bodies of their distempers; sanctify the sickness of their bodies to the good of their Souls; and bless all good means that have or shall be used, for their recovery, that they may live to praise thee in the midst of the congregation; but if otherwise thou hast determined of them, or any of them, Lord fit them for thine own self, and prepare them for the kingdom of thy dear Son, that whether they live, they may live to thee, or whether they dy, they may die in thee, so that living or dying they may be thine, and that both in life and death Christ Jesus may be to them an advantage. Lastly, O Lord we return unto thee for a blessing for ourselves here met together; O Lord, be present both with speaker anb hearer, bless me O Lord that am to speak; bless these thy people that are to hear; open unto me the door of utterance that I may deliver thy word plainly, powerfully, and profitably; open we pray thee not only the ears, but the hearts of this thy people, that they may receive the word, not as the word of sinful men, but as the word of thee the ever-living God, which is able to save their Souls; grant good God that they may hear it attentively, conceive it readily, apply it wisely, lay it up in their memories faithfully, meditate & practise it in their lives & conversations constionably, so that it may prove to none of us the savour of death unto death, but unto every Soul here present the savour of life unto life, that hereby our understandings may be enlightened, our hearts purified, our consciences pacified, our sinful lives reformed, and our precious Souls eternally saved at the day of the Lord Jesus. These and all other needful mercies, we beg at thy h●nds, for the s●ke and worthinesss of Jesus Christ, the righteous, the Son of thy love, in whom thou art well pleased, in whose name and words we call upon thee. Our Father, &c. Mr. Hardy his Prayer. O Lord God, who art the wise disposer of all things, both spiritual and temporal, who livest in that light unto which no mortal eye can approach, and yet humblest thyself so far as to behold us thine unworthy servants; more especially thou hast engaged thyself by promise, to draw nigh unto, to dwell with, and to be in the midst of thy poor people, when in sincerity of heart they shall appear before thee. We therefore the unworthiest of all thy Saints, sinful dust and ashes, worms and no men, do here in all humility prostrate ourselves before thee, desirous to have our thoughts and meditations fixed upon thine omnipresence, which beholdest us, and all within us, even the intentions and dispositions of our hearts in these holy services; as also with a confidence of thy gracious presence, whereby it is that thou art in the midst of us to assist & enable us. Lord, we confess that we are unwothy to come before thee, to draw nigh unto thee, or to receive any favour from thee, and that because of the rebellion of our natures; we have all just cause to cry out with the leper, we are unclean, we are unclean, unclean by original corruption, which like a leprosy hath overspread all the powers and faculties of our Souls, unclean by those numberless number of actual transgressions, which throughout the whole course of our lives we have committed against thee; O Lord, what have our whole lives been, but a violation of thy just and righteous Laws, and a neglecting of that good which hath been offered unto us? committing much evil who might have received much good, sinning in much presumption against thee in thy nature, in thy attributes, in thy name, in thy word, in thy worship; against one another in all those relations wherein thou hast put us: yea Lord, our sins have not only been multiplied, but aggravated by these circumstances of knowledge, of love, of mercy, and of judgement; they have been sins of a crimson die, because too often committed against convictions of conscience, notwithstanding the motions of thy Spirit, against the truth of thy word, against the wooing of thy love, against the strokes of thy wrath, still hardening our hearts in disobedience and rebellion against thee; yea O Lord( which makes our sins beyond measure sinful) we have shut our eyes against the glorious light of thy Gospel, we have cast behind our backs thy precious promises, we have trampled under our feet the blood of thy holy covenant, and have counted it an unholy thing. In truth Lord, we come before thee day by day, as though we were desirous to be instructed, that we might be saved, we come to hear thy word in formality, and present ourselves in hypocrisy, but our hearts are far from thee, which might justly cause thee to take our prayers and confessions, our hearing and our best duties, and for ever cast them and us out of thy presence, because of that deadness, coldness, and dulness which is daily present with us in the performance of them: all our righteousness and our best works being as filthy rags and no way able to cover us from the wrath of God. We come therefore into thy presence at this time disclaiming our own righteousness, & abhorring ourselves for all our former wickedness. And only in the name, for the merit, and through the mediation of our dear redeemer Christ Jesus the righteous, are we bold yet to implore thy mercy, to seek thy face, to sue out a pardon from the guilt of our iniquity, to desire thee to be reconciled unto us, & to be welp-leased with us; O Lord, do thou forget our sins, but let us remember them; do thou cast them behind thy back, but let us have them always before our faces; we must confess O Lord that thou mayst glorify thyself in our confusion, and we must needs aclowledge that in the severest of thy dispensations thou art righteous; But let our God rather glorify himself in the remission of our sins, in the converting of our natures, and salvation of our Souls: O thou father of mercy, have mercy upon us, and let all our iniquities be cast into the Sea, even into the read Sea of our Saviours blood, that so they may never rise up in judgement against us. O thou God of all grace, sand down the Spirit of grace into our hearts, that may sanctify us to thy service; humble us for our sin past, and establish us against sin for the time to come. Yea Lord, let us every day grow in grace, that the house of Saul may grow weaker and weaker, and the House of David stronger and stronger. O give us special assistance against our bosom sins; let them that have been the objects of our greatest love become the subjects of our deadliest hatred; let them that have been sweetest in committing, be bitterest in remembering; open our eyes that we may see our sins, and ●… n seeing of them let ●… s beware of them, and in being ware of them, let us mourn for them, and in mourning for them, let us loathe them, and in loathing of them, let us leave them, and in leaving of them, let us strive against them, and in striving against them grant that through thy grace, we may have the victory over them. Lord cleanse us from secret sins, and keep us that presumptuous sins may never have dominion over us; preserve us from Atheism and backsliding; let not that unclean spirit after he seems to be gone from us return again into any of us we humbly pray thee. O put thy fear into our hearts that we may never depart from thee, and do thou never leave us, that so we may walk on from strength to strength in this valley of tears, until we appear before thee our God; give us a sanctified use of all thy dispensations towards us, that sickness and health, crosses and mercies may serve as so many steps in that ladder that may carry us to Heaven; mind us of our latter end; O teach us so to live, that we may not fear to die, that when we die we may be sure to live. With us extend thy compassion to thy whole Church; do good in thy good pleasure to Sion, and build up the walls of thy Jerusalem; that which thy right hand hath planted, let it be by thee preserved; O pitty the desolations of thy Church in these parts; do thou awake, put on strength in this generation, be zealous for the glory of thy name, the power of thy Gospel, the purity of thy truth; In thine own time, for thine own sake, by thine own means, do great things for us; pled the cause of the Widow and the fatherless, let the sighings of the oppressed come before thee, supply all the necessities of all thy servants, give them beauty for ashes, and the oil of gladness for the spirit of heaviness; be gracious to all that are any way distressed, heal diseased bodies, settle distracted minds, ease troubled consciences, confirm weak judgements, save lost souls; we pray thee look upon those who have now desired our prayers, make all their beds in their sicknesses; and if it stand with thy gracious pleasure, restore them to their former health again, and sanctify all lawful means for that end; but if otherwise thou hast appointed for them, sanctify them by visitation unto them; bind up their souls in the bundle of life, humble them for their sins, wean them from the world, let the sickness of their bodies be the health of their souls, that whether they live, or whether they die, Christ may be unto them an advantage; bless them that go down to the deep and sand them safety; and let those who have had former experience of thy goodness, learn still to trust in thee. And now O Lord lend the assistance of thy holy Spirit unto us thy poor servants who are here met together to hear and handle thy holy word. O remove what ever may be as obstacles to the power and efficacy of thy truth, knock off the bar of infidelity and impenitency that hath so long kept the King of glory from entering in; take away from us wee humbly pray thee, all dulness of mind, wandring of thoughts, drowsiness of body, and whatsoever may intercept thy truth & our profit; be in the Preachers mouth, in the Hearers ears, and in all our hearts; let it be delivered plainly, powerfully, & feelingly; let it be heard reverently, meekly & attentively; and let it be practised carefully, obediently and conscientiously, to the glory of thy name, the amendment of our lives, and salvation of our souls; hear us and have mercy