trampling vnder foot the Gospell and Scepter of our Lord Iesus Christ in so many parts of his Church the miserable estate of his people and servants professing his name under the slaverie and tyrannie of Antichrist or the wofull condition of the remainder of Gods elect not yet called gathered forth but remainining under the power of Satan or if thou regard but the saving of thine owne soule afford some assistance to him and his poore people especially now that hee so graciously cals upon thee and offers thee so much direction and helpe thereunto even in these meditations and prayers bâ—…sides many others Consider of them well and so farre as thou findest him calling on thee to put them in practice set thy selfe forthwith to helpe in this blessed worke If any of them either meditations or prayers seeme unto thee weake as they must needs be having beene written for most part when many others slept and that because of the industrie of Satan and his instruments that they might not bee any hinderance unto my calling yet are they such as thy Christ expects at thy hands so far as they are soundly grounded upon his sacred truth and agreeable to his heavenly will Give him thy heart and best affections and better the forme in thâ—…ne owne devotion remembring ever for whom they are chiefly intended viz to helpe the weaker sort which are not able to pray of themselves according to thâ—…se occasions If they seeme over long for thy occasions yet are they so divided as thou mayest leave off and begin againe wheresoever thou pleasest onely fitting some generall beginnings and ends of the prayers according to the other or according to thine owne holy meditation Iâ—… this offend thee that they are sâ—…t downe in a booke remember the publique prayers that in all ages have beene so in the Church and yet most pleasing and available Let the consideration of so many of thine owne nation yea so many of the chiefe thereof so fearefully seduced and even bewitched by Iesuites and other Seminarie Priests and everie day more and more falling away to the indangering not onely of themselves but of the whole Land continually provoke thee to this dutie and especially seeing they professe themselves to have beene drawne to that Romish Religion hereby chiefly That they in their Church have moe devotions and spend more time therein than we in ours Let this move thee to take some pitie of them and to helpe by thy prayers to pull them out of the fire of Gods vengeance and likewise to keepe others from falling from him Let their blinde zeale and superstitious devotions which condemnes the coldnes and securitie of the greatest part of those who professing Christs Gospell yet pray so littâ—…e and which is one principall cause of their stumbling I speake upon certaine knowledge both concerning high and low noble and meanâ—… let this I say provoke thee to more devotion in holy meditations and instant prayers according to the word and will of thy God and enforce thee hereunto to spend daily some part of it as God gives thee more â—…it opportunitie or as thou hast more neglected these They as is said use some devotions daily to pull soules out of Purgatorie be thou instant for them to pull them from the power of Satan to Christ. Begin thus to redeeme thy time so badly mis-spent and that so long untill thou shalt see Gods glory recovered the scepter of his Christ set up againe in all places whence it is removed with the deliverie of thy brethren in all forraine partâ—… and the dangers past which are so threatned towards all the Churches and namely our neâ—…rest and faithfull neighbours and even towards thy selfe Suffer not these blinded soules to rise up in judgement against thee that they have spent more time and paines in their devotion to serve Satan and Antichrist and to hold up his throne to their endlesse perdition than thou to serve our Lord Iesus to the saving thine owne soule and the lives of all his people If thou wouldst be ready to spend thy goods and to adventure thy life for the glory of thy God for thy Christ and his Church at his command yea if thou wouldest bestow any labour or cost to save thy native Countrey or Countreymen being in danger and much more the Lords Anointed with our Royall Prince and that most illustrious Prince and Princesse Palatine all of whom haue shewed so much love to Christs Gospell and if thy heart be truly affected to that sweet and happy progenâ—… then be ready to helpe them all by thy prayers especially sith thou maiest doe this without any cost or losse and hast helpe offered from his Majestie and the same also not onely put into thy hands but as it were into thy mouth and withall thy hands holden up by him to doe it Doe it therefore as well as thou caust if thou regard but thine owne case either of soule or bodie thy present or eternall estate I have purposely in many of the praiers followed the order in the first part of this Watch which I have taken for a good direction both for that it hath beene so oft tried by the learned to be according to the true Rule of Life and for that the places for proofes are there quoted to auoid further labour and that thou and all the weaker sort may learne together both to watch and pray for your selves and all the people of the Lord and so be sure to prevaile with his heavenly Majestie If thou shalt finde or suspect any errour wherein thou darest not joyne signifie it as in love and in the feare of the Lord and I shall as I have ever bound my selfe be most ready either to give thee satisfaction or to reforme it and yet in the meane time proceed in the rest joyntly with thy brethren Let us all joyne as being of one heart and soule wherein we all agree crying unto our heavenly Father compassing him about at his feet for our selves and all his deare children and he will surely heare our cries and in his due time reveale every difference unto us and wherein the errour lieth I tie thee not to daies nor houres but as thou observest the Lord offering thee fittest opportunities and as he shall move thee thereto though because of Satans subtlety and the falsenesse and corruption of our owne hearts we shall finde by experience that all the bonds whereby we can binde our selves to holy duties especially of this nature and importance are farre too little so weâ—… doe it in an holy wisdome and wise consideration that we bring not a snare upon our selves Wonder not that I so oft goâ—… over that heavenly prayer of our Saviours and so strictly tie my selfe unto it for that I finde it the wisdome of God and the power of God ministring still now and most heavenly matter even to this our present purpose and also am fully assured that all the true Churches
