The Ambassador Between Heaven and Earth

Of the Yeare, and the parts thereof.

A year is properly that space of time that the Sun runs through the whole Signs and Zodiac.

A year containeth

• Months Solar. 12
• Lunar 13
• Weeks 52 and a Day.
• Days 365
• So many veins in the body of Man.
• Howers 8766

The year Astronomical addeth thereunto 6. hours, and 8. minutes, which every fourth year increase a day, which maketh the Leap-year, and taketh place on the Eve of Saint▪ Mathias▪ then adding to the month of February one day.

A Rule to know how many days be contained in every Moneth.

Holy-days.

For Kalends, Nones, and Ides, and such like, that are more for knowledge then use, I pass them over, being store of Tables in that kind.

A morning Prayer for the Sabaoth day.

MOST merciful God and eternal father, what may we render unto thee for all thy loving kindness; for the which blessings and thanks-giuings for evermore be heaped upon thy holy name, in whom the treasures of mercy and loving kindness dwell bodily, who of thine own good will and pleasure hast been pleased to communicate unto us so many of thy favors, so many several ways without any manner of desert of ours, to the which may it please thee to ad still to the number, by taking away those iniquities of ours, that take away thy favors and blessings from us, or as a stranger that knoweth them not pass by our transgressions, retain not thine anger against us forever, though w • retain our sins, the cause of thine anger, but return to us by grace who return not to thee by repentance, and have compassion upon us who have not compassion on over own souls, subdue our reigning and raging unrighteousness and drown our offenses in the bottom of the sea, which else will drown us in the bottom of destruction, raise up our souls from the dead sleep of sin as thou hast raised up our bodies from this night of darkness, protect us from all dangers from the which no minute we are secured of our selves, but in thee, brought us to the beginning of this thy blessed sabaoth of rest which good father so sanctify unto us through thy blessed spirit that thy name may be hallowed, thy power admired, thy mercy magnified, and thy love manifested to thy glory and our everlasting comfort, fill thou our hearts with such a desire and longing after thee (that no earthly felicity the trains and allurements of the flesh wherewith this vain world with her multitudes is tol'd a long) take hold on us, that see me honey in the mouth but are found wornewood in the stomach, that say peace, peace and all is well when destruction and death is baited ore with them, but let our delight be in thy law and therein to exercise our selves both day and night our whoole felicity: Let that treasure be our pleasure that is laid up in heaven, all other ioys are brittle and fadinge and there end is bitterness, but in this there is neither bitterness, nor end, bless good Lord the seed of thy word that shall this day be sown in our harts, and all faithful teachers and hearers of the same, that it may fructify and bring forth fruit to the amendment of our lives and the salvation of our souls in that great day of joy and sorrow, and for the better furtherance thereof, good father enlarge and reform our understanding, keep the watch of our tongues and the door of our lips in such sort that no ill word be uttered by or through the same, and so rule and govern our hearts that they think not, our hands that they touch not, our feet that they go not too, our eyes that they see not, our ears that they hear not, our senses that they taste not, our harts that they consent not to anything but that which is to thy glory and our good, that thereby thy love may be confirmed in us and we in it; that so we may walk cherfully in our vocations, waiting for that full redemption and crown of glory that remaineth for all such as persevere in thy ways, without weariness to the end: which grant and whatsoever besides in thy wisdom thou knowest needful and necessary for us (good father) for thy dear son Jesus Christ his sake, in whose name we further entreat thy mercy and goodness towards us in that form of prayer which he himself hath both commanded and taught us saying our father &c.

An evening Prayer for the Sabaoth day.

O eternal God and most merciful father which art the Lord of heaven and earth, of Angels and men, principalities and powers, light & darkness, day and night, in whose hands is contained that overflow of goodness, that filleth all the empty and indigent creatures in the world, in the air, in the earth, in the sea, and on the land, who ordaynest times and seasons, successions and discentes, old age, and childhood, a beginning and an ending, a rest and a labor, an increase and a decrease, and a perpetual motion and change over all the sublunary things in this world▪ the lively witness whereof is this day which not many hours since broke out of darkness and cheard the world with her light, and the sun arose and came forth as a bridegroom out of his chamber, and rejoicing as a Giant to run his course, and his beams are now steeped in night & darkness, the true resemblance of all earthly glory, and transitory pleasures, and delights, which have there increase, there height, and there sudden decrease again, and there is no continuance or stability in anything under the sun, and by this motion and change the time is now come that thou hast appointed for rest, which Lord so bless unto us that as this day thou hast graciously ministered strength unto us to walk in our vocations, & bless our good endeavors, studies and labors, our hearing & meditating on thy word to the comfort of our bodies and souls, so we may be thankful therefore, having always thy hand to sustain us, to effect and finish those councils and labors which we undertake for thy glory; so good Lord bless this night unto us that we may now receive that comfort and strength which thou hast granted to our weak nature, by the which we are sustained and daily renewed and refreshed to our labors, and further we beseech thee as the night shadoweth & darkeneth all things that they are unseen, so for thy dear Christ's sake hide our sins from thy sight that they never stand up to accuse us unto thee, being buried in eternal oblivion, that as our bodies shall have the rest of sleep this night, so our minds by the hope of thy mercy may enjoy the rest of a quiet conscience forever: that so being wholly refreshed both in body and in mind we may arise with alacrity & cheerfulness unto thy service this day ensuing and all the days of our life after succeeding, that when death, which is the end of all flesh, shall remove us from thence into the grave of corruption where our bodies shall dissolve to the matter they are, though now they seme not, from the which it is as easy for thee to raise them up from the smallest grain of dessolution as from our natural sleep, for I believe that the time shall come when all that are in the grave shall hear the voice of the son of God, when he shall speak unto the earth give, and to the sea restore my sons and daughters, and to all the creatures in the world keep not back mine inheritance, and to the prisoners of hope, lodging a while in the chambers of the ground, stand forth and show yourselves and the earth shall disclose her blood and shall no longer hide her slain▪ and the sea shall find no rest till her drowned be brought forth, nor any creature in the world be able to steal one bone that it hath received, but all kinds of death shall be swallowed up in general victory, and in his name that hath won the field for us, we shall joyfully sing thanks be to God that hath given us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, whence our bodies being awaked to that everlasting day of light which shall never be obscured with darkness more, where we shall be made partakers of that unspeakable inheritance that thy saints and holy ones enjoy, which is honor, & glory, and peace, a garland of righteousness, an incorruptible crown, fruit of the tree of life, sight of the face of God, following the lamb, fellowship with Angels and Saints, and the congregation of the first borne, new names & white garments, pleasures at the right hand of God and fullness of joy in his presence for evermore: whither he bring us that hath made us, that must raise us from both these sleeps for the glory of his blessed name.

A further Description of this heavenly Jerusalem, and blessed happiness therein, taken out of the Man. Cathol. of W. C.

An Every-days-Sacrifice, or a Morning prayer for any day in the week, or every day in the Weeke.

TO thee the God of Heaven and Earth, that by thy wisdom • ast ordained all things by thy power created all things; and by thy bounty and mercy, as the two breasts of thy never dried goodness, preseruest and sustainest all things, all the Creatures in the world, that thy hands have fashioned, both man and beast, both plant, and flower, whatsoever, and wheresoever. To thee alone, most merciful Father, and into thy protection do I render my soul and body, and the whole government thereof, as an unworthy sacrifice, beseeching the • that it may be acceptable unto thee: preserve me, O Lord, this day without sin, this week following, and all the days of my life; and as thou hast renewed this day unto me, and brought me safely to the beginning thereof, so give me grace to renew my life from my former sins, that I may now amend whatsoever heretofore hath been amiss, that I may be more careful to walk in thy ways, then ever I was careless to run out of them: I confess, O Lord, that it is thy mercy that endureth forever, and thy compassion, which never fails, that is the cause that I have not been long ago consumed: for with thee, ô Lord, there is mercy, & plenteous redemption, Psal. 130. 4. In the multitude therefore of thy mercies, and confidence in thy merits, I entreat thee that thou wouldest not enter into judgment with thy servant; neither be extreme to mark what hitherto I have done amiss: for if thou doest, then no flesh can be justified in thy sight, I have been borne in sin, and in iniquity hath my mother conceived me, and in thought, word, and deed I have broken all thy Commandments, and there remains nothing for me but shame and confusion; I have done more against thee this week, then I have done for thee since I was borne, following the desires of mine own will, and the lusts, and concupiscences of mine own flesh, not caring to be governed by thy holy word and Spirit: and which is worse, yet have I not resolved to amend: what father but thou, would suffer this contempt, and be neglected still? O where is my fear? O where is my love? yet when I think upon thy Son, all my grief is turned into joy, because his righteousness for me, is more then my unrighteousness against myself: settle my faith in thy beloved, that I may truly meditate what he hath done for me, that that sin that lanced his side, may also 〈1 page duplicate〉 〈1 page duplicate〉 launce my soul, with such effect, that I may never again commit that with delight, that thou hast sustained with such passion and heaviness. And here, O Lord, from the bottom of mine heart, I render unto thee thanks for all the blessings and benefits thou hast bestowed upon me, both in my soul and body; for my election, redemption, sanctification and preservation from my youth, until this present day & hour, by thy most gracious love and providence: And so good Lord, I further beseech thee, protect me this day, and all the days of my life, from all evil that may hurt me, and from falling into any gross sin that should offend thee: be thou present and assistant to all my good endeavors, and bless thou my purposes and intentions; and let thy good spirit so rule my heart, that all that I shall do, think or speak, may be to thy glory, and the good of others, and the peace of mine own conscience. And for y ^e better success therein, into thine hands I commend myself, my soul, and body, my ways and actions, and all that appertain unto me, to thy gracious protection, and direction; be favorable unto me therefore, O Lord, and unto all them that fear thee, be near unto all such as faithfully call upon thy name, and comfort all such as be sick, or comfortless, or by any cross or affliction that thou hast laid upon them, either outwardly in body, or inwardly in mind, and by daily and howerly presidences of death and mortality before mine eyes, teach me to be mindful of mine own end, to set it always in my view, & to make my preparation by faith and repentance thereafter, that I may be ready whensoever thou shalt call me out of this wretched life, and that whether I live or die, I may rest in thee, to thy eternal glory & my everlasting salvation, through Jesus Christ, my only Savior & Redeemer, in the mediation of whose blessed name I conclude this my imperfect prayer, in that form & model of prayer which he that must hear our prayers, & have mercy upon us, or we perish everlastingly hath prescribed in form, & sanctified w ^t his own lips, saying, Our father, &c.

An Euening prayer for any day in the week, or every day in the week for a private person.

O Eternal God & most merciful Father, the faithful guardian both of our bodies and souls, who art about my bed, & knowest my down-lying, & mine uprising, and art ne • e unto all such that call upon thee in truth and sincerity, be present therefore O Lord, I wretch • d sinner do beseech thee, and with thy mercy cover the multitude of my sins, which like a leprosy have run over my whole body, and so defiled both the outward and inward man, that but for thy word & promise sake, and the examples of thy mercy and forgiveness so frequent and usual to sinners of so high a degree in offending, such as were Peter, Mary Magdalene, the Publican, the Prodigal child, the Thief on the Cross, and others, thy praying for thine enemies, thy torments, thy crucifiers, & many such examples of my comfort, & thy compassion, that else with Judas, in the bitterness of heart, and desperation of mercy, I should cry out: My sins are greater then can be forgiven, & so be utterly discouraged from presuming to come into thy presence, considering the hardness of mine heart, and the unruliness of mine affection, and the uncleanness of my conversation, by means whereof I have transgressed all thy laws, and broken thy Commandments, and deserved thereby thy heavy displeasure, which in justice might draw from thy hand some fearful punishment upon this wretched body of mine, and my soul to languish the death of sin, my reputation & name to perish upon earth, as salt that hath lost his savor, & my temporal estate to be ruind by casualties and loss: For why should anything prosper that I take in hand, being thus overgrown in wickedness, and wherefore shouldst thou give good success to that which I attribute not unto thee, how ever it fall out? bu • to the work of mine own hands, and the policy of my contriving, robbing thee of thy honor, and due to whom it belongs: O Lord, as thy mercy hath thus long preserved me sound in all these, so let it work in me, that at last I may • ee my error, and amend it, see my wound, and labor to cure it, my sins, and repent me of them from the bottom of my heart, that thou mayst forgive me them. Turn me, O Lord, and I shall be turned, wash me clean with water, and I shall be cleansed, renew me as the Eagle her days, and I shall be renewed, gather thy thosen Flock from th • mountains and deserts wherein they stray, to fulfill thy fold, & I shall be gathered, sweep thy house and find thy great and I shall be found, be gracious unto me hereafter, as thou hast been good unto me heretofore, let not my unworthiness weary out thy goodness, but continue it unto me to the end: & now O Lord I give thee hearty thanks and praise for that thou hast this day preserved me from all harms and perilles, notwithstanding all my sins and ill deserts, so I beseech thee likeways defend me this night from all the dangers and assaults that may accompany this uncomfortable season, and to this end I commend into thine hands myself, my soul and body, beseching thee my Lord and God not to suffer Satan nor any of his ministers to have power to do me any hurt or violence this night, & grant good Lord▪ that whether I sleep or wake, live or die, it may be unto thee & the salvation of my soul, which grant Lord for thy mercies sake. Thy grace o Lord Jesus Christ, thy love o heavenly father, thy comfort and consolation, o holy and blessed spirit be with me and dwell in me both in heart and mind, in soul and body this night, and all the nights and days of my life.

