it in ways of Holiness O! Lord that all its Ministrations may be such as become Saints Suffer it not to mix sin in thy Service or to teach it to thy People To pollute holy Offices with any ungodly or unrighteous Petitions and prostitute and prophane thy Worship by falling therein to offer any abominable things Oh! let not its Ministrations become the Ministrations of Unrighteousness but be Holy and without Blemish as besits thine House and becomes thy Spouse Whilst thou art pleased to try it with Tribulations Lord let them only purge it but not lay it waste And revive a suffering Spirit among us when it labours under a suffering State Make it willing then and ready to quit all Interests of this World and live upon the hopes of a better Enable it contentedly yea joyfully to take up thy Cross and to bear it after thee Oh! that at such times it may always be more afraid of Sinning than of Suffering Oh! that it may never fall to make the way of Gain to pass for the way Godliness or to Preach up what is Unrighteous because it is become serviceable and safe Nor ever seek to Error and Wickedness for Refuge instead of seeking to God and trusting in him and in his holy ways for the same Oh! Father in thy Mercy guard it against all Error and Ungodliness rescue it from all Schisms and Divisions and free it in thy due time of its Distress and Persecutions for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake Amen 2. O! Almighty Lord Direct and Rule the Hearts of thy People by the Power of thy Grace that they may no longer run furiously upon Unrighteous Expedients nor by their Violence drive their Teachers into the Practice and Justification thereof Oh! that they may seek to hear true and not pleasing things and not only hear but love to be faithfully dealt with And give them not up O! Father to persecute the Preachers of Righteousness who are ready to warn them of the Error and Danger of their ways or to despite them and treat them as their worst Enemies only for telling them thy Saving Truths Lord let not the love of Error and Hatred of those Truths which are according to Godliness and Honesty always Reign in them Let them not persist therein without Remorse Or when they are smitten with Relentings let them not lie sealed up in their Iniquity as the fallen Angels do by despair of Mercy and seat themselves among those Sinners who when once they have done ill think they cannot be safe but by doing worse Especially O! God deliver them not over to a Reprobate Sense nor shut them up under a Spiritual Blindness But open their Eyes to see from whence they are fallen and to seek after those things which are necessary to their Everlasting Peace through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen 2. Prayers for cure of Schisms and for Graces in divided Times 1. DEliver this Church O! Almighty Lord from Schisms which have torn it to pieces And grant that all those Members who are broken off may return to offer up their Religious Services in due Dependance upon their own Orthodâ—x and Lawful Pasters and to make Conscience of keeping Union and of continuing Subject and Obedient unto those who are Rightfully set over them in the Government of thy Church Let them not think it enough O! God to have Holy Prayers But teach them moreover to put up these Prayers in such Assemblies as keep Obedient and United to those Spiritual Fathers whom thou hast called to be the Rightful Governors of the Body And make them know that when as good Christians they are careful to joyn in none but Holy Services they must take care also as good Church-Members to present those Services to thine Hands in the Unity and Communion of thy Church there to be accepted with thee through his Merits and Mediation who is the Head and Saviour of the Body even thy most Blessed Son and our only Saviour Jesus Christ Amen 2. BEnd the Hearts of all amongst us O! blessed Lord to have Peace amongst themselves Teach them Humility and Submission to those whom thou hast put in Authority over them Let Love and Lowliness increase and all self-denying and amicable Tempers And remove far from us Covetous and Aspiring Thoughts and Pride and self-pleasing and all Wrath and bitter Passions Reconcile all jarring Spirits and cause all Discord and Division to cease And dispose us all O! Jesu thou Prince of Peace to see those Truths which make for Peace and tend to close our Breaches and willingly to submit to them Let us not give way so far to Anger and bitter Passions till none but violent things will please us and till we grow fond and greedy of any Error that will make the Breach wider but Zealous against such Truths as might serve again to unite and bring us together Oh! keep us strictly careful both of Peace and Truth And as we humbly pray that we may never give up thy saving Truths for Peace so do we likewise that we may never divide from each other and be averse to Peace when thy Holy Truths stand in no need thereof And whilst we labour under our unhappy Breaches Let us not be wanting in any mutual Offices of Humanity good Neighbourhood or common Justice towards each other Let us not fancy that their being of different Opinions or of different Churches from us must put a stop to the Just Acts and Offices of Gratitude and to the Remembrance of former kindness or that they must give us a discharge from any mutual Obligations of natural Kindred or of civil Relations Especially O! Merciful God keep us from placing all Religion in the Notes of a Party Let us not so over-ratc the real or fancied Virtues of our several Divisions as to take up therewith and become our selves as culpable for the Breach and allowed Neglect of some Duties as we charge our Brethren to be for the Breach of others But whilst on all sides we are zealous in pursuing those points wherein we differ let us be zealous for others too aud not overlook or lay aside the care of good Life and of that common Religion wherein we all agree and which at last must deliver us all from thy Wrath and prepare us for thine Everlasting Mercies thro' our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Amen 3. Prayers for the Bishops and Clergy under Persecutions 1. O! Almighty Lord under all these Persecutions which are sent to prove and purge us have an especial care of the Bishops and Pastors of thy Church who are set to take of thy People and to defend thy cause and fill their Hearts with the power of thy Spirit and with all those Gifts and Graces which are needful to maintain their own Standing or prevent the Falls of others Make them clear Examples O! God of Holy Living and of truly Christian and Righteous Suffering to thy Flock setting before their Eyes the lively Draughts and
