any time since hee had his being he hath either thought or said or done amisse doe it away deare LORD as though it had never beene and drowne it for ever in the bottomelesse sea of thine owne mercy Thou hast promised by thy Prophet Isa. 44. 22. that thou wilt put away the transgressions of thy people like a cloud and their sins as a mist. Now we pray thee let the inflamed heate of thy everlasting love shed thorow the bloody wounds of thy Son and shining through the Sonne of righteousnesse upon his soule disperse and dissolve into nothing all his iniquities transgressions and sins Thou hast promised by thy Prophet Micah 7. 19. That thou wilt cast them all into the bottome of the Sea Now blessed LORD GOD we pray thee as that mighty host of Pharaoh sunke into the red Sea like a stone so that neither Sonne of man nor Sun of Heaven ever saw their faces any more so let all his sins bee swallowed up for ever in the red sea of CHRIST JESVS his blood that they never show their faces againe to his shame discomfort or confusion Thou hast told us with thine owne mouth that thou inhabitest eternity and dwells in the high and holy place and yet with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to give life to them that are of a contrite heart we humbly intreate thee for CHRIST JESUS his sake that thou wouldest make good this promise to this thy servant to the utmost sweetnesse and comfort thereof O blessed LORD GOD let thy glorious presence shine into his heart with all those sweet refreshings with which thou art wont to fill those happy soules which depart in thy favour and at peace with thee Let the pretious deservings and saving blood-shed of CHRIST JESVS appeare fresh unto the eye of his faith And let the blessed Angell ministring Spirits to thy chosen at thy appointed time carry his soule with peace and comfort into the bosome of thy glory O LORD he is now going the way of all flesh and his habitation is remooving from him like a Shepheards tent Helpe now LORD in this time of need Comfort him wee beseech thee with all the strength of Heaven Thou hast within the rich treasury of thy mercy thine own tender hearted bowells of compassions the unvaluable blood shed of thy deare Sonne the unutterable comforts of thy good Spirit the pretious promises of life and all the joyes of Heaven and he hath a poore soule that hungers and thirsts and longs for thy mercy and favour before all the world O LORD our GOD wee humbly pray thee crown that soule of his with them all Let thine own omnipotent hand encompasse him let the strong arme of the Sonne of GOD mightily protect him from all infernall power let the Spirit of all comfort raise in his heart those heavenly raptures and sweet exultations of spirit which are wont to fill the soules of them which are ready to lay hold upon a crowne of life let thy blessed Angels at thine owne time carry his soule into the bosome of Abraham there to raigne with thee in rest and joy thorow all eternity A Prayer in time of Plague O LORD our GOD remember us wee pray thee in mercy concerning that heavie and sore judgement of the Plague of Pestilence that fearefully walketh in darknesse and wasteth at noone day which thy just wrath hath kindled in the chiefe City of this Kingdome Wee pray thee good Father to blesse us with care and wisedome to meete thee now at first with truly remorsefull and repentant hearts both for our own personall sinnes and the crying abhominations of the times Let us seeke thee with fervency and truth in daies of humiliation and fasting and cry mightily unto thee that so turning al unto thee with unfained repentance and sincere resolution to amend thou maist in mercy heale our Kingdome and turne thine indignation away from us A Prayer in time of Plague MOst gratious GOD sith by thy good providence we are met together at this time solemely to humble our selves and afflict our soules in thy glorious presence and before thy pure eye we humbly beseech thee to give unto every one of us spirituall ability and the saving assistance of thy Holy Spirit that we may all doe it unfainedly fruitfully effectually in the name of JESVS CHRIST O Most mighty and blessed LORD GOD our ever loving Father in JESVS CHRIST We poore wretches thy unworthiest servants do heere humbly prostrate our selves our soules and bodies before thy Throne of grace acknowledging from our hearts that we are the vilest of all Thy Creatures by reason of our manifold and hainous sins we are defiled and polluted in every power and part both of body and soule to the very heart roote and from the beginning of our being we laid at first a bloudy foundation with Adam in Paradise which utterly undid all mankinde and had our hands in that horrible rebellion which brought all mischiefs and miseries all sinne and sorrow upon all the sonnes and daughters of Adam from the Creation to the end of the world yea and all those Hellish woes and tortures which shall lie upon damned soules everlastingly O LORD strike our hearts with remorse for This sin of which we take so little notice that we may bee humbled for it all the daies of our