his holy Angels Moreover that we can with all thankefulness receive from his hand yeeld unto whatsoever chastisements or trials it shal please his heavenly wisedome to exercise us by and that we can mourne with the holy Prophet David to see his blessed wil and Commandements both Law and Gospel so scorned and trampled under foote That wee have atrayned thereto at the least in our inner man to wit in the full desire and resolution of our soules are thereupon able thus to cry in truth and in the uprightness of our hearts Thy wil be done in earth as it is in heaven The fift particular Meditation of the third generall That we be such as looke into and depend onely upon our heavenly Father for all good things FIftly we must trauel with our owne hearts never resting until wee bee such as feele our selves in some good measure able in faith to looke up unto him as to our pittiful gracious and bountiful Father and to depend whollie upon him with faithful Abraham for accomplishment of all our desires and whatsoever else he hath promised and for giving to us and to the whole Church all things belonging heereunto so farre as shal be best To trust in him onely for all and to give him the glory of al. Also such as have attained in some good sort a fellow-feeling with our Brethren of al their wants and afflictions both bodily and spiritual and so are thereby able to crie for them as for our selves Giue us this day our daily bread Such as are ready to communicate unto them in all things according to their necessities of what kinde soeuer And finally such as strive to walke painfully and faithfully in our places callings that we may not be chargeable to the Church but may better supply the wants of our Brethren and so shew forth our right dependance on his fatherly goodness for our selues and for them al for bread and all other comfortes for bodies and soules appertaining both to this and the better life The sixt particular Meditation of the third generall That we be such as feele our sinnes and infirmities as a heavy burden and travelling under them doe fly ever unto Christ. SIxtly wee are seriously to stirre vp our soules that we never rest vntill we be such at least in the longing desires of our hearts as doe see and feele not onely our owne sins infirmities and corruptions as a heavy burthen making us daily to runne to our Lord and Sauiour to bee eased of them but withall that wee haue some true feeling of the sinnes of all sorts in the Church which have so farre forth already provoked the Lord to execute his fierce wrath upon so many of our Brethren to leave them into their enemies hand and so to threaten all the Churches by the deadly malice and mischievous plots and prevailings of our bloody enemies And also that we can and do begin to cry That the Lord would forgive us our sins our hainous crying sins grant unto us unfeigned repentance for the â—…ame hearts to do whatsoever hee hath commanded belonging thereunto for the pacifying of his wrath both privately publiquely We are withall to bethinke our selves whether wee be such as unfeignedly wish with blessed Paul to have a continuall heavinesse in our hearts for our owne sinnes and for the sinnes of Gods people whereby hee hath beene so provoked to so heavy a wrath so dreadfull proceedings even against his owne Children which are so deere unto him and for that his anger is daily more and more kindled and incensed Such as can freely forgive and doe use to pray for our very enemies that they so many of them as belong to the election of Grace may likewise come to repentance and escape his wrath vengeance due unto their sinnes and bee made with us partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light The seuenth particular Meditation of the third generall That we indeavour to pray continually Lead us not into temptation SEventhly we are to meditate seriously that if wee will be helpers unto our Lord and Saviour in this worke we are never to give rest unto our soules untill we have brought our selves to a true understanding sense and practice of that counsell yea that precept of our Saviour with which so few Christians are indeed rightly acquainted to wit to watch and pray continually that we fall not into temptation That we be such as doe not onely see the danger that wee our selves stand in of Sathans temptations every moment of time and of the many and fearefull evils which by our sinnes hee seekes without ceasing to bring upon us and thence doe labour incessantly by watching and prayer to be preserved and delivered from the same but doe also use to mourne and be in heavinesse day and night for the prevailing of Sathan and Antichrist and of all their limbes and instruments not onely against the poore people and children of the Lord but also against his blessed Gospell at this day by their craft and subtilties and for the innumerable miseries bodily and spirituall which they have and doe daily more and more seeke to bring upon them and therefore we do use daily to cry for them as for our selues Lord lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evill The eighth particular Meditation of the third generall That wee can and doe use to sing the song of the 24. Elders Glorie c. SEventhly wee are never to give the Lord over untill wee bee such as ever acknowledging in our hearts and consciences the Soveraignty of our Lord Iesus Christ have attained hereto to bow the knees of our soules and fall downe upon our faces before him having learned the Song of the foure and twenty Elders Glory Honour Praise Dominion Might and Majesty bee to him that sits upon the throne and unto the Lambe for evermore and doe use to sing the same in our soules and also doe desire that it may bee sounded out by us and by all the Church eternally at least such as can mourne for our continuall wants and failings herein Finally that wee be such as use to stirre vp our hearts in faith to sound Amen both begging and beleeving that through Iesus Christ we shall obtaine whatsoever we have or shall desire as our Lord and Saviour hath taught us so farre as shall bee most for his glory our salvation with the good of all his Church and herein can ioyfully repose our soules And not onely that wee have attained the beginnings or as it were the first fruites in all these graces moreover that we indeavour to increase grow in every one of them continually And thus much also for the second generall meditation to wit what kind of persons we must be if we will bee sure to be