the sweet and refreshing Comforts of this Rest and Peace O! Lord let us never forget this great Mercy nor abuse it Let us not grow Careless or Corrupt by the Blessings of Peace or run into Earthly Affections and Dependencies and contract such Dross as may need a second time to be brought through the Furnace But keep us sober and purged and purified in our Hearts and Minds and maintain in us â—uch a Godly Zeal and watchful diligence under the same as will make use of the blessed Opportunities of Peace for going on with more constancy and with less hindrance and disturbance in thy Service And make us learn O! Gracious God by our past Suffering and Experience of thy Goodness to keep improved in Faith and Patience Having found thee so faithful in our necessity give us Grace to relye upon thee Let us not cast away our confidence nor grow weary in well doing knowing that in due time we shall reap if we faint not Oh! that the sweet Remembrance of thy Mercies may ever fill our Hearts with Love and our Tongues with Praise Oh! that it may make us careful in well doing and confident of thy Faithfulness and Care over us whilst we commit our Souls unto thy keeping in holding to thy ways through our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen AN OFFICE FOR Prisoners for Righteousness SCRIPTURES Psal. 7. Act. 5. from v. 18. Mat. 10. Psal. 10. Act. 16. from v. 18. 1 Pet. 4. from v. 12. 1. YE shall be Betrayed both by Parents and Brethren and Kinsfolk and Friends and some of you shall they cause to be put to Death And they shall lay Hands on you and deliver you up into Prisons and ye shall be brought before Kings and Rulers for my Names sake And it shall turn to you for a Testimony But there shall not an Hair of your Head perish In your Patience possess ye your Souls And Meditate not before what ye shall answer But settle in your Hearts that I will give you a Mouth and Wisdom which all your Adversaries shall not be able to gain say or resist Luk. 21. 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19. Precious in the Sight of the Lord is the Death of his Saints Ps. 116. 15. What mean ye to weep and to break mine Heart For I am ready not to be bound only but to die at Jerusalem for the Name of the Lord Jesus Act. 21. 13. He that loveth his Life shall lose it and he that hateth his Life in this World shall keep it unto Life Eternal Joh. 12. 25. 2. THE Lord heareth the poor and despiseth not his Prisoners Psal. 69. 33. Deliver me from my Persecutors for they are stronger than I. Bring my Soul out of Prison that I may praise thy Name Psal. 142. 6 7. Deliver me O! Lord from the evil man preserve me from the Men of Violence Keep me O! Lord from the Hands of the Wicked who have proposed to overthrow my Goings For the Proud have hid a Snare for me and Cords they have spread a Net by the way-side they have set Gins for me They have sharpned their Tongues like a Serpent Adders Poyson is under their Lips Psal. 140. 1 3 4 5. In the work of the Gospel I suffer trouble as an evil Doer even unto Bonds but the word of God is not bound 2 Tim. 2. 9. For many of the Brethren in the Lord waxing confident by my Bonds are much more bold to speak the word without Fear Phil. 1. 14. 3. REmember my Bonds Col. 4. 18. Remember those that are in Bonds as bound with them Heb. 13. 3. Ye had compassion on me in my Bonds and took joyfully the spoiling of your Goods whilst ye became Companions of those that were made a gazing-Stâ—ck by Reproaches and Afflictions Heb. 10. 33 34. I would have retained Onesimus with me that in thy stead he might have ministred to me in the Bonds of the Gospel Philem. 13. Be not thou ashamed of the Testimony of our Lord nor of me his Prisoner but be thou partaker of the Afflictions of the Gospel according to the Power of God 2 Tim. 1. 8. Both in my Bonds and in the Confirmation and Defence of the Gospel ye are all Partakers of my Grace Phil. 1. 7. I was in Prison and ye came unto me In as much as ye have done it to one of the least of these my Brethren ye have done it unto me Mat. 25. 36 40. 4. An Hymn of Thanksgiving for Deliverance upon a Trial or out of Pâ—ison IF it had not been the Lord who was on my side when Men rose up against me Then they had swallowed me up quick when their Wrath was kindled against me Then the proud Waters had gone over my Soul Psal. 124. 2 3 5. The Sorrows of Death compassed me and the Floods of ungodly Men made me afraid Psal. 18. 4. They compassed me about like Bees they thrust sore at me that I might fall but the Lord helped me Psal. 118. 12 13. And I had the Sentence of Death in my self that I should not trust in my self but in God which raiseth the Dead 2 Cor. 1. 9. But blessed be the Lord who hath not given me as a Prey unto their Death My Soul is escaped as a Bird out of the Snare of the Fowler the Snare is broken and I have escaped Ps. 124. 6 7. He sent down his Hand from above and delivered me out of the great Waters from the Hands of strange Children Whose Mouth speaketh Vanity and their Right Hand is a Right Hand of Falshood Ps. 144. 7 8. He delivered me from my strong Enemy and from them which hated me for they were too strong for me He brought me forth also into a large place he delivered me because he delighted in me Psal. 18. 17 19. The Lord is my Strength and my Song and is become my Salvation The Lord is on my side I will not fear what Man can do unto me I shall not die but live and declare the works of the Lord Psal. 118. 6 14 17. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be World without end Amen This Doxology may likewise be used at the end of the several proceeding Collections of Scriptures in this Office for Prisoners for Righteousness as also at the end of the several Collections of Scripture in the former Office for those who suffer for Righteousness when these Collections are read not only for Instruction but Devotionally as Hymns to God Prayers 1. A General Prayer for all Prisoners O! Almighty and Everlasting God thou seest the Streights and Sorrows which I endure in this place and how unable I am to help my self or to bring about my own Deliverance But the less Hope and Support I have in my self the more I look up unto thee and place my Trust in thy Mercy And when my own care can avail
prison and ye visited me not In as much as ye did it not unto the least of these ye did it not to me Mat. 25. 42 43 45. 12. With Motives and Encouragements to suffer Whosoever will be a friend of the World is the enemy of God Jam. 4. 4. If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him 1 Joh. 2. 15. Ye cannot serve both God and Mammon Mat. 6. 24. And what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul Mat. 16. 26. Fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell Mat. 10. 28. As the sufferings of Christ abound in us so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ who comforteth us in all our Tribulation 2 Cor. 1. 4 5. It is a faithful saying if we suffer we shall also reign with him if we deny him he also will deny us 2 Timothy 2. 11 12. Whether we be afflicted or whether we be comforted it is for your consolation and salvation which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer And our hope of you is also steadfast knowing that as you are partakers of the sufferings so shall ye be also of the consolation 2 Cor. 1. 6. 7. I would ye should understand that the things which happened unto me have faln out rather unto the furtherance of the Gospel And many of the Brethren of the Lord waxing confident by my bonds are much more bold to speak the word without fear Phil. 1. 12. 14. I suffer trouble as an evil-doer even unto bonds but the word of God is not bound Therefore I endure all things for the Elects sakes that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with Eternal Glory 2 Tim. 2. 9. 10. 13. For Deliverance from Persecutions O! Let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end but establish thou the just Ps. 7. 