life Wee came into this world very sinkes of all impurity concupiscence and filth we brought with us understandings starke blinde in all heavenly things wills stubborne froward rebellious to every good word and worke Memory sinfull and defiled hard and stony hearts raging and bedlam passions earthly and sensuall thoughts and imaginations dead and guilty consciences eyes full of Adultery wantonnesse and wandrings eare open to all rotten and ribald talke tongues set on fire by hell hands full of iniquity feete ready to carry us to all manner of villany and vanity even bodies and soules ingrafted into the cursed communion of the Divell and wicked spirits by reason of that originall corruption and crookednesse which we drew from the loines of our sinfull Parents And this hereditary masse of naturall filth lurkt in our natures like venome and poison which made us odious and abominable in thy sight before wee were able to sin when wee had power to serve the Divell it broke out upon us into as many fearefull transgressions and abominable lusts as could possibly proceed from so empoysoned a fountaine And since that time good Lord thou knowest we have borne our selves like Traytors and rebells against thy holy Majesty we have actually transgrest all thy blessed Lawes and Commandements every manner of way in thought word and deed fearefully wounding our consciences greeving thy good spirit and treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath O Lord wee have grievously sinned against Thee by contempt of thy Word The crying sinne of this place by Atheisme ignorance profanenesse
incomparable Jewel that ever this world had or sons of men enjoyed the Ministery of the Word and meanes of salvation the discovery of the mystery of CHRIST and revelation of all thy blessed counsells By the power whereof so many amongst us as have truly tasted how gratious and glorious thou art in CHRIST doe blesse magnifie and admire the bottomelesse depth and infinite height of thy free grace for our happy conversion from Satan to the living GOD for our change from nature to grace a greater and more glorious work then the Creation of the world wherein thou hast improved thine owne infinite mercie the unvaluable merit of thy Sonne and the mighty worke of the HOLY GHOST to make us of limbs of the divell members of CHRIST O blessed be that happy time that ever we were so new borne Wee thanke thee for pardoning all our sins the least of which would have damned us everlastingly for renewing upon our soules the blessed image of the LORD JESVS the least glimpse whereof is infinitely more worth then the whole world We thank thee for the LORD JESVS and every drop of his pretious blood and all other sweetnesse wee finde in him for thy good Spirit and his gratious presence and residence in our soules for thy blessed selfe and all the sweete Communion we have with thy holy Majesty for the prayers of thy children Communion of Saints and the Intercession of JESVS CHRIST We thanke thee heartily for any power or conquest thou givest us at any time over our sins for all our ability to doe thee any service in any part or kinde of thy worship for all those afflictions and temptations which thou hast sanctified for our spirituall good for all the sweete and heavenly dewes of spirituall joy which thou hast at any time shed into any of our hearts from the throne of grace by the influence of thy holy Spirit Blessed GOD wee thanke thee infinitely for those glorious mansions of rest for our everlasting blessings and peace purchased for us with the blood of CHRIST for every moment of eternity in the highest Heavens where wee shall fully and for ever enjoy pleasures without end and past imagination O blessed Joyes O blessed Eternity O ever-blessed GOD Furthermore gratious Father wee heartily praise thee for all those publique favours and blessings which in great mercy thou hast from time to time vouchsafed unto this Kingdome wherein we have had a large and comfortable part We thanke thee good Father for the happy deliverance of this Kingdome from the fiery and bloudy times of Queene Mary for raising up Queene Elizabeth who raised Religion as it were by a miracle from the dead for all her miraculous deliverances from the cruell conspiracies of the bloody Papists especially that in 88. For all her blessed daies wherein so many Holy Saints were sent to Heaven We thanke thee mercifull GOD for delivering us from the rage and bloud of that day so long looked for by the Papists at Queene Elizabeths death for the quiet and happy succession of King Iames of blessed memory and all the peace and prosperity and freedome from Popery and the destroying sword especially the Powder-plot We thanke thee Father most heartily for the gratious setling of King CHARLES in the Royall Throne for his life and safety and the happy daies we enjoy under his blessed raigne and that thou hast put into his royall heart to give us this blessed liberty and glorious opportunity thus to humble our selves and afflict our soules in publique before thy glorious Majesty We humbly intreate thee in the