into thy mercifull hands again For thine is the kingdome the power and the glory for euer and euer Amen ¶ A comfortable conceit vpon review of the soule vnder Gods protection And an earnest entreatie for godly perseuerance I Committed my soule into thy hands oh Lord thou GOD of mercie render it restore it now nay thine it is and kéepe it I beséech thee and let mée haue a sight of it Oh thanks bée vnto thy diuine Maiestie and vnspeakable mercy that yet once againe thou hast washed and cleansed it that thou hast sprinckled the bloud of Iesus Christ ouer it that thou hast adorned and beautified it with glorious grace and hast not taken thine holie Spirit from me Lord pardon my vnthankfulnes Goe my soule vnto thy God at all times for he loueth thée he hath once loued thée and he loueth thée for euer Goe vnto him and tye thy selfe be not separated oh my soule He is thy God he is thy Creator he is thy redéemer he is thy Sauiour O worship thou him in the beautie of holinesse Oh mercifull Lord God haue pittie yet againe on my distressed forlorne and forsaken soule It is wonderfully wounded vnto the death Oh saue me saue me oh Lord why am I thus why art thou angry with me for euer I will hope in thy holy name oh let me not go away ashamed because I haue put my trust in thée Who euer trusted in thée and was confounded And shall I Surely thou wilt heare mee thou wilt helpe me thou wilt comfort me My heart telleth mée thy spirit beareth witnesse vnto me that I shall bee relieued and comforted and made glad and excéeding ioyfull with the light of thy countenance Behold euen as the eyes of a seruant doe looke vnto the hand of his maister and the eyes of a maiden vnto the hand of her Mistres euen so mine eyes wayt vpon thée my God vntill thou haue mercy vpon me Make spéed O Lord and be not slack it is time it is high time I beséech thee Lord let me beg my soule out of the hands of Satan for Iesus sake and draw my soule oh louing Father vnto Iesus Christ let him command Satan to yéeld it vp againe Seeing he hath no title no interest why should hee haue any possession oh that it were wholy imployed in thy seruice Heare then Lord and forgiue all my sinnes past my Rose-coloured and bloud-red sinnes remember thy mercies in Iesus Christ my only Sauiour most louing Redéemer to whome with thée and the holie Ghost one God Almighty eternall and most mercifull bee praise and glorie for euer and euer Amen ¶ An excellent wrestling with Iesus Christ OH swéet Iesu Christ sonne of God sonne of the Father lord of life sonne of Dauid redéemer of the world haue mercy vpon me miserable sinner I haue defaced the glorious Image after which I was created I haue peruerted my wayes and deliuered my soule into the power of Satan I was held captiue and bound in the chaines of euerlasting darkenes yet thou Oh Lord didst redéeme mée with thy most precious bloud thou didst deliuer me and set me at libertie thou diddest offer vp thine owne body vpon the crosse and submit thy selfe vnto the death for my sake and this my redemption thou didst seale in my heart by the most comfortable gift of Faith and other Christian vertues attending therevpon so that I gaue my selfe to loue thée and chéerefully to serue thée and call vpon thée then didst thou answere me againe and filledst my heart with gladnes yea swéet Iesu thou knowest that my heart within mée hath leaped and daunced for ioy of thy louing coūtenance and vnspeakable mercies May it please thee I know it doth please thée Oh mercifull Redéemer to continue thy louing kindnes towards mée I know and I confesse for if I deny I am a lyer that I haue notwithstanding thy tender loue towards me in redéeming my sinfull and wretched soule greatly and notoriously abused and contemned thy goodnes wantonly and wickedly kicked and spurned against thy holie grace the seale of mine eternall election and redemption wonderfully and strangely oh good Christ thou knowest most villanously presumptuously and almost despightfully defacing and rasing out the print thereof by most heinous transgressions heaped vp together encreasing in great measure in most vile and abhominable sort so that I had almost lost faith and fallen from grace But continuall and euerlasting praise bée giuen to thée thou hast lifted me vp frō the gates of death from the pit of hell and power of the Diuell The slye and subtill snares of damnation were spread vnder me and I stumbled and fell and now was hell and death and damnation preparing a triumph ouer my soule now was the Diuell stepping with his gréedy téeth to teare and loe thou sonne of God thou sauiour of men thou strong and mighty by thy mighty power whereby thou art able to subdue all things vnto thy selfe didst pluck me out of his téeth and deliuer me What shall I render vnto thy Maiestie thy power thy goodnesse thy mercie thy most vndeserued true Lord and most true compassion and pittie What shall I render vnto thée for all the good that thou hast done vnto me Surely I will confesse vnto thée my wickednes and be sorrie