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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A13837	The exercise of the faithfull soule that is to say, prayers and meditations for one to comfort himselfe in all maner of afflictions, and specially to strengthen himselfe in faith: set in order according to the articles of our faith, by Daniell Toussain, minister of the worde of God: with a comfortable preface of the author, vnto the poore remnant of the Church of Orlians; containing a short recitall of extreme and great afflictions which the said church hath suffered. Englished out of French, almost word for word, by Ferdenando Filding.; Exercice de l'âme fidele. English.	Tossanus, Daniel, 1541-1602.; Filding, Ferdenando.	1583 (1583)	STC 24144; ESTC S100748	160,179	397

THE Exercise of the faithfull soule That is to say Prayers Meditations for one to comfort himselfe in all maner of afflictions and specially to strengthen himselfe in faith Set in order according to the Articles of our faith By Daniell Toussain Minister of the worde of God With a comfortable Preface of the Author vnto the poore remnant of the Church of Orlians containing a short recitall of extreme and great afflictions which the said Church hath suffered PSAL. 90. Turne thee againe O Lord at the last How long be gracious vnto thy seruants Comfort vs againe after the time that thou hast plagued vs and for the yeeres wherein we haue suffered aduersitie Englished out of the French almost word for word by Ferdenando Filding Imprinted at London by Henrie Middleton for Henrie Denham 1583. To the right worshipfull and his especiall good master Walter Raleigh esquier RIght woorshipfull the great and good affection which I haue borne to you euer since J was first acquainted with you hath alwaies bin a stirring mee forward to bewray the force of my inward good will by some outward shew and now at length it hath compassed that which it coueted of long and offereth vnto you in value more than great first written in French by a woorthie man whose name and profession it beareth now denized in English almost word for word by a well willer of yours though scant able to reach to the originall depth of the natiue writer Yet J thought it good rather to hazard my owne credite with some note of infirmitie than to haue this argument vnharboured in English with the infinite losse of so great a commodity For what is more profitable to a Christian man than to haue his soule continually exercised in the traine and practise of a liuely faith the performance whereof this treatise vndertaketh whose recommendation I will not meddle with least by saying either too too little or too too base J impaire that which will commend it selfe beyond comparison To the English Christian I discharge my selfe by vttering that in zeale which J conceiue to be most profitable for eche his soule To your worship I recommende my labour as the true signe of a trustie mynde wherein if it shall please you to bestowe some though the least time I dare assure you of great profite for the comfort of your conscience and beautifying of your soule Almightie God prosper you in all your good and vertuous attempts and send you that good which both J wish you and this booke pretendeth London the 14. of Iune 1583. Your obedient seruant Ferdenando Filding PRINCIPALL matters conteined in this booke 1 A Preface brieflie reciting the calamities of the Church of Orlians and the comfortes that wee ought to oppose against the same euill 2 The principall Creedes and confession of the vniuersall Church 3 Manie notable places of the olde newe testament fitly applied to euerie article of our faith inriched with considerations meditations and praiers 4 A comfortable discourse of death 5 Praiers for diuers necessities 6 A Treatise of S. Cyprian concerning praier FINIS ❧ VNTO THE poore remnaunt of the Church of Orlians which are scattered here and there groning with true faith after the Lord grace health comfort and peace from and through our Lorde Iesus Christ ABout tenne yeares past when the Church of Orlians was in her flowers and I then hauing this honour to be one of the Ministers thereof then I set forth certaine Prayers and Meditations vppon certaine notable places of the scripture which I had gathered out and laid aside for mine owne priuate vse yet notwithstanding being requested of sundrie good and godlie men I was content that manie others should inioy the same And that they might be pricked forwardes to ardent prayer and to all holie and Christianlike Meditations who were accustomed to waxe cold or at least but leukewarme in time of prosperitie foreseeing likewise that all the rest wherewith the Church doeth glad her selfe in this world was but a truse and small respit and that it behooued them 2. Timo. 3. ver 12. The late M. Caluin in his preface vpon Daniel 61. truelie aduertised the Churches that they should haue as yet great fightes Psal 66.27 Psal 42. The said Churche was of number a seuen thowsand persons in time past Iames 5. which were determined to serue God purelie to make their account that they must suffer great persecutiōs during which prayer is the verie stay and comfort to the faithfull soule As alas long since wee haue well prooued when that all the billowes and stormes of the Lord sith these x. yeares haue passed not alonelie generallie through out all Fraunce but particularlie vppon this poore Church of Orlians which in times past wee haue seene a