upon us, and do more abundantly for us, than we are able to ask or think, for thy Son and our dear Redeemers sake Christ Jesus the righteous, in whose most sacred words we shut up these imperfect prayers, saying, Our Father, &c. Mr. MACHINEST his Prayer before Sermon. OH most gracious God and merciful Father in Jesus Christ; for whom have we in Heaven but thee, and who on Earth have we desired or may desire in comparison of thee, whose nature is goodness, whose will is power, whose work is pitty. We humbly pray thee( pardoning our sins) to accept our prayers, and bless our labours at this time; abate my pride, and show forth thy praise, and remedy all my other imperfections; oh multiply thy grace upon humility, manifest thy power in infirmity; help me to pled on the behalf of thy well-beloved; and help withall this present congregation to be persuaded at the voice of my pleading; thou hast spoken by fishermen; Oh assist thy servant whom thou hast planted from a Child at the feet of the wise; out of the Mouths of silly Babes thou hast acquired praise, and thou hast opened the mouth of a silly ass to rebuk the sins of a senseless Prophet; a meaner grace shall suffice me to do the like; because besides all other advantages, I feel a sting of conscience and the wait of mine own iniquity, which that harmless Creature never felt. Only so order thou my thoughts in uprightness and sincerity; so incline the hearers minds with patience and humility, that the work which descendeth of thy heavenly institution, may like wise be seconded by thy gracious operation, through Jesus Christ our Lord. And in these our Prayers( Oh Lord) we are not mindful of ourselves alone( though unworthy to pray so much as for ourselves) but farther we commend to thy fatherly protection the prosperous estate of the universal Church dispersed far and near over the Earth, aswell her that is afflicted, tormented and persecuted in any foreign or Antichristian country, as this more flourishing and prospering here at home, the Realms of England, Scotland and Ireland. Let fall the due of Hermon upon the two hills of Sion the two universities Cambridge and Oxford. bless all the Nobility of this Land, teach them that virtue is true Nobility, and to be thy servants their greatest glory. bless all the Commons of this Land, that from the highest to the lowest we may live godly, righteously and soberly in this present World; give them religious hearts towards thee, loyalty to their Prince and Country, and love and Charity one towards another. And in a true fellow-feeling of the afflictions of our Brethren, we commend to thy favour mercy and compassion, the sick and weak estate of all thy children, of what place, in what case or under what cross soever they be, as if we had name them all by their names; we pray thee that alone knowest them, to take compassion on their misery, to ease their smart, to alloy their pain, and make all their beds in their sickness; if it may stand with thy good will and pleasure, O Lord restore thē to their former health & strength again; but if otherwise thou hast disposed of them, O Lord make them fit for thine own purpose, give them a faithful Christian departure out of this world, and a joyful resurrection in the next; thou that art the good Samaritan pour oil and wine into their wounds, set them on thy beast, carry them to thy Inn, and leave them not until thou hast wrought a perfect cure upon them. Lastly, we return unto thee all thanks for all mercies and benefits bestowed upon us; we thank thee for our election before the world, for our creation to the world, for our redemption from the world, and for our preservation in this world; we thank thee for our purification, sanctification, and the first fruits of our glorification, and all other hopes of a better world; yea verily Lord we thank thee for all our corrections and fatherly chastisements laid upon us, not oppressing our weak nature, but humbling our pride, exercising our faith, trying our patience, and making way for increase of our future glory; and we humbly pray thee still to hold the same temper over us, that so living here a while in thy fear, and departing hence in thy faith, we may be received hereafter into thy favour, and that Lord for thy name sake, for thy glories sake, and for thy mercy sake in Christ Jesus the best Attorney to promote a suit that we can have, in whose blessed name and words, we conclude as he hath taught us, saying, Our Father, &c. Mr. Hall at St. Botolph's Aldersgate his Prayer. O Holy Holy Holy, Lord God of Sabbaoth, Heaven and Earth are full of thy Glory, Holinesse becometh thy house for ever, thou art so infinitely pure, and holy in thy nature, that thou chargest thy Angels with folly, and the heavens are not clean in thy sight, thou art so infinitely dreadful in the power of thy wrath, that thou art a consuming fire, & who can dwell with everlasting burnings? But withall, so infinitely gracious, and full of Compassion, that who ever trusted in the Lord, and was confounded? Look down from the throne of thy Glory, in mercy upon thy unworthy creatures, who are here cast down before thee, in Fear, and reverence of thy name, to wait for thy loving kindness, in the midst of thy Temple, Accept O Lord this day both our persons, and services, sprinkle thou us and them in the blood of Christ, that being presented unto thee, by him our only mediator, we may obtain Favour in thine eyes, and be sent away with a blessing from thy presence; our sins, our manifold sins, which are as a thick Cloud, to hinder the light of thy countenance from shining forth upon us, O let them be dispelled, and scattered as a Cloud, If thou Lord shalt enter into judgement with us, our Faces must needs gather blackness, and, behold it is Iniquity, even this our solemn meeting, We ly down in our shane, and our confusion covereth us; O what could we have done more, which we have not done, to make thy jealousy burn like fire against us? That we do not every day commit ungodliness with greediness, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy preventing grace be all the praise, and yet also( prevented as we are) who can tell, how oft he offendeth? O cleā●e thou us from secret sins, Atheism and Infidelity, Irreligion and profaneness, Obstinacy and Impenitency; Thou Lord seest the depravedness of our nature, the vanity of our mindes, the deceitfulness our of hearts, our weariness and Inconstancy unto any good, our proneness and forwardness into all evil; Thou seest that in the most heavenly minded amongst us there is a great deal of Earthlynesse, in the most devout and religious much Indevotion and deadness of Spirit, in the most humble and mortified much vanity and spiritual pride, in the most uppright and single-hearted much doubleness and hypocrisy; O wretched that we are who shall deliver us from this body of death which doth harass us? Being every way conscious unto ourselves, what shall we say unto thee, O thou just judge of all men? we will take with us words, and return unto the Lord, and say unto him, take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously; we have sinned, but we are still the works of thy hands, and thou wilt not despise the work of thy own hands; O what profit will there be in our blood, if we shall go down to the pit? we have sinned, but there is a Fountain opened for sin, & for uncleanness, the precious blood of our dear Redeemer. He dyed for our sins, he rose again for our justification, he sitteth at thy right hand to make intercescion for us; And if he were always heard, in what he prayed for, while he was upon earth, Is he not heard now also for us, by his infinite merits in Heaven? We believe, Lord help thou our unbelief. And O thou, in whose hands are the hearts of all men, Create clean hearts and renew right Spirits within us; It is enough too long that we have have been servants and slaves to our own corrupt and Inordinate Affections, we would now henceforth consecrate our Bodies and Souls unto thee, and live no longer to ourselves, but to thy service, and Glory. That we may do so, give us thy grace( thy grace is sufficient for us) thy preventing, assisting, and following Grace, leave us not also in the hands of our own Counsels, to our vain and wicked imaginations; Take not thy holy Spirit from us, thy quickening Spirit, for we are dead in trespasses, and sins, Thy enlightening Spirit, for we are full of blindness and darkness, Thy sanctifying Spirit, for we are full of our corruptions, that being cleansed from all filthiness of the flesh, and spirit, we may perfect holinesse in thy fear; and behold, this is thy will, even our sanctification, that we may be presented spotless, before thee; That it may be so be graciously pleased, to take us wholly into thine own hands, to rectify and reform whatsoever thou seest amiss, and bring down every thought that exalts itself against thee within us; Give us O Lord, understandings to know thee and thy will savingly, give us devotion to seek thee affectionately, give us faith to lay hold upon thee, give us conversations to please thee; led us through all the temptations, and allurements, through all the troubles and discouragements, of this present evil world, that we may keep in ways of Integrity, and Innocency, which will bring us peace at the last. And work in us we beseech thee, a hungering, and Thirsting after thy righteousness, a true zeal for thy glory, with a denial of ourselves in whatsoever is dearest to us, a panting and breathing after thy presence, as the Hart for the Rivers of water, and that, not for the happiness that flows from thee, but for the unspeakable excellencies, and Beauties, and perfections, which are in thyself. Hear us also O God, while we enlarge our prayers for thy whole Church, howsoever dispersed, distressed, and despised; yea for those also, who are without; O that thy saving light might shine forth upon those many thousand souls who sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, before they go hence and be no more seen. And as for these Churches of great Britain, and