decorative border with (top center) royal coat of arms; (left side) Faith bearing sword and shield; (right side) Humility holding lamb; and symbols of the four evangelists: (top left) angel representing Matthew, (top right) eagle representing John, (bottom left) winged lion representing Mark, (bottom right) winged bull representing Luke HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE FIDES HUMILITAS CERTAIN Prayers collected out of a form of godly Meditations, set forth by her majesties authority in the great Mortality, in the fift year of her highness reign, and most necessary to be used at this time in the like present visitation of God's heavy hand for our manifold sins, and commended unto the Ministers and people of London, by the Reverend Father in God, john Bishop of London, etc. july. 1593. Imprinted at London by the Deputies of Christopher Barker, Printer to the Queen's most excellent Majesty. ❧ The Preface. WE be taught by many and sundry examples of holy Scriptures, that upon occasion of particular punishments, afflictions, and perils, which God of his most just judgement hath sometimes sent among his people, to show his wrath against sin, and to call his people to repentance, and to the redress of their lives, the godly have been provoked and stirred up to more fervency & diligence in prayer, fasting, and alms deeds, to a more deep consideration of their consciences, to ponder their unthankfulness and forgetfulness of God's merciful benefits towards them, with craving of pardon for the time past, and to ask his assistance for the time to come, to live more godly, and so to be defended and delivered from all further perils and dangers. 2. Sam. 24 So king David in the time of plague and pestilence which ensued upon his vain numbering of the people, prayed unto God with wonderful fervency, confessing his fault, desiring God to spare the people, and rather to turn his ire to himward, who had chief offended in that transgression. 2. Chro. 2 2. Reg. 19 The like was done by the virtuous kings josaphat and Ezechias in their distress of wars and foreign invasions. So did judith and Hester fall to humble prayers in like perils of their people. So did Daniel in his captivity, judith 9.2 Ester 14.1 Dan. 9 4. and many other more in their troubles. Now therefore calling to mind, that God hath been provoked by us to visit us at this present with the plague and other grievous diseases, and partly also with trouble of wars: It hath been thought meet to excite and stir up all godly people within this Realm, to pray earnestly and hearty to God, to turn away his deserved wrath from us, and to restore us as well to the health of our bodies by the wholesomeness of the air, as also to godly and profitable peace and quietness. And although it is every Christian man's duty, of his own devotion to pray at all times: yet for that the corrupt nature of man is so slothful and negligent in this his duty, he hath need by often and sundry means to be stirred up and put in remembrance of his duty, For the effectual accomplishment whereof, it is ordered and appointed, as followeth. First, that all Curates and Pastors, shall exhort their Parishioners to endeavour themselves to come unto the Church, with so many of their families as may be spared from their necessary business, (having yet a prudent respect in such assemblies to keep the sick from the whole, in places where the plague reigneth) and they to resort, not only on Sundays and holy days: but also on Wednesdays and Fridays, during the time of these present afflictions, exhorting them, there reverently and godly to behave themselves, and with penitent hearts to pray unto God to turn these plagues from us, which we through our unthankfulness and sinful life, have deserved. Secondly, that the said Curates shall then distinctly, and plainly read the general Confession appointed in the book of Service, and the Absolution following. Then shall begin the lords prayer. Our Father etc. Then likewise shall follow. O Lord open thou our lips. etc. Then shall be said this Psalm following. Psal. 95. O come, let us sing unto the Lord, etc. Afterwards, some three of these Psalms. Psal. 6.39.51.90 91.94.130. Then for the first Lesson one of these Chapters. 2. Samuel. 24. 2. Reg. 24. Then Te Deum shall follow. Then for the second Lesson one of these Chapters. Matth. 6.24. Then Benedictus, with the other accustomed prayers. Then the Litany. And after the end of these collects, O God merciful Father, etc. We humbly beseech thee, etc. O Lord our heavenly Father, almighty & everlasting God, etc. O almighty God, King of all Kings, etc. Almighty God, which in thy wrath, etc. shall follow this Psalm: one verse said by the Minister, and an other by the people. ¶ The Psalm to be said in the Litany: Whereof one verse to be said of the Minister, and another by the people, Clerk or Clarks. Psal. 95. O Come, let us humble ourselves, and fall down before the Lord, with reverence and fear. For he is the Lord our God: and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hands. Ose. 6.2. Come therefore, let us turn again unto our Lord, for he hath smitten us, and he shall heal us. Acts. 3. Let us repent, and turn from our wickedness: and our sins shallbe forgiven us. jona. 3. Let us turn, and the Lord will turn from his heavy wrath, and will pardon us, and we shall not perish. Psal. 51. For we knowledge our faults: and our sins be ever before us. Lament. 