name of CHRIST let every one of us receive at thy bountifull hands grace and power to doe it unfainedly effectually and savingly For that purpose let thy blessings fall abundantly from Heaven upon every soule here present by the Ministery of thy Word settle fast we pray thee by the finger of thy Holy Spirit in our memories judgement affections hearts and consciences all those points of Holy Truth with which wee have beene acquainted with this day that by thy mercifull blessing they may prove thy arme and power to every one of us for our salvation for the conversion of those who are yet uncalled and the setting forward of those that are already thine in the waies of life all holy conversation and neerer communion with thy blessed Majesty At last we cannot but reflect with compassionare hearts upon the grievous miseries and bleeding sorrowes of all our brethren and sisters afflicted with the plague of Pestilence Thou art a pitifull GOD full of tendernesse meltings and compassions thou art the Father of mercies and GOD of all comforts now we humbly intreate thee for thy deare Sonnes sake for thy infinite mercies sake for thy holy names sake of all thy loves unto the LORD JESVS and that with all the earnestnesse and fervency our poore dull hearts can possibly that thou wouldest bee pleased to cast downe thy compassionate eye upon them all stay the hand of thy destroying Angell spare them good LORD destroy not the people of thine inheritance put up we pray thee thy arrowes into thy quiver and thy sword into the sheath now at the joynt supplications of all thy deare children who are in this Kingdome who are even now wrastling with thee with all fervency of spirit let our poore prayers and all theirs even now meeting at the throne of grace bee mightily strengthened and tendered unto thee by the intercession of the LORD JESVS and pull downe speedily upon us this mercy and gratious deliverance that we may praise thee for evermore Lastly blessed LORD we humbly beseech thee to pardon in mercy all those corruptions infirmities faylings defects and imperfections which have beene mingled with these holy duties sprinkle all our services sacrifices and persons with the blood of that immaculate Lambe JESVS CHRIST the holy and the Righteous accept them and us gratiously in him in whom thou art well pleased in whom thy soule doth infinitely delight And so good Father we put our selves under the wings of thy gratious providence for our safety and preservation and our soules into the hands of the Holy Ghost for our further Sanctification and finall salvation in the name of JESVS CHRIST to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost even to thee holiest Father to thee dearest Saviour to thee sweetest Spirit be ascribed eternity infinitenesse and everlastingnesse of glory and praise world without end The Authors private Prayer O My good and mercifull LORD GOD most holy and deare Father in JESVS CHRIST I the vilest of all thy creatures and the worst that ever thou madest by reason of mine owne horrible sins doe here come unto thee upon the bended knees of my bleeding soule to intreate thee and beg at thy hands with all the instancy and fervency my poore dull cold heart can possibly for pardon grace and mercy for favour compassion and abundant forgivenesse O LORD my GOD thou knowest me full well and
unbeliefe distrust of thy providence carnall security pride hypocrisie By fearelissnesse and forgetfullnesse of thy great Majesty Love of this world and putting from us the evill day by impatiency discontent inward Idolatry in preferring some Creature before the mighty LORD of Heaven and Earth By the grosse neglect or wicked abuse of all the parts and kinde of thy Divine Worship Pretious and powerfull are those heavenly Ordâ—nances of thine Thy Word preached or read prayer meditation conference vowes fasting use of good bookes good company and the like some of those have been utterly neglected by us others quite mard by formality and sloth We have highly dishonoured thy Majesty by taking thy great name in vaine in want of due esteeme and an holy use of thy Titles Attributes Ordinances Creatures Workes of justice and mercy abroad in the world We have fearefully polluted thy Sabboths and profaned all thy Ordinances upon those blessed daies And as we have thus wickedly neglected thy Worship and Service in the first place so wee have beene justly given over to beare our selves wretchedly and unworthily towards our brethren we have behaved our selves unthankfully to our Superiours proudly to our Equals unmercifully to our Inferiours Though it may bee we have kept our hand from the grosse act of murder yet LORD thou know'st our tongues have beene swords and our hearts full of blood We have beene defiled with all manner of abominable lusts in our inward parts Our noble spirits that can never die have been basely chained downe to the earth and kept in a wicked and dunghill slavery and bondage to the world and worldly things In our tongues we have beene guilty of a world of wickednesse But above all our hearts have beene restlesse fountaines of all ill innumerable litters and swarmes of vaine vile filthy Thoughts affections and desires have continually bred in them very thorough-faires have they beene for Satans impure suggestions to walke up and downe in in regard of malicious thoughts very slaughter-houses in regard of uncleane lusts very stewes and brothel-houses in regard of the heate of boyling concupiscence very hot-houses and as the Prophet Hos. 7. 