3. The incomparable love of Christ in that he vouchsafed to be born meanly to live in poverty and contempt to die in shame and torment and endure those pains which were due to us for our sins that he might redeem and rescue us from both These and such like are to be remembred and considered with joy and thanks and praise Prayers before the Sacrament NOW for particular Forms of Prayers Meditations and other Exercises of Devotion before and at and after the holy Sacrament the many books designed peculiarly to that purpose will abundantly furnish you with such and these short ones following will not hinder the use of them Before the Sacrament DEpart from me for I am a sinful Man O Lord Luke 5. 8. I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof For the House of my Soul which thou hadst made a fit Temple for thy Holy Spirit to inhabit in I have defaced and defiled with all manner of pollutions and abominations It is become a den of ravenous beasts and a cage of unclean Birds and every corner so crowded with filthiness that Thou wilt not find where to lay thy head Luke 9. 58. But Thou O Lord which despisest not a penitent Sinner but hast promised to dwell with the humble and contrite spirit I beseech Thee cast me not away from thy presence but cast out all profaneness and uncleanness out of my heart and remove every thing that may offend the pure eyes of thy Glory and the holiness of thy Presence and then O Lord vouchsafe to come and enter in and dwell there and abide with me for ever Behold O Lord I am before Thee in my sins clothed with filthy garments and Satan standing at my right hand accusing me and bringing my transgressions into remembrance before Thee with loud clamours for justice against me O Lord I acknowledge and confess my self guilty and that I have deserved the utmost of thy wrath and indignation But O Lord I appeal from thy seat of Judgment to thy Throne of Grace and Mercy humbly beseeching Thee to rebuke and repel the malicious Accuser of thy servants and hearken to the intercession of our Advocate in thine own bosom For his sake have mercy upon me and pardon my offences and blot out the Hand-writing that is against me and put away all mine iniquities and drown them in the depth of the Sea Wash me throughly from all my pollutions in that fountain which Thou hast opened for Judah and Jerusalem to purifie in and then cloath me in that white robe of thy Sons righteousness the Wedding-garment requisite at this Feast and admit me to thy Table which Thou hast prepared for thy children And grant O Lord that when I have tasted of these thy Heavenly dainties I may no more return like the Dog to his vomit nor as the Sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire but I may keep my self unspotted from the world and walk before Thee in all purity and holiness And now O Lord Thou invitest and exhortest me to come to thy holy Table O my God I know mine own unworthiness yet in the multitude of thy mercies I will humbly approach to thine Alter beseeching Thee to behold me not with a severe but a gracious eye Thou knowest the earnest desire of my Soul be thou pleased to pass by the weakness of the flesh and accept the willingness of the spirit and grant that I may now receive this holy Sacrament to the Honour and Glory of thy Name and the Good and comfort and Salvation of my own Soul The good Lord pardon every one that prepareth his heart to seek God the Lord God of his Fathers though he be not according to the Purification of the Sanctuary Before the Bread O Blessed Lord God who hast given us thine only Son to lay down his life for our Sins and his flesh for the food and nourishment of our Souls purge and purifie my vile and sinful Soul that it may be a fit habitation for his pure unspotted and precious Body and that no unclean thing may presume to enter where his holy feet have trod from henceforth for ever After the Bread BLessed be thy holy Name O Lord my God who hast vouchsafed to feed me with that Bread from Heaven the Flesh of thy dear Son grant that in the strength of this food I may walk before thee in holiness and righteousness all the days of my life till I come to the Mount of God the holy Hill where thine Honour and our Rest dwelleth Before the Cup. O Blessed Lord God who hast given the Bloud of thine only Son to be shed for our sins and to refresh and restore our weary gasping Souls cleanse and sanctifie me O Lord that I may receive this cup with a pure heart and not with polluted lips to the eternal comfort and refreshment of my Soul After the Cup. BLessed be thy holy Name O Lord my God who hast vouchsafed me to drink of this Fountain of Living Water the precious bloud of thy dear Son grant that this holy Cup may be an Antidote and Preservative against all sin and evil and may keep my Soul in health and strength to the end of my days An Hymn O Lord who didst not despise nor forsake Man transgressing thy commandment and falling But as a tender-bowell'd Father didst visit him sundry ways Giving him that great and precious Promise concerning the Blessed quickning Seed Opening unto him a door of Faith and Repentance unto life And in the fulness of time sending the same Christ to take the Seed of Abraham And by the oblation of his life to fulfill the obedience of the Law And by the sacrifice of his Death to take away the curse thereof By his death to redeem the World And by his Resurrection to quicken the same Who didst all things to this end to bring back Mankind to thee that he might be partaker of the Divine Nature and Eternal Glory Who diddest attest the Truth of thy Gospel By many and manifold Miracles By the ever-memorable Conversation of thy Saints By their supernatural patience under torments By the most wonderful Conversion of the whole World unto the Obedience of Faith without Strength Rhetorick or Force Blessed praised and hallowed be thy Name the Mention and Memory and all the Monuments thereof both now and for ever Amen After the Sacrament LOrd what is Man that thou art mindful of him or the Son of man that thou visitest him Psal 144. 