3. We have sore provoked thine anger, O Lord, thy wrath is waxed hot, and thy heavy displeasure is sore kindled against us. Thou hast made us hear of the noise of wars, and hast troubled us by the vexation of enemies. Esa. 64. Thou hast in thine indignation stricken us with grievous sickness, and by and by we have fallen as leaves beaten down with a vehement wind. judith. 8. job 11. Sap. 11. Indeed we acknowledge, that all punishments are less than our deservings: but yet of thy mercy Lord correct us to amendment, and plague us not to our destruction. For thy hand is not shortened, that thou canst not help: neither is thy goodness abated, that thou wilt not hear. Esa. 65. Thou hast promised, O Lord, that afore we cry thou wilt hear us: whilst we yet speak thou wilt have mercy upon us. For none that trust in thee shallbe confounded: neither any that call upon thee shall be despised. Tob. 3. job 5. Ose. 6. For thou art the only Lord, who woundest, and dost heal again, who killest, and revivest, bringest even to hell, and bringest back again. ●●●l. 22. Our fathers hoped in thee, they trusted in thee, and thou didst deliver them. They called upon thee, and were helped: they put their trust in thee, and were not confounded. Psal. 6. O Lord, rebuke not us in thine indignation: neither chasten us in thy heavy displeasure. Psal. 25. O remember not the sins and offences of our youth: but according to thy mercy think thou upon us, O Lord, for thy goodness. Have mercy upon us, O Lord, for we are weak: O Lord heal us for our bones are vexed. Baruc. 3. jona. 2. And now in the vexation of our spirits, and the anguish of our souls, we remember thee, and we cry unto thee: hear Lord, and have mercy. Dan. 9 For thine own sake, and for thy holy name sake, incline thine ear, and hear, O merciful Lord. For we do not power out our prayers before thy face, trusting in our own righteousness: but in thy great and manifold mercies. Wash us thoroughly from our wickedness: and cleanse us from our sins. Turn thy face from our sins, & put out all our misdeeds. Make us clean hearts, O God: and renew a right spirit within us. Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: O deliver us, and be merciful unto our sins for thy name's sake. Psal. 79. So we that be thy people, and sheep of thy Pasture, shall give thee thanks for ever, and will always be showing forth thy praise, from generation to generation. Glory be to the Father, etc. ¶ After this Psalm, shallbe said by the Curate or Minister openly and with an high voice, one of these three prayers following. At which time, the people shall devoutly give ear, and shall both with mind and speech to themselves, assent to the same prayers humbly upon their knees. ❧ A Prayer, containing also a Confession of sins. Which is to be said after the Litany, aswell upon Sundays, as Wednesdays and Fridays. O Almighty, most just and merciful God, we here acknowledge ourselves most unworthy to lift up our eyes unto heaven, for our conscience doth accuse us, & our sins do reprove us. We know also that thou, Lord, being a just judge, must needs punish the sins of them which transgress thy Law. And when we consider and examine all our whole life, we find nothing in ourselves, that deserveth any other thing but eternal damnation. But because thou, O Lord, of thy unspeakable mercy, hast commanded us in all our necessities to call only upon thee, and hast also promised, that thou wilt hear our Prayers, not for any our desert (which is none) but for the merits of thy Son our only Saviour jesus Christ, whom thou hast ordained to be our only Mediator and Intercessor. We lay away all confidence in man, and do flee to the throne of thy only mercy, by the intercession of thy only Son our Saviour jesus Christ. And first of all, we do most lament and bewail, from the bottom of our hearts, our unkindness and unthankfulness towards thee our Lord, considering that besides those thy benefits which we enjoy as thy creatures, common with all mankind, thou hast bestowed many and singular special benefits upon us, which we are not able in heart to conceive, much less in words worthily to express. Thou hast called us to the knowledge of thy Gospel. Thou hast released us from the hard servitude of Satan. Thou hast delivered us from all horrible and execrable Idolatry, wherein we were utterly drowned, and hast brought us into the most clear and comfortable light of thy blessed word, by the which we are taught how to serve and honour thee, and how to live orderly with our neighbours in truth and verity. But we most unmindful in times of prosperity, of these thy great benefits, have neglected thy commandments, have abused the knowledge of thy Gospel, and have followed our carnal liberty, and served our own lusts, and through our sinful life, have not worshipped and honoured thee as we ought to have done. And now, O Lord, being even compelled with thy correction, we do most humbly confess that we have sinned, and have most grievously offended thee by many and sundry ways. And if thou, O Lord, wouldst now being provoked with our disobedience, so deal with us as thou might, and as we have deserved, there remaineth nothing else to be looked for, but universal and continual plagues in this world, and hereafter eternal death and damnation, both of our bodies and of our souls. For if we should excuse ourselves, our own consciences would accuse us before thee, and our own disobedience and wickedness would bear witness against us. Yea, even thy plagues and punishments which thou dost now lay upon us in sundry places, do teach us to acknowledge our sins. For seeing, O Lord, that thou art just, yea even justice itself, thou punishest no people without desert. Yea, even at this present O Lord, we see thy hand terribly stretched out to plague us, and punish