shall make her boast of thée and I will euer remember this that in wrath thou thinkest vppon mercy I will remember and not forget euen so be it oh Father of heauen through Iesus Christ thy onely Son in whom thou art well pleased my onely Sauiour in whome I am fully comforted So be it ¶ A Meditation sealing Eternall Election by the consideration of good Education O Most gracious God and louing Father who in thy sonne Iesus Christ before the world was made diddest predestinate foreappoint some men to life and some to death some to glory and some to contempt some to saluation and some to condemnation euen of thy good pleasure I giue thée most humble and hearty thankes that thou hast chosen me to life glory and saluatiō fréely and of thine owne accord when it might haue pleased thée to reprobate mee for euer Euē so Father because it was thy good pleasure a tast of this loue and fauour thou hast giuen me by the reuelation of Iesus Christ Hereby I am assured that I am predestinate vnto eternall life that I haue faith in the death bloodshed of Iesus Christ O Lord encrease my Faith Moreouer this thine ancient loue eternall and without beginning is manifested to me more perfectly for that it pleased thée that I should not only be borne of godly parents embracing thy truth but also by them bee brought vp and trained from my child-hoode in a course of godlinesse and vertue that so comming vnto riper yeares I might bee grounded established in thy holy waies Oh mercifull father my consciēce and sinnes doe testifie against me that I haue not deserued the least of thy mercies that thou hast enriched me withall from my youth vp much lesse this so great and inestimable a grace to bee followed with thy louing kindnesse and attended vppon by thy grace through good education all my life long to this present houre For to confesse a truth I haue not ceased to prouoke thée continually I haue not ceased to transgresse against thy holy Maiesty in thought word and déed euery day yea Lord in great and grieuous sort early and late in child-hood in youth in middle age ignorantly and wittingly weakly and presumptuously in such sort O Father that it is maruaile I am not already consumed already condemned Yet for all this thy louing fauour hath accompanied me euermore and now I perceiue the good fruit of godly education Oh my God what shal I render vnto thée how shall I bee thankefull what recompence dost thou looke for behold I will thanke thée in Christ Iesus thy beloued Sonne and my blessed Sauiour I will trust in thy mercie for euer through him I will liue in thy feare by his power I will serue thée with an vnfeigned heart and glorifie thée in my body and in my soule by the working of his grace and spirit all the daies of my life Oh continue forth thy louing kindnes towards me from henceforth and for euer that being conducted and guided through this vale of misery after I haue a little recouered my strength in bodie and spirit performed my duty patiently suffred and endured the appointed crosse for me I may in the end receiue the end of my faith and hope euen the saluation of my soule and at that great day the glorification of both body and soule through the same my Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ to whome with thée and the holy Ghost be eternall and equall praise for euer Amen ¶ In weeping mourning and bitter anguish a confession and prayer OH Lord God what shal I say vnto thée O father of Heauen how shall I entreat thée I am horriblie affraid of thy iudgments I am wonderfully abashed at thy glorious presence I am vtterly ashamed of mine own basenes vilenesse wretchednesse dust ashes flesh and blood filth and froth swill and sinne that I am who shall giue me accesse and entrance before thy Maiestie who shall helpe me to entreat for thy mercy The blood of thy Son I haue polluted and profaned the holy spirit of grace I haue refused and despighted I confesse my wickednesse and I am sorie for my sinne The remembrāce therof is grieuous vnto me the burthen thereof is intollerable Albeit my due desert is hell death and damnation Yea and perpetuall vexation and terrour of heart vntill the sentence of destruction and eternall confusion be executed vpon me a spirit of vnquietnesse to trouble mee like the spirit of Saul from henceforth euen for euer Yet I will hope in the multitude of thine vnspeakable mercies vouchsafed to all sinners in their déepest distresse and miserie In most humble wise as it becommeth an inferiour vassall to his puissant and Almighty prince and leige Lord as it becommeth a Malefactor to an vpright and most wise Iudge as it becommeth a very disobediēt stubborne seruant to his carefull Maister and finally a prodigall and wilfull Child to his most kind and louing Father I submit my selfe wholly distasted of mine owne deserts and vtterly detesting mine owne abhominable conceits words and workes against thy holy will and commandement in the wound of conscience