Another mornings Prayer.

MOst gracious God in the name of Christ Jesus our most merciful Savior and redeemer we give thee most humble and hearty thanks for the quiet rest and repose, this night thou hast bestowed upon our weary and tired bodies to the refreshing and norishing of the same, and for thy gracious providence and vigilancy over us, all the days and nights past ever since we were borne and came into the world, for our creation, redemption, for thy most sacred word, a lanshorue to our feet, and a light unto our steppes, for thy long and unwearied patience, so long expecting our repentance and turning unto thee, that day by day have put thee off, till we have heaped up many years of iniquity by grievous sins in tedious times over and upon our own heads, able and weighty enough to pull us down to the pit of perdition, where long since we have deserved to have layne in endless woe and misery, but that thy mercy and loving kindness hath prevented us, o Lord give us grace to be mindful of these mercies that our tongues may speak and harts may meditate theron in exultation and joy, and Lord give us grace to consider and make use thereof, that as the night is past wherein our spirit and vigor is renewed, which brought us into sleep, the true image of death and laid us in our beds the representation of our graves, for, vt somnus mortis sic lectus imago sepulcri, and that the day hath taken us up again to begin our toil with his, which suddenly finds a period and conclusion and sets it self again in darkness which afterwards must give place to the light, and that these two consumers of the world, the day and night, which with there easy lenghts, there spannes and fadomes since the commandment was first given, let there be day and night, have brought age and maturity, the sithes and sickles that have reaped down whole haruestes of flesh and laid the groth of nature in the dust, teach us o Lord with this remembrance to way the instability & transmutation of time and nature, the incertainty of all worldly things, our unwarranted 〈1 page duplicate〉 〈1 page duplicate〉 〈1 page duplicate〉 〈1 page duplicate〉 〈1 page duplicate〉 〈1 page duplicate〉 lives that hange upon a brittle third, a dials point, that with the sun in the morne with strength and splendor address our selves like giantes to run our course, when many times we are taken up within few minuts after and carried into the bowels of the earth in the beginning of our race, becoming worms and not men, guests for the solitary tabernacles of silence, and forgetfulness, and to frame our lives and actions thereafter, that whensoever thy good will and pleasure is to take us out of this world of misery to bind up our bones in peace and rest, we may yield up our souls and body • s into thy hands, with full confidence and assurance that our sins and offenses are washed away in the blood of that pure and immaculate lamb Christ Jesus, and shall not condemn us, prosper us o Lord in all our actions, give good success to our true indeauors, and grant that this day and all the days of our life may be so spent, by thy council favor and direction, that we may so bear our selves through this dale of misery, that at the last we may reign with thee in eternity and glory.

An evening Prayer to the same.

MOst gracious God and merciful father in Christ Jesus we do hear how down the knees of our souls and bodies in thy presence, offering up our prayer and praise unto thee with all possible thanks for all thy favors towards us, namely for electing us unto eternal life, for creating us unto thine own image, for redeeming us by the blood of thy son, for sanctifying • s by thy holy spirit, for our health, peace and liberty, and all thy blessings that we rejoice in, for the which we can give no reasō for, but thy mercy: and if thou shouldest withdraw them all back again, we cannot accuse thee of injustice, not deserving the least, of them by reason of our sins which are so grievous and infinite that we cannot reckon them, able to make a perpetual separation between thee and us but that thou art a merciful, patient, long suffering God & thou desirest not the confusion of sinners but that they should turn from there wickedness & live, and to that end thou hast forborne us hitherto with a heavy and grieved aspect, and hast not reigned down thy punishments upon us, therefore now o Lord give us a time of grace as thou hast given us time of mercy, that we may take a suruaye of our estate, that perceiving the danger we are in from the which none can deliver us but thy out-stretched arm, we rely not upon our selves, nor continuing therein forsake thee so long, till at last thou forsake us and we perish utterly, but Lord (preventing it) so rend our harts that they may bleed in sorrow for the same, that thou mayest forgive us our great vnthankefullness, end all the rest •• our sins, our ignorances, willfulness, necligences, presumptions, and all other our transgressions and rebellions, o Lord forgive them all unto us for Jesus Christ his sake, wash them all away in his blood, nail them fast unto his Cross and bury them in his grave, where let them consume to nothing having not that resurrection that our bodies shall have from thence, least thy should come to judgment with us, clothe us we pray thee with his robes, and honor us with his spirit, work in us godly sorrow and remorsfull minds, mortify our sinful lusts and adorn us withal thy graces, open our eyes that we may see thy will and incline our harts to follow it, direct us in thy ways and keep us from declining from thee, teach us so to frame our lives before thee in this world; that we may live forever with thee in the world to come: and to that end we beseech thee be merciful unto us at this time, and receive us into thy fatherly protection, pardon the weakness of our prayers, watch thou over us to our good, and give us such rest and sleep that we may be fitter enabled to serve thee the next day in our exercises, studies and callings: hear holy father from heaven, and grant us all these our requests and whatsoever else thou knowest may be for our good for Jesus Christ his sake thine only son and our only sauious, to whom with thee and thine holy spirit one most wise glorious and eternal God be rendered all power praise and glory this night and for evermore.

A morning Prayer for a private famely.

IN peace and safety we laid us down and rose again for thy gracious eye watched over us, that we might take our rest The heavens declare thy glory, and the earth is full of thy goodness: yet thou hast not so respected all nations, and thou hast loved Zion thy little hill, a nooke and corner of the world far separated from the serpent, and fenced from the wild beast yet who considereth, the evil we have deserved, is gone into other lands, because their God's be not like unto our God we have had much experience of thy goodness, & yet we try thee still, we prove thee still, and yet we see thy works, thou hast separated us from schism & heresy, that we should be joined unto thee even a new creature come out of darkness to light, according to the working of knowledge in us. O bind our harts with thy fear, that we part not from thy love: for our selves and for our brethren, we here prostrate our souls before▪ thee, O Prince most excellent, for the name of thy only Son, one drop of mercy to cool this • ire of sin, nothing, good Lord, • o change thy mercy: yet the whel • es do eat the crumbs that fall from their masters Table, first we yield thee hearty thanks▪ for all at once: next, we humbly beseech thee for the general quittance which thy Son hath sealed for our sins: then for all graces we pray thee, let us not want the thing without which we cannot serve thee, plant in our hearts true fear of thy name, obedience • o • our Prince, and love to our neighbor, give power, good Father to our prayers, that they may be effectual solicitors for thy grace and favor in all occasions, and seasons, grant us true humility in prosperity, perfect patience in adversity, peace in Christ, and joy in the holy Ghost. This is our desire to live godly, righteously, and soberly; so bless us and keep us, good Father, to the end of our lives. Turn us O God of our salvation, grant that we may grow frō strength to strength, that thy Church militant may be like thy triumphant in heavenly charity, and all communion of Saints, write thy Laws on the Table of our hearts, with the finger of thy good Spirit, that by us they may be often & evidently read & practiced in our lives and conversations. Bless them which bless us, look upon this realm in thy mercy, preserve our King, let not the eye of Great Britain become dim, or loose his sight: be gracious and merciful unto our friends and parents according to y ^e flesh: comfort thy afflicted Saints and members, confound the power of Antichrist, send thy fear amongst them, make their time short, and defend thine own cause: and as thou art sanctified in us before them, so be thou magnified in them before us, y ^• all the world may convert & say: En Deus Christianorum, Great art thou O God of the Christians, and there is none omnipotent besides thee, just, and merciful, recompensing righteousness, and revenging iniquity & transgressions, yesterday and today, and the same forever, and everywhere. Grant these things, O heavenly Father, with thy blessing upon this family, O Lord lead them out, and bring them in, be at the beginning, the middle, and end of all their businesses, that thou mayest see them accomplished to their best advantage; and for because the world is a forest of briers, & many dangers therein, that may entangle us, so that when we part and go out▪ we are not sure to meet and come in again, unless thou guide us by thy hand, and protect us under the wings of thy safe-guard. Therefore be present and assistant unto us, and everyone of us; then happy shall we be, and all things shall prosper that we take in hand, which Lord fulfill unto us, and whatsoever thy good pleasure shall better foresee for our good, even for his sake who died for sin, and sinned not: in whose name we further pray unto thee, as he hath taught us, saying: Our Father, &c.

God the Father which hath made us, bless us; God the Son which hath redeemed us, preserve us; God the Holy Ghost which hath sanctified us, confirm our faith, to the end, and in the end. Oh God, Father, Son, and holy Ghost, save us.

An Euening prayer for a private Family.

O Lord God, our most merciful Father, unto thy divine Majesty what might we render as an Oblation acceptable unto thee, which hast made us when we were not, molded us from the dust of the earth, an element so base and contemptible, to so excellent a perfection, to a creature so glorious and admirable as man is, not only the work of thine own hands, but the Image of thine own Person, from the very jaws of Death and damnation delivered us, if we willfully run not into it again, that in continuing thy blessings day by day upon us, hast shown thyself to be our most gracious, merciful, and loving Lord, and hast hitherto preserved us by thy powerful providence, y ^t we have drawn out y ^• thread of our life unto this time: these are thy mercies our God, and not our merits, given us freely without any desert of ours: for the raiment of our backs, for the food of our bellies, for the air that we suck in and breath out, for the fashion of our bodies, for the motion of the members thereof, for our capability & reason, the creation of all thy creatures in the world, to the use and subjection of man, and so many thy benefits that whatsoever we express, the more we remember: yet for all these thou requirest nothing else of us but that we know and acknowledge thee to be the Lord and giver thereof: what couldest thou require less of us then to acknowledge thee, to obey thee, to fear thee, love thee, and to keep thy commandments? and y • t do we scant thee of that moitye of thy due, that easy task, but the sound of our lips, and y ^• consent of our hearts, that so we might become thy faithful children, and be made true heirs and partakers of thine everlasting kingdom, and reign with thee forever. Guilty therefore, O Lord, in this gross offense we stand forth to accuse our selves of wonderful folly, and ingratitude, having strove, as much as in us lieth, to stop the stream of thy mercies, that land-comfort to our souls in all our extremities, y ^• they should not come near us: we have been careless of thy word, neither have we taken any delight to fulfill thy laws and Commandments: and therefore if thou hadst long ago, as a flower before a Sithe-man, mowed us down, as many, more worthy of▪ these blessings then we, have been, and brought us to the Barre of thy Judgment, and from thence cast us (who are before thy face, but as chaff before the wind, or as stubble before the fire) into the laks of perdition, who is he that could accuse thee of injustice? nay, our own consciences would acquit thee, and condemn us: for seeing thou hast sought us, and we would not be found, it is good reason we should cry unto thee and find no mercy. But O Lord, thy mercies are above our iniquities, so thou hast spared us many years, and past over our manifold transgressions, as one that were ignorant of them, in silence and sorrow, in witness whereof the heavens, with their apparitions si • ke of disasters and events have been portenders unto us, that we might be forewarned, the earth upon her bases, props and foundations so firmly laid hath of late been shaken at the aspecte of thine anger, and tottered to and fro like a drunken-man, thy waters and the whole courses thereof, that roll with indignation up and down there channelles being tied within bounds and limittes (as the lions in there dens) dash themselves with indignation against there dams & there shores, stops to there fury fixed there by thy word, Hitherto shalt thou pass and no further, have of late by thy sufferance borne down there keepers many years, and sweld higher then there brinks and in there merciless furies prey'd upon whole countries leaving nothing but desolation behind them, and all 〈1 page duplicate〉 〈1 page duplicate〉 〈1 page duplicate〉 〈1 page duplicate〉 〈1 page duplicate〉 〈1 page duplicate〉 〈1 page duplicate〉 〈1 page duplicate〉 for our sins and forwarnings, besides thy threatening us by drought, famine and pestilence, the fearful denunciation of thy word applied unto our guilty consciences, that so perceyuing thine anger we might fear and be saved: even so I Lord as thou hast been gracious in forewarning us by these, so give us grace that we may be forewarned by them, that in time we may repent and turn from our wicked ways, and no longer abuse thy patience, but run unto thee in repentance and humility, that so we may be saved in the day of thy appearance, which so work in us that overcome at length with thy goodness & patience, we may no longer delaye to ask council of thee and thy holy word what we ought to forbear, and what we ought to follow, that we be not puf • up with prosperity, nor to much dejected in sickness and adversity, that we may despair of our selves & the help of our own hands, but may expect all things from thy goodness, that we put not our confidence in transitory things, but wholly rely upon thee & thy promises. Bless this famely O Lord and every member thereof, bless also our parents and friends according to the flesh and nature, and continue thy blessed word unto us and to our posterities after us, even unto the ends of the world for thy dearly beloved son Christ Jesus our Saviors sake into whose hands and protection we commend our souls and our bodies this evening and the rest of our lives y ^e were bought and redeemed with his most dear & precious blood: whose acceptance he grant for his own dear sake. Amen.