blessings for our selves both all things needfull for this and the better life with forgiuenenesse of sins deliverance from Satan and from all the evils that he intends against us That we shall see our Lord Iesus manifesting his kingdome power and glory for us and making us partakers of the same for evermore For the ends and fruits those must of necessitie be the best which as they doe most directly aime at all these things mentioned so doe likewise serve as Gods instruments to helpe us to worke these things most powerfully and effectually Finally for the forme and manner of sending them forth unto the Lord or performing them any other way those must needs be best and holiest which are done with most understanding and so with the holiest and most fervent affections rising thereon and which are also uttered or performed in best order and with fewest vaine repetitions And contrarily those must needs be the worst which are contrary to these in regard of their matter generall or particular and which conduce to contrary ends and have most contrary effects and operations and are done in a manner farthest differing from these Now having set downe these generall rules and directions which may serve for our discerning of the true and sincere holinesse and goodnesse of all devotions and which are the best we are in the next place to consider briefly and in a generall manner what is the most speciall and principall matter of our devotions and then what is the chiefest matter of theirs and after in the third place to compare them more particularly together and so leave the discerning and iudgement of them to every conscience as in the presence of the Lord. For our devotions they are such generally as agree to the former rules Both that we may so keepe his watch and walke with him here as wee may be sure to finde him God all-sufficient to live and reigne with him eternally And also that we may so pray as we may be certaine to be heard and to prevaile with his heavenly Maiesty for our selves and for all his Churches and people in all that he shall see best for his owne glory and the saving of all his chosen flocke and in whatsoever he hath promised to grant even every thing in the due time and especially whereby we may be sure to finde him a sanctuary whatsoever come to passe But for those devotions of theirs whereof they glory so much and wherewith they seeke to inchant not you alone but if it were possible all the people of the Lord and even to pull all from Christ to Antichrist what are they for the most part but either meditations of their Legend stories as of that materiall Crosse whereon and those nailes wherewith our Saviour was nailed or concerning the Virgin Mary her milke and merit or their Ladies Psalter all full of blasphemies and such like sluffe as that is which is in that booke so lately published by the Spanish Monke or tales of Saint Francis of this Saint and that of their Shrines and the miracles done by them or in the numbring and oft repeating upon their Beades their Pater nosters Creeds Ave Maries Rosaries and the like many of them in an unknowne tongue and in a most superstitious and blasphemous manner or praiers to the Saints devotions to the Crosse and to all their holy reliques with innumerable other fearefull superstitions All of them being to the great dishonour of the Lord and the dreadfull provoking of his heavie wrath in filling up the measure of their sinnes in stead of any comfort that any poore soules shall ever finde in them Or which is farre worse what are their deeper and more profound meditations and devotions I meane of their holy Iesuites and Iesuited Catholikes but what meritorious works they may doe for promoting the Catholike cause how to hold up and to advance the throne of their holy Father that he may be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords opposing and exalting himselfe above all that is called God Yea to advance their owne pompe and tyranny in all the world that they may at their pleasure reigne over both soules and bodies of all as they doe in all countries where they prevaile and domineere And thus are their chiefe meditations how to take away whatsoever may be any hinderance hereunto by murdering Kings and Princes seeking to subvert whole states so to bring all againe to adore that Romish Antichrist to cast Christ Iesus out of his Throne and that that man of sin may seat himselfe every where as God to destroy utterly all that will not worship him and take his marke yea all the people of the Lord who truly worship Christ Iesus and to root the remembrance of them from off the earth So that whereas the scope and effect of all our meditations and devotions is onely to save the soules and bodies of all men theirs are in very deed for the most part to destroy all either soules or bodies or both intended chiefly by their Iesuites and Seminarie Priests to worke that zeale in men as may make them ready to ruinate their owne native countrey to have their hands imbrued in the bloud of their mother that bred them rather than to be hindered in their wretched designes And not onely to take away the Lords anointed with all his royall seed and all not joyning to them but even those of the same profession with them and of the neerest of their kin so that they can doe it warily enough if they be like to be any impediment to the accomplishment of their desires as the powder furnace gave sufficient evidence Yea the very best of their devotions more than where they agree with the word of the Lord and so with ours are such as concerning which the Lord himselfe doth in his word and will one day demand of them before the whole world Who hath required these things at your hands For for those meditations of Lewes de Granado and others so far as they agree with the word of the Lord and with ours they are not properly Popish but Christian devotions so in deed ours reserved amongst them as the Scriptures and other parts of Gods truth for the cause of the true Church the little remainder of Gods people hid amongst them even in the midst of Rome Now to take any of these devotions of theirs as they are their 's properly and the very meanest of ours but even these whereunto this is the entrance prepared of purpose to helpe the poorest and weakest Christians in our Church and euen all those who have not yet entred into this way of pietie but are only desirous to offer their best service to our Lord Iesus and his poore Church if they may be fitted and admitted hereunto and to compare them to those of theirs in all or any of the former respects I doubt not to refer