3. What is thy Servant that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I 2 Sam. 9. 8. The Dogs eat of the crums that fall from their Masters Table but thou hast fed me with the Bread of thy Children and given me to drink of thine own Cup. Thou hast fed me in a green pasture and leadest me forth beside the waters of comfort Psal 23. 2. O taste and see how gracious the
holy mountain because for our sins and for the iniquities of our Fathers thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us Now therefore O our God hear the prayer of thy servant and his supplications and cause thy face to shine upon thy Sanctuary that is desolate for the Lords sake O my God incline thine ear and hear open thine eyes and behold our desolations and the People which is called by thy Name for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousness but for thy great mercies O Lord hear O Lord forgive O Lord hearken and do defer not for thine own sake O my God for thy people are called by thy Name III O Lord God destroy not thy People and thine Inheritance which thou hast redeemed through thy Greatness which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand Look not unto the Stubbornness of this People nor to their Wickedness nor to their Sin lest the Land whence thou broughtest us out to say Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the Land which he promised them and because he hated them he hath brought them out to flay them in the Wilderness Yet they are thy People and thine Inheritance which thou broughtest out by thy mighty Power and by thy stretched-out Arm. O my Father if it be possible let this Cup pass from us nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt Abba Father all things are possible unto thee take away this Cup from us nevertheless not ours but thy will be done Amen TWO PRAYERS For the Peaceful re-settlement of this Church and State IV. A Prayer for the Church O Blessed Lord who in thine infinite mercy didst vouchsafe to plant a glorious Church among us and now in thy just judgment hast permitted our sins and follies to root it up be pleased at last to resume thoughts of Peace towards us that we may do the like to one another Lord look down from Heaven the Habitation of thy Holiness and behold the ruines of a desolate Church and compassionate to see her in the dust Behold her O Lord not only broken but crumbled devided into so many Sects and Factions that she no longer represents the Ark of the God of Israel where the Covenant and the Manna were conserved but the Ark of Noah filled withall various sorts of unclean Beasts and to complete our misery and guilt the spirit of division hath insinuated it self as well into our affections as our judgments that badge of Discipleship which thou recommendest to us is cast off and all the contrary wrath and bitterness anger and clamour called in to maintain and widen our breaches O Lord how long shall we thus violate and defame that Gospel of Peace that we profess how long shall we thus madly defeat our selves lose that Christianity which we pretend to strive for O thou which makest men to be of one mind in an house be pleased so to unite us that we may be perfectly joyned together in the same mind and in the same judgment And now that in Civil affairs there seems some aptness to a Composure O let not our Spiritual differences be more unreconcileable Lord let not the ronghest winds blow out of the Sanctuary let not those which should be thy Embassadours for Peace still sound a Trumpet for War but do thou reveal thy self to all our Eliah's in that still small voice which may teach them to Echo thee in the like meek treating with others Lord let no unseasonable stiffness of those that are in the right no perverse obstinacy of those that are in the wrong hinder the closing of our wounds but let the one instruct in meekness and thou be pleased to give the other repentance to the acknowledgment of the Truth To this end do thou O Lord mollifie all exasperated minds take off all animosities and pre udices contempt and heart-burnings and by uniting their hearts prepare for the reconciling their opinions and that nothing may intercept the clear sight of thy truth Lord let all private and secular designs be totally deposited that gain may no longer be the measure of our Godliness but that the one great and common concernment of truth and peace may be unanimously and vigorously pursued Lord the hearts of all men are in thy hands O be thou pleased to let thy Spirit of peace