A prayer to God for the forgiveness of sins.

MOst holy, most just, most merciful and omnipotent God thou alone doest punish and no man can relieve, thou alone doest chastise and no man can controwle, thou alone doest save, and no man can condemn, thou bringest to the grave, and bringest back again pardon I beseech thee my sins, more in number then the drops in the sea, then the stars in the firmament, and purge my corruption, beyond bound, without measure, look not upon my merits, for they are none at all, for the purity of mankind is defiled in sin, wherefore to me O Lord, to me thy poor servant belongeth nothing but shame and confusion, but to thee is mercy and judgment and glory inherent, destroy not I humbly entreat good father of mercy, the creation and frame, and composition of thine own hands de • ace not the image wherein thou thyself art so lively portrayed, but haste to comfort me, make thy corrections my instructions, that in patience awhile I may hear possess my soul, and in thy promise have an assured hope to live with thee forever in the life to come, through Jesus Christ my Lord and only Savior.

A prayer to be said before the undertaking of any journey.

O Eternal, wise and glorious God, that foreseest the end of all things before they come to pass, and blessest the endeavors of those that go forth in thy fear, and direction, be present therefore O Lord, and protecting in this my travel, guide thou my course and shorten thou my way, by the blessed communication of thy spirit within me, give thine holy Angels charge over me to keep me in all my ways & to guide me to and fro in this my journey, as thou diddest to Toby the younger, who by thy Angel Raphael was guyded unto Gabaell a Citty of the Medes: our whole life O Lord is as a pilgrimage and the days thereof are few and evil, by thy appointment we soiorne upon the face of the earth for a time and our spirit also within us, it cometh and returneth as a traveler upon the way, or bourdeth with us as an inmate or guest or tenant at will, whom we hold by no lease nor condition but thy pleasure, which art the owner thereof, a quarter, a year, or perhaps many years, till thy messinger from heaven to earth knock at our doors with a Ilinc migrate coloni, slit hence my tenant, and then exit de terra nostra, it departeth from us and our bodies fall down to the earth and our pilgrimage is at an end: teach me to use this world as in my travail I shall use mine inne, taking up my rest for a night, and preparing for my passage in the morning, knowing there I am but a stranger and have no abiding place, for so the world is but mine inne and because it is fair and beutious, full of many goodly rooms and spacious walks, beutified with the firmament and the greater and the lesser lights thereof, the Sun, the Moon▪ and the stars, yet that I seek not to make it my habitation forever, but give me grace to use it as if I used it not, providing me with such necessaries as may sustain me in my travail, not ouerburdening my conscience to clog me in my way, ever looking up to thee the star of my direction, whither my course is bound, as the haven from this impatient and troublesome sea, where at the last I shall anker at rest, whither Lord conduct me with thy right hand, as in this my temporal and present journey defended from all perils and dangers of the day, I may happily accomplish my desire with thy will, and all the days of my travail & labor assigned, ended, I may there arrive where all tears shall be wipt from mine eyes, and drops from my brows, wearynesse from my bones, sighs & sobbes from my soul, all dried up in the presence and joy of thee and thy saints and Angels for evermore, which grant good father for thy mercies sake.

Another Prayer or med: to be used before the undertaking of any journey or business either by sea or land.

GOod father, the misery and blindness of our nature is such, and our ingratitude so great, that we steal thy benifites, and take them absolutely to our selves, and enjoy them freely to our own use as if they were originally the work and labor our of our own hands and we had them without thy knowledge and assistance, that riches are the succeeders policy, that health is either recovered or kept by observation or diet, & lost by disorder or abuse, that success or defect in any our proceedings, suit according to our wisdom or industry in contriving the same, and so in a settled persuasion, & resolution hearin we go forward in this blindfould course asking council nor craving success of any but our selves or creatures of the same f • aylty and being that we ourselves are of, whereby oftentimes we fail of our purpose, and know not the reason thereof, Lord give us grace to correct this error, and give us light in this our blindness, teach us to know that we are ashamed, we are ignorant of that, Except thou build▪ the house, they labor in vain that build it: For it is thou that must command thy blessings to be with us in our store-houses, & in all that we set our hands unto, or our labor dieth between our fingers▪ like an untimely fruit. And as a sparrow falleth not to the ground without thy sufferance, so there is nothing that cometh to pass without thy appointment and direction: therefore what business soever we have, what regard soever we have thereunto, let us have so much regard thereto as to regard thee that must regard it, or else all will fall to the ground: let us go out in thy name, with thy assistance implored on our knees, let us loose so much time to gain so great advantage: for it abridges the way, and cuts off many tedious imperfections in whatsoever: in thy protection let us enter again, let us not take our bread, our daily food, our sustenance without thankfulness to thee: let us not couch our selves in the bed of our rest, but close our eyes in thy favor and blessing: for it is that that must be upon the building of our houses, opening of our Shops, and warehouses, watching of our Cities, tilling of our ground, in feeding of our bodies, in the education of our children, or whatsoever pain, industry, or labor in the securest course we can devise: for without this aid and assistance all falleth into emptiness and vastity; Lord give us grace to consider it, and bless this our out-going and our coming in, the fruit of our bodies, and the fruit of our hands, our intents and purposes: Be regardful unto our labors, whatsoever we take in hand; walk by us on the land, on y ^e water, as thou diddest by thy Disciples, & save us, or we perish: for neither the land y ^e safer, nor the sea y ^e more dangerous, can protect us, nor destroy us▪ till thou hast sealed thereunto thy consent, nor any creature nor casualty in y ^e world offer either violence or injury, where thy hand but takes our part; and where that is opposed, though all the creatures in the world, the whole host of heaven and earth should join with us, we go to rack and ruin. Give us therefore grace to be mindful hereof, and thoroughly persuaded herein, to make our preparation thereafter, that we may ask, and thou mayst give thy success and blessing upon all that we take in hand, or enjoy, which grant us Lord in this present occasion, and in all occasions and times hereafter, for thine own deer sake.

A prayer for true peace, which is the peace of God in the peace of conscience, and for the external peace of the body, disquieted often with revenge, debate & contentious going to law.

O Lord my God, which art the author of peace, and lover of concord, and the hater of all those y ^• are not lovers thereof, but delight in contention and strife: therefore I beseech thee, because I would not be as one out of thy favor give unto me that mind that a peaceful man should have: and let thy spirit assure my spirit, that my sins are washed away in the blood of thy son Christ Jesus, that my conscience within me may have peace and rest, without which all joy will turn into bitterness, and I shall mourn in the midst thereof, as the Pelican in the wilderness; The body will bear the infirmity thereof, but an aking and wounded Conscience who can sustain? O Lord settle this assurance in me, that I have peace with thee, and I shall have peace with all men, with whom to have peace, and to be at wars with thee: to be at peace with the world, and at enmity with thee, is to make unto myself a dangerous truce, a league of peace against the king of peace, the very breath of whose nostrils is able at once to destroy a thousand worlds, and all the Creatures therein; and therefore vain is the combination that is plotted against thee. Give me patience, O Lord, to digest and pass over the injury and malice of those that contentiously and causlessely by the malice and instigation of Satan, seek to stir up strife and disturb my quiet, wherein in the mediation of thee, and thy mercies towards me, I might meditate day and night free from this troublesome and entangled world, with her thousand snares, & whereby by righting my wrong a little, I wrong myself a great deal, and the remembrance whereof, (as my means) with her so many branches, to the vex • tion and expense of my mind and body, & substance endlessly eat me up, y ^• I forget what I live but to remember, & woe to him that goes to law for that which y ^• Gospel hath taken order for. Therefore good father, give me such a patient & disgesting mind, that I desire not to injury others, to molest myself, but rather by y ^• example of thee, the true pattern of all imitation, that to thy accusers didst not open thy mouth, but wast dumb like a sheep before y ^• shearer, & wast so far from revenging the injuries of man, that thou diddest not defend thyself. And if at any time I be forced to use the means to take this sword into my hands, that I do it not with delight, but unwillingly, and with such moderation and clemency, that it be to defend myself, and not offend others, that I offend not in the true use thereof but that I labor to have peace with thee, & peace w ^t all men, which grant thou that art the God of peace, for thy Son Christ Jesus sake our Savior.

A prayer for seasonable weather, a punishment the Lord hath lately inflicted upon us and our whole land for our sins.

ETernall, Almighty, and Euerlasting God, forasmuch as by thy holy word we are taught that whē thine anger is incensed against us for our sins, amongst other thy punishments, thou doest shut up the heavens, y ^• there may •• no rain that y ^e earth thereby may deny her fruits unto us, and now thou doest justly manifest this thy displeasure unto us, in shutting up the heaven which was wont to drop down her wholesome showers in due season upon the fruits of the earth, hardening them as Iron or brass, in dispersing y ^• clouds, so that they drop not upon the dry and parched soil, burnt up and withering in the heat of thine indignation. O Lord, though we are sensible of this thy disple • sure kindled so heavily against us at this time, yet groaning under the weight of our manifold sins and transgressions so great and so innumerable, we are afraid in our selves to approach unto thy Tribunal, to crave a release of this thy punishment, or to beg any other mercy at thy hands; yet because such is thy gracious goodness towards mankind, that by thy Prophet Zacharias thou hast mercifully promised us the first and the latter rain, to make white clouds, and give showers to everyone grass in the field. Therefore we acknowledging our own unworthiness, & relying only upon thy mercies, with lowly contrite & broken harts, do presume to pour out our humble supplications before thee, beseeching thee y ^• thou wouldst hear our prayers, as thou didst sometimes the earnest supplications of Helias, who prayed, & the heavens gave rain, & the earth brought forth her fruit. And as it hath pleased thee, most gracious God, likewise to promise by the mouth of Moses thy servant unto Israel. And in another place by thy Prophet Hosea, that if that people would forsake their sins, & turn wholly unto thee y ^e Lord their God, thou wouldst give rain unto the land in due time, the first rain and the latter, that they might gather in y ^e wheat▪ & the oil; and y ^• thou wouldest send grass in their fields for cattle, that they might eat enough; and y ^• if they would turn unto thee with unfeigned repentance, thou wouldst hear the heavens, & they should hear the earth, & the earth should hear the grass, the corn, the oil, & thou wouldest have mercy upon them that were not pitied. Merciful Father, w ^t an humble confession of our great ingratitude, a hatred, & loathing of our former transgressions committed with a high and presumptuous hand against thy sacred majesty, and with a serious purpose to walk in the ways which thou hast commanded: & so in the grief and agony of spirit for our former sins we turn unto thee, turn then unto us most merciful father, and extend thy great goodness and compassion towards us, that we may taste and see how gracious thou art, in hearing of these our prayers, & answering them graciously in the seasonable supply of this our necessity, to the honor of thy great name, and the comfortable refreshing of thy servants, for the merits of thy son Jesus Christ our only Lord and Savior.

A meditation of God's love and mercy towards us and our vnthankefullnesse▪ towards him alluding to the phrase of S. Augustine.

ETernall, Almighty & most merciful God upon the knees of our harts we prostrate our selves, our souls and bodies at the throne of thy grace, being altogether wretched and unworthy sinners, unworthy of the least of those benefittes, that have not fallen unto us seldom, now and than and that in a weak and restrained measure▪ but in bundles and shows of a large allowance daily and howerly thrown upon us from thy royal and plentiful hand, as though we had always performed thy will and our delight and been to walk wholly in the paths of thy commandments, which we have been so far from, witness (dear God) our own consciences that we have derided them and set them at light, trod them under foot, upon the least advantage or occasion, nay in sport and merriment, and to show us men of resolutions presumptuously we have taken them in vain, and that in so careless and high ameasure that it is thy vncomprehended mercy, that before this thou hast not abridged our days, cut us off and cast us into the bottomless pit of hell, from whence there is no redemption or thought of mercy but in vain: wherefore bouldened by this one mercy of thine, thy patience, and long suffering, (more then all our deserts can ever recompense) we will presume to beg another, which is that thou wilt touch our harts with a godly sorrow for our sins, not small but greuious, not a handful but innumerable, not past but present, not secret but exemplary and open in the face of God and man, so that if thou shouldest deal with us according to our deserts, Satan would rejoice, but we should mourn, never to see thy face again, the sun nor the moon, the day nor the night (although a perpetual darkness) the heaven nor the earth, nor any other of the blessed works of thine hands that of thine infinite goodness thou hast prepared for man: what shall we then do but under the wings of thy mercy seek our refuge, beseching thee to extend thy goodness and compassion towards us, which thy dearly beloved son our Savior and redeemer with a love above all love hath so dearly purchased for us by his innocent and precious blood, the least drop whereof is sufficient to heal all our wounds, and to wash away all our iniquities, to relieve all our wants, and blot out all our transgressions but without thy grace, a light unto our feet and a lantern unto our paths we are able to do nothing but sin, losing our selves in the thick mists of iniquity: Therefore good father as thou hast appointed all the creatures in the world to serve man, and hast ordained him only to serve thee, so give us grace that we, considering the largeness of our privilege and the honor thou hast endued us withal, with changed affections our willes and natures regenerate and purified by thy gracious spirit we may serve thee in holiness and righteousness all the days of our life, until we be renewed to the image of thy son, in whom thou art well pleased, and in us wilt be well pleased if we displease not thee to please our selves, if we be angry with our sins, the devil, our vanities and all that would separate us from thee, and with hearty repentance for our former misdeeds, and a zealous indignation against our selves that ever we have fallen into so beastly corruption, taking heed that we fall not again into the same relapse▪ upon pain of thy heavy displeasure, and yet there is no cause O God, most just, why thou shouldest be pleased with sinners which art displeased with sin, but for his sake that dearly paid therefore in the heat and burden thereof, and sinned not, the bosom of whose merry, (in this desert of his) if it be not open with Abraham's to receive us poor and impotent Lazars, with the rich glutton we go down into hell, from the which deliver us for thy mercies sake sweet Savior Christ.