garden of great pleasure a retraite to manie good men and of all sortes and conditions to bee short it was as the repaire and fould of the Lordes sheep in the middest of all Fraūce Now wee doe see it turned into dust and ashes and to become the dwelling place of Dragons and Scorpions we I say vnto whome God hath giuen this grace to escape so manie blouddie Alaroms yea so manie fearefull deathes that we haue perceiued of what force earnest praiers be and what satisfying contentation the faithfull soule hath with God when as all other thinges doe seeme to faile him in such sort as we haue matter to say with the Prophet Dauid in the 119. Psal verse 92. Had it not bin that thy lawe was my delight I had euen then perished in my afflictions Now as the true seruantes of God haue a zeale vnto the ashes and ruines of Sion when it is turned into dust Psal 10● 9. and forsaken of all the world So cannot I so long as the soule panteth within me cease euer with a burning desire to pray vnto God or to haue care of this so desolate a Church of Orlians willing truelie to say with the prophet Esaiah in the 62. Chap. For the loue of Sion I will not keepe silence and as cōcerning Ierusalem I will not cease vntill her righteousnesse shine out as the light that her saluation be kindled as a Lampe in such sort as setting before my eies that at no time praiers were euer more necessarie than in these dayes being on euerie side full of calamitie neither yet the vse thereof better vnderstood of the true faithful than whē as men are in their true schoole that is to say vnder the Crosse And being likewise since the decease of this second Iosias so Christiā a prince as the late my Lord Elector Palatine Federick vnder whom I haue had this honor to preach the word of God more thā 4. yeares being as it were into mine owne wildernesse a part drawen to meditate lamēt the miseries of our time I tooke againe into my handes these prayers that heretofore I had set forth brought to light dedicated to the Church

hath beene said of them God worketh woonders vnto them and sundrie and manie times haue they song song againe in a godlie assemblie whereof I cannot remember my selfe without teares the Psal 124. The Psalme of the Church of Orlians For Israel may now well say c. Which Psal the Church of Orlians esteemed as her particular Psalme for the aforesaid deliuerances But alas will some aunswere since the xv of September in they yeare 1568. euen vntill now what other thing hath a man seene but calamitie vppon calamitie distilled vpon the said Church and so sharpe and violent affliction as it is hard to thinke thereof without a mans haire standing staring for feare horror on his head For from that day which was vppon a Sunday The first Massacar at Orlians in the yeare 1568. I hauing preached at vi a clocke in the Estape which place then onelie rested to vs and hauing greatlie to the purpose alas in this last preaching expounded the text of the xvi of S. Marke vpon the historie of the passion The last preaching made within Orlians My God my God why hast thou forsaken me For euen iust thithertow as I come in the exposition of S. Marke Maister De Gallars then also Minister of the said Church hauing made his Sermon at eight of the clock in the same place and following the order of Psalmes which they did sing hauing song this funeral and lamentable Psalme which fel out to the verie purpose without anie special choise made thereof to wit the Psal 88. which is the last that was sung in Orlians in the assemblie of the Church where amongest other thinges it is said I am free among the dead like vnto them that bee wounded and lie in the graue Also Thine indignation lyeth hard vppon me and thou hast vexed me with all thy stormes As the second preaching was ended and the Psalme aforenamed sung behold certaine stones throwen against the assemblie and a Mutenie of people which then did accompanie a procession that was made all for the nonce who rushed vppon the assemblie which was a godlie assemblie with an extreme furie and had knocked downe all the troupe if so be this good God had not raised vp some of the strange souldiers which did shew themselues more gentle than the Citizens thirsting for the bloud of their fellow Citizens if they I say had not couered a great part of the assemblie whereof notwithstanding there were seuenscore slaine and hurt After dinner the people not being satisfied with this crueltie did set fire on the Church of Estape at noone day with all kind of insolēcie disorder threatening the night following to make a sack of all the Protestantes houses during which stormes God did amongest other wonderfullie preserue the Ministers which were fiue in number and namelie the two who had preached that day as it was said before Vntil this time the Ministers notwithstanding the dangers that they had found couragioslie by the aduice of the consistorie and of all the chiefe of the Church continued in their charge But this furie being so kindled and all the Church out of order the warres flaming throughout all Fraunce and Anguleme besieged Then with great difficultnesse were the Ministers of the said Church drawen out from this furnace and conducted in safetie The gates were straitlie kept and ambushes laid throughout all the waies and namelie in the crosse streetes as in deed some of my brethren Ministers imprisoned and chiefe faithfullest Ministers of the said Church M. Robert Mason otherwise named Fountane M. Matthew