predictions of his wrath we have either neglected or misinterpreted not unlike the Jews of whom Josephus relates Who when a starre or Comet in the shape of a sword hung over the city of Jerusalem by the space of a yeer before the destruction of it and that when at the feast of Vnleavened bread there shone a light at nine of the clock in the night as bright as if it had bin the clearest day in the yeer De bell Jud l. 7. c 12. yet saith he some of the Jews interpreted them according to their severall fancies others wholly contemned and sleighted them till at last too late they found their own folly to their utter destruction But more observant of things of this nature was Lewis the gentle son to Charlemain for when some of his Courtiers perceiving he was troubled at the apparition of a Comet shewed him that place in the prophet Be not dismayed at the signes of heaven Jer. 10.2 for the heathen are dismayed at them he answered We ought not indeed to fear any thing but him who is the Creator both of us and that Comet Aimon de gest Fran. l. 5. c. 17. yet we cannot but sufficiently admire and acknowledge his goodnesse that vouchsafeth to admonish us impenitent sinners and to stirre us up to repentance by such signes as these Now though we wave these things as not to be regarded yet we should not be so sencelesse and stupid as to slight the judgements under which we lye but be sollicitous to remove the cause of them that the effects may be removed also Sin and transgression we finde to be the cause an humble confession with contrite hearts for that which we haue formerly committed and amendment of life for the future with earnest prayer to God to take off his heavy hand must be the cure We must say with them in the Lamentations Lam 3.40 Let us search and try our wayes and turn again unto the Lord. 41. Let us lift up our hearts with our hands unto God in the heavens and say we have transgressed and rebelled 42. But we are farre stom taking the right course to remove these judgments onely we look back to former times and comparing ours with those we conclude them to be happy and ours most miserable we complain and murmure that 's all we do It cannot be denied but that ours at this present may paralel if not exceed the worst of times if we consider the dearth and scarcity of all manner of food and necessaries the unseasonablenesse of weather destroying the fruits of the earth a plain prognostique of famine to ensue the land almost destroyed with distractions and divisions yea with murders and rapine trade utterly decayed and many thousands of people undone many poor widows and orphans succourlesse and harbourlesse ready to perish all these being the sad effects of a civil but a bloody warre yet these are not the worst of our miseries our condition is yet more wretched For all that have been yet enumerated are without us nor do they detract from our eternall happinesse but rather adde to it Afflictio dat intellectum these temporall judgements do or should bring us to the consideration of the cause namely Sin and consequently to a detestation of it but the distractions which are within us make us much more miserable then these which are without us Our understanding is blinde our will perverse and prompt to all evil the flesh lusteth against the spirit and our affections are so inordinate that no kingdom no not our own is at such discord as we are within our selves which is the chief cause that God is so offended with us this and onely this makes us miserable indeed It were therefore to be wished that as we look back to the condition of our predecessors so we would balance our lives with theirs then we should be forced to confesse that they were not so great sinners as we are and therefore their punishments ought to be lesse then ours by the rule of proportion of Gods justice and considering this we would soon lay down these complaints betake our selves to some expedient to appease the wrath of God Besides if we would but take notice of the course they took when either they felt or feared the heavy hand of God we should confesse that they deserved more favour from God then we do and we lessepity from him then they To leave other things and to passe by their sanctity and piety of life which the greater it was the harder it is for our imitation They had and applyed not onely a cure for their afflictions when they befell them but an Antidote too And this was Prayer In all their difficulties they had recourse to prayer as a speciall sanctuary to flee too hoping nay being assured to obtain any thing at Gods hands by it Were they at any time in danger of enemies they had recourse to God by prayer And how prevalent it was ever with God appeareth by that notable place in Exodus when Joshua fought against the Amalekites Exod. 17.11 Moses lift up his hands to God and Israel prevailed and when he let down his hands Amalek prevailed So that it was not Joshuahs sword but Moses prayer that overcame the Amalekites The Children of Ruben and Gad fight against the Hagarites 1. Ch. 5 20.21 one hundred thousand of them were delivered