and frō the depth of a mind throughly grieued with my rebellions I most submissely and earnestly call and cry vnto thy most gracious Maiesty and mercy for pardon and forgiuenes of my hainous crimes and innumerable transgressions in all humility and tribulation of spirit beseeching thy fatherly goodnes to lay them vpon the backe of thy deare sonne Iesus Christ that All-sufficient Redéemer Reconciler and Sauiour of all those that put their trust in his most absolute merits and perfect obedience O my God my sure trust is in him that he will be pleased to accept me for one of those whome he calleth in the Gospell labouring and heauie laden with their sinnes to be relieued and eased Not for any other reason but because hee is the right hand of thy mercy reached out vnto fainting and languishing sinners whereof I am one Wherfore oh deare Father of Heauen despize me not approaching to the throne of grace in his only name but let me be possessed with the spirit of assurāce of faith sprinckled in my heart from an euil conscience that I may find grace to helpe me now in this time of néed I doe féele certainly I do find the gnawing Worme eating vp my heart the venome of thine arrowes drinking vp my spirit the rigour of thy iudgements perplexing my thoughts the seuerity of thy punishment astonishing and amazing my weake and féeble wits so that I know not either what course to take to ease my selfe either what words to vse to entreat thy mercie O Lord God great and fearfull bee not as a Lyon vnto mee doe not set me as a marke to shoot at for thou neuer failest to hit where thou aymest thou hittest full and home thy shot is of an Archer of perfect strēgth thy strokes are deadly strokes thine arrowes are venomed with the fire of
THE SOVLES Lamentations and loue to God Preces Lachrymae Dumps and teares of REPENTANCE Aut ora aut abi Aut Poenitendum aut pereundum LONDON Printed by Tho Purfoot An 1614. To the Christian READER THinke not good Christian READER that these Prayers may only be appropriated vnto my selfe They are not onelie the Anatomie of my Soule and the discouery of my life but whatsoeuer poenitent true hearted Christian shall light vpon them I doubt not but he will thinke they were deuized ordained of God for him By them thou maist find the Scripture verified which saith To the weake I become as weake that I may winne the weake 1. Cor. 9 22. Or rather that Whether wee be afflicted it is for your consolation and saluation or whether wee bee comforted it is for your consolation saluation 2. Cor. 1.6 If God bring some to the gates of death for the comfort of others what account wee all ought to make joyntly of our selues and what possible comfort to minister one vnto another severally in temptations in afflictions in pouerties in necessities in all the worlds jniuries wherewith wee are vexed euery day thou seest Seeing also wee esteeme nor to discouer our nakednesse and to set our jnfirmities vnto the view of men for his servants sakes that their ioy may be full knowing that if they be weake so are wee if they be strong so are we if they be sinfull so are we if they be poenitent so are we Let God be glorified and let euery sorrowfull soule triumph in Christ vpon the view of our weaknes For he that refused not vs refuseth none of his that come vnto him call vpon him faithfully turne from jniquity and worship him in spirit and in truth This one thing I entreat of thee Aske not my name it will not profit thee I am thy fellow seruant let that suffice thee In thy praiers remeÌ„ber me for a while if thou know mee and know me by thy selfe and it shall satisfie me to the full I doe will pray for thee Our Lord Iesus Christ be with thy Spirit Amen To the Sinner CHristian Sinner bee not offended at the passions of these Praiers Thou wilt not thou canst not if euer thou hast felt either thy sinnes or thy sauiour the one to afflict and affright thee the other to ease refresh thee There is no greater burden then the burden of sin There is no greater ioy then the ioy of the holy Ghost giuen and inspired of God through Jesus Christ our Lord The one is hell and the other is Heauen here on Earth The spirit of a man will sustaine his infirmity but a wounded spirit who can beare And so contrary The hart that is possessed with The peace of God that passeth all vnderstanding no doubt reioyceth with ioy vnspeakeable and glorious Adde hereunto Jf the deare Saints of God especially the holy Prophet Dauid forced not as it were to shunne themselus in the eye of the world that they might satisfie their Consciences and glorifie God Jt ought not to seeme strange to any sanctified soule that the Author hereof hath made himselfe in a manner a gazing stocke to the world to Angels and to men To become weake vnto the weake that he might winne the weake all to all that at the least hee might gaine some Jt is no matter what shame be poured on the face of a sinfull miserable and mortall man so that one