A meditation against the fear of death written in french by the learned P. M: s. du Plessis.

THe Crown and end of all wretchedness and misery, the key to let us out of this world of sorrow, the door and the passage to all eternity, why should we fear, why should we think of, with so leaden an appetite, why should we fear to find that we live to seek, why should we not hearken to the summons thereof with joy as the sick man hearkeneth to the clock which to the godly brings an end both of sin and sorrow and all the miseries which are due unto either, being so many and so great that they pass the explication or comprehension of man, for the best of this life what ever was it, but as a bed of flowers overgrown with a field of weeds, but as a calm of the sea disquieted with the breath of every wind, the temper of what man's breast was ever so seasoned that it was not subject to a thousand passions, wrested and wrung with so many discontentes that the weight and burden thereof hath over-borne the patience of suffering. In beauty, honor, riches, wealth, or in any other sensual pleasure whoever found contentme • t that hath wisdom to way them and esteem them truly as the were, for the first whoever possessed it in the greatest desire with the largest extension that found not saciety or discontent in the fruition and possession, that was not tormented with envy or iealousy, the one lancing within, or the other revelling without, in honor or riches or any other corporal or mental gift, the fairest and most admired flowers that the earth brings forth to the delight and pleasure of man-kind, from the which preeminence or praise or pleasure may be derived, or nature something soothed up, which itches after ambition and admiration, that found not under these flowers, weeds 'nay serpentes to poison and sting the very life blood of that felicity, if any there were in them, from the fullest fountain of worldly joy floweth some bitterness, & there was never pleasure so absolute, were it as short as the flash of lightning, that before a man hath power to say behold▪ enlighteneth the world & then dies in obscurity, that was not alayed with some abatement, and if it were absolute for the time, the time is so short that there is a grief therein, & what are all pleasures but as a vapor that appear for a little time and afterwards vanish away, sometimes pleasure asswageth pain, but most commonly pain killeth pleasure, and if our days were distinguished the good with white and the evil with black stones, at the end of our lives we should find more black then white, the pleasures, in the days of Noah, there eating, drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, thy gave there content for a time, till the flood came and took them all away, the yongman hath is pleasure to rejoice in, the days of his youth, the cheerfulness of his heart, and the lusts of his own eyes, but in all these there lies a bitterness, the richman hath his pleasure Luke. 16. Purple and fine linen & delitious fare every day and he knoweth not what the grief of Lazarus meaneth, and yet there li • s a worm under the root of all these goodly branches, and surfeits, and sacieties with these creep in upon him, and if he set his heart thereupon let him know with the yongman and all that are carried away with any pleasure in the world, that there is a heavy re • conning to be rendered for these things, the thought w • ereof in the midst of all • ollities shall be stricken dead therewith, and to these the thought of death will be grievous. Be not therefore drunk with these sensual delights and pleasures as with new wines, which are not pleasures absolute but limited, allayed with a thousand discontents, and if they were absolute yet of no continuance, and therefore grievous, & since there is nothing else but the inioyng of these, that seme what they are not, as we have already examined, that make thee to desire life, that thou mayst rejoice therein the forsaking whereof maketh it death unto thee to think of death, yet know they are all but vanity, & thou must die aut sero aut setius either sooner or later, for there is no prevention, no resistance can hinder it & therefore that which must be embrace willingly make a virtue of necessity and though thou mightest escape it yet it were but a madness, because (if we pervert not the true nature of it) it is the end of all misery▪ and sorrow, and labor, and travail & the gate that opens the may unto all true pleasure & happiness, whereof all in this world are but counterfeits and shadows, so resolve thyself hereof, & prepare thyself hereto that the remembrance of thy passed days augment not the bitterness thereof at the last hour, and then thy pains shall not dismay, thee because thou travelest to bring forth eternal life, which for the merry-madness of one hour take heed that thou lose not forever. But use thy pleasures with such moderation, ever remembering they are momentary & he that hath most hath not all, and he that least hath some, that for a moments joy thou reap not eternity of sorrow, that thou love them not so much y ^• you forget God, in whose presence is fullness of joy & at his right hand pleasures for evermore psal: 16. and who giveth us drink out of a whole river of pleasures psal. 36. contemn therefore these transitory pleasures and reserve yourselves for pleasures there eternally complete, where neither envy, nor iealousy, nor sickness, nor taint, shall alter or distaste your happiness where your joy shall be ever present, & yet you cannot be filled, rather you shall be filled but cannot be satisfied, or if not satisfied then there is hunger, or that you may, then there is a loathing, I know not how to express it, Deus habet quod exhibeat, God hath something there to bestow which I know not, but, ibi beata vita in fonte there is blessedness at the head of the spring, not in cisterns that thou may be sure of, and could you drink up the pleasures of the whole world at a draught, as Cleopatra drunk the value of 5. thousand pound, yet remember it is but a draught & quickly down the throat and there hath an end, and therefore I say again use them with moderation to sweeten and allay the many anguishes, that if ever perdominant would untimely weigh us down to our graves, and we should faint in the midst of our race, ever looking up from these to that eternal rest and peace of mind which hereafter we shall enjoy, and then when death shall approach near unto thee his aspect shall not be fearful which shall end all our miseries, heal all our infirmities, wipe away all discontents, & in it we shall there find an end of sinning▪ an end of all uncleanness, an end of all wandering thoughts and cogitations, by it we be freed from this wicked and exemplary world when the soul cannot look out at the eye as her window, but a whole army of vanity is ready to cease upon her, nor use any of her servants whereby treason is not offered unto her, by death the soul shall be delivered from this thralldom and bondage, and as the Apostle speaketh this corruptible body shall put on incorruption and this mortal immortality, 1. Cor. 15. 53. O blessed, thrice blessed be that death that ends in the Lord, which delivers us out of so evil a world, and freeth us from such corruption and bondage. Why then should we fear that we would not escape▪ because our chiefest happiness is behind, where we cannot come: but we must pass through this door of death: and if every hour of our life we should die a death, were too little to keep us from thence. And but that our portion and felicity is behind: and when this our shadow of life ends, our true life begins, and the grave shall not ever inclose us in her womb▪ which if it should, then woe were man above any other creature living, when senseless and irrational creatures, as the Stag, the Raven, and the Daw, Rocks and Trees, and such like, have an ages date beyond man, for whose use they were all created and made, but that he hath an everlasting inheritance in heaven, with that great God that created & made both him and them, when so we shall rain everlastingly, whilst they upon earth in distance of time shall molder and rot, and drop down to nothing. O let us not then dote so much upon these unprofitable and fading vanities, upon our wooden cottages, & our tottering buildings of painted clay, such as our bodies are, which are but y ^• tents of ungodliness, and habitation of sinners, but let us look and long after this heavenly Citty, whose builder and maker is God, whither that we may the sooner come, let us with the Apostle, desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ.

The Sick-man's Prayer.

O Gracious God, look down from heaven with y ^• eyes of mercy upon me a most miserable & wretched sinner, grievously afflicted in body and in mind, a worm, & no man: if a man, such a one that never any with more need lifted up eyes, nor heart to the throne of thy mercy, from whence all comfort cometh, look upon me, O Lord, with y ^• eyes of thy mercy, give me patience to endure this my affliction & trial, and give me grace O Lord, to make such use thereof that it may be to thy glory and my good, put into my mind all y ^e ▪ precepts, comforts, instructions, I have heard, or read of all my life before, as strong meditations to comfort me in this my extremity. Be not far from me, O Lord, lest Satan prevail over me, make thou my bed, and I shall rest in peace: visit me O Lord, as thou didest visit Peters wives mother, and the Captains servant: for unto thee belongeth health and salvation, thou bringest to the door of death, and to the brink of the grave, and yet if thy good will & pleasure be, thou restorest to health and perfection again. And gracious and loving father, seal in my heart by thy holy spirit, the forgiveness of all my sins, throughout y ^e whole course of my life, that what I have done or said amiss, may be buried in the wounds of thy son, so that they be never laid unto my charge, nor imputed against me: in his blood purge my body and soul from all their corruptions; and if this my visitation be not unto the death, may it please thee to help me upon the bed of my sorrows, speak but the word, and it shall be done, renew my former health unto me, that I may take up my bed and walk, and by a happy transmutation turn my whole heap of sorrow into a bundle of joy. Heale me, and I shall be whole, save me and I shall not be condemned: deliver me from the pit of corruption, that openeth her mouth, & shutteth us therein, and keepeth us as part of her own bowels: For the grave will not acknowledge thee, nor the dead confess thee; but the living shall extol and magnify thy name world without end. But if to thy vncomprehended wisdom (to balance against which all the wisdom in the world is but folly) it seem better to thee that I die then live, then deal with me according to thy good pleasure, give thine Angels charge over my soul, that it may be received in peace, which into thine hands I commend, that gavest it me: strengthen my faith in thee, and in thy Law, that I may willingly resign that into thy hands that was due unto thee the first day that I lived, if it had pleased thee to call for it, by a double right; nay so many rights that might claim a thousand lives, if I had them to lay down for thee, that hast laid down thine own Sons, and done so many things for me, and for my sake, and for all mankind: and teach me, O Lord, to make such true use of this my sickness, that the former miseries of this wretched life, joined with my present grief & anguish, make me weary of these times of sin, and willing to resign my soul into thy hands, prepared by this unwelcome, yet wholesome summoner, that will transport me out of this vale of misery, to that everlasting kingdom which thou hast purchased for me; which grant I beseech thee, for Christ Jesus sake, my only Savior and Redeemer.

The commendation of the soul to be said at a sick man's death, out of the Man. of M. Crashaw.

I Here commend thee to Almighty God most deer brother, and I commit thee to him▪ whose creature thou art: Go forth therefore, O Christian Soul, get thee gone out of this filthy world, go forth in the name of the Almighty Father, who created thee, in the name of Jesus Christ, who died for thee; in the name of the Holy-ghost, who hath been poured out upon thee: and when thou, happy soul, art delivered out of the prison of the body, the glorious quier of heavenly Angels meet, and the Company of all holy Saints entertain thee, the loving countenance, and cheerful face of Jesus Christ shine upon thee, a merciful judge be he unto thee, that thou mayest have sentence to sit for evermore amongst his Saints on his right hand: thy dwelling be in peace, and thy habitation in the heavenly Jerusalem for evermore: far be it from thee ever to feel or know how horrible the darkness, how terrible the flames, how intolerable the torments of hell are, Satan and all his hellish g 〈…〉 be confounded at thy presence; and if he dare set upon thee, victory and triumph be on thy side, shame and trembling fall upon him from the presence of God's Angels, and be he banished into the black mists, and confused Chaos of eternal darkness. But let the Lord arise, and his enemies be scattered: and as the smoke vanisheth, so let them fly away, but let the just be exalted, and rejoice in the presence of the Lord: let the infernal legions not dare to touch thee, nor all Satan's Hell-hounds presume to hinder thee; and he, who disdained not to die for thee, be he thy Savior and deliverer from all spiritual vexation. Be the gates of Paradise open unto thee, and thy Christ give thee thy place and mansion in the same: and he that is the true Pastor, and great Sheepheard of the sheep, acknowledge thee for one of his true sheep, and receive thee into his fold. Jesus Christ absolve thee from all thy sins, and place thee on his right hand, among his elect, that there thou mayst see thy Redeemer face to face, and in the society of blessed souls mayest enjoy the comforts of heavenly contemplation, and the blessed vision of God forever and ever.

Six signs, according to S. Anselm, upon the which a man may • est confident of his salvation.

• 1 If he believe the articles of Chrian faith, as many as are determined by the Church.
• 2 If he rejoice to die in the faith of Christ.
• 3 If he know that he hath grievously offended God.
• 4 If he be heartily sorry for it.
• 5 If he resolve to forsake his sins, if God give him life.
• 6 If he hope and believe to come to eternal salvation, not by his own merits, but by the merits of Jesus Christ.