that mysticall body whereof thou art the head and whom thou hast redeemed with thy most precious blood as well as oâ—…r selves Make us to conceive aright that without this love which is the badge of thy Disciples and Children wee can never assure our owne hearts that we are either the true and naturall children of our heavenly Father or lively members of thy mysticall body and thy very Disciples indeed and that we deceive our owne hearts untill wee become thus truly affected at least in the inward longing of our soules and that wee can unfeignedly mourne for the want of the lively feeling heereof Lord cause us to know that their sinnes are in some sort our sinnes their miseries our miseries as being of the same mysticall body of our Lord Iesus Christ that both their sinnes their calamityes and their afflictions may bee matter of heavinesse mourning unto us and their prosperity both bodily and spirituall may be our continuall rejoycing Cause us to have this fellow-feeling of their estate wheresoever they be though amongst the Indians or in any of the remotest and barbarousest places in all the earth and much more as thou hast united them unto us by neerer bonds of profession place kinred and the like and hast made their estates more knowne unto us More specially make us to have a more sensible feeling of the estate of those who are of our owne nation and stocke and as they are yet linked unto us by neerer bonds Above all good Father make us to bee most loyally and hartily affected towards those in all quarters countries whom thou hast ordained in thine owne place to be Nursing-Fathers Nursing-Mothers to thy Church either presently or in their due times to succour and provide for all thy children committed to them as the faithfull Nurse for her tender Babes And amongst them for all those of them yet in a more speciall manner whom thou hast already vouchsafed this high favour to bee such unto them and to whom thou hast made knowne thy heavenly will in this behalfe what thou lookest for at their hands and whome thou hast bound unto thee by so many bonds of thy heavenly and earthly favours Oh grant that at our instant cries their hearts may bee inclined accordingly towards all thy Children especially to all those whom thou hast to this end specially committed to their trust that they may shew forth before men and Angels their tender affection towards all of them chiefly all those of them who in all unfeigned study of true holinesse and righteousnesse doe most lively resemble thee their heavenly Father and most visibly carry upon them the true Image of our Lord Iesus Christ. Oh give them like affections to thy heavenly Majesty in this behalfe that thy people and children may bee so precious unto them that like as in thy tender love thou gavest thine owne deere Son and with him all good things also yea thine owne selfe for the saving and happinesse of thy Church and namely of all blessed Kings Princes and Governours so they againe may not onely be willing to imploy all their thoughts and endeavours but also be ready to spend offer themselves and also to bee offered up so to give themselves and all theirs most willingly for the saving and happinesse of thy people Lord perswade their and our hearts that the lively evidence hereof will upon our death-beds if our consciences shall thorowly bee awaked and so ever after bee more worth unto us then ten thousand worlds and the contrary more bitter and dreadfull then all the evils of this present life can possibly bee unto us These things we humbly intreate thee to grant for thy Sonne our Lord Iesus Christ his sake our alone Saviour and Advocate III. A prayer that wee may be able to seeke and finde this first that God is our gracious and tender Father in Christ and that we may grow in this assurance daily Father OH deere Father and most blessed Lord God perswade all thy people that this is that which is first to bee sought of every one of us next thy glorie aboue all other things to bee assured that thou art our gracious and tender Father that so each of us may in faith call upon thee saying truly as our Saviour hath taught us Abba Oh Father That this assurance alone being rightly considered of that thou art our heavenly and loving Father will quiet our heart or the heart of any beleever in all the world will fill it with unspeakeable joy in the middest of the greatest troubles temptations that can possibly befall us And contrarily make every one of thy people to know for certaine that the very doubting and want of assurance whether we bee in thy favour and love or no and much more whether we bee thy Children will worke extreame disquietnesse and horror in our soules when once our consciences shall bee awaked and will bee unto us as the unspeakeable torments of hell fire and that this will fall upon all the ungodly most of all when their consciences shall tell them as one day the conscience of every wicked and impenitent sinner will doe that they are not thy Children but thine enemies and the Children of wrath yea of Sathan himselfe and therefore that they are hated of thee as Sathan their Father is whose Image they have borne and whose worke they have done To this end good Lord worke upon our hearts and the hearts of all that belong to thy eternall election whosoever and wheresoever they be in all the earth that we all may truly understand and rightly know our owne miserable condition by nature that wee are thorow the first Adam by naturall generation and by the whole course of our lives none other but the Children of disobedience and so vessels of wrath and fire brands of hell untill such time as we are or shall be regenerated and borne againe and by a lively faith ingrafted into Iesus Christ the second Adam and so made thy Children and heires of thy kingdome by thy grace in him Cause us all to know moreover that we can never attaine heereunto to bee thy Children much lesse to any certaine knowledge or assurance heereof untill wee feele these two graces of thine wrought in our hearts by thy blessed Spirit and the preaching of thy heavenly Gospell unto us to wit an unfeigned repentance for all our sinnes and a lively faith in Iesus Christ and likewise that wee have the same daily increased or at least continued with a true and earnest desire indeavour of the increase thereof for that these two are lively evidences to any man that hee is regenerate and in the state of grace and that of a Child of wrath hee is made thine owne deere Child â—…cceptable to thee his heavenly Father by Iesus Christ alone