9. Return O Lord how long and let it repent thee concerning thy servants O! Satisfie us early with thy mercy that we may rejoyce and be glad all our days Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us and the years wherein we have seen evil Let thy Work appear unto thy Servants and thy Glory unto their Children Ps. 90. 13 14 15 16. Help us then O God of our salvation for the Glory of thy Name Ps. 79. 9. Arise and plead thine own Cause Remember that the Enemies have blasphemed thy Name and how the foolish Man reproacheth thee dayly Forget not the voice of thine Enemies the Tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually Ps. 74. 18 22 23. Wherefore should the Heathen say Where is their God Ps. 79. 10. Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God He hath said in his heart thou God wilt not require it Ps. 10. 13. Grant not the desires of the wicked O Lord further not his wicked device lest they exalt themselves Ps. 140. 8. Put them in fear O Lord that they may know themselves to be but men Ps. 9. 20. Fill their faces with shame that they may seek thy Name Psal. 83. 16. 14. For Trust in God to be preserved under the same and delivered from them The Wicked watcheth the Righteous and seeketh to slay him But the Lord will not leave him in his hand nor condemn him when he is judged Though he fall he shall not be utterly cast down for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand They shall not be ashamed in the evil time Ps. 37. 19 24 32 33. Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man thou shalt keep them secretly in a Pavilion from the strife of tongues Ps. 31. 20. Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee which frameth mischief by a Law They gather themselves together against the soul of the Righteous and condemn the innocent blood But the Lord is my defence and my God is the rock of my refuge And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity and shall cut them off in their own wickedness yea the Lord our God shall cut them off Ps. 96. 20 21 22 23. For yet a little while and the wicked shall not be yea thou shalt diligently consider his place and it shall not be Ps. 37. 10. But the needy shall not always be forgotten the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever Ps. 9. 10. For thou wilt save the afflicted people but wilt bring down high looks Ps. 18. 27. So that a man shall say verily there is a reward for the Righteous verily he is a God that judgeth the earth Ps. 58. 11. 15. An Hymn of Thanksgiving for deliverance from Persecutions Oh! How great is thy goodness which thou hast layd up for them that fear thee which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men Ps. 31. 19. For thou Lord hast heard the desire of the humble thou wilt prepare their heart thou wilt cause thine ear to hear To judge the Fatherless and the Oppressed that the man of the earth may no more oppress Ps. 10. 17 18. Light is sown for the Righteous and gladness for the upright in heart Ps. 97. 11. Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted Mat. 5. 4. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy He that goeth forth and weepeth bearing pecious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoycing bringing his sheaves with him The Lord hath turned our Captivity he hath done great things for us whereof we are glad Ps. 126. 3 4 5 6. Many shall see it and fear and shall trust in the Lord Ps. 40. 3. The Righteous shall be glad in the Lord and shall trust in him and all the upright in heart shall glory Ps. 64. 10. Zion heard and was glad and the Daughters of Judah rejoyced because of thy judgments O! Lord Ps. 97. 8. O love the Lord all ye his Saints for the Lord preserveth the faithful and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer Be of good Courage and he shall strengthen your heart all ye that trust in the Lord Ps. 31. 23 24. Rejoyce in the Lord O ye Righteous and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness Ps. 97. 12. Sing unto the Lord bless his Name be telling of his salvation from Day to Day Psal. 96. 2. And my tongue shall speak of thy Righteousness â—nd of thy Praise all the day long I will give thee thanks in the great Congregation I will praise thee among much People Psal. 35. 18 28. PRAYERS for Those who suffer for Righteousness I. A Penitential Prayer under Persecutions as they are Chastisements for our former Offences 1. O Almighty Lord Who art wont to shew both thy Power and Mercy in correcting Sinners when the cry of sins grows great
Breach of Confidence from all Faithless or strained and false Accusations as thou canst turn or defeat the Malice of my Foes And to thee O! merciful Father do I trust that neither my Foes shall have their Wills in working of my Ruin nor the weakness of my Friends shall carry them against their Wills to do the same And oh as thou art my Confidence so let me be thy Care Keep me safe here under thy custody and receive me at last to thine Everlasting Mercy for thy blessed Son and my only Saviour Jesus Christ's sake Amen 3. A Prayer for Graces at such times under his Sufferings and Persecutions for any ways of Truth and Righteousness IN the mean time O! Righteous Lord whatsoever thou hast appointed for me in this Tryal I am content to bear it And give me Strength and Ability to bear it yea though it proceed to Blood I resign my self up to thy good pleasure therein I humbly and meekly submit to it as it is thy doing and as it is infinitely my Deserving and own thy Judgment upon me for my Sins to be most Just and Righteous therein But then Holy Father I most earnestly intreat thee that I may have all my Punishment in this World but rest with thee in thy Heavenly Kingdom Yea as my Tryal is a Suffering for thy Righteousness I thankfully receive it at thine Hand But then O! my God whilst I am tried for thee do thou shew forth thy Power and the abundance of thy Grace in me Grant me a Serene Patience calmly to bear my Sufferings and contentedly and quietly to wait the end thereof Give me Courage and constant Presence of Mind to behave my self undauntedly and Prudence to act and answer in all things wisely and becomingly Give me Faith in thy power and promises to hold on without Fainting in sure Expectation of thy Succors and to endure all without weariness in Confidence of thy joyful and eternal Recompences Fill me with an inflexible Integrity and Constancy in my Duty that I may not waver therein at any time much less fall from it or from any Precepts thereof to rid my self out of my own great Troubles or to bring any desired Events to pass Yea fill me with such Constancy in thy ways as will not suffer me how long soever the Rod of the Unrighteous rests upon me to put forth my Hand unto Iniquity And give me Charity after thine own Example O! blessed Jesâ— freely to forgive my Malicious Enemies or Frail and Faithless Friends and heartily to pray for them tho' they continue to persecute me Whilst thou keepest on my Trials deny me not these Graces O! merciful Lord nor any others which thou seest needful for me that I may acquit my self well and acceptably under the same for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake Amen 4. A Prayer for a Mind raised above Earthly Things O! Father of Mercies raise my Mind by these Afflictions above the Love of all Earthly Things Yea even of those things which I have lavishly spent most time upon and