over-shadow the minds of all contending parties and if it be thy will restore this Church to her pristine state renew her days as of old let her escape out of Egypt be so entire that not an hoof may be left behind But if thy Wisdom see it not yet a season for so full a deliverance Lord defer not we beseech thee such a degree of it as may at least secure her a being if she cannot recover her beauty yet O Lord grant her health such a soundness of constitution as may preserve her from dissolution Let thy providence find out some good Samaritans to cure her present wounds and to whomsoever thou shalt commit that important work Lord give them skilful hands and compassionate hearts direct them to such applications as may most speedily and yet most soundly heal the hurt of the daughter of Sion and make them so advert to the interests both of truth and peace that no lawful condescention may be omitted nor any unlawful made And do thou who art both the wonderful Counsellor and Prince of peace so guide and prosper all pacifick endeavours that all our distractions may be composed and our Jerusalem may again become a City at unity in it self that those happy primitive days may at length revert wherein Vice was the only Heresie that all our intestine contentions may be converted into a vigorous opposition of our common enemy our unbrotherly feuds into a Christian Zeal against all that exalts it self against the obedience of Christ Lord hear us and ordain peace for us even for his sake whom thou hast ordained our peace-maker Jesus Christ our Lord. V. A Prayer for the King and State O Most gracious Lord who dost not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men who smitest not till the importunity of our sins enforce thee then correctest in measure we thy unworthy creatures humbly acknowledge that we have abundantly tasted of this patience and lenity of thine To what an enormous height were our sins arrived ere thou beganst to visit them and when thou couldst no longer forbear yet mastering thy power thou hast not proportioned thy vengeance to our crimes but to thy own gracious design of reducing and reclaiming us Lord had the first stroke of thy hand been exterminating our guilts had justified the method but thou hast proceeded by such easie and gentle degrees as witness how much thou desiredst to be interrupted and shew us that all that sad weight we have long groaned under hath been accumulated only by our own incorrigibleness 'T is now O Lord these
many years that this Nation hath been in the Furnace and yet our dross wastes not but encreases and it is owing only to thy unspeakable mercy that we who would not be purified are not consumed that we remain a Nation who cease not to be most sinful and provoking Nation O Lord let not this long-suffering of thine serve only to upbraid our obstinacy and inhanse our guilt but let it at last have the proper effect on us melt our hearts and lead us to repentance And Oh that this may be the day for us thus to discern the things that belong to our peace that all who are yea and all who are not cast down this day in an external humiliation may by the operation of thy mighty Spirit have their Souls laid prostrate before thee in a sincere contrition O thou who canst out of the very Stones raise up children unto Abraham work our stony flinty hearts into such a temper as may be malleable into the impressions of thy grace that all the sinners of Sion may tremble that we may not by a persevering obstinacy seal to our selves both temporal and eternal ruine but in stead of our mutinous complaining at the punishments of our sins search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord. O be thou pleased to grant us this one grand fundamental mercy that we who so impatiently thirst after a change without us may render that possible and safe by this better and more necessary change within us that our sins may not as they have so often done interpose and eclipse that light which now begins to break out upon us Lord thy Dove seems to approach us with an olive-branch in her mouth oh let not our filth and noisomness chase her away but grant us that true repentance which may atone thee and that Christian charity which may reconcile us with one another Lord let not our breach either with thee or among our selves be incurable but by making up the first prepare us for the healing of the latter And because O Lord the way to make us one fold is to have one Shepherd be pleased to put us all under the conduct of him to whom that charge belongs bow the hearts of this people as of one man that the only contention may be who shall most forward in bringing back our David O let none reflect on their past guilts as an argument to persevere but repent and to make their return so sincere as may qualifie them not only for his but thy Mercy And Lord be pleased so to guide the hearts of all who shall be intrusted with that great concernment of setling this Nation that they may weigh all their deliberations in the balance of the Sanctuary that conscience not interest may be the ruling principle and that they may render to Cesar the things that are Cesars and to God the things that are Gods that they may become healers of our breaches and happy repairers of the sad ruines both in Church and State