Berold Professor of the Hebrew tongue and I wee fell into the handes of our enemies and there wee remained with most imminent daungers from the 26. day of September vntill the 15. of October euen vntill that some notable and well affected persons of the Church seeing that the people were daily about to drowne or murther vs and that we had yeelded vnto them faithfull seruice euen to the vttermost redeemed vs out of the souldiers handes Now synce this time truely this poore Church of Orlians was ouerwhelmed with so manie calamities that a man can not easilie finde the like examples of crueltie as those which haue beene exercised against the saide Church although that in Fraunce there hath beene a long time great persecutions Persecutions in Fraunce vnder Antonius Verus namely at Lyons as from the yeare 170. vnder the Empire of Antonius Verus as may be seene in the fifth historie of Eusebius the 1.2 and 3. Chap. by the Epistle that the faithfull of Lyons wrote thereof vnto the brethren of Asia and Phrygia and since these troubles of Fraunce the saide citie of Lyons hath suffered as much as any other citie especially from the time of these horrible massakers in the yeare of our Lorde 1572. But that which is happened vnto the faithfull of Orlians and hath continued a long time doth rightly followe that which was song in the last assemblie as it was saide before in the 88. Psal Lorde thine indignations lie harde vpon mee For since this first massaker doone on the fifth of Septēber in the yeare 1568. they haue not ceased as well in the streats as in the houses to slay some of the faithfull to spoyle their houses and to drawe them with ropes through the streates not suffering them neither to passe in the citie nor to liue in the same citie The burninges of houses in 4. places and of madame de Boiblandin Such cruelties I say did continue euen vnto the yeare 1569. vntill the moneth of Iulie that they did set fire on two houses at noone day where they had imprisoned more than seuen score of all sortes of qualities and ages which continued constant in calling vppon the name of God and in the puritie of his seruice they I say alas what spectacle in presence of this furious inraged people notwithstanding that prisons ought not to haue bin forced notwithstanding likewise the cries of their wiues their parentes and their children The horrible and vnnaturall murther of certaine faithfull ones being in prison were burned all quicke and if so be the flame had spared any of them then the bloudie handes of the madde people or of the souldiers with their holbardes partisans and kniues would not haue spared them And as concerning an other troupe of foure score of the faithfull the most part being citizens of the same citie which hauing beene locked vp in a great tower of the citie were certaine monethes afterwardes when as they fayned in a morning to bring them forth to iustice stabbed in with daggers one after an other O that I could recite these things without saying with the Prophet Ieremie in the 9. Chap. O if I had my head full of water that mine eies were a fountaine of teares to the end that I might lament day and night the slaine of the daughter of my people But what The peace being

brethren A citie is not vnhappie to be vnwalled spoyled A city whē he is vnhappie robbed and outwardly ruined and sacked but if it be depriued of the fauor of God if it be filled full of ydolatrie with vanitie with theft bloud and with pride Furthermore if we doe feele our selues verie weake to sustaine the assaults threateninges and feares amongest cruell Idolaters why doe we tempt God in dwelling amongest them Heb. 13. Why doe wee not come out of our tentes to beare the rebuke of Christ Why goe we not out of Babylon to the ende we be not partakers of her sinnes and that wee receiue not of her plagues Howe many meanes might a man haue had since this fiue yeares to haue retired himselfe from amongest these fleshlie people so thirstie after the bloud of the faithfull Who is he that would abide one night amongest Scorpions Who is hee which would not quickelie vnharbour himselfe Dwelling amongest Idolaters verie dangerous seeing his house on a fire how deere soeuer it were vnto him Who is hee which would remaine in the fairest citie of the world in which hee could haue no bread What order then is there that they shoulde soiourne amongest them so long time Dwelling amongest Idolaters is verie daungerous amongest whom there can be founde no true bread and amongest whom there is neither faith nor loue nor yet respect of anie person We are in this worlde to knowe and serue God and the time of our life being so short ought we not to enforce our selues to the vttermost to bestowe that as well as is possible For as S. Cyprian hath verie well sayde in his treatise of twofoulde Martyrdome All the life of man ought to giue witnesse to GOD not that he hath any neede or maketh much reckoning of our Martyrdome or witnessing of him but that it pleaseth him that his glorie should be thus aduaunced and declared amongest men by men Nowe my brethren Whence infirmities proceede considering that these great infirmities which are at this day founde in many proceede from no other thing but onely through default of not being well grounded and rooted in the faith and also because we pray not vnto God Mark 9.23 so often and so earnestlie as were requisite For all thinges are possible to the beleeuer and the beleeuer also hath this aduauntage