Then say to the sick person: If Satan object anything against thee, oppose thou the merits of Christ betwixt thee and him. And thus without all doubt he shall be saved.

Another Meditation against the fear of death, & for strength & patience in that last hour.

THe metal and substance whereof we are made, being but dust & ashes, slime & corruption, might alone, without▪ further motive & reason, persuade us that we are not everlasting, nor made for continuance, what is man therefore, O Lord, that he should be proud? or what are our bodies, that we should so regard them, the beauty & delicasie whereof so much pampered and adorned, so much accounted & esteemed of, so curiously & carefully preserved & kept, must so suddenly descend to corruption amongst the worms & creepers of the earth, and to rubble and ashes. This mutation and dissolution of our bodies, the separation and severing of two ancient Inn-mate-friends, must needs, as in the act, so in the consideratiō thereof, strike a strange amazement in a weak and unresolved Christian, that truly understands not what death is, which is indeed to the godly, and those that have made a preparation thereunto, the gate and passage to a better life, the end of sorrow, and a rest from labor: yet O Lord, consider the weakensse of our nature, and help us in that, which even thy blessed Saints, Prophets, and Apostles, that knew thee in a measure above our knowledge, that have given rules, and motives, and reasons against the • ear thereof; yet in the trial and accomplishment thereof, have found the imbecility of flesh and nature repugnant against it; and for the adding of a few lingering days of further cares and sorrows, some have forsworn thee, others have wept unto thee, and all have been willing to stretch it out to the last minute; and yet it is but a prolonging, not a preserving. Hezekiah may turn to the wall and weep, and mourn like a Dove, and pray for life, yet at the last he must render it up. O Lord, give us therefore patience to part with it, being no inheritance to us, but debt to thee, being most certain, and assuredly persuaded, that thou wilt one day restore it to his former, nay fuller perfection▪ lessen our love toward the world, and our selves, and increase it towards thee, and thy Kingdom. Make this, good Father, the frequent thought and meditation of our hearts, to think that we must die, that it may breed in us humility and godliness, as a happy preparation thereunto: let us resolve patiently and resolutely to under-go that task assigned by thee, the dissolution of nature: for the corruption of nature, the sting is gone, and we need not fear it, being but that which all the several ages and generations of the world that are past, have accomplished; and in the • r times and seasons descended to corruption, and others have taken their places, and all that are to come must drink of the same portion. Mathusalem. though he live 969 years, yet must he not live ever: the portion never so long, the person never so eminent, his preservation never so great, to this at last he must surely come, and all mankind besides, although not all by one means, yet all brings to one end, though some by water, some by fire, some by famine, some by pestilence, some by the jaws of wild beasts, some by the hand of an enemy, some in the bed, others in the field, Haman by the gallows, Jezebel by dogs, Herod by worms, the Sons and daughters of Job by the fall of an house, the Mothers and Infants of Jerusalem by famine. One crieth my head, my head, as the Shunamites son, another my bowels, another my feet, feet, as Asa, the Stone, the Gout, the Fever, and a thousand other punishments, not yet equal to our sins, thy just Executioners of that sentence: Thou shalt die the death, pronounced against our first Parents, and in them to the whole race of mankind: Remember thy end, saith the wise man, & thou shalt not do amiss. Teach us, O Lord, to remember it, and make use thereafter, that will in time remember us, if we gorget it, Though we escape the pit we shall be taken in the snare, we shall fly from a Lyon and a bear shall meet with us, or lean our hand upon a wall and a serpent shall bite us: we may be delivered from six troubles and the seventh shall dispatch us, for neither council nor art, nor means can preserve us ever for it is the will of God and the cannon of his own lips, against the which there is no evasion, no conuenant to be made with death & the grave, let this meditation be unto us as the star that lead the wisemen unto Bethlehem, where Christ then lay in a manger in a • inne that now sits at the right hand of his father in heaven, from whence he shall come to judge both the quick and the dead y ^t it may lead us to the throne of his majesty where now he reigneth in glory for evermore, sweeten O Lord this remembrance of death and the grave unto us with this cogitation that it was thy bed, that in our strength and youth our veins full of blood, and our bones of marrow, in our livelihood and jollity we may think of our dissolution with a quiet mind, and with S. Paul desire to be dissolved & to be with Christ, whose presence in such full and ample measure as we shall there enjoy it, far exceedeth all the pleasure and delight that this transitory world afford thee: give us more wisdom O Lord then to esteem the ruinous and rotten cottages and houses, we live in fortresses and castles of everlasting refuge, not built upon rocks for continuance, but upon tottering heaps of sand & ashes, shaken about our ears with the winds and storms of infinite casualties and afflictions, gaping still for ruin and confusion, teach us to know that hear, we have no abiding Citty, but we look for one to come, that we pass not our time in this vale of misery day & night, youth and age, in pleasure and delight, that so we make our end, & the remembrance thereof bitter unto us, neither let us think that because we have fatness in our bones and health in our joints, that therefore we shall live many years, and se the succession of our sons and nephews, if we do, what will become of this? if we flatter our selves, soul take thy rest and upon the sudden are snacht to hell, once more let us speak like Abraham, one thing, and one thing more we will beg at thy hands, that since thy decree is set down and thy word is past, the accomplishment whereof never fayles in the least title, that all shall die, confermed by so many millions of creatures, since the beginning of the world to this present, which shall not cease to run on whilst there are creatures breathing upon the circle of the earth to the end of the world & dessolution of all things, since we must all wax old as doth a garment, and from one defect to another draw thereunto, since the son of God himself upon the earth was not privilege, that now in this time of preparation we make sweet and honey our passage, by a due and godly preparation thereunto, that when our friends and our children forsake us with grief and sorrow on both sides, the Physician gives us over, (wisheth us well but can do us no good) that then when no comfort, is left unto us, besides we have comfort in our souls through the forgiveness of our sins, and though we have a grave before our eyes, greedy, inexorable, unsatisfied, opening her mouh to receive us, and having received us closing hereuerlasting iaiawes vpō us, never to return us back again till the worms and vermin of the earth have devoured us, we despair not though the strongest man living a heart of marble & iron shall find terror enough in the thought & accomplishment of these things, yea Aristippus feareth death as well as the common people, but if the wrath of God which consumes like a river of brimstone for our former transgressions shall accompany them, thrice woe unto us, our dull and heavy cogitations will then exclude all thought of mercy, and our souls shall sleep in death clogged with a burden of sins which were never repented of: therefore O Lord teach us true and timely repentance for our sins that the extremity which then outrageously will assault us may be lessened, and the sting thereof pulled away before hand that now we may live the life of the righteous, that then we may die the death of the Godly, that we now gird on our armor before the battle begin, that we now think of repentance and do it before it be to late, before this welcome or vnwellcome guest, as we our selves make him, cometh, which brings in his hand, either tidings of great joy or a message of everlasting sorrow giving w ^e all such grace, unto us to possess these transitory things, that they possess not us, that we may so use this world as if we used it not: to pass through this vale of misery, our few and evil days, with such regard to our life, such love to thy law, such obedience to thy precepts, that we may enjoy the first, and avoid▪ the later, which grant Lord for thy mercies sake. Amen.

A Prayer or meditation before the receiving of the holy communion.

MOst merciful and most worthily beloved Lord the eternal son of the eternal father, thou blessed Jesus Christ what should we render unto thee for all thy loving kindness, for all that thou hast done and suffered for us, thy creatures, of privilege above all the creatures in the world, the sons and daughters of men, endued with wisdom, capability, and understanding, the steps of thy foot the printes of thy hands, fixed in a spattous world, and the innumerability of creatures there, of delight and admiration for us to contemplate theron, and employ to our use a delight more heavenly and truly entire alone, then all the irration all & hud-winked creatures in the world can taste besides, & therefore all those in subjection under our foot, besides fashioned and framed us to thine own image with a stature ascendant, shooting upright into heaven, when all other creatures go groveling & precipitated down towards the earth, yet O Lord for all these benefits and excellent endowments that we should behave our selves so ungratefully towards, thee, that it should repent the to have made man, that our rebellious and unnatural sins should unwillingly on thy party draw thy punishments even from out thy grasped hand: Oceans of waters frō thy clouds to drown all the world but eight persons, shall pull fire from heaven to burn whole Cities and towns as Sodom and Gomorroh were, and not ten righteous persons to be found, amongst ten thousand unrighteous, and yet thy love to be so f • r continued, notwithstanding that when all mankind had perverted their ways, and there was not one that did good, no not one, and we lay bare and open to the law, and Satan triumphing over our infirmities leading us captives under the bondage of sin, that thou shouldest send thy son into the world, descending from the throne of his majesty into the bowels of humanity, from thy right hand in heaven, to thy foot-stool the earth, there to be laid in a manger, persecuted by Herod being a child, to pay tribute, to preach, to pray, to fast, to be tempted, to be betrayed, to be mocked, to be scourged to be crowned, to be crucified, & all by ungrateful man, that would oppose a power against him that gave them power▪ to take away his life that was the author of life, and breathed the breath of life into there nostrils yet O love without example, without imitation: that very night that he was betrayed, when the hour and the power of darkness met together, whē the blackest consultation that ever day or night was witness too was held, to darken the sun, to extinguish the light, to undermine the intirest innocence, that ever possessed the breath of being: yet O love above all love, that night and that hour of that night, when these heads were combining against thee wast thou instituting and ordaining this thy blessed Sacrament, to the salvation of there souls, and all the wretched sinners in the world besides, as many as by a lively faith, shall apply it to there wounded consciences, O gracious God open thou our eyes in the largest consideration, that we may see thy love and consider what thou hast done for the sons of men, that for thy love unto us, more strong then death, we may return our love to thee more weak then our own life, cold, dull and frosen, which let us seek to warm in the hottest zeal of our affection, that in some poor measure we may be worthy to receive this thy sacrament of thy most blessed body / and blood then by thee ordained to our everlasting salvation & y ^e admiration of men and Angels, and that we may so do, prepare us O Lord to this thy heavenly banquet with all due and requisite regard, with penitent and bleeding hearts that we come not there without our wedding garment least we turn that blessing into a curse and by eating and drinking our own damnation, be guilty of thy body and blood which is other ways able to save our souls, and to that end we beseech thee, set a part in us whatsoever thy majesty is most offended with, or maketh us unworthy of this thy blessed sacrament, and give us new hearts and new desires, purged and swept, and prepared fit for the entertainment of so worthy a guest, and though with the Centurion in the Gospel, we be not worthy that thou shouldest come under our roof, yet speak but the word and we shall be saved, and then having so received thee, we may boldly with Zacchaeus confess, Hodie salus Iehouae, this day is salvation come unto my house, come unto my soul, the which cause, and effect, preparation and blessing, grant Lord for thy mercies sake.

A meditation or thanksgiving after the receiving of the holy communion.

HOnour, glory, and praise be given to the O God, the everliving son of the everlasting father, the stay and comfort of all Christian souls, at whose right hand in heaven thou sittest and raignest for evermore, what may we render unto thee as a sacrifice acceptable, that hast given thyself a bleeding sacrifice for us and for our sins, A broken and contrite heart O Lord that thou will not despise, which daily in the meditation of this thy love and mercy towards us, and what thou hast undergone for us our sakes, shall be rent and torn, that it may be healed in thy wounds, and bound up in the bundle of thy mercy, that so we may stand spottlesse before thee y ^e day of thy appearing, and good Lord so continue thy favor unto us, that this learnest and pledge of thy love, left as a monument to all after-worlds and ages to come, may be so powerful and effectual unto us that it may seal in our hearts the forgiveness of our sins washed away in the stream of thy blood, and buried in thy side, never to open there mouths against us being there condemned to everlasting silence, and if at any time the frayltie of the flesh by the instigation of Satan shall draw me unto sin, forgetting what thou sufferedest therefore, yet let my wandering thoughts, be called home to thy fold, in remembrance of these visible signs, whereby the breaking of thy body and the shedding of thy blood is so lively presented unto me, that I behold it as with my eyes mourning in myself, not accusing the iewes, the scribes nor pharises, high priests nor elders, Judas nor Pilate, but my sins that tormented, wounded, crucified the Lord of life to death, they were the cause, these were but the instruments whereby it was effected, O what is man that thou shouldest so regard him, or the son of man that thou so kindly visitest him: let every nail that was driven into thy hands and feet, by the hammer of our sins, be a thousand daggers at our hearts, to launch and let forth that putrefied corruption, that returned such muddy chan • elles, to thee the fountain of living waters, that but with so a high a price, and dear expense could not be purified, but now being thus purged and made clean let us be wary we pollute them not again, having received so pure a guest, let us not harbor with him the unclean, least to our everlasting loss he take his flight, and forsake us, when then our unclean thoughts and cogitations, which his presence expelled and kept a loofe of from us, retire themselves, everyone accompanied with seven worse then themselves, and our end be worse then our beginning, and so that become unto us the savor of death unto death, which other ways had been the savor of life unto life, wherefore O Lord bless us at this time, and this thy holy institution that by our unworthiness we turn not that to evil which was ordained for our good, make it O Lord the plaster to heal all our wounds, the garment to cover our nakedness, the spiritual and corporal bread to the stay of our bodies and souls, let it be the cock to remember our sins, and the rock to stay our souls upon that we never fall from thee again, & to that end so bless us most gracious God, y ^• this thy sacrament now received, may be to our everlasting good and welfare, so conducting us through this vale of misery with so godly a direction & guide, envy, contention, and malice laid a side, forgiving the offenses of our brethren towards us, as we expect forgiveness at thy hands, that so in a godly society in this world we may live together in peace until we shall reign with thee in glory, which art the end of peace, where we shall then behold thee with our bodily eyes, as we behold thee now with faith, by the eye of the Spirit, and see that body that was broken and bruised for our sins, those hands that have made us, and fed us, that head that was crowned, now all glorified, never to be debaced more. To which blessed vision, & fruition, he bring us, that hath so ransomed us, for the glory of his sacred Name.