Ireland, look down in mercy upon them; Thou O God alone, dost come with healing in thy wings, and our eyes are only upon thee, to heal the sores of this land, for it shaketh, pitty all the desolations, make up all the unhappy breaches, remedy all the disorders, and confusions, Heal all the Backslidings, and Rebellions, though they are many. Our iniquities do testify against us, unto this day, yet thou continuest holy, and merciful. O thou who inhabitest the praises of Israel, Humble us under thy mighty hand( after these terrible things, with which thou hast begun to visit us in thy righteousness,) that wee may be more capable of thy favour, and compassion; That it may please thee, to pitty a distracted Church, and a sinful people, to heal up those wounds which our sins have made so wide, that none but thine own hands can cure them. O leave us not( as we have deserved to be left) wrapped up in our own confusions; be thou more merciful than we have been unto ourselves, supply whatsoever is wanting in Government, establish what remains dissipate, and scatter scandals, stop and prevent all rising & growing Heresies, make u●… all, so far of one heart, and of one mind, that we may jointly set ourselves to the rooting up of all Atheism, profaneness, superstition, faction, heresy, any thing which exalts itself against thy true and sincere worship. And let thy name O God be worshipped in the beauty of Holiness, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, But guide, & establish, and prosper thou the just; let thy fear; be in the hearts of all thy people, of what degree, or quality soever, mind every one of us, That the fear of the Lord, that is the beginning, and the end, the Top, and perfection of true wisdom, therfore, that in our several Stations, and callings, we may walk with thee, in all integrity, and faithfulness, and with one another in all Justice, and Charity, Christian Tenderness, and Brotherly loving Kindness. And receive O Lord, the glory due to thy name, for the great experiences which thou hast given us, of thy All-sufficiency and good providence, That thou hast renewed upon us, the light of this day, and these precious opportunities of waiting upon thee, O make us sensible of this wonderful long-suffering of thine, that the doors of thy house are not yet shut upon us, and those things are not hidden from our eyes, under which we have been so long unprofitable. Now, as it hath pleased thee, to bring us together at this time, so bless thou, and sanctify this our meeting, that it may not be altogether in vain, to any soul that is here before thee; We are now come to draw water out of the wells of salvation, O let us not return empty, let us not depart from thy presence, without some Testimony of thy presence; O that we might this day find some light added to our Judgements, some life and quickening to our could, dead Affections, some Reformation to our lives, That these our services may be to the glory of thy great name, to the discharge and comfort of our consciences, to the furtherance of our great account, in the day of our Lord Jesus; And be ye lifted up, O ye everlasting doors of our hearts, that the King of Glory may come in, that he may come in at this time, and take possession of us, and dwell, and reign in us for ever. Even so O Lord, for the sake of the Son of thy love, in whom only we trust to be accepted, and in whose name, and words, we further call upon thee. Our Father, &c. Mr. spark his Prayer before Sermon. LEt the Words of my Mouth and the Meditations of all our hearts be now and ever acceptable in thy sight, Oh Lord my Strength and my Redeemer. O Most glorious and eternal God, before whom all the World doth tremble, before whom the Angels are impure, and the very Cherubims cover their faces, such is thine infinite perfection, Be gracious notwithstanding through thy Christ & our Jesus unto us sinful wretches, and wretched sinners, who here presumptuously prostrate our Souls & bodies before thy sacred presence, fully renouncing our own, and wholly relying on thy sons merits. For we confess oh Lord, we confess, that the very best of us are nothing else but Sons and Daughters of corruption, the pollution of whose nature being the sole inheritance of our first Parents, is so unsavoury in thy nostrils, that had our Mothers womb been our untimely Sepulchre, it could not have exempted us from holding up a guilty hand at the bar of thy justice; what then shall become of us O Lord, who to this original corruption, have for so many years daily, hourly added actual transgression! and if one sin in Adam were enough to condemn a whole world, Lord what are a world of sins to condem one poor soul! a world of actual sins; Sins of all Magnitudes, aggravations and degrees, sins of weakness against thee O God the Father, who art power; sins of ignorance against thee O God the Son, who art wisdom; and sins of malice against thee O God the Holy Ghost, that art love. So that if we consider what we are, and what we do here, we may well hold up our hands, but hang down our heads abased at our own wretchedness. For we have given up all the Faculties of our Souls, and Members of our bodies, weapons of unrighteousness, and instruments of sin; our ears have been often stopped at the voice of thy true charmers; our throats an open sepulchre of the good name, and reputation of our neighbour; the poison of Asps too oft under our lips; our eyes that should be the lights of the body, dark and wicked; our hands impure, and dried up from all well doing; our feet swift to shed blood of our own souls and others; our hearts treasury of all, only evil, and that continually! yet are we but day, and thou O Lord that Potter that canst turn us into nothing, because we are thy creatures; yea, that mightest cast us into hell for ever, because we are thy sinful creatures, were not thy mercies over all thy works! But one deep calls upon another, our innumerable, sins on thine immeasurable mercies; look not on us O Lord, look not on us as in ourselves miserable objects of thy wrath & fury, behold us not as we are putrefied branches, but behold us in the soundness of that root of jesse. Spare us good Lord, spare us for thy Son, who sparedst not thy Son for us, and remember not O Lord, remember not what we have so often done against thy Christ, but consider O Lord, consider what our Jesus hath once for all done for us. And not for us alone, but for thy whole Church militant howsoever dispersed or despised through a sinful world. Be as thou hast promised a wall of fire about her, and set a continual light in the midst thereof. O Lord shine to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, reveal thy Son, and his saving Gospel to those Asiaticks, Africans, and Americans that never heard of a crucified Jesus. Add the fullness of the Gentiles to the recollection of the Jews, that there may at length be one sheepfold under that one good and great Shepherd Jesus Christ. For whose sake look with a particular Eye of Mercy upon the bleeding and dying face of thy Church in these Nations; O Lord compose our unhappy differences, make up these sad breaches, which our sins have made so wide, that nothing but thine almighty hand can close them: O Lord stench the bloody issue where it is; and prevent it elsewhere by a gracious mercy, by a timely melting the hearts of these obdurate Nations one towards another in brotherly compassion, one towards another in their lawful subordination. But especially by melting all of us towards thee our God offended, in an unfeigned humiliation. And that in blessing thou mayst bless, we beseech thee O Lord, to continue those two bright Beams of thy power and wisdom, that is the lawful Magistracy and Ministry still among us; in either sense, quench not O Lord, quench not utterly the light of Israel; and to that end bless I pray thee all those whom thy holy word commandeth us to pray for, viz. all Kings, Princes, and Governours, especially ours; and for the happier supply of Moses Chair, and Aarons Ephod, bless those Twins of knowledge, the two Famous Nurseries of learning, Cambridge and Oxford; keep those Mothers from dry breasts, and from miscarrying wombs, purge those Fountains from heresy and Schism; make them again like Lebanon, from whence may ever come fit Cedars to build up thy Temple. And thou who art a God not only of the Mountains, but also of the Valleys, suffer that precious ointment of thy Heavenly benediction not alone to wet the head of this our Land, but likewise to distill upon the beard and skirts the Nobility therof Gentry & cominalty; bless all thy people from the Cedar to the hyssop, from the swaier of the sceptre to the drawer of Water, from the highest Israelite to the lowest Gibeonite. And whither now shall the distressed look for help, but from the Hills? sand them help O Lord from thy holy Hill; comfort with thy Staff all those whom thou hast afflicted with thy rod; and let no bodily diseased Job, or Soul-sick Eliah desparingly sigh out any longer, is there no balm in Gilead? is there no Physician there? But hear thou O Lord in Heaven, and have mercy; break not these bruised Reeds, but bind up the broken hearted; and for those whom thou hast stretched upon their beds of languishment, make thou their beds in all their sickness; draw near unto them according to their several necessities; be thou the good Physician to their bodies, and say to them as sometimes unto Hezekiah, I will yet add unto your dayes; however be the good Samaritan to their Souls, & as to David, say to them, thou art their salvation. Be further entreated for this sinful Land and Nation! let the further cup of blood pass from it, yet not our wills but thy will be done: if the measure of our sins challenge the further vials of thy wrath, we beseech thee with unfeigned hearts give a happy victory to thy truth, and by thy mighty power preserve all those that are appointed to dy; In the mean time oh Lord give us and all other afflicted places and persons patience, and Christian resolution, cheerfully to go through whatsoever thy fatherly