of them coâ—…dering the gracious meanes which wee haue so long time enioyed above all Oh make us to doe it foorthwith before it be too late that thy wrath be powred on us as upon them and that there bee no remedy Cause us at least to be warned by the very Heathen who acknowledged this giving glory thus to thee the God of Israel to be the onely meanes to appease thy wrath and prevent thy further judgements Lord smiâ—…e the hearts of all thy Lieutenants and of all to whom the charge of thy honour the saving of thy people are specially committed that they may be thorowly awaked and touched with a right Meditation and sense hereof and of their account to be given even for this dishonour before thy heavenly Majesty that thy people should thus fall away or thus flye before thine enemyes And for all thine and our proud aduersaries perswade our hearts that thou hast raised them up thus against us all as thou diddest Pharao against Israel that when thou hast humbled us by them so as to turne us to thee againe by causing us to submit and humble our soules to walke lowlily with thee in all these thy blessed Commandements and so to honor thee thou wilt then get thy selfe glory uppon their pride and furie and in our finall deliverance from them giving them for our ransome Yea good Father for every particular soule of us make us to know in our very hearts that thou as thou hast made us for thine owne glory so thou wilt be glorifyed in us and by us and that in endless mercy and eternall compassion upon so manie of us as thou having ordayned to be vessels of glorie givest hearts unto thus to humble our selves to seeke to walke obediently in all thy blessed Lawes and commandements of the other side that thou wilt bee glorifyed in declaring thy wrath and everlasting vengeance which thou wilt in thy due time execute upon all thy disobedient and stubborne enemyes who shal declare themselves manifestly by rebelling against thee to be vessels of wrath prepared for destruction Lord by the due meditation and consideration heereof awaken and rowze up all thy people to learn to make more true conscience of all thy blessed Commaundements then ever we have done heretofore for the appeasing of thy Majestie that thy glorie may shine in all the world in pardoning the sinnes of thy people delivering us from our cruell enemies and getting thy selfe honour upon Babylon who hath chiefly for this bene and is the staffe of thy wrath and indignation Heare us therefore heerein and cause us at length even in token of our thankfulness in the zeale we have for thy glory yea in a vehement desire that thy glory may bee set uppe and thy great name may by us be magnified in all the world thus to seek to renew and performe all our vowes to walke more obediently in all thy blessed Commandements then ever heretofore even for our Lord Iesus Christ his sake our onely Redeemer Saviour Amen XI A Prayer that Gods glorie may breake forth more and more then ever heeretofore in causing us and all his people in all the Churches to set him up alone as our God and make him great in our hearts by having our hearts first soundly replenished with all the parts of his inward worship commanded in the first Commandement without which we and all our outward worship and whatsoever we do in his service are utterly in vain That thus all the Churches and euery soule may seeke to pacifie his Maiestie by giving unto him his due glorie OH Lord God who art most glorious in thy 〈◊〉 Majesty 〈◊〉 in all thy Attributes and hast made this glorie of thine to shine bright in every one of thy workes and chiefly in thy heavenly word that thou mightest bee glorifyed accordingly by all thy people and chiefly by them whom thou hast redeemed from Egypt and Babylon to this end and purpose set up this thy glory in the hearts consciences of everie one of thine elect that all of us may know and acknowledge thee such a one as thou hast revealed thy selfe in thy most blessed word Lord graunt that all of us may be knowen heereby to be taught by thee and that the earth may be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the Sea according to thy graÌ„cious promises made unto thy Church in the flourishing estate thereof yea perswade us good Lord that without the true knowledge of thee and thy heavenly will our hearts cannot be good howsoever wee may deceive our selves as the world doth generally More specially inable us to set thee up in our hearts not onely by knowing thee in a generall manner but by beleeving that thou art our God that wee may bee able in faith each of us with Thomas to call thee My God and my Lord and so to beleeve every thing contained in thy heavenly word as that this power of our faith in thee may shew it selfe in each part and action of our whole life both in readily obeying every one of thy blessed Commandements as thy servants Abraham and Noah did and also in fearing every one of thy threatnings and jvdgements finally in laying lively hold of every one of thy gracious promises made unto us in the same word that so wee may alwaies cheare up our hearts and incourage our selves and also one another to run out more joyfully in all the narrow way of life Lord perswade all our hearts that this particular and powerfull faith howsoever it be scoffed at by all thine and thy Churches enemies was the very faith of our Father Abraham and of all the faithfull recorded in thy booke even that whereby all the Fathers received good report and that without this lively working faith it is impossible for any one ever to be pleasing or ever to doe any thing acceptable to thy heavenly Majesty Good Lord make vs all able upon thâ—… our right saving knowledge of thee that thou art faithfull and true and this our faith in thee that thou art our God to hold fast the Anchor of our hope and to manifest it by our wayting and looking stedfastly for the full accomplishment of every promise that thou hast made either coÌ„cerning thy Church in generall or els any of us particularly also of whatsoever thou hast denounced concerning thine and thy Churches enemies and that thou wilt doe every thing in thy due time for thy Church and against thy enemies howsoever for the present all things may seeme to goe against thy Church and people Yea inable us withall good Father ever to honour thee by shewing forth this our faith by the confidence which wee have in thee even then when wee may seeme to bee most forgotten and forsaken of thee both by casting all our