4. speakes like a bakers Oven And LORD our GOD these are but the heads of our sins The branches streames and particulars are infinite able to sinke us into the bottome of ten thousand hells And that which makes our sinnes a great deale more sinfull wee have wretchedly and stubbornely committed them against many meanes of sanctification against the ministery of thy Word against many Sermons and gratious invitations against the motions of thy Spirit the checks of our conscience the light of our knowledge against our vowes and promises Thy many fatherly corrections great mercies and miraculous patience Good LORD wee beseech thee to open our eyes that wee may see the length and breadth the height and depth of this our wofull misery The least of all our sins without repentance may justly bring upon us all manner of plagues and judgements in this world dispaire and horror upon our beds of death and everlasting misery and torment in the world to come What height of horror then and depth of hell doe all our fearefull pollutions and provocations all our life long deserve at thine hands Now good LORD our GOD helpe us and for the blood of CHRIST give unto every one of us before thee this day true and saving repentance unfained godly sorrow for them all Let them all now come into our mindes and be represented to the eye of our conscience as so many fiery Scorpions out of which except we take as it were the stings by turning from them while it is called to day they will sting hereafter with everlasting horrour Let us looke upon them as upon so many foule feinds sin made the glorious Angels damned spirits how foule then doe they make us who are sons and daughters of Adam Let us behold them as so many foule and bloody instruments of CHRIST his death and cruell cut-throats to our owne soules c. Let us cast our eye also upon thy pure eye and infinite indignation against sin by considering how in thy fierce wrath thou threwest downe so many glorious Creatures from Heaven How thou cast Adam and Eve for eating the forbidden fruit out of Paradise drownedst the whole world Cursedst Sodome and Gomorrah as it were with hellish flame upon earth into ashes cast off thine owne people who had beene so deare unto thee puts sometimes a guilty enraged conscience even into an hell above ground and hast created and provided the never dying worme and unquenchable fire even all the torments in hell for impenitent sinners O LORD let these considerations of the foulenesse of our sinnes and the fearefullnesse of the curse due thereunto but above all the beholding of JESVS CHRIST dying and bleeding upon the crosse make every one of our hearts to breake and burst and bleede within us for them all That wee may heartily and abundantly mourne over him whom wee have pierced with them And then most mercifull Father we humbly beseech thee be graciously pleased to open upon us the blessed fountaine for sin and for uncleanenesse even the blood of that Immaculate Lambe JESVS CHRIST the holy and the Righteous Breake thine own sweete Name which is to forgive iniquity transgression and sin as a sweete perfume upon our broken hearts and let our poore soules cast themselves for ever with a lively and fruitfull faith into the armes of JESVS CHRIST for everlasting safety and for ever cleave to all the promises in thy blessed Booke as to the surest Rocke and let the soundnesse of the Truth of this our cleaving unto Christ be hereafter testified and manifested by an hearty abandoning of all sin by all the workes of piety justice mercy and truth by a sincere respect to all thy Commandements by a fruitfull partaking of all thy Holy Ordinances by a spirituall performance of all Christian Duties by a constant growing in all heavenly graces and comfortable going on in the path that is called Holy unto our dying Day And LORD our GOD we being thus sincerely humbled truly comforted and reconciled unto thee in the face of Christ we humbly beseech thee to enable us by thy might to cry mightily unto thee for pardon and reformation of the sins of this Kingdome which are many and hainous and have provoked thee many a yeare and to prevaile with Thee in Christs Name for favour and mercy upon all our deare brethren and sisters that are now groaning under thy visiting hand Good LORD wee beseech thee upon this occasion and blessed opportunity strike through the heart of every one in this land with a true remorse and godly sorrow both for his owne personall sins and all the crying abominations of the time That so we all turning unto thee with unfained repentance and sincere resolution to amend thou mayest in mercy command thine Angell to cease from striking heale our land and