chastising hand shall inflict upon us; and in thy good time which is the best, Lord compass us all about with songs of deliverance. Let not my Lord be angry and I will speak unto thee yet but this once, craving a blessing on thine own ordinance; O Lord be present among us who are here present in thy Sanctuary, and say of this congregation as Isaac of Jacob, I have blessed it, and it shall be blessed. Bless me O Lord the most unworthy of all the Sons of Aaron; and because I am a Man of uncircumcised lips, O Lord be thou with my mouth and with my heart also as with thy servant Moses, and teach me what to say. Lastly with Davids Key, open and prepare the hearts of these thy people, that they like good Christians, hearing thy word attentively, may like good Stewards use the same carefully, and in their lives like good ground may bring forth fruits effectually, so shall thy name be glorified, their selves here somewhat farther edified, all our Souls finally saved at the second appearing of thine only Son, our only Saviour Jesus Christ, in whose sacred name, merit and Sole Mediation, we beg off thy judgments and entreat thy mercies, saying as he hath taught us, & commanded, Our Father, &c. The Prayer of John Marston B. D. before his Sermon. GReat and glorious God, whose presence( though invisible) fills all places, whose providence is the admiration of all men, and whose power is the scourge of the damned. Thy power( O Lord) made the World, and thy displeasure can blast the whole Creation, till it dis-subsist and become nothing. Thy power amaseth us, and because we merit, therefore we fear, thy Justice; and our own horrors drink up our spirits, whilst our Consciences both represent, and reprove our sins. We have sinned( O Lord) and our sins have multiplied, and outvied the hairs of our head, and are become no less than infinite both in their object and our inclination, and Age itself, which sheds our hairs and makes them fewer, multiplies our sins, and makes them more. Every Commandement accuseth us; Every Period of time reproacheth us. Our infancy was wrapped up in Ignorance. Our riper yeers gave us a dangerous knowledge, and by greater study and contrivance, made us wiser only to transgress: And Age itself, which abates the possibilities of some sins, hath so return'd our contemplations upon them, that we have sinned over all those sins, by memory, and delight. The sands( by the Sea-shore) rebuk us, for that our sins have larger bounds than they; Hell is full of the punishment, and horror of our sins; The Earth is defiled with the guilt, and Heaven offended with the clamour of our sins: But the Sea swells and hides the Sands, and with a watery rob covers their slime; but our sins( O Lord) are naked still, and( to thine eye) betray our shane. But, Lord, thou art infinite in mercy, and canst save more than we can sin: And though death only can conclude our sins,( for in that very Justice there was a mercy, & the very punishment of sin became so much the Remedy, that after death we can never offend thee more) yet( Dearest God) thou canst( in this life) give us relief of Soul, and( by forgiveness) cancel our crimes, till thy pardon make them none. The stretcht-out Arms of our dearest Saviour, on the across, Can encompass the largest extension of our sins; And his passion affords an everflowing-red Sea, to cover and confounded our sins, that they may not become our confusion. Springs of mercy flowed from his sacred head, when he was crwoned with thorns; Because we advanced our heads in high looks, and( with a stiff neck) opposed thy will; he bowed his bleeding head on the across. Rivers of mercy flowd from his hands, to cleanse the oppression of ours. From his Feet( fastened and unmoved) issued a Current of blood, because ours have been so swift to shed it: And lest we should want abundant supplies of mercy, the Floudgates stand open at his side, that so whilst Mercy, and mystery, and Sacraments, and Soul-satisfaction, flow out all together, our leprosy may want no purgation, nor we( in our languishings) want support: Oh then let his blood be our Bath, Purge us with hyssop and we shall be clean, wash us, and we shall be whiter than Snow: And to capacitate us for these mercies, Let deepest sorrow wound our Souls; Oh let it grieve our spirits, that we have lived so long the grief of thine, and let us grieve again that we can grieve no more: Make our Souls to ascend in humblest supplications, and let our Saviours Intercession procure thine acceptation of them( though our Incense ascend from unhallowed Altars) And give us such a Faith as may take possession of all we pray for: And lest our own trust should deceive us, when we have said Amen to our prayers, do thou say Amen to our Amen, that so an establishment of blessings may be the Crown of our Souls. And because after the House is swept and garnished more Devils may enter in it, and make our later end worse than our beginning; Give us Grace to watch against the re-assaults of old Sins, and to oppose the encroachments of new Sins; that execution may be the life of our resolves, and triumph the end of our warfare, whilst we work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Blessed Lord, with us we pray thee bless thy catholic Church, preserve it from the Idolatries of those who call themselves catholics, and from the Heresies of those, who are become their own Idols, by worshipping their own Imaginations. Advance, we pray thee, the Truth, and purity of Religion in this Nation, and to that end, let thy Spirit guide our Governor, and us under his Government, that we may all led a Godly and quiet life, endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Water, we beseech thee, the two Nurseries of Religion and Learning, Oxford and Cambridge, and in Oxford continue thy old Favours to Magdalen College, that it may still flourish in the abilities and holiness of those it shall sand out to serve at thine Altar. Let the Magistrates of this Nation know whose Sword they bear, and give them thy Grace, that they may execute Justice, and maintain Truth Let thy word be magnified by the Life and Doctrine of those whom are ordained to preach it, and let the People( having no mans person in Admiration) receive thy word for itself, with that humility and reverence, which befits the Oracles of God. Let the sick Man find thee a Physician, and let all that are afflicted find thee a Consolation; Let not the troubles of life perplex, nor the horrors of death affright us, but both in life and death let our submissions testify, that thy will is our Law: And amid the very Agogonies of death, suffer not our Faith to fail, nor our Hope of Heaven to deceive us, nor our Charity to die before us, but let our very enemies be forgiven for our prayers, for his sake who prayed for his enemies, and whilst we were enemies dyed for us. Oh let us live the life of the righteous, that we may dy the death of the righteous, that so thy servants may depart in peace, and then receive the end of their Hope, even the salvation of our Souls, through Jesus Christ our Lord, in obedience to whom, we conclude the imperfections of our own prayers, with that, which he hath approved, sanctified, and Commanded, saying when ye pray, Say Our Father which art in heaven, &c. Mr. Richard Ball his Prayer before Sermon. Let us call upon the name of the Lord. O Lord our God, we aclowledge and confess that we are less than the least of all thy mercies, we are unworthy of the least crumb that falls from the table of thy ordinary providence, we are unworthy of those common favours which thou vouchsaest to the Birds of the air, and to the lilies of the field, to be clothed, and to be fed; how, much more, O Lord, unworthy are we to appear in thy presence, to call upon thy great and glorious name with any confidence that thou wilt hear our prayers and grant our requests? and as we are unworthy, so we are altogether unable to perform any holy duty that may be pleasing and acceptable in thy sight: but we come unto thee in the name of thy dear Son who is most worthy, in whose name thou hast promised to grant unto us whatsoever we shall ask; we come unto thee in his name, O Lord, at this time, for the assistance of thy holy and of thy blessed Spirit, who is able to supply all our weakness and all our insufficiency; there is not any thing, O Lord, that hath betrayed us the Children of men to all this address, and all this weakness, but only our sins; we do desire O Lord, in the sincerity of our hearts, to spread our sins before thee at this time by an humble & by a sincere Confession of them; we acknowledge, O Lord, to thy glory, and our own shane, that thou madest us upright, but we have sought out many Inventions, we have lost that glorious Image of thine wherein at first we were created, and we have contracted many vicious habits and dispositions whereby we are prove to evil, and only evil, and that continually; we have lived without thee in the World, and thou hast not been in all our thoughts; & not only without thee, but contrary unto thee; we have been not only Strangers, but enemies, making all the faculties of our Souls, and members of our Bodies, as so many instruments and weapons of unrighteousness, our Understandings have been full of darkness and blindness, our Wills of crookedness and perverseness, our Affections of disorder and tumult; our eyes have been full of wantonness, our tongues have been trumpeters of folly, our hands have been full of cruelty and oppression, and our feet have been swift to shed blood; we have, O Lord, been universally contrary unto thee; we have loved that which thou hatest, and we have hated that which thou lovest; we have sinned against thee with a high hand, against thy patience & long-suffering, against the motions of thy Spirit, against the Checks of our Consciences, against the call of thy Ministers those sweet ambassadors of thy peace, against many mercies to 'allure us, and against many judgements both national and personal which should have been as so many Messengers to have compelled us to come in: but, O