that God heareth and fulfilleth his desires I haue thought to comfort and to strenthen more and more those which through the grace of GOD remaine firme and constant vntill this present Psal 145. The purpose of the Author in this booke as also to giue courage againe vnto them which haue lost it and suffer themselues willinglie to be borne with the tempest of Idolatrie that there is nothing more fitte and to the purpose than to set before your eies the Articles of our faith with short meditations and prayers that shall giue vnto you a briefe knowledge and vnderstanding thereof being as it were the verie iuice and substance to the ende also that this may shortly put you in remembraunce of the pure doctrine which was preached vnto you For this is our glorie 2. Cor. 1. euen of vs all which haue beene your Pastors the testimonie of our conscience that in simplicitie and godlie purenesse wee haue beene conuersant amongest you preaching vnto you the word of God And wee are not ignorant in meane while that this is an auntient subtiltie and craft of the Diuel and of the wicked The slaūders of the aduersaries in the middest of their greatest wickednesse to slaunder good men and the trueth So was Elias slaundered by Achab as a seditious person so was Iesus Christ charged with faultes So did that abhominable Nero who hauing set the citie of Rome on fire layd all the fault vpon the poore Christians Wee doe not doubt at all but a man may finde some of our renegates which to receiue the seruice to the contrarie side and to reape the benefite of a flattering tongue both haue and doe straine themselues to misuse vs in speach and not onely with the like speach falselie to misuse vs but also to make odious euen the whole doctrine of the holie Gospell But he whome we doe serue knoweth vs and we call none other but the conscience of those who haue hard vs and haue seene our behauiours in witnesse of our affection towards you of our chearefulnesse and readines wherewith all we haue beene alway accōpanied preaching vnto you the pure word of God so much as was possible for vs and that you could be suffered to heare the same The worlde hath also seene knowen of long time the impieties of this seat of Rome many Emperours yea and many kinges of Fraunce haue prooued their insolencie and crueltie Fraunce alas seeth at this day the detestable vntrustinesse treasons violences and murthers the like not hearde which that Apostaticall Romish seate hath bredde and brought forth vnto vs and for the which they haue many times made bonfires yea and great triumph but all in vaine wee shall weepe and the worlde shall laugh in the meane time our heauinesse shall one way bee turned into ioy which the world shall not be able to spoile vs of And how much better shall it bee to weepe in this world than in the other and to reioyce in the life to come than in this vale of miseries The order then that wee keepe in this booke is The order kept in this booke that wee drawe to the Articles of the faith as close as is possible certaine places of the holie scripture which serue best to explane them and make them cleare with prayers and meditations to that purpose to the end that as faith and prayer ought to be ioyned together so euerie one might bee resolued in the faith be pricked forward to prayer True it is that in that which tyed me to those prayers and meditations which were before imprinted I haue not altogether kept such order as I desired neuerthelesse these prayers nowe are brought into a better order than those that were before and are augmented with manie goodlie places And this booke will serue as a Christian Manuel to the end to teach euerie one to see euerie houre of the day and euerie Moneth of the yeare that is to say continuallie what hee ought to beleeue and meditate vpon as also what was the whole Catechisme or maner of instruction of youth vsed by the ancient fathers like as Augustine witnesseth in his Enchiridion that is to say in his Manuel that it contained the meaning and exposition of the Creede and the Lordes prayer Wherefore I hope that this little treatise so reuiewed and digested into such order will serue not onelie to direct vs how to make our prayers for all kinde of necessities and wantes but also for an instruction more and more to confirme those that are the true faithfull in the principal pointes of our saluation

of Orliās as wel to put thē together againe so to disgest thē by a better order as also to seeme not to haue lost the remēbrāce of that Church which of good right amongst other I haue alwayes loued and honored hauing serued there the space of eight yeares and receaued verie much credit and friendship of manie good men or least I should seeme to haue lost all hope to see it againe reestablished or at the least somewhat gathered together after so manie and fearefull stormes Nowe concerning the order which I haue held in this booke it shall be spoken hereof in the end of this Preface But now I will lay out the causes which haue made me yet to hope that this good God will not altogether forsake this poore flocke And therefore it maketh me yet againe to direct this little booke vnto the residue as vnto a small corner of the fould to the end to sorte out and call back the rest of the flocke vnto a true faith hope and calling vppon the name of God It is a thing certaine that in these later daies the diuell is come downe in great anger knowing that he hath but a small time And in this is fulfilled