into their hands for they cryed to God in the battell saith the text and he was entreated of them because they put their trust in him The Moabites and Ammonites came in great multitudes to fight against Jehosaphat He being in fear of them made his addresse to God by prayer and said 2. Ch. 5 20.22 O our God we have no might against this great company that cometh against us neither know we what to do but our eyes are upon thee And the Lord turned the forces of his enemies one upon another and they destroyed themselves Hezekiah prayed against Senacherib king of Assyria 2. Kin. 19.15.35 that invaded his kingdom with a mighty army and the Lord sent an Angel by night into the camp and destroyed 185000. of them Zera the Ethiopian came against king Asa with an host of a thousand thousand 2. Chr 14.8 Asa having 580000. to oppose him He cryed to the Lord and said 2. Chr. 14.8 c. It is nothing with thee to help whither with many 〈◊〉 with them that have no power Help us O Lord our God for we rest on thee c. and the Ethiopians were utterly routed and slain King David found the force of prayer effectuall in this kinde Psal 56.9 for he saith When I cry to thee then shall mine enemies turn back There are diverse other examples of this nature in holy writ In the case of famine Jam. 5.17.18 we may see what Saint James writes of Elias that he prayed earnestly that it might not rain and
bee any longer hardned against each other a Kingdom divided against it self cannot stand but give us all the spirit of meeknesse Mar. 3.23 patience and brotherly love Take from us all self-ends and private interests that we may all unanimously seek thy glory and this Kingdoms welfare Give the King thy judgements O Lord Psal 72.1 and thy righteousnesse to the Kings Sonne blesse them the Queen and the rest of the Royall stem with all the graces of thy holy Spirit blesse the Fathers and Ministers of thy Word and Sacraments with zeal and piety Restore incorrupt Doctrine and holy discipline to the Church and in thy good time a setled and religious Peace to this dying perishing Kingdom Blesse all our Magistrates and Counsellours with wisdom knowledge and integrity blesse all thy people with true faith and obedience and grant us all high and low the spirit of unity and charity that we may agree in a blessed and acceptable harmony to praise thy holy Name for all thy mercies to us in Christ Jesus Amen Another O Lord Father of mercies the God of peace unity and love Psal 80.4 How long wee beseech thee wilt thou bee angry against the prayer of thy people How long will it be ere thou thou remove this unnaturall and execrable warre Look upon the afflictions of thy people give ear to the sighes teares and groanes of the poore and let the effusion of so much Christian blood move thee to pity Alas O Lord we acknowledge that this and other thy judgements are just punishments for our sinnes we have sinned we have committed iniquity we have despised and forsaken thee the fountain of life and our own happinesse and have waged warre against thee and thy commandments by our daily offences We have kept none of thy statutes which according to thy word by the Prophet hath brought the sword into our land to devoure us Isa 1.20 Yet thou O Lord in the midst of thy wrath remember mercy Hab. 3.2 Which that we may be capable of give us grace to call to our remembrance to confesse bewaile and forsake our transgressions Send into our hearts the spirit of grace and supplication that we may humbly deprecate thy just displeasure and cry unto thee and say Lord pity Lord save thy people whom thou hast redeemed with thy most precious blood and be not angry with us for ever Lord sheath this bloody and devouring sword and let us not fall as Saul did upon our own swords Command all those that minister occasions of warre to return to their own places that so by thy grace and favour through the merits of our alone Saviour we may again recover if it stand with thy good will and pleasure our lost happy and most desired peace and agree again as becometh Christians in unity of hearts and mindes to praise and glorifie thy holy Name for ever Amen In this time of unseasonable weather dearth and scarcity ALmighty Lord God which givest food to every living thing that coverest the heaven with clouds and preparest rain for the earth that commandest the clouds to send forth rain and again doest stop the flood-gates of heaven who at the prayer of thy Prophet Elias didst shut the cataracts thereof so that it rained not in three yeers space and didst again open them and the clouds did yeeld plentifull showers one for the peoples good the other for their punishment Wee confidently beleeve that thou doest what thou pleasest in heaven in earth in the sea and all places Wee thy poor distressed and miserable Creatures humbly acknowledge and confesse that wee have departed from thee and have not hearkned to thy word to walk in thy commandments Wee have spent the dayes appointed for thy seruice in idlenesse and excesse and neglected thy worship letting loose the reynes of the flesh to all uncleannesse