and grant O Lord that as those sins which made them are become National so the repentance may be National also and that evidenced by the proper fruits of it by zeal of restoring of the rights both of thee and thine Anointed And do thou O Lord so dispose all hearts and remove all obstacles that none may have the will much less the power to hinder his peaceable restitution And Lord let him bring with him an heart so entirely devoted to thee that he may wish his own honour only as a means to advance thine O let the precepts and example of his Blessed Father never depart from his mind and as thou wert pleased to perfect the one by suffering so perfect the other by acting thy will that He may be a blessed instrument of replanting the power instead of the form of Godliness among us of restoring Christian vertue in a prophane and almost barbarous Nation And if any wish him for any distant ends if any desire his shadow as a shelter for their riots and licentiousness O let him come a great but happy defeat to all such not bring fewel but cure to their inordinate appetites and by his example as a Christian and his Authority as a King so invite to good and restrain from evil that he may not only release our temporal but our spiritual bondage suppress those foul and scandalous vices which have so long captivated us and by securing our inward provide for the perpetuating our outward peace Lord establish thou his throne in righteousness make him a signal instrument of thy glory and our happiness and let him reap the fruits of it in comfort here and in bliss hereafter that so his earthly Crown may serve to enhanse and inrich his heavenly Grant this O King of Kings for thy sake and intercession of our Blessed Mediator Jesus Christ A Prayer for all Christian Princes and the Ecclesiastical State ALmighty God who rulest in the Kingdoms of men and in all events of the world defend those with thy mercy whom thou hast adorned with thy power lift up the horn advance the just interests of all Christian Kings Princes and States by the power of thy venerable and life-giving passion Give unto all them who serve thee in the ministeries of religion wisdom and holiness the blessings of peace and great abilities to minister prosperously to the good of souls by the power and aids of thy holy Spirit of wisdom Pardon all our sins take away our iniquities from us all and preserve us from all danger and trouble from need and persecution from the temptations of the Devil from the violence and fraud of all our enemies Keep us O God from sinning against thee and from suffering thy wrath through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Postscript THE desolation of Sion being that which every good Christian ought to remember in his Daily Addresses to Heaven I should wrong not only your Charity but even your good Nature to think you forgetful or careless of our Common Mother the Church of England thus despightfully used by those ungrateful and unnatural Children who having formerly sucked her Breasts yet are not ashamed to trample upon her in the day of her Calamity I have therefore thought it not improper to add these foregoing Lamentations and Devotions in her behalf hoping they will not be unacceptable or unuseful to you and such others as shall find it worth their while to have proceeded thus far To the blessing of God I commend them and you Farewell THE END Mat. 6. 7 8. Mat. 6. 9. Luke 11. 2. Mat. 5. 23. Mat. 6. 12 14 15. Psal 19. 14. Psal 27. 8. 28. 2. Esth 5. 2. Psal 51. 5. Ezr. 9. 6 7. 2 Cor. 7. 10. Mat. 6. 33. 1 Tim. 2. 1. Luke 1. 79. Isai Gen 18. 32. Mat. 5. 44. Luk. 18. 1. Eph. 6. 18. 1 Thes 5. 17. Psal 119. 62. Acts 16. 25. Mal. 4. 2. 1 Thes 5. 23. Psal 121. 1. 1 Thes 5. 5. 8. Rom. 13. 13. Psal 119. 18 36 133. Psal 91. 2. Psal 121. 8. Psal 121. 7. Jude 24. Phil. 4. 7. Com. Pr. Mat. 6. 6. Mat. 18. 20. Eph. 3. 20. Com. Pr. Heb. 13. 20. Phil. 2. 13. Jude 24. Psal 103. 1 2 3 4. Luke 1. 46. 2 Cor. 6. 2. Mat. 5. 21. 2 Thess 2. 16. Mat. 24. 44. Psal 27. 23 Psal 84. 28. Eccl. 11. 8. Psal 27. 9 10. Psal 130. 1. Psal 51. 1 2. Psal 121. 4. Cor. 10. 13. Heb. 20. 23. Dan. 9. 4 5. Pri. Form of Prep Psal 130. 3. Isai Psal 103. 10. Rom. 13. 12. 1 Tim. 6. 12. Joh. 4. 24. Mat. 22. Luke 14. 18 19 20. Mat. 22. 12. Zach. 3. 1. Zach. 13. 1. 2 Pet. 2. 22. Psal 5. 7. Mat. 26. 41. 2 Chron. 30. 18 19. 1 Kings 19. 8. B. Andrews Man p. 290. Mat. 15. 27. 2 Pet. 2. 22. Psal Psal 103. 15. Luke 12. 46. Psal 90. 12. Mat. 25. 1 10. Lam. c. 1. v. 12. 14 15 6 17 5. Vers 16. Ver. 18 20 21. C. 2. v. 1 3 2 9. C. 2. v. 9 7 6. Vers 15. C 3. v. 19 20 21. Ver. 22 23 31 32 33. Ver. 39 40. Chap. 4. ver 11 12. Ver. 16 17 18 19. Vers 20. Chap. 5. ver 2 3. Vers 8 12 15 16. Vers 17. Vers 19 20 21. Psal 74. 1 2. 79. Ver. 1. 74. ver 7. 79 ver 4 5 8 9 10. â—4 ver 18 19 20 21 22 23. Psal 80. 1. 4 5 6 7. V. 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15. Ver. 17 18 19. Psal 60. 1 2 3. 89. ver 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46. 84. ver 9. 90. ver 15 16 17. Psal 73. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 11 12. Ver. 13 15 16 17 18 19 20. 37 ver 1 2 35 36 37 38 39. Ezra 9. 6 7 15. Neh. 9. 31 32 33 34 35 36. Dan 9. 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12. Ver. 16 17 18 19. Deut. 9. 26 27 28 29. Mat. 26. 39. Mar. 14. 36.