all that which the Lorde foretold thereof in the 12. of the Apoc. as the miseries foretold are fulfilled in like maner the promised deliuerance shal be accomplished and alwaies this goodly sentence shall remaine true that is in the 76. Psalme That the anger of the vngodly shall returne vnto the praise of the Lorde and that hee will restraine the rest of their furies And that which S. Peter speaketh in the 3. Chap. of his first Epistle Who shall hurt you The fauours that Orlians hath receiued at other times of the Lorde if you followe goodnesse O but some man will say in times past Orlians hath founde such fauour at Gods handes as in the time of Atila when all the countrey being couered ouer with rude people the citie was kept by the praiers of good folke or when it was in times past as some say miraculously kept rather than by anie helpe of man from the siege of the Englishmen or if we must come vnto the thinges more certaine and fresh in memorie when as in the yeare of our Lorde 1560. in the time of king Frauncis the seconde of that name the most furious force that might be in mans remēbraunce was in the citie the preparation most cruell against so many notable and singular men of name who had as they say the knife set to the throte many good and honorable citizens wandering vp and downe from one place to an other when I say the Lorde in a moment turned the sorrowe of his Church into gladnesse and their captiuitie into freedome And againe in the yeare 1563. Orlians beseeged at the beginning of the spring time the citie enuironed with a victorious armie consisting of Frenchmen Swyssardes and Spaniardes it was at vnawares and by a happe vnlooked for not only deliuered of the siege The peace of the Valins with Orlians but honoured with a peace which was made with the Orlians and indured for a certaine time leauing the citie for some yeares in a tollerable estate Since the saide peace certaine massacres treasons and conspiracies which then were had there both on the right hande and on the left as in the countrey of Mans Orlians stripped againe at Tours at Blois and in manie other places of Fraunce it being altogether stripped as it was in the yeare 64. and for the most part a bootie vnto tyrantes being in time of neede the place for those of the Church to come vnto it was then maintained in good rest and in the exercise of the pure religion The secōd troubles whatsoeuer contrarie gouernours were there being in garison vntill the yeare 1567. in which time toward Michaelmas the seconde troubles began againe and a strange coniuration being made as well in Fraunce as in the lowe countries against the faithful notwithstanding the enimies were in great number and well armed within the citie awayting but the watch worde to cut the throtes of all the faithfull The foresaid citie together with the citidell was by a speciall fauour of God kept and defended with a handfull of men the most part of the Church not knowing any thing thereof euen against so manie aduersaries and subtil deuises and to the ende it might serue for the seconde time The peace at Chartres for a place of rest and retire which out of all partes of Fraunce placed themselues there by reason of the crueltie which was then through all exercised against the Christians And in this behalfe ought a man to keepe secret the fauour which the Church of Orlians prooued by the God of hostes When as this miserable peace made at Chartres being made in the yeare of our Lorde 1568. in the moneth of March the citie was deliuered into the handes of the aduersaries foming with rage against a citie which at two sundrie times had made resistance and was the refuge of Princes Lordes and other bearing as then armes for the common wealth when I say with a gouernour enimie of the reformed religion there were brought into the saide citie The regiment of countie Brissakes ten ensignes of the brauest and skilfull souldiers that could be chosen to swallowe vp as it were in a moment the saide Church but God in the meane season did shewe this fauour to my fellowes and mee euen there to preach in a goodlie assemblie euen in the sight of the souldiers for the space of fiue monethes amongest a thowsand and a thowsand dangers mutenies and harquebusers and infinite distresses the citie being in this time kept that no citizen man or woman of the religion could passe out of the gates without a thowsand dangers when our houses were dailie ouerthrowen the gates of our assemblies enuironed by troupes of the enemies souldiers And that for presidents as a man would say wee had in our consistories Captaines renouncers of God other such people as it pleased those gouerners to send thither Then in trueth wee felt such an assistance of the almightie notwithstanding that men walke in the shadow of death when they burned in good houre the Temple with the streete of Illiers and as manie may well remember there the souldiers of the garrison seeing the patience and constancie of the Church as it were touched at the heart tamed in part being without comparison more fauorable and gratious vnto those of the Church than were the citizen papists who hauing beene at the foresaid warres for the most part assisted and hid as it were in our bosome in their daungers and all as it were rendering a verie ill reward to their citizens of the religion During this time some one will say the Church of Orlians hath felt yea the great fauors of God Psal 120. in such sort as oftentimes it