Therefore that curse denounced in thy law for such rebellion hath befalne us Deut. 28.16 c. That wee should bee cursed in the city and cursed on the field in our store in the fruit of our body and of our land in the encrease of our kine and the flâ—cks of our sheep And that the heaven over our head should bee brâ—sse and the earth under us irâ—n And that the rain should come down till we be destroyed O Lord we have seen with ioy and comfort that in the former parts seaons of the year the earth was plentifully cloathed with fruits in abundance which filled us with hopes and expectation of a plentifull harvest and a numerous encrease of all things for the sustentation of man and beast But O Lord thankful hearts not accompaneing our joyful minds thou hast broken up the springs of the earth thou hast opened the windows of heaven and immoderate rains have fallen whereby the land hath been overmoistned the corn hath been depressed and laid flat to the ground and for want of the comfort and heat of the Sunne hath not attained to its due ripening and the waters have overflowed the earth so much that our cattell are like to want necessary food and sustentation so that all our former hopes seem to be frustrate and unlesse thou of thy speciall providence be mercifull to us the labours of our hands will prove altogether vain and our hopes will be as thistle-down Sap. 5.14 which is carried away with the winde and as the froth which is driven away with a storm and as the smoak which is dispersed here and there with a temptest and wee may justly fear a famine to ensue When O Lord we see and feel these extraordinary tempests and rains wee cannot but acknowledge thy just hand upon us for our ingratitude in not giving thee due praise for former plentifull yeers and seasonable times and for our sleighting and undervaluing so great blessings as also that thou art enforced to draw us to thee by more severe means and to learn by those thy plagues that mans labour avails nothing without thy blessing and that if thou withdraw thy hand of providence all our endeavours prove invalid and uneffectuall and therefore we should not undertake any thing without addresse to thee by prayer and when thy heavy hand is upon us in this or any other kinde to betake our selves to no other means then calling upon thy holy Name to releeue us At this time therefore lying under this scourge of thine we flee unto thee O mercifull Father wee tender our humble supplications to thee and earnestly in thy Sonnes Name and for his Merits beseech thee if it stand with thy blessed will to keep back the bitter judgement of dearth and famine which wee have just cause to fear O deal not with us in thy fury but bee pleased that we may enjoy those fruits of the earth which thou didst put us in hope to receive Supply O Lord what wee shall want by some way or means which thou in thy providence doest better know to give then wee to expect Isa â—9 1 Thy hand is not shortned that it cannot help And it is all one to thee to releeve us either with or without means Lord abate in us all immoderate desires to the creatures which with other our transgressions hath caused this judgement of famine to beginne to take hold upon us Divert these intemperate showers into our eyes and extract showers of tears from them which may testifie that wee unfeignedly bewaile our sinnes and deplore our manifold offences These showers will prove farre better and more wholsome and profitable for us and be a meanes by the intercession of our Saviour to stay and cease those stormes which seem to foretell our destruction and ruine Lord hear us and answer us for thy son Christ Jesus sake in whom thou are alone well pleased Amen FINIS
the Majestie of God as rebellious to his commands as unthankfull for his mercies as impenitent for all our offences as the Jews or any Nation under heaven and therefore are deservedly under as great judgements as they were What course is then to be taken by us to appease the wrath of an angry God justly conceived against us Certainly none other but the means which hath been ever applied in the like case which is Prayer We being in the same condition why should we not apply the same remedy Who can tell if God will turn and repent Jon. 3 9. and turn away from his fierce anger that wee perish not God is the same that he ever was and proclaimed himself The Lord The Lord God mercifull and gracious long suffering and abundant in goodnesse and truth If wee turn to him by serious repentance and by Prayer qualified with zeal faith confidence and perseverance conforming our wills unto his onely waving all worth and merits in our selves and our prayers and acknowledging our own unworthynesse and trusting in the merits of our blessed Saviour Christ Jesus onely with full resolution to amend our lives for the future he will say to us as he hath done before Jeâ— 18 7. At what instant I shall speak concerning a Nation and concerning a Kingdom 8 to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it If that Nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evil