us. But although thou shouldest punish us more grievously than thou hast done, and for one plague send an hundredth, if thou shouldest power upon us all those thy testimonies of thy most just wrath, which in times passed thou pouredst on thy own chosen people of Israel: yet shouldest thou do us no wrong, neither could we deny but we had justly deserved the same. But yet, O merciful Lord, thou art our God, and we nothing but dust and ashes: Thou art our creator, and we the work of thy hands: Thou art our pastor, we are thy flock: Thou art our redeemer, and we thy people redeemed: Thou art our heavenly father, we are thy children, wherefore punish us not, O Lord, in thine anger, but chasten us in thy mercy. Regard not the horror of our sins, but the repentance thereof: perfit that work which thou hast begun in us, that the whole world may know, that thou art our God and merciful deliverer. Thy people of Israel often times offended thee, and thou most justly afflicted them: but as oft as they returned to thee, thou didst receive them to mercy. And though their sins were never so great, yet thou always turnedst away thy wrath from them, and the punishment prepared for them, and that for thy covenant sake, which thou madest with thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and jacob. Thou hast made the same covenant with us (O heavenly Father) or rather a covenant of more excellency and efficacy, and that namely through the mediation of thy dear Son jesus Christ our Saviour, with whose most precious blood, it pleased thee that this covenant should be, as it were, written, sealed, and confirmed. Wherefore, O heavenly Father, we now casting away all confidence in ourselves or any other creature, do flee to this most holy covenant & Testament, wherein our Lord & Saviour jesus Christ, once offered himself a sacrifice for us on the cross, hath reconciled us to thee forever. Look therefore, O merciful God, not upon the sins which we continually commit: but upon our mediator & peace maker jesus Christ, that by his intercession thy wrath may be pacified, & we again by thy fatherly countenance relieved and comforted. Receive us also into thy heavenly defence, and govern us by thy holy spirit, to frame in us a newness of life, therein to laud and magnify thy blessed name for ever, and to live every of us according to the several state of life whereunto thou Lord hast ordained us in godly fear & trembling before thee. And although we are unworthy (O heavenly father) by means of our former foul life, to crave any thing of thee: yet because thou hast commanded us to pray for all men, we most humbly here upon our knees beseech thee, save and defend thy holy Church, be merciful, O Lord to all common weals, Countries, Princes, and Magistrates, and especially to this our Realm, and to our most gracious Queen and governor Queen Elizabeth, increase the number of godly Ministers, endue them with thy grace to be found faithful and prudent in their office, defend the Queen's majesties Council, and all that be in authority under her, or that serve in any place by her commandment for this Realm. We commend also to thy fatherly mercy, all those that be in poverty, exile, imprisonment, sickness, or any other kind of adversity, and namely those whom thy hand now hath touched with any contagious and dangerous sickness, which we beseech thee, O Lord, of thy mercy (when thy blessed will is) to remove from us, and in the mean time, grant us grace and true repentance, steadfast faith, and constant patience, that whether we live or die, we may always continue thine, and ever praise thy holy name, and be brought to the fruition of thy Godhead. Grant us these and all other our humble petitions (O merciful father) for thy dear sons sake jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Or else in the stead of the other, this prayer may be used, and so to use the one one day, the other an other. O Eternal and everliving God, most merciful Father, which of thy great long suffering and patience, hast hitherto suffered and borne with us most miserable offenders, who have so long strayed out of thy way, and broken all thy laws and commandments, and have, neither by thy manifold benefits bestowed upon us unworthy and unthankful sinners, nor by the boyce of thy servants and preachers, by continual threatenings out of thy holy word, hitherto been moved, either as thy children, of love to return unto thee our most gracious Father, either for fear of thy judgements, as humble and lowly servants to turn from our wickedness. And therefore, most righteous judge, thy patience being (as it were) overcome at the last, with our obstinate unrepentance, thou best most justly executed those thy terrible threats now partly upon us, by plaguing us so (with most dreadful & deadly sickness) whereby great multitudes of us are daily afflicted & consumed. We beseech thee, O merciful Father, that in thy wrath thou wilt remember thy old great merices, and to correct us in thy judgements, and not in thy just anger, lest we be all consumed and brought to nought. Look not so much upon us and our deservings, O most righteous judge, to take just vengeance on our sins: but rather remember thy infinite mercies, O most merciful Father, promised to us by thy dearly beloved Son our Saviour jesus Christ, for whose sake, and in whose name, we do earnestly and humbly crave mercy and forgiveness of our sins, and deliverance from this horrible sickness, being thy just punishment and plague for the same. And as thy holy word doth testify, that thy people of all ages, being justly plagued for their sins, and yet in their