soule thereby may be gained to Christ And J like exceedingly of that excellent resolution of supereminent Saint Augustine Confitebor infirmitates meas oraturis pro me fratribus Be thy discretioÌ„ what it will this is mine in God And so I wish thee the comfort of heart in the Sauâ—oâ—r of the world of whome I am sure thou hast great need as well as I. Thine in truth and charity B L. DEVOVT PRAYERS ¶ A Confession lamentation and submission to God O Lord my God I haue sinned and done wickedly I haue grieuouslie sinned done excéeding wickedly my sinnes are in number infinite and most abhominable in nature Oh good Lord I haue prouoked thine excellent Maiestie and thy strong power and thine vpright Iustice to condemne me bodie and soule sodainly Surely it is of thy mercy that I am not already coÌ„sumed I haue deserued presently euen now Lord before the next nioment to bée deliuered vp into the hands of hell and of the Prince of darknesse the Tyrant of the soule of man Satan the Deuil For I haue serued him and neglected thée I haue from my youth obeyed him and despised thy Maiesty oh most glorious mightie and terrible God thy power and thy Iustice I haue despised and set at naught And yet if this were all I had committed but small offence in respect of that which I haue done For thy mercy thy mercie oh Lord thy compassions oh good God thy compassions infinite and vnspeakable and vnconceiuable euermore alluring me calling me back eueÌ„ beséeching me my Conscience bearing witnesse to refraine from iniquitie I haue cast behind me and most vile wretch then whom there is none liueth more wretched that shall be saued I haue troden and trampled vnder my féet True it is my God and my mercifull Redéemer it is most true that when thou hast offered mee grace I haue refused it when thine Angell hath stood on my right hand and Satan on the left I haue reiected thine Angell and turned aside vnto Sathan I haue leaned vnto the left hand and not vnto the right So I haue traiterously misused thy Maiestie haue shewed my selfe a notorious wilfull and vnrepentant rebell yea as a swift Roe of the Forrest or as a Dromedarie of Midian or as a wild Asse of the Wildernes that snuffeth vp wind at pleasure I haue runne hastily and headlong from the right and high way of life into by-paths of death and destruction I haue entred league with sins and haue trauailed quietly hand in hand with the Princes of euerlasting darknesse I haue suffered my selfe to be led by them vnto the bottomles pit therein I had almost plunged my selfe vnawares I was euen cleane gone from thy presence and remembred thée no more Then euen then oh sweet God when I was held in chaines of darknes thou didst send thine Angell and deliuer me What shall I giue vnto thée How shall I be thankfull I will praise thée with ioyfull lips I will sing to thée froÌ„ the ground of my heart Accept the sacrifice of praise I will take the cup of saluation and pray vnto thée Behold I come vnto thée right humbly oh Lord heare me oh Lord heare me O Lord despise me not If thou makest as though thou hearest not I die and what profite is there in my bloud Spare me good Lord spare me Heare and forgiue I present vnto thée Christ Iesus hée came into the world to saue sinners of whom not S. Paul but I euen I the slaue of
my conscience vexed mine affection enflamed my presumption encreased I yéeld I fall I sinne I dye Oh God oh good God oh gracious God heare me oh spirit oh holy spirit oh comfortable spirit thy name is the comforter oh come and assist me O Iesu sweet Iesu Iesu that deliuerest vs from the wrath to come Come heare me come helpe me come saue me come stand by me Rebuke Satan rebuke sinne I beséech thee my Sauiour my gentle Sauiour rebuke my sinfull soule that resteth vpō thée reforme my soule that longeth for thée Suffer mee not to bée tempted aboue my strength of my self I haue no strength Bee thou my strength my castle and deliuerer at this time and at all times in my perplexities assaults and temptations So be it euen so bee it so I trust and so I rest Iesu that deliuerest vs from the wrath to come Amen ¶ A prayer for grace and diligence to pray OH most mercifull God and louing Father I confesse acknowledge my negligent and carelesse behauiour towards thée as in all the course of godlinesse so chiefly in deuotion and godly praier Haue mercy vpon me and forgiue my securitie I haue hindred many good things from my selfe that I haue not prayed for I haue thereby vilified thy heauenly blessings and riches of thy mercie I haue brought leauenesse vnto my soule Oh gracious God stirre vp my dull and dead spirit and quicken me in thy holinesse that my breast being set on fire and enflamed with thy manifold mercies and graces I may diligently direct my petitions vnto thée and so obtaine according to my necessitty Open mine eies O Lord that I may sée my wants clearly touch my heart that I may pray vnto thee faithfully feruently continually Heare me