for my sinne I will magnifie and praise thy name for euer I will speake of thy louing kindnesse and make mention of thy saluation Oh Lord who is like vnto thée that deliuerest me from him that is to strong for mée and spoileth mee My soule shall make her boast of thée and shal not be ashamed because thou Lord hast holpen me and comforted me Moreouer oh my Iesus I will not cease to pray vnto thee dispose me therevnto I most humbly beséech thée for without thée I can doe nothing Oh let my prayer come before thée and enter into thy presence Let me neuer be so mightily ouercome and so shamefully ouerthrowne as I haue béene Giue me thy constant spirit bréed in my heart and Conscience a deadly hatred and desperate enmity of sinne and wickednesse let me neuer be reconciled vnto them againe Oh let my soule loue thy most precious blood by which it is washed and cleansed from most vile corruptions Let me die oh Lord and depart this life before I so contemptuously as indeede I haue done tread and trample it as it were vnder my profane féet Oh let me die first I vnfainedly desire thée my swéet Sauiour For why should I liue to dishonour thée in such sort Why should I liue still to prouoke thy wrath and mine owne vnquietnesse I haue profaned thy sanctified and sanctifying blood I haue buffeted thée on the face I haue whipped and scourged thée most cruelly I haue by most odious impiety crucified thée afresh vnto my selfe Ah sinnefull wretch laden with iniquity heauie laden Oh laden oh when wilt thou refresh me quicken me in thy righteousnesse and clense me from all my
of Heauen and Earth Lord God of hostes inuincible incomprehensible Spirit whose wisedome is infinite whose power vnresistable whose mercie vnspeakeable haue mercy vppon me most wofull Captiue Caitife enthralled to sinne to Satan to the powers of darknesse to the sorrowes of soule to the tribulations and anguish of a guilty Conscience by my most heinous offences and criminous enormities most ridiculous and absurd vanities wherein once I found some fond delight but now I find no souÌ„d comfort only discontentmeÌ„t indignation woe and shame I am abashed and confounded and in a wonderfull perplexed agony that I should so déepely so deadly so often offend thy most excellent Maiestie who art a God of pure eyes and canst not behold iniquity For albeit such is the drouzie dulnes of our cursed corruption that wée cannot and the saucy presumption of our wilful inclination that we will not set thée before our eyes when we are tempted to sinne and moued to transgression yet certaine is it that thine eare of ielousie heareth all things and thine eye of ielouzie séeth all things and nothing is hid from the brightnes of them ten Thousand times brighter then the Sun but whatsoeuer worke is in our hands whatsoeuer word in our mouthes whatsoeuer thought or imagination in our hearts thou O Lord knowest it altogether And as all our ways works are all naked and open before thy sight thou louest righteousnes and hatest iniquity therefore when we are sinfull yet thou continuest holy excellent in glory vpright in iustice Almighty in power as thou many times sparest when we deserue punishment so thou many times woundest with thy iust reuenge when wee feele it not till afterwards we flatter our selues in our own sight till our abhominable sinnes be found out till thou reprooue vs sharply and seuerely set before vs the things that we haue done till thou makest a Catalogue and roll of our offences settest our secret sinnes in order before vs and presentest thy selfe withall a iust reuenger our manifold breaches of thy holy Commandements and manifest conteÌ„pt of thy blâ—…ed word of thy iust iudgements and of thy louing mercies consider not in our hearts our most accursed and damnable estate wherein wee dayly plunge our selues most odiously and abhominable yea though our sinnes be not of the smallest but great and grieuous and heynous and enormous abhominatioÌ„s yet either such is the grosse darknesse and palpable blindnes of our minds and vnderstandings or such is the deadnes of our infected consciences that wee runne on still from one iniquity to another till we sodainly fall into thy heauie displeasure till thine indignation and fiery wrath breake forth like fire vpon vs and we be not able to quench it Hence is it that wee are plunged into many fearefull gulfes of desperation Wée are affrighted with many vgly sights of our sinnes hence we are wounded at the very heart with many distrustfull thoughts of thy mercies and as many desperate imaginations of thy vengeance The paines of hell get hold vpon vs and the feare of thée doth vndoe vs before either wée stand in awe of thy Maiesty or séeke after thy mercy Oh my God and Sauiour I confesse vnfainedly this my case so I haue transgressed so little I haue regarded so I am oppressed Wherefore O Father of mercies and God of all consolation who hast appoynted repentance for sinners who dwellest in eternity and yet in the humble and contrite spirit In the name of