Lord our God, we have hardened our hearts against thy fear, we have sinned against thee not only in the days of ignorance when thou winkedst at it, but after illumination and conviction, after many vows and promises of better obedience; we have been unfaithful and unsteadfast before thee, all our r ghteousness hath been as a morning due and as a cloud that vanisheth away, like the Children of Ephraim being harnessed and carrying bows, we have turned ourselves back in the day of battle, being munited and fortified in some measure with the graces of thy holy Spirit, and many a heavenly purpose and resolution, we have not so courageously resisted the temptations of Satan, and of this eevil World, and the corruptions of our own hearts, as we ought to have done, but we have turned ourselves back in the day of that Spiritual battle, and we have been foiled and conquered again and again; and we confess O Lord farther against ourselves, that we have as it were sealed up all these our sins in a bag by hardness of heart, by impenitency of life, and by abundance of security. Father, we have sinned against thee, what shall we do unto thee O thou the preserver of men? O Lord thou knowest that it is not in man to reform his own ways, O when Lord Jesus, when shall it once be? O thou that by thy almighty power didst bring water out of a rock, we beseech thee smite the stony Rocks of our hearts, and make the water of a true & of an unfeigned Repentance to gush forth; give us that godly sorrow that may work repentance never to be repented of; help us, O Lord, to carry all our sins even with sorrow to our graves, and yet, O Lord, not with the sorrow of anxiety or desperation, but with the sorrow of contrition, the sorrow of humiliation, the sorrow of a sound and of an unfeigned repentance. Forgive, O Lord, forgive what ever is past for Jesus sake the Son of thy love in whom thou art well pleased; there's no other name given under heaven by which we can be saved, there is no orher fountain set open for Judah and Jerusalem to wash in for sin and for uncleanness; we humbly beseech thee to bath and wash our polluted Souls in that most precious fountain, wash us, O Lord from the guilt of our sins, wash us from the stains and pollutions of our sins, wash us from the power and dominion of our sins; look not O Lord upon what we have done, but upon what thy Son Christ Jesus hath both done and suffered, accept of his obedience for our disobedience, and by his Stripes let our sinful Souls be healed; he hath fulfilled that law which we have so often and so fearfully broken, he hath suffered that punishment which we have so often and so justly deserved, thy Justice is completely satisfied in thy Son; we humbly pray thee to magnify thy mercy in the pardoning and in the forgiving of us miserable sinners; seal unto us, O Lord, the pardon of all that is past by the testimony of thy holy and of thy blessed Spirit; that as there is peace made in heaven for us, so there may be peace in our Consciences within us; plant in our hearts the fear of thy holy name for the time to come, that we may walk before thee more exactly, more circumspectly & wisely, redeeming the time because the dayes are evil. Give us power and strength against our corruptions, let not sin Reign in our mortal bodies, that we should fulfil it in the lusts thereof; bruise Satan under our feet shortly, according to thy sweet and gracious promise; help us especially to eschew our own wickedness, that sin which by nature, or custom, or constitution, or temptation, we have heretofore been most prove and subject unto, because by that we have most dishonoured thy Majesty, and grieved thy Spirit, and wounded our own Consciences; and because O Lord there is no man liveth and sineth not, we humbly pray thee to keep thy poor Servants from presumptuous sins, that they may never get the dominion over us; when we sin of infirmity, O let our hearts smite us speedily; ever more keep us from impenitency, deadness of heart, presumptuous wickedness, and a down-falling into sin; vouchsafe unto every one of us all those gifts and graces, which thou knowest to be needful, and requisite for us in all estate●, and conditions of life, where unto thou shalt be pleased to call us, & wherein thou shalt be pleased to exercise us; in adversity, O Lord, give us patience, in prosperity thankfulness, and in both humility, and meekness, and lowliness of mind; increase our Faith, confi●m our hope, inflame our charity, Crown all thy graces in us with perseverance to the end; grant, O Lord, that we may so run, that wee may obtain, and that the Gates of Hell may never be able to prevail against us; let neither prosperity, or adversity, life, or death, things present, or things to come, be ever able to separate us from the love of thee in Christ Jesus our Lord; in whose holy name, we continue our requests, for thy whole Church wheresoever dispersed, or howsoever distressed, upon the face of the whole earth, add unto thy Church daily those that shall be saved, bring home thine ancient people, the Jews, gather together the fullness of the Gentiles, finish these dayes of sin, and vanity, and then come Lord JESUS, come quickly. Have pitty upon these sinful Nations of England, Scotland, and Ireland; Remove thy heavy Judgments that are upon us, withhold those that hang over us, forgive our crying sins, compose our sad diffeces, create peace; blessed Jesus, with a word of thy mouth, thou didst still the winds, and the waves when they Arose, and preservedst thy Disciples, we humbly beseech thee, to extend thy power, and goodness, and lay all storms, and Tempests, both in Church and Commonwealth; sand us a gracious tranquillity, a blessed peace, as may be most for thy glory, for the refreshment of thy people, that do depend and wait upon thee, and for the dissipating and scattering of all those that do delight in War. O raise up many to stand in the gap like Aaron, betwixt the living and the dead, to turn thy wrathful indignation from us; hear the Prayers, and the sighs, and the tears of those that mourn in secret, for all the abominations that have been committed in the midst of us, and above all hear the voice of the blood of thy Son Christ Jesus, that speaketh better things than the blood of Abel. And thou that art the God of all pitty, and all compassion, have pitty upon all those that suffer for the Testimony of a good Conscience, give them health, and strength, and patience, a sanctified use, and a joyful deliverance; prepare us for Changes, and alterations; give us a contented mind in all estates, that we may sing with David, our heart is fixed, O God, our heart is fixed, whom have we in Heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth, that we desire in comparison of thee, That the flatteries of the world may never corrupt us, nor the frowns of it terrify us, but that we may in the midst of all storms and tempests of persecution, with a quiet mind and a serene Conscience look up to heaven, and with the eye of faith behold that glorious vision, which thy faithful Martyr Saint Stephen did with the eye of his body, even heaven opened, and Jesus standing at the right hand in glory, both to strengthen us in all Spiritual combats and agonies, and to Crown us after them. And thou that art the Physician both of Body and Soul, have mercy upon all those that are visited with thy hand of sickness, and especially on those thy servants who desire the benefits of our Prayers at this time; Those who draw near the time of travail, Lord show thy powet in their weakness, and mightily defend them; make them joyful Mothers of those children. Those that are tossed upon the Seas, who are gone forth, or coming home, protect and defend them from Rocks, & Sands from Storms, and Tempests, from pirates, and Robbers, and bring them in safety to the Haven where they would be, and give them good success. As for those who are tossed upon the Bed of pain, or sickness, Lord give them ease, Lord give them help; lay no more upon them, than thou wilt enable them to bear; bless all means that shall be used for their recovery, and let not their sickness be to death if it be thy blessed will: However thou dealest with their bodies, be gracious and propitious to their Souls, though the outward man decay, yet let the inward man be renewed day by day: and when their bodies shall go the way of all the earth, grant that their Souls may go the way of thy Saints and of thy Servants. And we beseech thee, gracious God, to sanctify all spectacles of frailty, and Mortality, to us that are in health and strength, help us to wait all the dayes of our appointed time until our change shall come, make us all wise Virgins that we may get oil into our lamps, not only the lamps of profession, but the oil of sincerity; that we may be always ready to go in with thee the Bridegroom of our Souls when soever it shall please thee to come unto us, either by thy general or by thy particular visitation. And seing, O Lord, we have begun to speak unto thee, our selvs being but dust and ashes, O let not our Lord be angry, and we will speak but this once more for a blessing upon thy own ordinance, bless me, O Lord, who am to speak, open thou my lips and my mouth shall show forth thy praise, give me strength of body and mind, a heart studious of thy Glory, and the good of thy people committed to my charge, make me faithful as in thy presence, that I may never for fear, or favour, conceal and hid that sense of scripture from thy people, which was intruded by thy blessed Spirit, and instead thereof, fasten upon it my own inventions, and interpretations, which is the highest sacrilege that can be committed in this World, and that which in all times hath betrayed thine own people to many, not only foolish, but dangerous errors; prepare, O Lord, the hearts of this people, for the hearing and receiving of thy holy word, that they may receive it with meekness and due reverence, open their hearts as thou didst the heart of Lyddea, enlighten those that are ignorant, reduce those that go astray, comfort those that