burdens upon thee at all times and also by our rejoycing alwayes in thee as in our good God that thou takest care for us and by being heereby full of Christian chearfulnes and courage against all the oppositions and feares that ever wee shall or can meeâ—…e with in this our journey towards Canâ—…an as thy worthiest servants have bene wont to be Oh magnifie thy power and goodnesse in shedding out thy love so aboundantly upon all thy Churches and every member thereof and so manifesting it before the world that in the true sense and feeling of it in our hearts and our lively faith in thee wee may all joyntly manifest the fervent love wee returne unto thy Majesty by our unfeigned love of every one of thy blessed CommandemeÌ„ts and our fervent desire to thy statutes to walke in them all without reproofe yea by our ardent affection towards all thy ordinances and servants onely for thy cause Good Lord cause the fervent zeale that wee have towards thy name to appeare before the world in the vehement griefe and indignation that we have for all yâ— dishonors done unto thy heavenly Majesty by trampling under feete thy blessed Commandements thy religion and servants and the injuryes and contumelyes done against any of them and so likewise by our study and holy indeavour by all meanes to promote thy true religion and causes and by our vehement hatred of whatsoever is offensive to thy holinesse that we may set up nothing in our heartes but thy Majesty and those things which thou lovest accounting all other as drosse and dung in regard of thy holinesse yea even life it selfe if it hinder us from injoying or obeying thee Cause thy glory to rest herein upon all the Churches and upon all thy poore afflicted servants that upon the assurance of thy love and that thou art our gracious God we may honour thee in shewing forth all holy patience with all cheerfullnesse even in the middest of all our tryals that howsoever thou maiest seeme to be displeased with us and to frowne upon us yea to favour our enemies in all their proceedings and to give us up into their hands to let them to be lords over us and make us a prey to their teeth yet our eye may bee still at thee at thy love wisedome and faythfulness knowing that whatsoeuer thou doest to us thou doest it but to humble us for our security and for all other our greevous sinnes and to prove us that thou art certainely disposing all to our greatest comfort in the end and thus to prepare our way unto thy heavenly Ierusalem That thus we all may ever possess our soules in patience and waite for the happy issue both of all our owne trialles and of all the trialles of thy Church and people and bee alwayes able to say with holy Iob though thou shouldst kill us or leave us utterly and wholly unto the pleasures and lustes of our enemyes yet we will still trust in thee approoving our wayes in thy sight that heereby we may make it manifest to the faces of all our enemyes that we are certainly assured that nothing can separate us from thy love and that thou canst not forsake faile or forget us whatsoever 〈◊〉 the present thou doe unto us Yeâ—… oh most blessed God cause thy glory yet to shine more clearly uppon all the Churches and upon everyone of us that are thy true servants and children indeed in this behalfe that though the wicked feare thee not but seek to drive all the true feare of thy Majestie even out of our hearts likewise as out of their owne and do therefore hate and persecute us so farre as thou permits them onely because we feare thee and put our truâ—…t in thy mercy yet we may feare thee so much more with a true holy childe-like feare that we may ever and especially now in these evill dayes labour to live alwaies as in thy presence and as in the verie eye of thy all-seeing Majestie Grant good Lord that we may bee able thus to walke with thee constantly until we shall be translated hence and with holy Noah to endevour to be still more righteous in our generation and to be daily building our Arkes to save our selves and Families and all other that we can get into the same from the floud of thy vengeance that is rushing upon al the world of the wicked And albeit the world scorn and deride us dayly for it and though we be the onely talk and hatred of the wicked and as men appointed and designed to death onely for this our feare of thee in the bloody hopes of thine and our proud enemyes yet cause us heerein to honour thee that we may not feare the faces of them while we walke in thy blessed Commandements and do onely as thou requirest of us but that by the might and power of thy heavenly Spirit we may bee more full of all Christian corage as the three worthy Children of the Captivitie as good Daniel and holy Nehemiah And yet more also enable us heerein likewise to honour thee before the world and to shew openly before men and Angels that we have set thee uppe in our hearts to be our God even by walking humbly with thee that thogh the world regard thee not but thou art farre above out of their sight and though they doe band themselves agaynst thee against thy heavenly word and servants yea thogh they scorne al thy judgments and threatnings as the Gyants before the flood and as proud Pharao and Herod did yet we may all walke ever in all humility and lowlinesse of Spirit before thee Make us ever to have before our faces thy glorious excellencie and our own vilenesse thy holinesse and our sinnefulnesse and that not only by the fall of our first Parents and by the whol course of our sinful lives and also the power subtilty and malice of Sathan against us to destroy us each moment without thy speciall preservation mercie but even for the very corruption of our sinfull natures which still dwell in us that bodie of death which would carrie us to destruction yea even to hell it selfe every minute if thou in the riches of thy mercy shouldest not restraine it and shouldest not cover all our sinnes yea keep and uphold us Oh give us hearts that herein wee may all magnifie thy great name in giving unto thee as is thy due all the glory of our standing perseverance in grace and of every good thing that ever we enjoy acknowledging from our soules that they are all the free gifts of thy rich mercy and that we are not worthy any of them nay that we are much lesse then the least of them as thy deerest servants have beene wont to do And good Lord heerein make us specially able to give thee thy glory in being thorowly humbled and in mourning continually for all the heynous sinnes