thy holy and blessed and onely beloued sonne our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ who hath promised ease to all that labouring and heauy laden come vnto him who cannot breake the bruized Reed and will not quench the smoaking flaxe I most humbly and earnestly beséech and entreat thy fatherly goodnes to forgiue me all my sins to lay them vpon his backe the true scape-goat and send them into the wildernes the land of obliuion that my Conscience through faith in his most precious bloud and meritorious sacrifice may bée fully discharged of them all O Prince of peace send peace into my heart the peace that passeth vnderstanding that peace which thou gauest for a Legacy to thy Disciples wheÌ„ before thy death thou diddest make promise of that spirit the Comforter O holie spirit of Comfort the onely ioye of thine elect let thy blessed presence so chéere and glad my soule that being assured of thy sauing health I may delight to serue thée and to sanctifie my selfe more and more with all allacrity and pleasure of my spirit attending on thy will walking in thy wayes all the residue of this my pilgrimage mortalitie Grant this O Father Sonne and holy Ghost holie blessed and eternall Trinity the Author of Life the giuer of grace the God of power whose wisedome is péerelesse whose dominion is endles whose mercie is bottomlesse To whom be all praise honour and glorie for euer and euer world without end Amen ¶ A speciall forme of submission and supplication to the Almighty IT cannot bee denied oh Lord GOD almighty it is too well knowne to thée and too too lamentably experienced in our selues that we are nothing else but a sinke and swill and puddle of sinne a masse and lumpe of rebellion That there is no light in our vnderstanding no good inclination in our good will no grace in our life we haue erred and straied from thy waies euer since we were borne through the originall Concupiscence and Corruption wherein wee are conceiued we haue neuer ceased to breake thy holie Commandements and to runne headlong into all manner of disobedieÌ„ce When the tempter is ready wee are fit to bee tempted as he is neuer vnready so wee alwaies are tempted and taken in most dangerous and deadly gins Woe and alas to our most weake féeble soules wherin there is neither power nor will nor wisedome to withstand the fierce and violent assaults of the spiritual wickednesses that fight against vs that entrench and encampe themselues round about vs when wee thinke that all is safe then rush they vpon vs as the Philistims did vppon Sampson we through dalliance with this wanton Delilah of our owne flesh and filthy vanitie of this wicked world are lulled a sléep in carnall security and haue lost our spirituall strength of Faith hope and godlinesse and so are taken and bound and blinded and lead away Captiues held in thraldome and scorned of those wicked and hellish fiends who greatly delight in the destruction and confusion of thy children which thirst and long after our eternall damnation In tender and bitter consideration whereof most lamentably complaining vnto thy most excellent and incomprehensible Maiesty oh Lord God of hoasts thy most distressed and forlorne seruant and adopted sonne sheweth and openeth his grieuances and being tyred wearied and ouerburdened with most cunning crafts subtile sleights as also most outragious tyrannies and impetuous violences of his implacable infernall foes in all humility and lowlinesse
and looke vpon mee through thy sonne Iesus Christ and please thy selfe with me Grant that I béeing continually couered with his obedience as with a cloake may be euer acceptable in thy sight accompanie me the whole race of my mortall life with his and thy most sacred and wise grace that so it may appeare to the ioye of my sorrowfull heart and peace of my conscience as also to the sight and perfect knowledge of men that thou art mercifull vnto mee of a truth that thou hast lifted me vp that in thy wrath thou didst punish me but in thy mercy hast compassion on me because I haue hoped in thy holy name and haue waited for thy saluation And as for me my God performe the worke of comfort which thou hast begunne in mee and encrease the ioy of my spirit from day to day and bring me forth into the light a mirrour of thy mercies a spectacle of thine vnspeakable and rich compassions through Iesus Christ our Lord and only Sauiour Amen ¶ The Sinners deniall of himselfe and lowlie petition to bee accepted of God and receiued into his conduct O Almightie God Father of mercies and God of all consolations I haue now séene and had experience in déed and truth that in me that is in my flesh there dwelleth no good thing For the very fountaine is corrupted euen my heart within me the fountaine of all my actions I find it indéed full of filthinesse in it selfe full of rebellion against thée hating thy most excellent Maiestie and euen wishing that thou werest no God at all that it might the more francklie and fréely set on fire the whole course of nature in me