are afflicted, raise up those that fall, strengthen those that are weak, confirm and establish those that are strong, bring us all nearer and nearer to thy majesty. These mercies, O thou God of mercy, we beg of thee, in the name, and for the merits, and in the words of thy Christ & our Jesus, saying as he hath taught us, Our Father, &c. Or Thus Let us call upon the name of the Lord Look down from heaven, O Lord, upon us, with the eyes of thy mercy, in a free pardon and forgiveness of all our sins, for number many, and for nature heinous: give unto us, O Lord, a true sight of them, a serious tepentance for them, and a constant purpose and resolution never to return unto them. And for the dayes that we have yet to live, grant that we may pass the time of our sojourning here in fear, remembering that we are pilgrims and strangers as all our Fathers were, and that we have no abiding City; teach us to live as those that must dy, and after death come to Judgement; guide us here, O Lord, by thy counsel, and afterwards receive us into thy glory— Bless the holy Catholic Church, defend her and strengthen her, O God, that with courage and victory she may fight thy battels, and always maintain that enmity which thou hast set betwixt the seed of the woman, and the seed of the Serpent. Stil continue to spread thy wings of providence and protection over the Churches of England, Scotland, and Ireland: let not the wild Boar of the field by supersttion and idolatry lay them waste, neither suffer those little Foxes by factions and schisms to root them up: remove most gracious God, thy heavy judgements that are upon us, withhold those that hang over us, &c As it follows in the former Prayer. Mr. Ball his Prayer after Sermon. HOly, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabboath, Heaven and Earth are full of the Majesty of thy glory, it is the employment of Saints & Angels to adore thee, and to worship thee, and to fall down before thee; The Cherubins they cover their faces, as being unworthy to look up unto thee, and they cover their feet, as being unworthy that thou shouldst look down upon them; It is the desire of thy Saints and Servants here on Earth, that thy will may be done on Earth, as it is in Heaven; We desire to adore thee, and to worship thee, in the contemplation of thy great glory. Thou art a God who art infinite in power, and infinite in purity; Thou art the great Creator of Heaven and Earth; Thou art the wise Disposer, & governor of all things; Thou dwellest in the Light that is inaccessible; It is little O Lord, that we know of thee, while we are here below; We see all things here darkly, and as in a glass; But we desire to see and know so much, that we may adore thee, and reverence thee, and fear before thee; Enlarge our hearts with thankfulness, and fill our mouths with praises, for all thy goodness, & for all thy Mercies, that thou hast communicated to us thy poor Creatures; We bless thee for creating us after thine own Image, for redeeming us when we had lost it; a favour which thou deniedst to the Angels, when they sinned against thee; Above all, we bless thee for thy dear Son, the Sun of thy Love, the greatest gift which ever thou didst give to the Sons of Men. We bless thee for his Incarnation, for his holy Life, & patient Death, for his glorious Resurrection and Ascension, and for the coming of the Holy Ghost. We bless thee for all temporal favours, from thee cometh every good, as well as every perfect gift; We bless thee for our Health, whilst others are upon their Beds of sickness; We bless thee for our lives, while others are gone into their graves, the Land where all things are forgotten; We bless thee for our plenty, while others are in scarcity & famine, We bless thee for our Peace, whilst others are in War; We bless thee for our Liberty, while others are in Prison; Especially O Lord, we bless thee for these spiritual Liberties, of coming into thy House, of calling upon thy Name, of hearing, and speaking thy most holy Word, the things that do concern our everlasting Peace; Oh never suffer them to be hide from our Eyes, in this the day of our visitation; We humbly pray thee to pardon & pas by all weaknesses and frailties, that have been this day, either in the Speaker, or in the Hearers, take away from us the iniquity, of our holy things; Let not thy blessings be upon us according to any Excellency or Worth that is in our Performances, nothing belongs to us, but shane and Confusion of face, but let thy blessings be upon us, according to thy rich and free Mercy; Paul may plant, and Apollo may water, but thou art the God that givest the increase; thou art the God that teachest us to profit, we look up unto thee for a Blessing, and we beseech thee to grant, that the Words which we have heard this day with our outward Ears, may through thy grace, be so grafted inwardly in our Hearts, that they may bring forth in us the fruit of good living, to the honor and praise of thy Name, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. FINIS. The names of those whose Payers you have in this Manuel. Dr. Reeve Dean of Chichester his Prayer before Sermon. fo. 1 Dr. Gillingham's Prayer before Sermon. fo. 38 Dr. Jeremy tailor his Prayer before Sermon. fo. 54 His Prayer after Sermon. fo. 77 Dr. Hewet his Prayer before Sermon. fo. 83 Meditations and Prayers for the sick, by Dr. Wild. fo. 124 A Thanksgiving for ease in sickness or Recovery out of it, by Dr. Wild. fo. 141 Dr. Griffith his Prayer before Sermon. fo. 149 Mr. Thomas Fuller his Prayer before Sermon. fo. 156 Mr. Goddard, late Minister at Saint Gregories, his Prayer before Sermon. fo. 172 Nr. Nathan Hardy his Prayer before Sermon. fo. 210 Mr. Machinest his Prayer before Sermon. fo. 236 Mr. Hall at Saint Botolphs Aldersgate his Prayer before Sermon. fo. 249 Mr. Sparks his Prayer before Sermon. fo. 275 Mr. John Marston. B. D. his Prayer before Serman fo. 298 Mr. Richard Ball his Prayer before Sermon. fo. 316 His Prayer after Sermon. fo. 359 FINIS. A private Prayer to be said before thou receive the Lords Supper. By John Reading late Minister of Dover. MOst gracious Lord God, Father of mercy & truth, who dwelling in that light which none can attain unto, yet vouchsafest to prepare the hearts of thy servants here on earth to help their infirmities, and to hear their Petitions: prepare my heart, teach me to pray, incline thine ear unto me, and have mercy upon me. O Lord thou art a just and a severe judge, how shall I then( vile & unwor●hy wretch) appear this d●y before thee in the Courts of thy house? I came into this world a child of wrath and disobedience, naked and destitute of all goodness: but O Lord my Redeemer, thou hast bestowed the seal of thy righteousness upon me in my Baptism, thou hast called me to the knowledge of thy Gospel, thou hast given me the inward seal and earnest of my Redemption, by the Spirit of Regeneration: Lord establish the thing thou hast freely wrought in me. And as thou hast this day invited me to thy Table, to the Communion of the body and blood of thy Son Jesus Christ, so Lord bestow the wedding garment on me, that I may appear before thee clothed in the righteousness of thy Son Jesus, whom thou madest an offering for sin, that in him we might become righteous before thee. Lord, what is man that thou so regardest him? and who among the Sons of men hath more cause to praise thy mercies than wretched I? Thy mercy hath long spared me, thou hast taken me out of the power of darkness, and kingdom of Satan; thou hast given me the glorious freedom of the children of light: What shall I render the Lord for all his benefits towards me? I will call upon the name of the Lord, I will declare his mercies, I will take the Cup of Salvation, and pay my vows. All is too little which I have to give thee: O Lord thou hast in my creation given me myself; in my Redemption thou hast restored me to myself; therefore now accept again thine own gift; Lord let me be wholly thine. And being now to appear before thee with a Sacrifice of praise, Lord I pray thee for Jesus Christ his sake, prepare the Altar of my heart, purge me with hyssop that I may be clean. Create a clean heart within me, and renew a right spirit: Sprinkle the door of my Soul with the blood of the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the World, that the destroyer may not enter. sand down thy grace and holy Spirit into my heart, with that heavenly fire of love to thee, and true charity to all men, which may assure me of thy acceptance of me. Cleanse out of me all the old leaven of sin and maliciousness. Open my understanding, increase my faith, that I may see and know the assurance of my sins remission in these seals of eternal life, which by thy mercy I am to receive. Thou hast taught me, O Lord, that my blessed Saviour in the night that he was betrayed, made this his holy Testament, wherein as he took flesh & blood of us, that he might dy for us, so he bequeathed his body & blood to us, that we might live in him; and left this Sacrament as a faithful pledge of his love, to remember us of his dying for us till he come again. O Lord I know thou art the life and truth, and wouldest not have left thy Church any effectless pledge of their salvation. Lord Jesus therefore be present with my spirit, work powerfully on thine own ordinance, that it may indeed seal up my Salvation in my Soul with that constant assurance, that the gates of Hell may never prevail against it: that no terror of Conscience, nor any delusions of Satan may be able to overthrow it; But that I may with a lively Faith lay hold on all the merits of Jesus Christ, that I may find therein an inward peace in confidence of my sins forgiveness, reconciliation with my God, sound joy in the Holy Ghost my Comforter, sanctified will and affections, purity of life, and holy obedience, which hath the testimony of a good conscience; to be a sweet comfort in life and death: assuring me that I have fought a good fight, and kept the faith, and therefore shall enjoy that crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge shall at