A Thanksgiuing unto God the Father, used by the reverend and learned, W. Musc. and fit to be used of all good Christians.

A Prayer for a Woman with child, or in travail, to be said by those present with her.

O God most wise, most just, the blessed Father of our blessed Lord and savior Christ Jesus, creator, preserver, and governor of all things, next under thee under the subjection of man, so largely entitled by thy love, extended by thy favor, created with so goodly and beautiful a perfection in the estate of Innocency, that he was y ^e model, and figure, & lively Image of thee, the fountain of all perfection and happiness: but through sin is our image defaced, our beauty and perfection darkened our whole disposition and purpose altered, the earth made barren, and cursed for our sake, and we cursed in the curse, by the sterility, labor, and manuring thereof, that now denies the increase that before she brought forth without y ^e sweat and sorrow of the heart and brows of man. And for y ^• woman, a party in the sin, a party in the curse: In pain and sorrow shalt thou bring forth. And to the Serpent, upon thy belly shalt thou creep, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. Yet to this woman, O Lord! as her present necessity requireth, be propitious, & near unto her, let thy birth sweeten her sorrow, that broke the head of the Serpent, that was the cause of the breach of thy Commandment, that hath sweetened the sorrows of all mankind. Hear her, O Lord, and answer her favorably, and be not angry with thy servant for presuming to cry unto thee, for the incessant beating thine ears with her clamou • s, for grief compelleth her to speak, and the misery she endureth enforceth her to cry unto thee: have mercy upon her, O fountain of mercy, and hearken to her agony, that crieth for thy help. To her, and all women with child, or in travail, be merciful, and give them grace with patience to undergo and suffer the decree and pleasure of thy holy will: let them never strive against thee through impatience, but in true faith, and invocation of thy name, suffer thy cross contentedly, which their own original sin and wickedness drew frō thy hands unwillingly. O Lord, if her heaviness induce for a night, let her comfort come in y ^• morning, for joy that a child is borne into the world: and to that end, blessed God, be thou present and powerful in the exigent and strait of her greatest extremity (for as all thy works are wonderful, and past finding out, as our souls know right well, so are they not manifested in a shallow measure) in the connection, creation, and nourishment, and preservation of the infant in the womb of the mother, in the birth and bringing forth of their little limbs into the world, all whole and perfect; to the which if thy aid and hand be absent, though all help beside in the world be present, they perish undoubtedly, both the one and the other. Wherefore thou God of wonders, and Father Almighty of heaven and earth, as thou hast by the death of thine only Son, taken away the sins of the whole world, and condemned sin in the flesh, so take away the anguish of Child-birth, brought forth by sin to all woman-kind, especially to this woman now in thy hands, that she may joyfully bring forth that which by thy blessing, she hath happily conceived, that she may be to her Husbands and her own comfort, as the fruitful vi • e on the walls of his house, and his children like the Olive branches round about his table. Thy blessing upon those y ^• fear thy name, which blessing for thy blessed name sake grant thou God of all power & goodness.

The Prisoners prayer, written by a Gentleman, in passion and penitence, a few days before his trial.

O Euerliuing God, & most merciful Father, that art present in all places, and near unto all such as call upon thee, have mercy upon me most wretched sinner, odious in the sight of God, hateful in the eyes of man, banished from thy favor, from the lights of the Sun and firmament, all human comforts denied me, fettered in body and in soul, with the links and chains of my sins, and even bound to destruction, unless thou send me succor frō above. My life I have abused and diverted my course from the paths of thy commandments, by the which I have not only offended my brethren in y ^e flesh, & the law of man, by the which my body is condemned to die, having only power over that: But thee, the great God of heaven and earth (that madest me, and induedst me with many of thy good gifts, and blessings, as health, strength, agility of body, had I had but one blessing more, that was grace, to have used them well) that art able to cast both body and soul into Hellfire: yet though by my offenses against David's choice, I have fallen into the hands of man, from whom I expect no favor for my life, yet with thee there is mercy for the forgiveness of my sins beyond expectation, which with that happy Thief, not in his life, but in his death, I trust in thy goodness to find so, that when the day shall come that shall finish the Sentence that shall end my misery and wretchedness in this life, That day I shall be with thee in Paradise, though evil have been my life ever since I had power to think or execute, so far forgetting humanity and nature, as if I had sucked the Dragons in the wilderness, having done those things that I ought not to have done, and left undone those that I should, never remembering thy dreadful name, but in the abuse thereof, never hearing thy word, but with contempt, never taking admonition, but with scorn, and quenching the good motions of the spirit with the whole deluge of sin, dishonoring my parents, and all good men, delighting in riot, drunkenness, whoredom and sloth, yet never toutht in conscience for any, nor for all, so far had custom hardened me, and Satan possessed me, that I was sick, even to death, and felt not my ill. I was at the brink of hell, and yet perceived not my footing. For the which O pardon me, my God, and show thy mercy upon me, and all prisoners and captives: teach me, that by this my restraint, that my liberty and loose life never pointed finger unto, that it is a happy compunction in the body, that makes a blessed compunction in the soul; And it is not thy least favor unto me, that thou hast stopped my headstrong course in the midst of mine iniquities, in the readiest path to destruction, that the Devil could prescribe, or flesh and blood follow, ere I had filled up the measure to the brim, are my condemnation was sealed, and thy face forever turned away from me. Give me grace, O Lord, to make such use of this little time I have to live, that what with many days and sins I had lost, with many tears and sobbes I may recover; and that whether my life be prolonged beyond my expectation, or ended according to my account, I may never from this time fall from thee, but take such deep root by this thy mercy, that being fully persuaded my sins are washed away in the blood of the lamb, and my transgressions do • e away in his satifiying, I may endeavor to live in such newness of life and conversation amongst men, that whom my evil life corrupted by example, my better may restore again by imitation, to the praise of thy name, the good of thy Chiloren, and and the salvation of my soul, and the magnifying of thy mercy world without end.

A Thanksgiuing for our redemption, purchased through the blood of Christ, and for other both corporal and spiritual blessings.

WHat can man say that he inioyes amongst the innumerability of all thy benefits and mercies, that he hath not received from thee, and for the same ought to be thankful, but especially ought thy glory to be magnified by us, for our Election, Creation Justification, Sanctification, who hast preserved us from day today, and from a thousand dangers threatening both body and soul to their utter confusion. O most gracious and loving Father, which art beloved for thy goodness, honored for thy greatness rejoiced in for thy happiness, praised for thy merits, and prayed unto for thy mercies, I acknowledge myself all too mean & imperfect to sound forth thy praises in such a key as I ought, or thou deseruest: when I think thereof, a debility ceizeth upon all my parts, and I want words to express & pour out my soul before thee. Inlarge O Lord, mine understanding, that I may the more fully conceive and apprehend thy benefits, that y ^• abundance thereof may teach me new language, and phrase of more copious signification and content, and fill my heart with joy above measure in the apprehension thereof. By thy love I was elected, by thy goodness I was created by thy spirit I was called, by thy mer • y I was justified, by thy grace I was sanctified, and by thy power I am preserved, and by thy sufferings I shall be saved. By thy permission & goodness I move, live, and have my being: naked came I out of my mothers womb, and thou hast clothed me; hungry have I come to thy gates, and thou hast fed me; harborless have I been exposed, and thou hast taken me in: well therefore may I admire thy mercies in silence, but speak of them as is meet I cannot, for there words forsake me, & my tongue becometh mute. Merciful father for all these thy benefits have I laid them to heart, resisted the motions of y ^• flesh, the temptations of the devil? No, I have sinned grieuosly in thy sight, preferred the desires of my flesh before y ^e precepts of thy law, choosing rather a short and momentary taste of days in jollity and pleasure in this world, which at their fullest height are ever waning, and attended on by sorrow, then the eternal joys of thy kingdom in the world to come, nothing dreading y ^e displeasure of thy Majesty, whose breath shaketh the foundations of the earth, and maketh the spirits of darkness to tremble, & burneth vnquenchably in y ^e bottomless pit of hell, whose power is so infinite, y ^• in the twinkling of an eye, or more sudden the y ^e flash of the lightning is able to consume what ever his hands have made: yet notwithstanding, sinful & careless creature that I am, have I been bold to do wickedly, to persevere in the same, so now touched in conscience by y ^e finger of thy good spirit, I am bold to speak, being but dust & ashes, prostrated before y ^e throne of thy majesty, heartily to beseech, and humbly entreat thee, that thou wilt not deal with me according to my deserts: for then O Lord, where should I stand to plead my case? fire and brimstone should be my portion to drink, that have drunk down sinnne as Behemoth drinketh down water: but thou art gracious & compassionate, therefore under the shadow of thy wings will I seek for refuge, desiring thee to nail all my sins to thy cross, that through thy sufferings I may obtain remission thereof. I am a sinner, yet redeemed by thy precious blood: a sinner I am, remember thou camest into y ^e world to save sinners, whereof I am chief, lost in a wilderness of errors, wandering from thy presence: help me, O Lord, or else who can deliver me? save me, O Lord, or else I perish, for there is no redemption no salvation without thee: hear him O Lord that condemneth himself, & calleth upon thee. O Savior, whom wilt thou save, if y ^• sinner shall descend to perdition that dispaireth of himself, and trusteth in thee? O blessed Savior and Redeemer of the world, aswage my grief heal my diseases: thou hast called me when I, like the deaf Adder, would not hear thy voice: wilt thou then turn away thy face when my cries come unto thee? wilt thou suffer that to be lost which thou purchasest at so deer a prize? No Lord, for thy mercies sake, for thine own sake sweet Jesus.

Of the danger of deferring our repentance, with a prayer suddenly to conceive it, and soon to practice it.

MErciful God, and most loving father, what may I render unto thee for all thy benefits, more in number then the moaths in the sun, or y ^e sands 〈1 page duplicate〉 〈1 page duplicate〉 by the sea-shore, that hast made to be when I was not, predestinated me from y ^• beginning of the world, to be in due time and season, protected me in my mothers womb, carefully taken me out from thence, ever since been my guardian to these years of my youth: & for all these thou requirest naught but thankfulness towards thee, and remembrance of thee in my younger years & capacities, and shall I neglect and defer then to give thee the gifts of thine own giving? shall I give the first of my life, and best of mine years, the strength and marrow of my days to the service of Satan, and think that thou wilt receive me in my hoary age, when sin leaves me, and I not it? Good Lord wipe all such ingratitude out of my mind, y ^t I may with a present joy & felicity in thee, embrace thee in due time in some measure, which hast done & suffered so many things for my soul and body: put far from me, O Lord, the thoughts and imaginations of wicked men, that upon thy long suffering & patience, pass over their days in mirth and jollity, and think their latest years, or last gasps sufficient satisfaction for a lewd and long mis-spended life. Thy father & thy mother in the days of thy humanity, loosing thee in the temple went but one days Journey without thee, but sought thee 3. days, sorrowing before they found thee. He y ^• hath lost thee many years, must have many years to find thee again; and late and constrained repentance is seldom true repentance: our time is not when we our selves will, but when God doth call, hear we must when he speaketh, open we must when he knocketh, else we shall pour out our petitions in vain: for when we pray he will not hear us, the first and best is his due, & more then we can give, or he expects; and the last & worst is not sufficient, and he justly may and will reject it. Grant therefore merciful Father, that thy word may work in us so free and voluntary obedience to thy will, that thou mayst accept it, which in us is willing subjection, not by thy judgments, which is constrained obedience for fear of destruction, which thou little regardest. O Lord take from me that common and dangerous sin of presumption, presumption of thy mercies, that thou desirest not the damnation of sinners, that our years & youth, observation of diet, & curiosity of our health, will carry us to the l • st years of our expectation; and when we draw near to our end, that then safely enough we may begin to think upon thee, & all in due season And thus make presumption the rock whereupon we shipwreck our souls, and by y ^e which many millions have perished, it drowned the old world, it threw the rich glutton into hell. Lord make my sense & understanding as a bulwark to beat back all the policies and assaults that Satan can devise to beat against with that engine: that today I may hear thy voice lest thou harden my heart. And if I will defer upon hope and example, make me that I rather fear the portion of the bad Thief, then the success of the good, and let me not re • use thy grace in my health, whē thou offerest it, lest when I shall crave it in my sickness, thou refuse to give it me: Touch me, O Lord, with a consideration of the danger thereof, that in time I may have grace to call for thy grace to prevent it, that I may now amend, and not defer till hereafter, to the end, to my death, when there is no remedy, but either I must to heaven or to hell, to God or to the devil, and when that comfort is seldom, found which presumptuously was imagined, when the memory presents fantasies and dreams, the heart aches, the hands trembl • , the tongue faltereth, the eyes wax dim, checks pale, lips black, feet weak, and the whole body and soul possessed with anguish, and grief, and terror, what repentance shall we then make? when our sins are so great they over-press us, our comfort so small that we have no feeling of it, our time so short that we cannot think of them, our friends weeping that they put us out of them, amazement & distraction peeping wildly throughout all our senses, miserable is that man in this case whose end and repentance comes so near together-therefore Lord: whatsoever at the time of my death I would wish to have done, grant that in this time of my health I may do it, and Lord make me understanding, capable so wise in my generation, so gracious in thy grace that foreknowing these things I may prevent them, that with the wise virgins I may ever have the oil in my lamp, that is be in readiness to go with thee whensoever it please thee, that now I hear thy voice when thou speakest unto me, be acquainted with thee, that thou be no stranger unto me; but a friend and a friend indeed, as at all times, so especially at this exigent & last extremity, which how long it may be I will not presume, nor how short it may be despair, but prepare myself against it, my readiness being my resolution that whensoever it shall come it shall the less affright me, in that before I have set my house in order and disposed myself thereto which preparation that I may make, and success that I may find, grant me Lord (though so many neclect it) for thy mercies sake.