distress unfeignedly turning unto thee, and suing for thy mercy, obtained the same: So like wise we most worthily now afflicted with grievous and dreadful plagues for our iniquities, pray thee, O merciful Father, to grant us thy heavenly grace, that we may like wife both truly and unfeignedly repent, and obtain thy mercy, and deliverance from the same, which we beseech thee, O Father of all mercies, and God of all consolation, to grant us, for the same jesus Christ's sake, our only Saviour, Mediator and advocate. Amen. This prayer may be said every third day. IT had been the best for us, O most righteous judge, & our most merciful Father, that in our wealths and quietness, and in the midst of thy manifold benefits continually bestowed upon us most unworthy sinners, we had of love harkened to thy voice, & turned unto thee our most loving and gracious father: For in so doing, we had done the parts of good and obedient loving children. It had also been well, if at thy dreadful threats out of thy holy word continually pronounced unto us by thy servants our preachers, we had of fear, as corrigible servants, turned from our wickedness. But alas we have showed hitherto ourselves towards thee, neither as loving children (O most merciful father) neither as tolerable servants, O Lord most mighty. Wherefore now we feel thy heavy wrath, O most righteous judge, justly punishing us with grievous and deadly sickness and plagues, we do now confess and acknowledge, and to our most just punishment do find in deed, that to be most true, which we have so often heard threatened to us out of thy holy scriptures, the word of thy eternal verity: that thou art the same unchangeable God, of the same justice that thou wilt, and of the same power that thou canst punish the like wickedness and obstinacy of us impenitent sinners in these days, as thou hast done in all ages heretofore. But the same thy holy Scriptures, the word of thy truth do also testify, that thy strength is not shortened, but that thou canst, neither thy goodness abated, but that thou wilt, help those that in their distress do flee unto thy mercies, and that thou art the same God of all, rich in mercy towards all that call upon thy name, and that thou dost not intend to destroy us utterly, but fatherly to correct us, who hast pity upon us, even when thou dost scourge us, as by thy said holy word, thy gracious promises, & the examples of thy saints in thy holy Scriptures expressed for our comfort, thou hast assured us. Grant us, O most merciful father, that we fall not into the uttermost of all mischiefs, to become worse under thy scourge, but that this thy rod may by thy heavenly grace, speedily work in us the fruit and effect of true repentance, unfeigned turning and converting unto thee, and perfect amendment of our whole lives, that as we through our impenitency, do now most worthily feel thy justice punishing us: so by this thy correction, we may also feel the sweet comfort of thy mercies, graciously pardoning our sins, and pitifully releasing these grievous punishments, and dreadful plagues. This we crave at thy hands (O most merciful father) for thy dear Son our Saviour jesus Christ's sake. Amen. ❧ Order for the Fast. THe godly use of Fasting, in time of common calamity, as war, famine, pestilence, and also when any weighty matter was in hand, for the Church and common wealth, is evident in holy Scriptures. Wherefore it is necessary in so contagious time of sickness, and troublous state of the Realm, (our sins procuring justly the wrath of God) that following the godly examples of king josaphat, 2. Chron. 20. jonas 3. and the King of Ninive, with others, fasting with prayer be commended to the people by their preachers, exhorting their audience chiefly to these points. 1 That this fasting be every week upon the Wednesday. 2 All persons between the age of 16. and 60. years, (sick folks, and harvest labourers, or the like excepted) shall on that day eat but one competent and moderate meal: observing sobriety of diet, without superfuitie of riotous fare, respecting necessity, and not voluptuousness. 3 The quantity being but sufficient, and without delicacy, it is indifferent to eat flesh or fish. Let no public order be contemned herein, nor dissimulation with God committed, pretending like hypocrites godly abstinence, but doing nothing less. 4 The wealthier sort, are to be moved to give of that they spare, and are beside able enough to give, to relieve the poor, considering the misery and distress, of a number of poor miserable souls, either starving for lack of food, or being sick with eating unseasonable meats. 5 This day the people are to be warned, to forbear bodily working, and common buying, and sessing, and to be exercised in holy prayer, devout study, reading the Scriptures, instructing their children, reforming all their family: especially to take heed they spend it not in plays, pastimes, idleness, haunting Taverns, lascivious wantonness, surfeiting, and drunkenness, for which sins (the proper sins of this nation) the heavy displeasure, and wrath of God is time upon us. 6 Admonition is here lastly to be given, that on the fasting day they have but one Sermon at Morning Prayer, and the same not above an hour long, to avoid the inconvenience that may grow by abuse of fasting: as son make it a faction more than religion, and other with overmuch weariness and tediousness, keep the people a whole day together, which in this time of contagion, is more dangerous in so thick and close assemblies of the multitudes. God give us grace to repent, and in his mercy turn away his punishments from us. Amen.