that day give to all them that love his appearing. Grant this O Lord, and what ever else thou knowest to be needful for me, for Jesus Christ his sake, who with thee O Father, and the holy Spirit, liveth and reigneth ever one God, world without end. Amen. A Private Prayer after receiving the Lords Supper. By Mr. Reading, &c. MOst gracious God, and merciful Father, who of thine own free love and good pleasure hast elected, created, redeemed, reconciled, justified and preserved me, and hast also bestowed on me the peaceable use of thy holy Word and Sacraments: I humbly thank thee for all thy mercies which thou hast shewed me, as also for this present comfort which I have now received at thy merciful hands. O Lord, accept this sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving through Iesus Christ: perfect the work which thou hast begun in me, make good thine own Ordinance unto my Soul, seal me up to the day of Redemption, kindle in me full assurance of my sins remission and reconciliation with thee, lively sense of my union with Christ, and Christ his living in me, and guiding me so by his holy Spirit, that his life may appear in all my actions, words, and thoughts, and that I may henceforth no more live to sin, but being freed from the laws thereof, may have my fruits unto holiness and salvation. Lord therefore make me every day more & more able to do thy Will, and to abandon mine own corrupt desires: Let me feel in my Soul and Conscience the real benefit of thy Word and Sacraments, which thou hast promised to all those who truly seek thee, give me that longing desire of righteousness which is by thy Grace secured from despair, and preserved from vain-glory and presumption: satisfy me with that measure of Grace, which thy wisdom knoweth sufficient for me: Lord make me know that I have not now received this Sacrament in vain, let me hereby be nourished unto eternal Life, and obtain a better strength to walk before thee, till I come to thy holy mountain, the land of the living: Give me a sound and lively faith, give me cheerfulness of heart in a spiritual tasting of the three of Life: My Saviour Jesus, give me a firm and comfortable peace of Conscience, with that joy of the holy Ghost, which may assure me that thy kingdom is established in me: give me a zealous love of thy glory, ready obedience to thy Law, fear to displease thee, and holy love to all my brethren,( which may give me boldness in the Day of Judgement) with that unblameableness of life and conversation which. may be to thy glory, and the good example of those with whom I live. Assist me with thy sanctifying Spirit, that I may perform all those vows, which I have made to serve thee, & that every day of my life may be to me as this Sabbath, an holy rest from sin: Lord prevent the subtlety of the Tempter, and let thy holy Spirit keep me body and Soul: Give me an holy contempt of this present world, and affections set on heaven, where my blessed Saviour Jesus Christ sitteth at thy right hand, who will in the appointed time appear in Judgement, and gather all his Saints unto him. These things, and whatsoever else thou knowest needful for me, or any part of the whole Church Militant here on earth, I beg at thy gracious hands, who hast commanded us to ask, and promised to give. O Lord incline thine ear and hear: O Lord, give a Gracious Answer through Jesus Christ our Lord: To whom with thee O Father of mercy, and the holy Ghost the Comforter, be all honour and glory in heaven and earth to all eternity, Amen. FINIS. Litaniae breves pro diversis hominum statibus & necessitatibus Officio addendae pro placito. Exaudi nos precantes Domine Deus, Jesu Christi atque misericordiarum Pater, PRo universá Ecclesiâ, quam immobilem & tranquillam, Sanctam, & in Partibus coadunatam, immunem a Schismate, haeresi & Sacrilegio custodias ad consummationem saeculi: ut coelestem spem singula membra persequantur, & ut donum Orationis, & officium solemn sacrificandi jugiter operentur; & per gratiam Christi & Dei Patris salutem, benedictionem, custodiam, & pietatem nobis omnibus & singulis largire gratiosè. Exaudi nos precantes Domine Deus, Jesu Christi & misericordiarum Pater. Pro Regibus & Ducibus Populorum, maximè vero pro serenissimo nostre Rege, cvi ut Spiritum principalem, Spiritum Sapientiae, Pietatis & Consilii largiaris, humiliter rogamus; pro Eodem, & pro omnibus Principibus, ut vivant in place atque honore, ut eos timeant, & ament populi, & illi Deum, ut sint Nutritii Ecclesiarum, Patres Orphanorum, & Judices Viduarum, ut miseriis inopum, & gemitibus Oppressorum condoleaut, ne populum Dei ob rem nihili lacerent & discerpant injusto aut iniquo bello, said Gregem Christi pascant, & omnia ad publicam honestatem & tranquillitatem spectantia inquirant & agant, ita administrantes praesentia ne amittant bona futura. Exaudi nos precantes Domine Deus, Jesu Christi & misericordiarum Pater. Pro Episcopis, Presbyteris, atque omni Clero, ut fide sanctâ & moribus integris, homiliis & Exemplo, been agendo & patienter mala tolerando, pascant & enutriant populum Dei, ut ad Patriam caelestem invitent, ducant, & ipsl praeeant, sectas minnant & rectè instruant, conventicula & impiorum caetus armis spiritualibus dissipent & disturbent, & post uberem conversionem animarum sicut stelloe resplendeant in orbibus aeternae claritatis. Exaudi nos precantes, &c. Pro uxore & liberis & totâ familiâ, ut illis tu bone Deus salutem mentis & corporis largiaris, ut sufficiens ad iter coeleste perficiendum ministres viaticum temporale, ut ab omni malo custodias, dirigas, & tuearis, & sanctifices, ut simus conjugati cum Christo, te Patrem aeternum, clementem & misericordem habeamus, & ut simus familia Sancta, integro officio nostro functi, tandem jure adoptivo in familiam tuam in civitate Sanctâ haeredes asciscamur. Exaudi nos precantes, &c. Pro fratribus, amicis, & Benefactoribus: corporibus corum Angelos deputes custodes, animabus Spiritum Sanctum Ducem, necessitatibus eorum providentiam tuam curatricem & ministrum, atque eos ab aeternâ damnatione gratia tua eripiat & conservet. Exaudi nos precantes, &c. Pro omni statu & differentia Christiani Populi. Praesta Domine Rex aeterne, Virginibus castitatem, Deo dicatis continentiam, Conjugatis fidem & Sanctimoniam, Viduis & Orphanis tutelam, Pauperibus sustentationem, Peregrinantibus Angelum Comitem, & pium & felicem reditum, Navigantibus portum, Lugentibus consolationem, Oppressis patrocinium, Afflictis patientiam & liberationem, Martyribus & Confessoribus fidem, perseverantiam, & retributionem coelestis brabii; poenitentibus indulgentiam, Optimis Sanctitatem indefessam & denuò duraturam, mediocribus pietatis & Religionis auctarium, delinquentibus correctionem, & resipiscentiam opportunam & tempestivam; aegris tu compone lectum, & da resignatum & patientem animum, & ut tibi placuerit, atque illis expedit, sanitatem aut mortem Sanctam & beatam; scrupulosis fidem corrobora, & intellectum instrue, Dubitantibus tu te Praesta Ducem & Doctorem; Condemnatis ad mortem da solatium, fortem & quietum spiritum, charitate & gratiâ plenum; libertatem captivis, inimicis gratiam charitatis & poenitentiae, omnibus fidelibus pro variis suis necessitatibus requiem, refrigerium, & tandem misericordiam in die tremendi Judicii. Exaudi nos precantes, &c. Custodi( Bone Deus) Magistratus in justitiâ, Coelum in Salubritate, terram in ubertate, populum tuum à famed, & peste, ab incendio domus, à diluvio & vivicomburio personas, à fragio & Exilio, à carcere & caede, à viduitate & orbitate, à violentiâ poenarum & passionum, à tempestatibus & terrae motu, à nimiâ solicitudine & impatientiâ, à taedio animi & desperatione, à morte improvisà inopportunâ & gravi, maledictâ, & insolenti, ab improvisis accidentibus, à metu nimio, ab omni irâ tuâ, & ab omni omnimodò peccato. Nationes belligeras reprime, errants converte, alienatas advoca, populum tuum indies Sanctifica, infantes ad virilem aetatem perducas, novitios confirma, Catechumenos instrue, praegnantibus tu partum felicem largire, & nos omnes in regnum coelorum congrega: Tu diring viam nostram, tuere vitam, serva nos in timore, largire pietatem viae, & haereditatem Patriae, per Jesum Christum Dominum Nostrum. Amen. Pater noster, &c. FINIS. READER, YOu are desir●d to take notice, that there is a piece lately Printed of Mr. joh. Quarles, entitled Divine Meditations upon several Subjects, &c. Likewise a Coment on the Times, Written by Thomas Wall, Mr. in Arts: And are to be sold by John Stafford, at his House in George-yard, near Fleet-bridge, 1659. I S printer's or publisher's device Dr. Hewit His Last PRAYER. O Most glorious Lord God, thou whose dwelling is so far above the highest heavens, that thou humblest thyself but to look upon the things that are in heaven, and that are in Earth, thou who dost whatsoever thou wilt both in Heaven, in Earth, in the Sea, and in all places. In thy hands are the hearts of all men, and thou turnest them which way soever thou wilt. O Lord! look in mercy and compassion, we beseech thee, on this great and numerous people of this Land with an eye of pitty, not with an eye of fury and indignation; O look not on al ●hose great and grievous sins that have provoked thee most justly to wrath & displeasure against us. But gracious God! who can stand in thy sight when thou art angry? when thou with rebuk dost correct man for sin, thou makst his beauty to consume away like as it were a Moth fretling a Garment. O Lord! thy indignation and wrath lies heavy upon us, & thou hast vexed us with scourges, thou hast made us a reproach and a by-word amongst our Neighbours, and the very heathen laugh us to scorn. Oh that thou wouldest turn us again, O Lord God of Hosts! that thou wouldst show us the light of thy countenance, that we may behold it; that thou wouldst humble us for al those sins & grievous transgressions that are amongst us; for those Atheisms, for those infidelities, horrid Blasphemies, & profaneness, for those sacrileges for those Heresies, for those Schisms, Errors, & al those blindnesses of heart, pride, vain-glory and