A prayer and meditation for a strong faith and against that dangerous sin of desperation.

THough our sins were as red as scarlet, thy blood O Lord will wash them as white as snow, though in sin we have been borne, and in iniquity our mothers have conceived us, yet will we trust in thy loving kindness all the days of our life, if we should trust in our own merits, desperatiō would inuiron us on every side, yet Lord when we consider the multitude of our sins, and that every day of our life we add to there number, so that all the water in the Ocean-sea cannot rince us from them, for the least of which in thy justice, thou m • yst throw us down to the bottomless pit of hell, our faith faultereth and we begin to despair, but that we trust in the merits of his suffering who in y ^e bundle of his afliction hath gert up ours, and will either nail them to his cross or cast them into the bottom of the sea, and hang millstones about there necks y ^• they shall never rise up in judgment to condemn us, y ^• else would never suffer us to rise up to be saved. Lord give us grace to be wary to our steps, & vigilant to our paths, to have an eye to our souls, for Satan compasseth the earth, watcheth, and roreth and walketh, transformeth himself into all shapes that he may win us in all sins, into an Angel of light being but a fiend of darkness, to sift and winnowe us as wheat, grain after grain, that if it were possible he might surprise us: good God what need have we of thy assistance and grace to bear v • out, that have such enemies without, & such enemies within, the weakest whereof is stronger then we, so that we need the prayers of our own spirits, and the spirit of God that gro • eth with groanings not to be expressed, and of the son of God himself who sitteth at his fathers right hand and maketh intercession for us that our faith fail not, and that we fall not into desperation, for alas what ability have we of our selves? or what strength have we in our sin • wes? who are not as pillars of brass or the deaf rocks of the sea (against the which there waves dash themselves and they are not shaken, being substances so firm & v • alterable that cannot be removed) but dust and ashes cracked with every flaw and blast of affliction, and unless thou support us we are not able to stand and there is no safety but under the wings of thy mercy, we have sinned against heaven, and against thee, the father of our spirits, the father of our flesh, against him y ^• gave us his law, and he that gave our nature, birth, and being, by our misdeeds and abominations both the tables have we broken and done very wickedly in thy sight all the creatures in the world have in there kind and degree been more dutiful and serviceable unto thee, then man, so much beloved of thee made according to thine own image, endued with reason, directed by thy law and thy precepts: auering thus offended men and brethren what shall we do, all the creatures in heaven & earth accusing and condemning us, & y ^e Lord himself complaing against us: I have norished and brought forth children and they have rebelled against me, what shall we say that our sins are greater then can be forgiven? no let us with David, though our faith have almost failed and our feet slided with his, yet let us with him recover out-selves again, by laying hold upon thy promises, support us O Lord where thy Angels fell, Cain, Judas, Ahithophel, for they dispayred in thy mercies and there fall was i • ▪ recoverable, even to the bottomless pit of hell, from whence there is no delivery, but we will trust in thy mercies and loving kindness all the days we live in, and kiss the son least he be angry, and o turn away the favor & light of his countenance from us, and least his wrath be kindled against us his fierce and furious wrath, which O Lord who is able to abide: the extent and copiousnesse whereof is as his mercies are vnexplicable, and therein sueth an abundance of misery with a train and conjunction of all plagues and punishments out of the ready st • re-house of the restrained inundations of his wrath, that let at liberty range in an open field and there is none to resist them, we are all by nature the children of wrath borne to the inheritance thereof as to our fathers lands, for nothing remaineth so hereditary to us as sin and confusion, but y ^• the blood of Christ hath purchased favor for us, Lord give us grace to continue it in keeping a wary conscience to offend, and walking carefully in thy fear, but for such O Lord that are already condemned, that run on in an endless labyr • nth of sin, the race to destruction without turning unto thee, drawing the unhappy breath, which if it had never ben breathed into there nostrils whereby they were made living creatures, (it had been well with them) without repenting, heaping up anger against the day of wrath, & not caring to blunt the edge thereof, there end is the end of the sentence and they are sure to perish, not in the life of the body alone, but in the life and eternity of there souls, not for an age and a period of time but whilst God reigneth in heaven; able to do justice, to avoid which greuious plagues and punishments give us grace O Lord suddenly to turn unto the whilst the time of grace remaineth least the grave open her mouth and sh • t it again upon us, and close us up in our sins, and deliver us guilty into the hands of perdition, from the which we shall never be freed. Let us quench this wrath in time with the blood of the Lamb, stain from the beginning of the world, and through the stream of his mercy, and the riches of his merits, seek acceptance, acquaintance, and friendship with our God, that we perish not: let us not despair in our sins, nor presume on his merits too much, but lay hold theron by faith, so applying the benefit of thy passion and merits to our selves and our souls, that we may find favor, and be acceptable in thy sight. Thy mercy, O Lord, is y ^e crown of all thy works, and my sins though they were more then I can commit, are not more then thou canst forgive, the assurance of this promise and the probation of thy goodness, evermore, shall be the rock whereupon my faith shall anker, & I will sail my brittle bark throughout this sea of uncertainty, temptation and danger thou being the star of my direction, throughout y ^• waves and surges thereof that sometimes lift me up unto the clouds, by the good thoughts and motions of the spirit, and sometimes cast me down to the ends of the earth, even to the bottomless pit of hell, by the temptations and allurements of the world and the devil, till I come unto the haven of my rest to the which Lord bring me for thy mercies sake.

In time of pestilence.

TThe life of man, most glorious Lord thereof, by whose hands it was made, & in whose hands it is enlightened with such understanding, capacity, so large & ample, thy creatures, & benefits so good, so innumerable and all for the delight and service of man, which are so powerful and comfortable to him in the ouerlooking thereof in his large discourse and reason, that he could wish in this world a perpetuity without change, not knowing in his fleshly and blinded indgemēt, what may be more in heaven with thee to content his natural desire, that he inioys, not in this eclipse & glimpse of thy goodness upon earth, that lands, possessions, sumptuous building, gorgeous clothing, the comfort of children, friends, servants with many other adiunctes, cannot be equalled or exceeded in y ^e world to come: we confess O thou giver of all good gifts y ^• we are not worthy of y ^e least of these thy benefits, not thy friends but thine enemies, & such that have pulled thee frō the crown to y ^e Cross, nayld thee there unto death, and not grieving our selves that we have thus grieved thee, snacht thy benefits out of thy hands not returning that easy curtesy unto thee thou requirest of us, which is nothing but gratuity and thanks, being more ungrateful unto thee for all we have, for by thee we live and move, and have our being, enjoining nothing but from thy all-filling hands, from that overflowing fountain of thy goodness, yet more returning to a mortal man for one single curtesy, then to thee for all these, correct O Lord this fault in nature, this universal defect in mankind: O Lord if thou hast prepared so good things for thy enemies and friends together, what hast thou in store for thy elect there severed: surely such things as y ^e eye hath not seen the ear hath not hard, y ^e tongue cannot utter, y ^e heart cannot conceive, w ^e thee o Lord there is fullness of joy & at thy right hand pleasures for evermore. Psal. 16. & who giveth us drink out of a whole river of pleasure. Psal. 36. where joy shall be ever present yet we cannot be filled, or rather filled but not satisfied, what it is O Lord thou knowest best, but there is y ^e fountain & spring from whence all goodness floweth, take us into thy besom, under the wings of thy mercy, into that celestial habitation where the sight and splendor of y ^t heavenly presence, shall more delight then all y ^e obscured and mixed pleasures the world can afford, on the other side we know as a strong motive unto us, the unsupportable and heavy judgment prepared against the day of wrath, for those y ^• have drunk down sin as the Leviathan the waters, terrefie O Lord our understanding with there horror & fearfullnes, y ^• we never come there to feel them, bring us by one means or other to the heaven of our happiness, what thy promises cannot persuade, let thy threatenings perform, by y ^• terror of thy punishments, which are impossible to be uttered, and yet must be endured, bound hand and foot, & cast into utter darkness, where thy favor nor mercy shall never-more be extended: where nether the light of the sun, nor the moon, or stars, much less the light of God's face shall ever shine, where forever shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, without determinatiō or ceasing. O Lord who is able to endure it: thy Angel y ^• walks in the darkness, and striketh at noon days, y ^e many dangers that accompany our wretched lives, y ^e least of which one time or other strikes home, take us in our palace, in our gardens, in ourwarehouses, in y ^e field, on y ^e sea on y ^e earth, in y ^e air, in our beds, at our tables, whatsoever our bodies do, whatsoever our minds think, comes thy mess̄ger in one shape or another takes us by the hand, leads us from whatsoever is dearest unto us, to the tribunal seat of thy justice and mercy, where we are either to be acquitted, or condemned, either to be received or thrust out. Lord therefore deal with us according to thy mercy, that if thou prolong our lives & bring us safe out of this storm & tempest of mortality, that by y ^• fall & slaughter of others we be brought to such a serious consideration of our own mortality & estate y ^• we make our preparation thereunto, all y ^• days of our life, knowing y ^• he may fall in his tent, y ^• hath escaped y ^• field perish in y ^• haven y ^• hath passed y ^• Ocean, & y ^• it must be surrendered one time or another, and if it please thee y ^e we fall by y ^• stroke of this thy devouring Angel, as y ^e corruption & ranlinesse of our nature infectious enough to procure it and bring to pass that thou accept as my deed my will, desire, and purpose to serve thee, my intent for my action that I would, as if I should live to glorify thee, & make me out of love with this wretched world and all the allurements and baits therein, and in love only with thee and thy heavenly kingdom for thy blessed name sake.

For humility upon these considerations.

THou mighty Lord of heaven and earth, who holdest the ball of the world in thy hand, and keepest all times and seasons as in a register, who art all hand, all eye, all foot, for strength, for fight, for swiftness, to whom the in-most chambers and retired clossets, the tabernacles and habitations of mortal men, nay the hearts and bosoms of all the creatures in the world, are unfolded and laid open as leuill to thy sight, as the air which we look on with our eyes, what cā we do y ^e is hid frō thy sight, ten thousand times brighter then y ^• sun, or whether can we go y ^• our sins & offenses lie not naked before thee, surely no otherway there is, but only to involve them in the clouds & mists of sighs & repentance, repentance the gift of God, the joy of Angels, the salve of sins, y ^e heaven & refuge of sinners: O where remains the subject of y ^e title, y ^e Angels sin not and therefore need not repentance, nor y ^e spirits of darkness for the sentence is already past & condemnation sealed, it is only for me most wretched sinner y ^• I am, & for my brethren of y ^e same inheritance, to us alone doth it belong, and we perceive it not, we eat and feed delitiously, we are wanton with thy gifts, O God abusing them in surfeit and riot, and luxuriouslye, we sin in drinking, in procuring an appetite to exceed therein, we sin in our clothing, most superfluously attyred like the rich glutton condemned to hell, as if we would exceed Solomon, and match the lilies of the field, and we • eed not only our selves, but our oxen in our meadowes and stalls to feed our unprofitable carcasses, & our horses in y ^e stable to bear our unprofitable carcasses, when the poor in our streets & at our gates, feed vpō empty air for lack of sustenance, & we remember not thē, not Christ in them, y ^e hungereth and Christ y ^e must feed us which is y ^e advocate for y ^e poor, & y ^• judge of y ^e rich, in this oblivion and height of our sins: what is become of humility, of repentance, we are all begotten in sin, and to misery are we brought forth: concupiscence hath been the nurse whose milk we have sucked from time to time, & as we have grown in years so hath corruptiō grown up w ^t us as part of our own nature: what remaineth thē O Lord for us but humility & reap̄tāce, to prostrate our selves upon y ^e knees of our harts, and say Lord have mercy vpō sinners with the poor publican, & not with y ^• proud Pharisee to say I am not like this mā, or other my brethren for I do thus and so, let us not be so mad as to forget nature so much, all our imperfections, the substance and metal whereof we are made, and that we must suddenly turn to y ^e earth, upon which now we trample with such contempt and scorn, and must become chamberers and fellows with worms and rotlennesse: and what cause have we then to be proud? Nay, what cause have we not to be humble? when of all the large possessions and inheritances we possess, we have no more truly our own then the length and breadth of our Carkasses. And again, let us humble our selves, that Christ may exalt us, and not exalt our selves, lest he throw us down, as he scattereth the proud in the imagination of their hearts. Let us learn of him to be humble and meek, which although the King of heaven and earth, having all power and preeminence, and proud in subjection under his feet, yet was not touched with this vice himself, that chose poor Fisher-men to be his Disciples, paid tribute to his inferiors, rode upon an asse, prayed for his Persecutors, embraced young children, cured the halt, and the lame, and the blind, and regarded the low estate of his Handmaid, and will regard us if we regard this virtue, which he so regarded, if we be imitators of his steps, and examples, which he grant that hath thus led the way, the God, the King, the Prince of humility, for his own deer sake.