and so draw me body and soule into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone Fier that neuer goeth out I doe heere therfore fréely acknowledge and confesse that my destruction is sought mightily maynly by my selfe but my Saluation is of thée I doe vnfainedly repent me of my wicked heart and as héeretofore I haue in vprightnes truth dedicated and deuoted the same vnto thy heauenly protection as thou knowest so now in like manner I wholy resigne my selfe into thy hands beséeching thée to take this vngodly heart and frame it anew to make it pliable and fit for thy selfe I know thou hast no néed of my seruice for thou canst command the stones and they will arise and prayse thée But yet seeing I wholy deny my selfe and betake my life to the good gouernmēt of thy Sonne Iesus Christ my blessed Sauiour I beséech thée oh Lord I beseech thée accept the soule of thy servant Let me now sée and experience the power of Christ against Satan I haue experienced mine owne power which is weaknesse not able to encounter with the strong man The life that héereafter I shall liue let me liue it wholy oh mercifull Father by the faith in the death of Iesus Christ and let Christ liue in me by his gracious and sanctifying spirit that from henceforth I may vnfainedly detest and abhorre my former wickednes and may be renewed as a garment and receiue the Kingdome of Christ in my conscience as a Child euen so Father of heauen so be it For thou hast magnified thy mercies in me and so magnifie them for euer Thou hast disappointed Satan of my soule and so disappoint him still of a truth I perceiue that thou art faithfull and true in thy promises and louest thy Children with an euerlasting loue Glory and honour and great worship and all power might and Maiestie be ascribed vnto thée For thou art worthy oh GOD most high Amen ¶ In the instant and vrgent assault of Temptation a very earnest prayer LOrd why abhorrest thou thy seruant why hidest thou thy face frō me Heare thou in heauen thy dwelling place thou possessor of heauen and earth thou maker of all things thou louer of men thou sauer of soules heare and giue eare and let my prayer enter into thy presence The tempter is ready my heart is weake my soule is wicked I shall cōspire against thee with Satā I shal enter a league with death and hell I am fettered in the chaines of eternall damnation Oh Lord God Almighty strong and mercifull heare thou in heauen thy dwelling place Behold mine owne desires are confederate against me and mine inward affections conspire together to ouerthrow mee Now euen now am I ready to be taken away now my sinful body vexeth my simple soule now my simple soule enthralleth her selfe to my sinfull body Now heare and helpe oh God of heauen my Sauiour sayd it I surely find it The spirit is willing but the flesh is weake Satan is strong hee is very strong he hath strengthened mee against my selfe Oh strength of Israel strength of thy Chosen strength of thy Children strengthen me for my selfe as Satan hath strengthened me against my selfe If thou my God my rocke my refuge will saue who can destroy If thou wilt deliuer who shall imprison If thou wilt but say the word let the iust captiuitie goe frée giue mee the soule oh Satan that I haue loued for euer that I haue elected before the world that my sonne hath redéemed with his precious bloud what Satan What sinne What death What hell What hatred what curse what law what guilty conscience what despaire what damnation can hold it backe Thou art Almighty thou art All-sufficient mighty against all that resist thy might and therfore all these sufficient for all that band themselues against thy sufficiency and therefore for these For these O Lord God most mercifull and louing Father whether they be in mee or about mee thou art Almighty thou art all-sufficient Wicked sinne a guiltie conscience a despairing soule these are within me O God dispossesse them Lawe and curse hatred and hell death and diuell and damnation it selfe these are about me Oh Lord disperse them Arise Lord and let thine enemies be scattered let these that hate thée flée before thée Oh deliuerer of the captiues helper of the afflicted relieuer of the oppressed comforter of the grieued my temptation is at hand my temptation is at hand I fall I fall Lord lift me vp Lord lift vp the light of thy countenance vpon me Where art thou my God Oh my soule what doest thou where art thou my God My soule whither wilt thou what haue I done vnto thee why doest thou betray me But where art thou my God Oh heare me now I call O helpe me now I cry vnto thée The assault is grieuous the violence is villanous the danger is desperate oh wretched creature that I am Who shall deliuer me from this body of death Oh I am weake hearted I am soule sicke I am faint spirited I finde no meanes of resistance Now I fall now I yéeld now I am tempted now I am taken now I consent now I runne headlong vpon mine owne damnation Oh my breast is pinched my heart is pained my soule afflicted my infirmitie surprized