have been the most inordinately fond of I see now and make me daily to see it more and more how vain and unprofitable they are when the evil day comes And oh what I may learn thereby and learn it perfectly to fix mine Eyes and Heart on thee who hast deserved more of me infinitely than I can express to thee and who canst always help and comfort me and wilt never leave me especially not then when I am driven to thee for Succour and find the greatest Need to have thee stand by me Make my Duty good Lord to become my Delight and Heavenly things my Treasure For they are Comforts in Distress stable Comforts that will accompany us to the Block or the Grave and beyond them and will not fail to make us infinitely and for ever happy in thy Presence Which Grant O! Heavenly Father to me a wretched Sinner for the sake of my dearest Saviour and Redeemer Jesus Christ. Amen 5. A Prayer for Peace with God and a quiâ—t Conscience ABove all O! blessed Lord let me have the Comforts of thy holy Spirit and a clear and quiet Conscience to support me under all these hard Tryals Shew me all my Sins and give me Grace intirely to repent of them and to be perfectly set against the same But assure me at the same time of thy Mercies towards all true penitent Sinners and make me see O! Gracious Father that for Christ's sake thou art not only willing but desirous and joyful to receive them yea to run out and meet them as the tender Father did the Returning Prodigal And as for my Sins O! God tho' with the Prodigal I have gone far and have lost my self in evil ways yet by thy Grace I am come also with him heartily to return from mine Offences I am weary of my Sins and am earnestly desirous to forsake them Tho' I have been lamentably careless in times past yet now my sincere desire and full purpose is to shew a Godly care and diligent endeavour against the same for the time to come And I humbly depend upon thy Grace and trust to thy precious promises thereof to perfect and give strength to my sincere Endeavours Look upon me therefore O! Father and give me the Comfort to look upon my self as one who though he has been an offending is now become a Returning Son Lot not my Sins rise up against me after once I have truly repented of them Let them not be able to provoke thy wrath or to trouble my Conscience But make me know that however offensive I was in the ways of my Wickedness thro' the Blood of thy Son I am acceptable to thee in the ways of my Repentance And that my Sins however provoking whilst I lay in them give thee no more provocation after once I return from them Yea tho' great and strong in themselves yet that after true Repentance they are not too great for my Saviour's Merits or for thy Mercies not too grievous for thy Goodness to forgive or too strong for thy Grace to cure I am ready O! my God to return to thy Laws not only in doing what they call for but if thy Will be so in suffering for the same Yea if thou callest me to it I desire not to leave the way of Righteousness for any hazards but to suffer for it even unto Blood And tho' I know O! Righteous Lord that it is not enough to die a Martyr for one precept if I allow my self at the same time to live a known Transgressor of others Yet give me the Comfort to look on Martyrdom as a sort of Baptism as thou blessed Jesu wast pleased to style it when thou spakest of thine own and like it to purge and wash away our Sins if at the same time when we are suffering for one Duty we are inwardly resolved and prepared in Heart to observe all Lord in the midst of my
and nothing but Affliction will make them wise justly art thou moved now at length to visit thy People in this Land with Persecutions after we had first turned a deaf ear to all the Calls of thy Mercy and had long abused the blessings of peace There is need O God of our sufferings to keep up a Reverence for thy Justice and to reclaim us from our iniquities and this fiery Tryal comes to purge us from our dross and to chastize us for our past Offences as well as to prove our present Obedience and Constancy to thy Holy Laws Our Peace O! Holy Father had made us loose and contentious and our Plenty had served chiefly to maintain Pride Luxury And the worldly Endowments about Religion had stoln our Affections away from it and instead of continuing thankful true to thee our hearts grew covetous and ambitious after them and preferr'd and took up with them for their Portion We are O! Lord a stubborn and a stiff-necked People still lifting up our selves against thee and against thy Vice-gerents We are given to Hypocrisie and take delight in Lyes Oppression and Rapine are to be found in our dwellings and Drunkenness and Adultery have grown common and fashionable Wickednesses have set up without shame in our streets Thy pure Worship and Service had been grievously and shamefully neglected or carelesly and indevoutly attended before it was given up to be persecuted amongst us And thine Holy Things have been desiled thy Ministers have been despised and evil intreated and thy Sacred and Dreadful Name has been commonly horribly prophaned by rash and false Oaths and by the most presumptuous terrible Imprecations Our Works O! Great and Righteous God have been Works of Iniquity and when thou hast called us we have not hearkened unto thee when thou hast smitten us we have not repented but have dealt proudly and hardned our necks against thy Word To us therefore O! Lord belongeth shame and sorrow and confusion of face and thou art Righteous in all that thou hast brought upon us Our sufferings are far below our deserts and we must needs justifie thee and condemn our selves But to thee O! God belongeth mercy and forgiveness though we have rebelled against thee And we return unto thee with true contrition and hearty repentance for all our Iniquities that thou mayest have Mercy upon us Oh! for the sake of thy Dear Son 's most pretious Blood pardon all our sins and purifie our souls Perfect our repentance and bring us home intirely to thy self and prevent all our back-slidings Help our slow and sloathful souls to be quick and vigorous and our drowsy spirits to be watchful in the ways of Righteousness Help thou us Good Lord for we are not able to help our selves and thou alone art our help And when our sufferings have by thy help and Grace reduced us to our duty we shall then O! Holy Father thankfully receive any Losses for Righteousness sake and look on all the violent attempts of the Enemy as so many instances and messengers of thy Mercy through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen 2. Out of the Office of Commination O! most Mighty God and Merciful Father who hast Compassion upon all Men and hatest nothing that thou hast made who wouldest not the death of a sinner but that he should rather turn from his sin and be saved mercifully forgive us our Trespasses receive comfort us who are grieved and wearyed with the Burden of our sins Thy Property is always to have Mercy to thee alone it appertaineth to forgive sins Spare us therefore good Lord spare thy People whom thou hast redeemed enter not into judgment with thy servants who are vile earth and miserable sinners But so turn thine Anger from us who meekly acknowledge our vileness and truly repent us of our faults and so make hast to help us in this world that we may ever live with thee in the world to come