hypocrisy, that leads us from thee, it persuades us it will bring us to thee; O humble us for that envy, hatred and malice, and all uncharitableness, that hath set us one against another, that we are so dashed one against another, even to destroy each other; Ephraim against Manasseh and Manasseb against Ephraim, and both against Judah. This thou hast done to us to make us a scourge unto each other, O Lord because we have rebelled against thee: O how greatly and grievously have we sinned? yet for al this, thou hast not requited us according to our ill deservings, for thou mightest have brought us to desolation and destruction: fire might have come down from heaven and destroyed us; our foreign Enemies, and the Enemies of thee, and thy Christ our Saviour, might have swallowed us up. What have we not deserved? yet O the long-suffering, and patience, & goodness of our God! O Lord our God! we pray thee that thy patience and long-suffering might led us to repentance, that thou wouldst be pleased thou who delightest not in the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn from his sins and live, that thou wouldest turn us unto thee, O Lord! & we shal be turned: draw us, & we shall run after thee: draw us with the Cords of love, and by the hands of thy loving kindness, by the powerful working of thy holy spirit in our souls, work contrition in our hearts, and a godly sorrow for all our sins, even a sorrow to repentance, and a repentance to salvation never to be repented of, O Lord break these stony hearts of ours by the hammer of thy word, mollify them by the oil of thy Grace, smite these rocky hearts of ours by the Rod of thy most gracious power, that we may shed forth Rivers of tears for the sins we have committed. O that thou wouldst make us grieve, because we cannot grieve; and to weep because we cannot weep enough: that thou wouldest humble us more & more in the true sight and sense of all our provocations against thee, and that thou wouldest be pleased in the blood of Jesus Christ, to cleanse us from al our sins; Lord let his blood that speaks beter things then that of Abel, cry louder in thine ears for mercy, then al those mischiefs & wickednesses that have been done amongst us for vengeance. O besprinkle my polluted, but penitent soul, in the blood of Jesus Christ that I may be clean in thy sight, and that the light of thy countenance may shine upon me. Lord! be pleased to seal unto mine, & al our souls, the free pardon of al our sins, and say that we may hear it, that thou art well-pleased with us, and appeased towards us. Lord! do thou by thy spirit assure our spirits, that we are thy Children, & that thou art reconciled to us in the blood of Jesus Christ. To this end, O Lord! create in us new hearts, and renew right spirits within us: cast us not away from thy presence, & take not thy holy spirit from us; but give us the comfort of thy help, & establish us with thy free spirit. Help us to live as thy redeemed ones, and( Lord!) let us not any longer by our wicked lives deny that most holy faith whereof our lips have so long time made profession but let us that call on the name of the Lord Jesus, depart from iniquity, & hate every evil way. Help us to cast away all our transgressions, whereby we have transgressed, and make us new hearts. Carry us along through the Pilgrimage, of this world, supplying us with all things needful for us; thy grace alone is sufficient for us: Lord! let thy grace be assistant to us, to strengthen us against all the temptation of Satan, especially against those sins whereunto we are most prove, either by custom or constitution, or most easily provoked to. O Lord! with what affliction soever thou shalt punish, do not punish us with spiritual judgments and desertions. Give us not over to our own hearts lusts, to our vile lewd, & corrupt affection, Give us not over to hardness and impenitency of heart, but make us sensible of the least sin, and give us thy grace to think no sin little; committed against thee our God, but that we may be humbled for it, and repent of it, and reform it in our lives and conversations: and Lord! keep us fr●m presumptuous sins, O let not them get the dominion over us, but keep us innocent from the great offences. And Lord! sanctify unto us all thy methods & proceedings with us, fitting us for all further tribulations & trials whatsoever thou in thy divine pleasure shalt be pleased to impose upon us: Lord give us patience, constancy, resolution and fortitude to undergo them, that though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we may fear none il: knowing that thou, O Lord! art mercifully with us, and that with thy rod as well as with thy staff, thou wilt support and comfort us; & that nothing shall be able to separate us from thy love which is in Jesus Christ our Lord. And( gracious God!) we beseech thee be thou pleased to look mercifully and compassionately on thy holy catholic Church, and grant that all they that do confess thy holy Name, may agree together in the truth of thy holy Word, & live in unity & godly love. Thou hast promised, O Lord! The gates of hell shall not prevail against thy Church: perform, we beseech thee, thy most gracious promises, both to thy whole Church, and to that part of it which thou hast planted, and now afflicted in these sinful Lands, and Nations wherein we live. Arise, O Lord! & have mercy upon our Sion, for it is time that thou have mercy upon her; yea, the time is come for thy servants think upon her stones; and it pitieth them to see her in the dust. Lord! maintain thine own Cause; rescue the light of thy truth from all those clouds of errors and heresies which do so much obscure it, and let the light thereof in a free profession break forth & shine again among us, and that continually, even as long as the Sun and Moon endures. And gracious God! look mercifully upon all our Relations, & do thou bring them to the light of thy Truth, that are wandring and ready to fall, that grace here may interest them in glory hereafter. confirm them in thy Truth that already stand: show some good token for good unto them, that they may rejoice. O let thy good hand of providence be over them in all their ways: & to all orders and degrees of men that be amongst us. Give religious hearts to them that now rule in Authority over us: loyal hearts in their Subjects towards their supreme: & loving hearts in all men to their Friends, & charitable hearts one towards another. And for the continuance of thy Gospel among us, restore in thy good time to their several Places & Callings, and give grace, O Heavenly Father! to all Bishops, Pastors & Curates, that they may both by their Life & Doctrine set forth thy true and lively word, & rightly & duly administer thy holy Sacrament. And Lord! bless thy Church stil with Pastors after thine own heart, with a continual succession of faithful and able men, that they may both by Life & Doctrine declare thy Truth, and never for fear or favour back-slide or depart from the same. And give them the assistance of thy spirit that may enable them so to preach thy word, that they may keep thy people upright in the midst of a corrupted & corrupt generation. And, good Lord! bless thy people every where with hearing ears, understanding hearts, conscientious souls, and obedient lives, especially those over whom I have had either lately or formerly a charge, that with meek hearts and due reverence, they may hear & receive thy holy word, truly serving thee in righteousness and holiness al the days of our lives. And we beseech thee of thy goodness, O Lord! to comfort and succour all those that in this transitory life be in trouble, sorrow, need, sickness, or any other adversity; Lord! help the helpless, comfort the comfortless, visit the sick, relieve the oppressed, help them to right that suffer wrong, set them at liberty that are in Prison, restore the banished, and of thy great mercy; & in thy good time deliver all thy people out of their necessities: Lord! do thou of thy great mercy fit us al for our latter end: for the hour of death and the day of judgement: and do thou in the hour of death, and at the day of judgement, from thy wrath & everlasting damnation, good Lord deliver us, through the across and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the mean time; O Lord! teath us so to number our days, and me my Minutes, that we may apply our hearts to true wisdom, that we may be wise unto salvation, that we may live soberly, godly and righteously, in this present world denying all ungodliness & worldly lusts: Lord! teach us so to live, that we may not be a fraid to die, and that we may so live that we may be always prepared to die, that when death shall seize upon us it may not surprise us, but that we may lift up our heads with joy, knowing that our redemption draws nigh, and that we shall be for ever happy, being assured that we shall come to the felicity of the Chosen, & rejoice with the gladness of thy people: and give us such a fullness of thy holy Spirit that may make us stedfa●● in this faith; and confirm us in this hope; endue me with patience under thy afflicting hand, and let not death be unpleasing to me, but support me in this visitation, that I may die with a confidence to overcome death, and so to live for ever, and so fortify my soul with the assistance of thy spirit, that I may to the last minute be assisted with a most cheerful resolution to give up myself to thy divine disposing, that so passing the pilgrimage of this world, we may come to the Land of Promise, the Heavenly Canaan, that we may reign with thee in the World to come, through Jesus Christ our Lord; in whose blessed Name and Words we further call upon thee, saying. Our Father, &c. L●t thy mighty hand and out-stretched arm, O Lord! be the defence of me, and all other thy servants, thy mercy & loving kindness, in Jesus Christ our salvation, thy true and holy Word, our instruction, thy Grace and holy Spirit, our comfort and consolation, to the end, and in the end, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. FINIS. Choice Forms of Prayer.