I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them Let us therefore humble our selves and that speedily Zep. 2.1 It was the Prophets counsel to Judah Gather your selves together yea gather together O nation not desired 2. Before the decree bring forth before the day passe as the chaffe before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you before the day of the Lords anger come upon you Pacifie the Lords wrath before it break out It 's kindled already we know but if it once break out into flame and that a fierce one â—am 4 11. who can quench it The Lord saith the Prophet hath powred out his fierce anger and hath kindled a fire in Zion and it hath devoured the foundations thereof If the foundations be destroyed the superstructure must needs fail that is an universall destruction must needs follow That we may in time prevent this let us pray to God in the first place to give us grace to pray aright and then to give a blessing even that wee pray for his favour and the light of his countenance and then wee shall enjoy our hearts desire Let us pray and say Da pacem domine in diebus nostris peace here and hereafter peace of conscience peace with God and man let the judgement of warre cease in this land and Da nobis domine panem quotidianum our daily bread food and sustenance remove the judgements of famine and pestilence Lord from us and continue us in health give such things as will stand with thy good pleasure to give us Give us the Bread of life Jo. 6.35 even Christ Jesus that so we may serve thee joyfully here in the Kingdome of grace and raigne with thee eternally in the Kingdome of glory Ne deficias in oratione August Deus quod concessurus est si differt uon aufert Nemo gratis orat Omnis oratio modo seria sit semper fructuosa erit Faint not in Prayer God doth onely deferre not deprive us of that he intends to give us No man prayeth in vain Every Prayer alwayes returns with fruit so it be serious PRAYERS FOR THE TIMES For Peace O Almighty God and most mercifull Father who by thy Son Jesus Christ hast valued Peace at so high a rate that thou hast stiled the lovers and procurers thereof the Children of thee O God the last Legacy of thy Sonne to his disciples being Peace and thou thy self being also pleased to be intituled the God of Peace it being one of the fruits of God the holy Spirit behold we beseech thee thy poor and wretched people deprived of this unvaluable blessing and miserably afflicted with a raging intestine Warre Wee confesse O Lord that this judgement is justly befalne us for our manifold and grievous sins among which our unthankfulnes for and not making true use of so happy a peace which we so long enjoyed is not the least And now O Lord in that neither thy promises could allure us nor thy threats and menaces terrifie us nor thy judgements upon our neighbouring and other Nations forewarne us of what might come upon us but that our rebellions transcend all former presidents thou hast suffered thy whole displeasure to arise against us and caused us as instruments of thy wrath to execute thy vengeance upon our selves according to that in the Prophet Isa 19. â— They shall fight every one against his brother and every one against his neighbour and city against city And we have felt the curses threatned in thy law against rebellious sinners to have taken hold upon us Deut. 28.31 Thine oxa shall be slain before thine eyes and thou shalt not eat thereof Thine asse shall be violently taken from before thy face and shall not be restored to thee Thou shalt beget sonnes and daughters 41. but thou shalt not enjoy them all these curset shall come upon thee with many more there threatned till thou be destroyed 45. because thou hast not hearkned to the voice of the Lord thy God O Lord wee cannot but confesse that thou art just and thy judgments upright yet we humby beseech thee not to look upon us as sinners but as thy Children Correct us as a mercifull Father to amend us not as a severe judge utterly to consume us but stop we pray thee this issue of blood in the land before all the veines of it be empty and the whole Nation faint and perish Thou art our onely refuge therefore we flee to thee to releeve us And Lord we pray with thy servant David that if thou hast determined yet further to humble us for our rebellions and backslidings thou wouldst chastise us thy self 2. Sa. 24.14 Let us fall into thy hands for thy mercies are great and let us not fall into the hand of man for the mercies of the wicked are cruel Pro. 10.12 Lord we are ready to sinke under this heavy judgement If therefore it may stand with thy good pleasure remove it from us Psal 68.30 Suppresse those that are instrument in it Scatter the people that delight in warre Psal 35.5 Dissipate and frustrare their counsels Let them be as chaffe before the winde and let the Angel of the Lord chase them that are implacable enemies to peace Unite O Lord the mindes and affections of the Nation and let them be all as one Man Suffer not the hearts of those that are brethren 1 Cor. 6.15 and members of one body whereof Christ Jesus is the head to