through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen 2. Prayers under Persecutions as they are Tryals of our Obedience and bring upon us Losses for Righteousness I. A General Prayer for Mercies Qualifications needful in Suffering-times O Blessed Jesus Who now callest us out to bear thy Cross and to suffer Afflictions for thy sake who sufferedst a most ignominious Death for ours bring none of us to suffer till thou hast first prepared us for it nor let us suffer more or longer than thou wilt enable us willingly and thankfully to endure Let not any among us O! Lord come to suffer for our own follies nor be afraid to suffer for thy Righteousness And give us all Grace to live according to thy Precepts that we may all have Courage and Comfort in suffering for them Let us not take liberty to transgress some duties of our Holy Religion whilst we suffer for others nor ever hope to recommend our selves or our sufferings to thy merciful acceptance without studying to be intire in our godly care and having an eye to all thy Laws And when our Afflictions press most upon us let the Graces and Comforts of thy Holy Spirit abound most in us Whatever else we lose thereby let us not lose Truth and a good Conscience Preserve us steadfast in the belief of thy Heavenly and Oppressed Truths undaunted in the Profession of them Grant us patience to bear thy Cross and not grow faint or weary and meekness to bear our Persecutors and not grow angry and bitter of spirit and Charity to forgive their Wrongs and to overcome their evil with good Strengthen our Faith of thy Heavenly Joys to recompence all these earthly sufferings and of thy never-failing Help and Grace to assist and support us under them and to deliver us from the same in thy due time Let the greatness of our distresses drive us to be more constant and earnest in our Prayers And as fast as Afflictions come from our Persecutors let succours and supports still come from thee O! Let us always have thy strength to bear us up and find thee an help at hand in our greatest needs and then our patience and godly steadfastness shall triumph over all the malice of our Persecutors And suffer us not O! Father of Mercies to be dashed to pieces in this storm swallowed up in these waves But in thy tenderness to our infirmities after we have suffered a while send us ease Shorten the days of these sufferings and hasten thy coming for our Deliverance and bring us at length to everlasting rest and peace in thy Heavenly Kingdom through JESVS CHRIST our Lord. Amen 2. A Prayer Out of the Litany O! God Merciful Father that despisest not the sighing of a contrite heart nor the desire of such as be sorrowful Mercifully assist our Prayers which we make before thee in all our troubles and adversities whensoever they oppress us and graciously hear us that those evils which the craft and subtilty of the devil or man worketh
have rest in our selves And keep our hearts at rest O! God on thy Promises by looking to the sure and blessed hope that is set before us not on the uncertainty of any worldly supports or prospects of this Life which like the Reeds of Egypt are lyable to break when we lean upon them and to run into our hands And let this patient endurance of all their unreasonable and unjust Violence have its perfect Work in us Let us not be wearyed out of it or give way at last to angry resentments but shew forth this calmness sweetness of spirit to the end Oh! let not our Patience be broke by their injuries but hold out till at last it has broke them and made them relent and grow weary of inflicting the same and till thou shalt have graciously turn'd our troubles from them into everlasting Rest and Peace with thee through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen 2 AND whilst thou art pleased to try us with these sufferings O! Blessed Lord grant that we may never take a priviledge for Lawless Wrath on pretence of being angry for thy Cause Oh! keep us sensible under their sharpest provocations that the wrath of man is much apter to transgress the Rules of Piety and Righteousness than to maintain them Make us mindful that it belongs to thee to punish wrongs done to thy Holy Religion that thou art most interested in the same and most concerned to chastise the Enemies thereof and wilt do it in thy due time And that when ungodly men persecute the ways of Holiness our part is constantly to profess and practice them to plead when we are called and patiently to suffer for the same but thine to punish for them And Lord let us not be more hasty for wrath and vengeance than thou art in thine own Cause Let not us lose Patience towards them whilst thou bearest with them but study and pray for their Conversion and willingly and joyfully help on the same that they may be saved at last through the Merits and Mediation 〈◊〉 thy dear Son our only Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen Particular Prayers for Charity toward Persecutors 1 HElp us O! Father of Mercies not only to bear our Persecutors Patiently but to treat them Charitably Enable us to love our Enemies whilst we suffer by them to forgive their wrongs whilst we smar◠under them and not to aggravat◠their evil usage but as thou did◠O! Blessed Jesu whilst thou borest the extremity of their Malice upon the Cross rather study how we may any ways lessen or excuse the same Oh! that we may approve our selves thy true followers by suffering without Threatning by praying for them whilst they are persecuting us by returning blessing for their cursing kindness for their cruelties and by overcoming their evil with good But let none of us please our selves O God! with thoughts or hopes of Vengeance nor rejoyce at their fall lest it displease thee and thou turn away thy wrath from their Heads and direct it upon our own Let us not render evil for evil or railing for railing to any man nor meet their malice with bitter Passions and angry Returns Keep us ever fully sensible O! Lord that under the greatest cruelty of their usage to shew Patience and Charity is our business but that the taking Vengeance must be left to thy Justice And enable us mildly to commit our Cause to thee and desire that thou wouldest end our sorrows not by their destruction but conversion thro' our only Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen 2. LOrd let not us fall to hate them because they cruelly despite us nor to take up with any false Accusations against them or when they stand truly chargeable with any smaller matters to strain upon them so far till we have raised them into great and shameful Offences by our own evil surmises Let not us vaunt our selves because they unreasonably depress us nor behave our selves in any kind unseemly towards them tho' they should cast off all regard of humanity and decency towards us Nor ever so far forget thee as to rejoyce in any Iniquity when it is like to prejudice their Cause or to serve ours But to rejoyce always in the Prosperity of thy Truth and in seeing great Temptations turned aside and general Falls prevented and in having good and right things take place If they provoke us O! God enable us to shew patience If they persist therein help us to suffer long Let us bear all things without wrath and endure all things without weariness and not forget to be kind towards them to believe all things favourably and to speak all