entred into for our selves our children and posterity and every one bound our selves by thy holy Sacraments chiefly by our Baptisme vow yet wee have all heynously transgressed wee have cast it behinde oâ—…r backes trampling under foote thy blessed Commandements thy statutes judgments Hereby good Lord have wee most justly brought all this thy fierce wrath upon so many parts of thy Church and also provoked thee to threaten most righteously the like or more heauy to come upon us all untill wee all see our unthankfulnesse and our breach of Covenant and that we do all joyntly humble our selves under thy most mighty and most fatherly hand to give thee thy glory by renewing and confirming this our Covenant in our true and our unfeigned repentance Wee therefore doe most freely acknowledge that wee have all most grievously and fearfully transgressed even in all the Churches against that first and great Commandement yea indeed against every one of thy most sacred Commandements in a high degree in one kinde or other and that in a speciall manner and as it were with a high hand For concerning thy inward worship and giving thee thy due glory by setting thee up as chiefe in our harts to adore and worship thee as our glorious God We humbly confesse for our selves and brethren even against us all that all of us who in the middest of this shining light of thy heavenly word doe still content our selves to liue in ignorance and blindnesse or in any heynous sinne and especially in Athiesme or prophannesse have set up Sathan the God of this world in our hearts to be our God and that hee it is that ruling there so blindes the eyes of all such least the light of thy heavenly truth should shine unto them and they should be conuerted and saved thereby Multitudes of vs O Lord thou knowest have set up the world as our God very many of us the riches other the pleasures and others of us the honour and pompe of it to adore many other that Antichrist the Pope of Rome as al who are Popishly affected in all the Churches who all preferre his decrees and ordinances before thy heavenly word for that all these and likewise all others who adore or honor any creature with that honour which is due to thy heavenly Majesty alone or above thee have and do preferre all these before thee and set them up in thy place But very few there are amongst us Oh most holy Father who have so set thee up as wee ought to doe our most glorious Lord and God that is so as to set our whole heart upon thee and to put our whole affiance and confidence in thee to love thee with all our heart soule strength and might to bee zealous for thee for thy sincere worship and truth but we are rather good Lord very generally as the Laodicean luke-warme worthy to bee spewed out of thy mouth Yea Lord wee have in verie many of us increased our sin in this in hating and scorning all such as have beene more zealous for thee and for thy truth then our selves are in that so many of us have sought utterly to destroy all power of true godlinesse in whomsoever it hath appeared yea that so very many of us have opposed our selves as it were fighting even against thine owne sacred Majestie like the Gyants before the Flood And for thy outward worship the sinne of multitudes of us Oh Lord hath beene and is no lesse to prouoke thy holines as in all those in each of the Churches who insted of worshipping thee onely according to thy blessed word in Spirit and truth have and do worship and do adore thee by Images Crucifixes the like Idolatrous or superstitious devises or by any will-worship whatsoever devised by man without the warrant of thy sacred word although those worships have beene most goodly in shew and pretended to most faire and holy ends And much more in and by all those who have or doe worship Sathan thy sworne enemy in thy place using divellish Arts to effect their desires and to bring to passe strange things by his helpe This wee confesse likewise what multitudes there are in the Churches who have and doe worship thee hypocritically meerely in outward ceremonies and bare shewes of religion and also of those who halt between thy pure and sincere religion and the religion of Antichrist And so likewise of such as worship mereely as the Pharifes being forward in small matters in tithing Mint and Cummin omitting in the meane time the most weighty and namely all true faith and unseigned repentance and true turning unto thy Covenant But for those Oh gracious Father who by their conscionable walking doe manifest to the world that they sincerely worship thee in spirit and truth when we consider of them aright how few they are wee may wonder at thy goodnesse in sparing us for their sakes seeing they have beene not onely so few but also so hated scorned abused for thy sake alone Moreover for taking thy glorious name in vaine Oh holy Father we acknowledge againe to our owne shame that we have made our selves extreamly guilty and worthy of all thy plagues for that besides all the fearfull oathes and blasphemies daily belched out against thy greatnes thou hast so sensibly spoken unto us by thy blessed word and by all thy glorious workes chiefly by threatnings and judgements upon our selves more mildly and upon our brethren in a more fearfull manner and yet wee have not hearkned unto thee And moreover for that besides all these thou hast spoken unto us by the voyce of thy mercies in all thy great deliverances and miraculous preservations of us in this Nation specially and through the incredible continuance of all thy blessings still by them all calling us all to know thee and to meete thee by an unfeigned humiliation before thy vengeance be poured out upon us for all our sinnes And for that yet we have not heard to tremble before this glorious name The Lord our GOD and unfeignedly to turne unto thee by our unfeigned repentance but have hardned our hearts to increase and hasten thy wrath by all our blasphemies and sinnes whereby wee have caused thy great name to bee blasphemed amongst the enemies unto this very day And finally for our Sabbaths Lord wee have and doâ—… confesse againe to the covering of our faces that we have so polluted them in all the Churches as that all of us doâ—… and must needs acknowledge that even for this sinne alone had wee no other wee have most righteously deserved that thou shouldst so begin to kindle such a fire of thy vengeance in the gates of all our chiefe Cityes as should not be quenched like as thou hast so fearfully done in forraine parts so often threatned us our selves heere at home Yea holy Father we have made our selves worthy that thou shouldest thus proceed in thy fierce wrath to