oh good God and quicken me according to thy mercie Oh disperse mine iniquities as a cloud after a great raine Now after the time that thou hast visited my sinne vpon me returne returne I beséech thée in great compassion My soule is afraid of thy iudgements I am beaten backe with feare of thy wrath when I thinke to pray my heart is cold within me I am astonied and sodainly cast downe LORD lift me vp to thy throne in prayer thou that hast lift me vp from the gates of death Where is thy liuely spirit Swéet God Iesus my Sauiour promised me the comfortable spirit In his name I beséech thée send it into my heart It will teach me and warne me to pray so shal I be sure to obtaine my prayers Heare me O Lord for my Sauiour Iesus sake to whome with thée and the holie Ghost be all honor glorie and praise Amen ¶ A thankfull acknowledgement of diuine mercies in Iudgements OH most mightie Lord God Creator Gouernour and possessour of Heauen and earth Wisedome is about thy throne and thy kingdome is established in iudgement Whatsoeuer pleaseth thee that dost thou in heauen and in earth and in all déepe places Thou beholdest and considerest the waies of men and thou rewardest euery man according to his workes Thou callest for punishment and it runneth like the swift lightning vpon the transgressors Thou commandest vengeance and vengeance entreth into all places the stately pallaces of Princes and the beggarly cottages of the poore There is nothing hid frō the brightnesse of thy presence Thine eyes in euery place a thousand times brighter then the Sunne behold the euill and the good There is nothing can be deliuered from the fircenes of thy wrath It burneth like fire euen to the bottome of hell Thou dost correct the wicked with the vengeance of eternall fire Thou dost chasten thine own children whē they goe astray and wander in the pathes of the vngodly with the corrections of men Infamy pouerty sicknesse of bodie weaknes of mind imprisonment banishment persecution and temporall death Oh Lord our gouernour how excellent is thy name how woonderfull are thy iudgements in all the world And yet for all this how few there are euen a very few that consider thy worke that is done vnder the Sunne that ponder thy iudgements though they be vpon themselues Oh palpable blindnesse oh dull forgetfulnes oh great security oh grosse impietie thou smitest and no man regardeth thou punishest and no man considereth thou layest thy iudgements to the view of all men and no man layeth them vnto his heart Blessed is hee whome thou instructest by punishment and guidest in the way of iudgement Surely this is a great mercy and it passeth all thy workes O teach me thy iudgements thy louing corrections haue made me glad To me thou hast reuealed mercy in iudgement thou hast assured consolation by correction Why so For I prayed vnto thée in the sorrowes of my soule Correct mee O Lord yet in thy judgement not in thy fury c. So I prayed for I was content to beare thy punishment because I had sinned against thée This my prayer thou hast graciously granted vnto me thou hadst respect vnto the humble suite of a sinner Therefore in thy fury thou didst not correct me with violent fire which doth deuoure the Aduersary with euerlasting paines thou didst not reward mee as I deserued but in iudgement thou hast punished me with the corrections of men Infamy pouerty sicknesse weaknes and such like and so thou hast graunted my petition thou Lord hast receiued my prayer thou hast chastned me with thy Children least I should be condemned with the reprobate And thus to me thou hast reuealed mercy in iudgement Thus thou hast assured consolation by correction Héere is thy mercy oh mercifull God to graunt mee my request this was thy mercie to giue eare in this thing vnto a sinner this was thy great mercie I grant it I confesse it I professe it I praise thy name for it Oh Iehoua This is the garment of gladnesse for the spirit of heauinesse oh God my heart is ready my heart is ready I will sing giue prayse Awake my glorie awake my grace awake my soule all the secrets of my Soule awake I my selfe will awake right early Reioyce my deere Soule in the Lord thy God and againe I say reioyce Oh righteous Father thou hast executed thy iustice and extended thy mercy vpon me both together Who can declare thy noble Acts and shew forth all thy prayse who can doe as thou dost can a Man can a Saint can an Angell can any powre and Principality any throne or dominion bring good out of euill swéet out of sowre honor out of shame life out of death out of vengeance mercy as thou dost To thée therefore oh Iehoua and to thée alone shall all flesh come shall all creatures in heauen and in earth and vnder the earth be subiect to thée shall my soule and all the secrets of the same be dutifull and obedient from henceforth and for euermore I will sing vnto thée among much people and will not be ashamed I will speake of thy praises in the congregations my Soule