things charitably whilst they are doing all things contrary towards us And to look upon all these as parts of that Charity without which all our sufferings for thee are nothing worth Oh! Let the Heavenly Wisdom which keeps us pure from their errors and corruptions keep us also peaceable without bursting into noise and quarrels and gentle without yielding to anger and bitter words and placable and easie in admitting excuses without any shew of rigor in exacting Reasons or of being studious of Revenge Let it keep us full of mercy and good fruits without any mischievous returns or any proneness to cruelty and inhumanity when 't is in our way to shew the same And without Partiality and Hypocrisie as persons uniform in all Acts of Vertue and Justice when they serve others as well as when they serve us and who are careful not to put on any Vertue for a pretence nor to decry things as Evil in others whilst we can allow of the same in our selves Teach us O! Gracious Lord that it is only by these Blessed Fruits that our Belief and Espousal of a right Cause must approve it self to be the wisdom that cometh from above and which as it prceeds from thee must gain us all acceptance with thee thro' the Merits of our dear Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen 3 A Prayer against evil Surmises and for Candor in Censuring those who either Persecute us or fall from the way of Righteousness O! Gracious God in Censuring the Persons or Actions of all those who either persecute us or in these days of Tryal are faln from thee let Equity Candor direct and govern all our Thoughts and Speeches and let not ill will byass us Oh! that we may never charge them with imaginary Guilts through our own evil Surmises nor hastily make sure of any things against them whilst they are really uncertain nor make the worst of doubtful things which good-will might easily think better of Yea where their Falls are plain and manifest grant us Grace O Lord to behold them as thou didst the wickedness of thy Persecutors with the bowels and compassion of a Friend and not with the malicious insults and triumphs of an Enemy And to judge of them with a sense of humane infirmities considering that we also
are lyable to be tempted our selves and to fall by temptations and therefore ought to mete out the same measure to them in judging of their Actions which we desire that others would mete out to us again when they come to censure ours Yea O! Holy FATHER cause us always to have before our eyes thy Clemency as well as our own Necessity and keep us ready to afford those allowances and abatements in their case which we all need and desire at thine hands and through thy mercy hope to find from thee in our own Let us not be rigorously hard upon them for common Offences which are ordinarily incident to frail and sinful Natures Nor for such Falls in great Tryals as may move pity upon the account of humane weakness as well as deserve blame for their own ungodliness Let us not shew severity in accusing them violently and condemning them without any mixture of mercy for having been over-born by fear or for having complyed too far for sustenance or safety for having err'd under some great astonishment and where they had little time for deliberation and little help for Counsel and Advice or for falling any other ways in very difficult and perplexed circumstances Suffer us not to favour any wickedness in them O! Righteous God and much less to justifie it But when we are about to tax and condemn the Crimes to the end that we may shew a just Zeal for thee and for thy Righteousness Let us remember withal to consider the greatness and difficulties of their Tryals and thereupon to pity their frailty and to imitate thy mercy which thou art graciously pleased to shew both to them upon their Falls and likewise to us upon any Falls of ours whereby we dayly stand in need thereof for our most dear Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ's sake Amen 11. A Prayer for Grace to turn the same from carrying on impatience aud anger against others to carry on amendment of our selves LOrd under all these sorrows and sharp sufferings teach us to look for the cause thereof within our selves Our own Sins O! Righteous Father are most justly though severely punished in them and our earthly affections and dependances need to be purged off by them And therefore instead of envying and accusing others and taxing the injustice of our Persecutors make us look up with reverence to thy Justice and lay to heart our many private and publick Miscarriages and learn thereby to condemn and amend the errours of our own ways Grant O! God that the experience of our own fears and failures under our Tryals may keep us humble and jealous over our selves and charitable towards the Falls of others And let our dayly proofs of thy seasonable succours and preservations teach us to have firm Faith in thee and to rely intirely on thy care and gracious promises Let the difficulties which we feel in sustaining Losses for thy sake shew us the worldliness of our desires Let the inclinations which we find at any time to ease or secure our selves by sin or to allow in our selves what we condemn in others convince us of the deceitfulness of our own hearts and of the hypocrisie of our pretences Shew us all the roots of bitterness which are ready to discover themselves when we are tryed and when we see them give us Grace to cast them out and to purge our Hearts of the same Thus O! Holy Father if we cannot amend our Confusions make them we humbly intreat thee thorowly to amend us And teach us by the needful and profitable Discipline thereof both to walk more perfectly in thy fear and to bear them with patience remembring that therein we are reaping the just fruits of our own ways and to shew Charity towards our Persecutors as considering how we have done amiss our selves and how by such Mercy and Forgiveness towards others we are all to expect Mercy and Forgiveness of our own Offences at thine hands through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen 12. A Prayer for Charity to the Persecuted O! Righteous Lord who tryest thy People with heavy sufferings for thy Truth and Righteousness sake give me the heart constantly to own thy ways and those who suffer for them Oh! that whensoever I see a Member of thine suffering as a good Fellow-Member I may suffer with it That I may be among those who grieve for the afflictions of Joseph and come in to bear a share of their Adversity who are enduring afflictions for thee and remember those who are in bonds as bound with them Let not me be ashamed of the Testimony of the Lord nor of any of those who are his Prisoners But rejoyce to make my self a Companion of such as are bearing Tribulation for his Truths and be glad when I can minister unto their necessities and relieve the same When I see them Sick and in Prison give me the heart to visit them or strangers and forced to leave their own homes for thy Cause to take them in or in want of food and rayment to supply them therewith Give me Grace to do something like to them as I would do to thee O! Blessed Jesu wert thou here before me and in their Condition And Oh! that I may look upon such services as the most blessed opportunities of shewing my Love unto thys self remembring that thou wilt say unto us one day in as much as ye