cause all our lands to keepe such dreadfull Sabbaths being possessed by thine and our enemies as so many of them doe already and seeing wee would not serve thee in our owne good lands under thine owne servants with cheerfull glad hearts that we should serve thine and our enemyes not onely in our owne but even in forraine Countryeâ—… with heavinesse and terror all our daies And as wee have sinned rebelling against thee in every one of these so likewise against all the rest of thy holy Commandements and even against thy heavenly Gospell and ordinances as that wee have justly forfitted them all and all other our priviledges and promises Wee therefore acknowledge in the behalfe of all thy people that thou art righteous in all that thou hast done unto us and if thou still further execute whatsoever thou hast denounced in thy blessed Law against us And yet notwithstanding we do humbly beseech thee to remember the word that thou commandedst by thy servant Moses saying Ye will transgresse and I will scatter you among the people But if you turne to mee and keepe my Commanddments and doe them though your scattering were to the utâ—…ermost part of the heaven yet will I gather you from thence and will bring you to the place which I have chosen to place my name there Now these deere Father are thy people yea thy servants and children our owne brethren and sisters whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power by thy mighty hand as well as our selves some of them of the chiefe of us all any one of whom is worth many thousands of the 〈◊〉 of us Therefore Oh good Lord we beseech thee let it be enough to awaken us all that thou hast so far stretched out thy hand against these our brethren being thine owne children and inheritance and let thine eare now at length hearken to the praiers of thy servant and to the fervent supplications and loud cryes of all thy servants who desire to feare thy great name and give us favour in thy presence and in the presence of all those whom thou hast set in thine owne place to bee nursing-Fathers and nursing-Mothers to thy poor Church and people Grant that their first care may bee to bring us all to unfeigned repentance for our sinnes that thou mayest bee pacified towards us and then good Lord put into their hearts a holy submission to cast downe their crownes before thy deere sonne our Lord Iesus Christ and to give all their power and authority unto him to helpe by all holy meanes to redeeme and restore his Captives that they may againe serve thee in their owne places each under their owne vine and figâ—…ree under the authority and command of thy deâ—…re servants as ever they did before Oh let this prevaile with us all to make us all to remember our vowes to â—…urne to the obedience of thy blessed Commandements and especially to turne heereby to keepe thy Sabbaths and to reuerence thy Sanctuary yâ— thou mayest as much lift them and us al up in mercy as thou hast formerly cast them downe and that thus wee and all future Ages may learne to feare thy great name and evermore sound out thy praises both in word dnâ—… deed expressing our thankfulnesse in all holy and new obedience that so thy glory may shine in all the world Heare us most mercifull Father in these our humble requests and al others c. XIII A humble confession of the heynous sinne of our lande and namely in all the Popish sort who have so fearfully polluted it in reiecting the Lord and his pure religion casting it forth of theis hearts and setting up the Pope of Rome with his abhominable Idolatry and superstition in place thereof to provoke his heavenly Maiesty against us with prayer for pardon and that they and all other may in due time see this fearfull sin that casting out Sathan and Antichrist they and all of us may againe set up our Lord Iesus Christ to the pacifying of his sacred Maiesty and the saving of us all OH Lord most holy and most glorious who canst not beare with any kind of impuriâ—…y or other wickednesse in thy people which professe thy name whom thou hast chosen to set thy Tabernacle amongst and much lesse that they should reject thee and cast thee forth from râ—…igning in their hearts should set up Sathan and Antichrâ—… to obey them in thy â—…lace open the eyes of all them who are superstitiously minded and even the eyes of us all to see what we have done in suffering that religion to thâ—…ive and so farre to grow up againe thrusting thee out with thy sacred truth as in all who obey the Pope of Rome receiving and reverencing hiâ—… word and ordinances above thy heavenly word Oh grant to all them who have so fallen away from thee rejecting thy glorioâ—…â—…sty and also to all who 〈◊〉 in a mammering and much more all those who have so begun of late to dote after Popery to bethinke themselves seriously what they will answer unto thy sacred Majesty for their so casting thee off and thy Religion after the time that thou hast so loâ—…g so clearly and fully discovered the basenes and vilenesse of Popery and so to cast it out of our land by such a generall consent of our Princes Nobles and Commons and so good Lawes made against it Cause them and all sorts wisely to weigh and consider well with themselves that this our whole state did not so cast it out at once without iust cause nor our whole land so renounce it without a most palpable discovery of the filthynesse thereof How before that time even very Idiots and little children saw how all had beene deluded and rob'd by it through all their Masses Purgatory Pilgrimages Pardons with all kinds of their jugling 〈◊〉 and how all was but to get money to make themselves faâ—… and Lords of all both bodies and soules of men that all might be their slaves and vassals like as it is in all the Popish Countryes at this day Make them all to understand and know how all those whose eyes thou hast not shut up did tken plainly perceive and acknowledge thy vengeance most justly uppon all those places called their religious houses as their Abbeyes 〈◊〉 Nunneries and the like in their ruines desolation for all the abhominations committed in them How notorious this filthynes of them was even more loathsome and abhominable then the sinne of Sodome through their fulnesse of bread and aboundance of idlenesse How they weâ—…re al red with blood with the cruell and unnaturall murderâ—… of Infantâ—… to hide those their odious sinnes Cause them all at length â—…o understand and lay to hart that those houses wherein was the chiefe practise of their religion were nothing else but dens of theeves couzening and robbing the whole land and every day by their new devises fetching