did it unto the least of these ye did it unto me Yea that I may reekon my self therein to be shewing kindness not so much to them as to my own soul. Knowing that thus to communicate and have fellowship with them in their sufferings is the way to communicate and have fellowship with them in their Blessedness and that he who receiveth a Prophet or a righteous Man in the name of a Prophet or of a righteous Man shall have a Prophet's or a righteous Man's reward Wherewith thou O! Father wilt crown both the Sufferers and their Partakers in the end through the merits of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen 13. A Prayer for deliverance from Persecutions after one is wearied therewith O! Merciful God who hast visited my Bacâ—slidings and tryed my Faith and fixt adherence to thy ways with sharp Persecutions look now with pity on my sorrows and infirmities and if it seem fit for thy Glory and for my Good send me the sweet and speedy comforts of rest and peace Consider my weakness O! God for I am brought very low Consider that it is thine own cause and that I am persecuted for thy sake Consider those that wait on thee and let not them be ashamed or disheartned for my cause Consider mine Enemies and let not them still more and more exalt themselves And remember that they daily reproach thy ways and as oft as thou givest them success against us they triumph in it as thy favouring and owning of their ungodly violence and asperse thee with their
wickedness Arise then O! Almighty God and plead thine own cause Arise and right the oppressed and make the proud and the Men that rage in ways of ungodliness and violence to know themselves Return not upon them what they have done to us O! Lord. But fill their faces with shame that they may seek thy Name and give us ease from their violence and grace to turn it to thy praise and to the performance of all holy and thankful Obedience through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen 14. Intercessions or Prayers for others in Times of Persecutions 1. A Prayer for Persecutors who at any time or any where are oppressing Truth or Righteousness O! Most Gracious Father shew mercy we humbly intreat thee towards our Persecutors though they neither shew mercy nor justice towards us Cure the delusion of seduced and seducing spirits Let them not be led away with errors any longer nor intoxicated with the love thereof Let them not continue to resist thy truth much less proceed to blaspheme and reproach it and least of all to set themselves to fight against it by an arm of flesh and cruelly to persecute and extirpate the professors thereof Pity those who are ignorant and set straight those who are perverse among them Remove those prejudices which blind their eyes and sweeten and mollifie their spirits that they may no longer be driven aside by malice and bitter passions and dispose them by humility and meekness and a sincere love of truth and righteousness to a joyful reception and acknowledgement thereof that instead of persecuting they may fall resolutely to profess them and if need be to suffer for the same But if any still harden themselves in their error and violence and think that by destroying thy servants they please thee and do God service yet deal not thou with them O! God as they deal with us but save their Lives though they seek to take away ours Though we suffer yea or die by their hands let them not die in their errors and wicked violence But curb them Good Lord in their carier and stop it in thy due time And if it may seem good to thee work this blessed change in them by mild and gentle methods But if nothing else will touch their hearts with remorse afflict their bodies O! Merciful Father and let the Rod give understanding and teach them repentance Yea let all thy crosses come upon them rather than the curse of a seared Conscience And when there is nothing left but smiting to reduce them Lord give not off smiting them till they are brought to see the wickedness of persecuting the ways of truth and righteousnes and to make the best amends they can by standing up zealously for the same Say not unto them as thou didst to the Revolting Jews who still grow worse and worse under their corrections Why should you be stricken any more Nor deliver them up to the wretched ease of incorrigeable sinners who are therefore at ease because their state is hopeless and whose ease and respite is only that of condemn'd Prisoners who are sealed up for sudden and inevitable vengeance But by what-ever means thou shalt see sit to work the same let their repentance prevent thine eternal vengeance through the Merits of our Dearest Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen 2. Prayers for the Persecuted who happen in any place to be suffering for the cause of Truth or Righteousness 1. O! Almighty and most Merciful Father extend thy help and pity in these trying times to all the necessities and back-slidings of thy Servants Have Mercy upon all who either by their own worldly fears and covetous desires or by the Art and cunning of Seducers have been made to fall from thee and raise them up again Neither suffer them to rest secure nor to grow desperate in their wickedness but fill their hearts with such awakenings as may put them in the way of true Repentance And when any of them grow doubtful of what they have done Lord carry on their doubts to a full Conviction And when once they are convinced of their Errors give them no rest till they have amended them Let their Prayers and Alms ascenâ— up before thee and bring down Grace still more and more to see their fall and to fit and fortify their Spirits to recover from it Enable them to overcome all fears of shame and worldly loss to place their truest and their only honour in Repentance and their highest interest and safety in rectifying and repairing what they have done amiss and to study above all things how despising worldly considerations they may recover thy Peace and save their precious and immortal Souls Shew Mercy also O! Gracious God on all those who are shaken in mind by these Storms and begin to stagger in the Faith and fix and settle them therein And on all those who by thy Grace have resolutely withstood the same and daily perfect and confirm them Oh! Lord daily make them more numerous and let their Sufferings like that of thy faithful Servants and Confessors of old be a fruitful Seed of a truly righteous and holy Church Lengthen out their Patience whilst thou prolongest their Sufferings and strengthen their Faith that they may stedfastly persevere therein Let thy Providence supply those wants which any of them are reduced unto for a good Conscience Give them comfort under their Sufferings and in thy due time an happy riddance thereof and endless and unspeakable joys at last in exchange for them The more their Enemies seek to root them out by unrighteous Persecution Oh! that they may answerably strengthen themselves the more in fervent and godly Devotion Make them to have a strict and conscionable eye to all thy Laws that whilst in these Persecuted points they suffer as Saints they miss not at last of their reward by taking liberty in any other things to live as Sinners Oh! that they may study in all things to please thee in their Lives that so they may be accepted in their Sufferings for our Lord Jesus Christs sake Amen 2. AND tho' here O! Righteous Father for thine Holiness and for thy Truths sake they are vile in the eyes of Men let them be precious in thine Eyes and do thou own them from Heaven Plead thou the cause of thy Servants against those that oppress them Let their Persecutors see that there is no fighting against thee Make them find that Truth is stronger than they and will at last prevail over them And that Persecutions which they use for rooting out the sincere Professors thereof are over-ruled by thine Almighty Power and Wisdom to propagate and multiply them And when all others are ready to forsake us in our afflictions do thou O! God stick by us Do thou stick by us in our extremities and deliver us Let not the mischievous imaginations of the wicked always prosper lest they be too proud Let not the
Blessedness of coming to live with thee for ever after I am dead than with the pains of Death it self And whatever Terror it would otherwise strike into me let it arm my Spirit and sweeten all to think that I die for thee and that I die to be received into thine Eternal Mercy Lord perfect and accept my Repentance and pardon all my Sins and give me Patience and Presence of Mind to the last Let me die like a Christian with Faith and Charity willingly giving up my Life for a Testimony to thy ways and pouring out my Soul in Devotion towards thee and in Prayers for my persecutors till from my Body it shall pass into the Arms of thy Mercy and there be comfortably received by thee thro' the Merits and Mediation of my only Saviour and Redeemer Jesus Christ. Amen 9. Short Prayers for the Condemned Prisoner for Righteousness in his last Extremities or at other times as he sees cause 1. O! Merciful Father I throw my self upon thy Mercy and most undeserved Favour as a poor wretched Sinner I infinitely need it and most earnestly desire it And I humbly hope for the same to pardon all the Sins and Follies of my Life and to accept this Offering of my Death thro' the abundance of thy Grace and thro' the sole Merits and Mediation of my blessed Lord and only Saviour Jesus Christ Amen 2. LOrd now the World is casting of me off I seek to thee to take me in Do not thou reject me when they do for I am thy Servant Receive me for I am coming to thee Receive me for thou callest me Receive me lovingly O! my dear God for I dearly love thee and am forsaking all to injoy thee I have nothing dearer to me in this World than my Life and that I am now making thee an humble Present of and parting with it for thy Cause And in this Oblation of my self be thou pleased O! blessed Jesu first to wash me with thy Blood and to dress me with the Graces of thy Spirit that I may be an holy and acceptable Offering And then do thou vouchsafe O! Holy Father Graciously to accept the same for thy dearest Son and my dearest Saviour Jesus Christ's sake Amen 3. O! Jesu forgive me all my Sins and forgive all my Persecutors and grant them timely and true Repentance Now I am suffering for thy Cause let me be sure of thy Support and Assistance Now I am brought to dye for the ways of thy Righteousness let them have Honour Service by my Death Make it to work Godly Zeal and Stedfastness in thy Followers and Relenting and remorse in their Persecutors and to carry me to those most joyful and happy Mansions which thou hast prepared for all those who faithfully serve and suffer for thee in thy Fathers Kingdom Amen 10 A Thanksgiving for Deliverance when he is brought upon his Tryal for the Cause of Righteousness or for his being set at Liberty BLessed be thy Name O! Almighty Father who hast delivered me out of the Hands of those who â—ought my Life and hast set my Feet in a large Room Thou hast delivered the poor from him that was too strong for him Thou hast delivered him who served thee and counted not his own Life so dear to him as the shewing his Love and Fâ—delity unto thy Laws Thou hast delivered him because he loved thy Name and put his whole Trust in thee Lord I will be glad and rejoyce in thy Salvation I will ever praise thy Love and Goodness which is abundant in kindness and Succors towards those who fear thee and are ready to expose their own Pesons in thy Cause I will ever magnifie thy Faithfulness which hath not suffered thy Care of me to slacken nor thy sure word and promises to fail And I will ever Reverently and Thankfully adore thy Widom and Power and Justice which turn the Councels of the Wicked into Foolishness and take the crafty in their own Snares which crown thy Servants Heads with Joy and Glory but cover their Enemies with Grief and Shame which shew plainly unto all who are willing to see the same that it is extream folly to fight against thee and that they are in the sure way of Safety and Happiness who make thee their Strength and place their chiefest Security and advantage in thy good providence and gracious Promises and in keeping stedfast to thy ways And let all those that love thee O! Lord rejoyce and be glad in thee Make them Triumph in thy Righteousness and trust themselves to thy Care But put thine Enemies and mine in fear that they may sin no more And bring them to repent of their persecuting thee and thy Servants that they may not be brought to suffer for the same in the Day of Vengeance And keep me ever mindful O! blessed Father of this most merciful Deliverance that I may spend all the Days of that Life which thou hast now renewed to me in thy Service and learn thereby evermore to trust thee yea tho' the Pit be ready to shut her Mouth upon me and to place my chiefest comfort and safety in keeping stedfast to thy Laws which will be sure either to make my Sufferings end here in present Deliverance or to recompence them hereafter with unspeakable and everlasting Joys throuh the Merits and Mediation of my only Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Amen FINIS The Contents of the Office for those who suffer for Righteousness THe Introduction Page 1. Scriptures for Receiving Persecutions 1. As Chastisements of former Offences p. 9. 2. As Tryals of Obedience and as bringing Losses for Righteousness Which are to be received with 1. Contentedness and Thankfulness p. 11. 2. Free Confession of Christ and his Truths p. 13. 3. Integrity and Prudent Caution p. 14. 4. Stedfastness and Constancy p. 16 5. Faith p. 17. 6. Trust in God p. 20. 7. Against Trusting more in other Things than in God and fixing too much on Earthly Dependances p. 22. 8. With Patience p. 25. 9. With Prayers and unwearied Devotion p. 28. 10. With Charity towards Persecutors p. 29. and 11. towards Persecuted p. 33. 12. Motives to Suffer p. 36. 13. For Deliverance from Persecution p. 39. 14. For Trust in God to be preserved under the Same and Delivered from them p. 41. 15. An Hymn of thanksgiving for Deliverance from Persecutions p. 42. Prayers under Persecutions 1. As Chastisements of Offences a Penitent Prayer p. 47. Another out of the Office of Comminat p. 50. 2 As Tryals of Obedience and bringing Losses for Righteousness A General Prayer for Mercyes and Qualifications needful in Suffering Times p 51. Another out of the Litany p. 54. Particular Prayers for 1. Integrity and not Seeking to evil ways for Help p. 54. 2. Constancy in Persecuted Dutyes Against being 1. Turned aside by worldy Dangers or Losses p. 56. 2. or Shaken in mind or Scandalized 1. By Defection of others or variety of Opinions