The living words in effect of a dying man, closed up in this virtue.

I Unto thy hands, O Lord, I commend my soul and body, prostrate in all humility and obedience to thy good will and pleasure, Lord Jesus have mercy upon thy humble and prostrate servant.

The sum of the Prayer of the Lady G. at the time of her execution.

WIllingly and joyfully O Lord, come I hither into thy hands to resign my soul and body, in whose protection I trust they shall be safer and better then in this life (although in the best measure) they ever were: give unto me, my God, thy poor and weak servant and vessel, patience, constancy and strength to undergo this my sentence of death, strengthen the frailty of my sex, in the act of this my suffering: and though I die for that I never of myself desired, yet howsoever lest any sin in the least consent or thought hath defiled my purity therein, for it pardon me my God, and blot it out of the book of thy remembrance; and not only that, but y ^e whole course thereof, throughout my whole life, that my soul with the wings of faith in thy mercy, may cheerfully ascend to thy blessed kingdom.

And so preparing her self to die with these words rendered her life.

A general Thanksgiving to God for all his benefits and mercies to man.

O Eternal God in Christ Jesus, most gracious and merciful, for all thy blessings both temporal and spiritual, bestowed upon me, the least of thy servants, and most unworthy to cast up mine eyes to thy heavenly Tabernacle, where thou reignest in glory, do I yield all possible & hearty thanks unto thy divine Majesty for all thy blessings and mercies bestowed upon me, especially for the singular benefit of my Justification, and the admirable gift of eternal salvation, purchased by the righteousness and dearest life of thy beloved Son Christ Jesus my Savior. My lot is fallen in a pleasant place, well is me, and yet woe is me, because it is, and I understand it not: hast thou been favorable unto all thy creatures in the world, or hast thou neglected others, and been mindful of me? Good Lord, why shouldest thou bestow thy health, thy wealth, thy rest, and liberty, advancements, friends, possessions, Children like the Olive. Olive branches and their trees for me & them to repose securely under? Why shouldest thou, I say, bestow these blessings upon me more then upon others? I can give no reason for it, but stand wondering and admiring thy mercy, which is the cause of it: and if thou shouldest take a survey of my worthiness to enjoy all these at thy hands, and finding me so unworthy as I am of the least, shouldest withdraw them all back again, what could I say, but commend thy justice? Have I deserved liberty, and Joseph thy servant deserved bonds? Have I deserved rest, and thy David to be tost to and fro upon his watery couch day and night? to have y ^e son of his own loins, and the loins of his own body rebelling against him? Hath thy Lazarus deserved to lie at the gates, afflicted in body & mind, craving but crumbs wherewithal to be refreshed, and I like the rich man, whose dogs more merciful thē their master came and licked his sores, sitting at my table furnished with abundance, like his? Have I deserved health, and thy Job to lie full of botches and biles upon the dung-hill? Are these thy blessed servants tried in the furnace of affliction, laid in the throat of hell, and am I wrapped up into Abraham's bosom? have I their portion, and do they stand at reward, or sent empty? Why my soul is it so well with thee? mercy, abundance of mercy, and why art thou so ill my soul? O mercy, yet most wretched sinner that I am, have I not in a Christian love, and godly nature been moved to serve thee in a larger measure, considering these thy benefits upon me so largely multiplied, then the poor and persecuted Children that never tasted thy mercy but in imitation of their misery. Continue O Lord this thy goodness unto me, and the more to persuade thee thereunto, lift my heart and spirit out of this dull and earthly Center wherein it moveth, to the meditation of thee, and these thy mercies, with a thankful retribution of all my thoughts and affections, to thee, from whence they come, that I may ever serve thee from this hour, with those duties, which the world, the flesh and the Devil would have me deser until the point of death: and good father grant, that I may love righteousness and pity, with as great good will as ever I loved wickedness and vanity, and that I may go before other in thankfulness towards thee, as far as thou goest in mercy to me before them. O teach me to seek thee in all things, and all things in thee, even for thy name sake, for thy promise sake, for thy Sons sake, our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus.

A Thanksgiving before meat.

TO thee O Lord, the giver of all good gifts, upon whose bounty and mercy depend all the creatures in y ^e world, which openest thy hand, and fillest us with thy blessings, or we go empty away, and perish: Thy bounty and goodness it is, O Lord, that furnisheth our backs, and feedeth our bellies, and spreadeth our tables, blesseth, preserveth, and upholdeth all that we have, our basket, and our store, the oil in our cruses, provision in our presses, the sheep in our folds, in our stables, the children in the womb, at our tables, the corn in our fields, in our floors and garners, and all that we have, or is in the air, in the earth, in the sea, or wheresoever else the least of which thy good gifts and blessings, let us not at this time, nor no time else presume to touch, make use, or enjoy without an awful reverence and respect to thee the author and owner thereof. Sanctify therefore we beseech thee at this time, them unto us, and us in them, so that thy name may be glorified, and our bodies comforted, through Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiuing after meat.

DEere Father, we render m • st humble and hearty thanks unto thee as is most meet & requisite, for all thy former benefits & good creatures, ordained & given to our use, sacrificed & ready to be sacrificed every day for our pleasures: so now at this time for the large & competent satisfaction thou hast bestowed upon us to the refreshing of our weak & fainting bodies. So good Lord, as thou hast been gracious unto us in breaking this thy corporal and material bread unto us at this time, to the food of our bodies, so likewise give thy Spiritual bread unto our souls in that abundant measure, that the more they eat and drink thereof, the more they may hunger & thirst after thee, to fulfill thy precepts, to walk in thy commandments, and to do the works of charity and mercy towards others, to whom thy bounty hath in some measure been restrained; which grant most merciful Father, for thy mercies sake.

Before Meat.

After Meat.

Seruire Deo regnare est.

1 THE service of God is perfect freedom.

2 Where ignorance finds no mercy, contempt shall sure find misery.

3 There is no man borne without sin, happy is he that increaseth it least.

4 Till death there is no man happy, then happy is he that dies in the Lord.

5 Make use of time for it passeth with a swift foot, and that which follows most commonly is not so good as that which goes before.

6 He that ungodlily dies rich shall have many mourners to his grave, but few comforters at his judgment.

7 Expect that love from thy children that thou thyself hast tendered to thy parents.

8 So dispose thy time as if thou shouldest live long and yet as if thou shouldest die suddenly.

9 Do well to thine enemies that they may become thy friends.

10 It is the part of a wiseman to prevent injuries ere they happen, of a valiant mā to withstand them ere they come.

11 Out of other men's faults judge how odious thine own are.

12 There is more trust in virtue then in oaths.

13 He that will speak what he would, shall hear that he would not.

14 Delight not to speak ill of the dead.

15 Strive to be rich in that, that when thy ship shall perish suffers no shipwreck.

16 Learn that being a child that will adorn thee being a man.

17 The wast of time is a dear expense.

18 It is better to fall amongst the Ravens of the air then the flatterers of the earth, for the one strikes the dead but the other wounds the living.

19 He lives in vain that hath no care to live well.

20 Greatness is not the cause of goodness, but goodness is the cause of greatness.

21 So love that thou mayest hate, so hate that thou mayest love.

22 If by thy labor thou accomplish anything that is good the labor passeth but the good remaineth to thy comfort, if for thy pleasure thou shalt do anything that is ill, the pleasure passeth, but the evil remaineth to thy sorrow.

23 The goodman will not • in for the love he bears to God and goodness it self; But the evil man for fear of punishment.

24 Be thou never so old thou mayest every day learn, therefore never be ashamed to learn that thou knowest not.

25 Dispise not old age but grieve to see it miserable.

26 Swear not often but perform what thou swearest being honest though to thy loss.

27 It is tyranny to do what may be done and not regard what ought to be done.

28 Whatsoever is dear unto thy body forbear it being any way preiuditiall to thy soul.

29 So love thy best friend that thou be not thine own worst enemy.

30 Desire in anything rather to be in substance without show, then in show without substance.

31 Forebear to speak much for he that doeth shall not often speak well, and it is better to be lame in the way then to run out of the way.

32 A good life and a bad make death appear in two shapes, happy is he that lives so that it appear in the best.

33 He that fears to die, fears to find that he lives to seek.

34 If death be not good of it self, yet it is the end of many evils.

35 Health is above wealth, and a competency with content riches enough. And many a one hath the use of much money that hath not the use of himself.

36 Be silent in thy intentions, least by the contrary thou be prevented and laughed to scorn.

37 As the Touch-ston tries so gold tries man.

38 It is better to be truly reprehended by a friend then falsely flattered by an enemy.

39 By other men's examples not by thine own, learn what is worst to eschew, what is best to follow.

40 As he sleeps well that feels not he sleeps ill, so he sins much that thinks not that he sins at all,

41 Seuerall accidents have several remedies, but patience is appliable to all.

42 The later day is commonly the scholar of the former.

43 To conquer the affections of ones own heart is more then to conquer a kingdom.

44 The couetuous man is good to non but he is worst to himself, and wants as well that he hath as that he hath not.

45 So trust thy friend that he cannot hurt thee being thy enemy.

46 He that doth an injury to one threatens it to many.

47 It is hard to keep safe that that many men desire, as a fair wife, ready money.

48 The eye nere offendes if the heart govern it well.

49 Nothing is thine own truly that thou canst dispossess thyself of.

50 There is no day of a man's life so happy that something doth not happen to grieve him.

51 He that gives not willingly will always find some reason why he should not give.

52 The increase of knowledge is the increase of sorrow.

53 There was never wise man but saw more cause of sorrow then joy.

54 That man's end is easy and happy that death finds with a weak body and a strong soul.

55 Youth and nature pass over many infirmities that are owing till our age.

56 Who lives most vertuousoy will die most patiently.

57 Live to die once die once to live ever.

58 Think of God with wonder, speak to God with reverence, serve him in love, obey him in fear and do nothing but as in his presence, and sight, and thou shalt live the life of the godly & go the way of the blessed, live in his fear and die in his favor.

The diriuation of man.

59 Homo ex humo, cadauer ex carodata vermibus.

60 Sapiens miser plus miser est quam rusticus miser scit enim exaggerare causas dolendi, quas rusticus miser nescit.

Admonition against sin▪

61 When sin allures thee, think that thou seest Christ coming towards thee as he lay in the arms of Joseph of Arimathea, taken down from the Cross, all wan and bleeding, wounded, the delicacy, beuty and admiration of all his partes, clouded, sullied and stained, speaking thus unto thee, ô forbear to commit it, for it fetched me from the arms of my father, from my royalty and glory in heaven whole and untouched, to the arms of this mortal man, all wounded and torn as thou seest, and with this contemplation forbear.

Zacchaeus certain gain, the worlds imagined loss.

If Zacchaeus to win heaven restored fore-fold from those he had hut injured single; how do they labor to win hell, that do injury four-sold & yet make not restitution single.

The five thoughts of a Christian.

1 Think of pleasure, to despise it.

2 Of death to expect it.

3 Of judgment to escape it.

4 Of hell to prevent it.

5 Of heaven to desire it.

Four kind of men, according to David, that are most indebted unto God for their lives.

1 Those that have escaped a dearth.

2 Prisoners there bonds.

3 Those escaped in a mortal sickness.

4 Seafaring men, that are neither among the living nor the dead.

A Prayer for Constancy and grace against all worldly vanities and allurements.

GIue me grace to effect thy will, O Lord, & command me what thou pleasest, give me constancy and perseverance in my calling and duties of life, according to thy will and direction, and then let my course be in what thou wilt appoint; Be I a husband, chastity and content shall adorn my calling, in despite of the allurement of all other beauties, all other accidēts. Be I rich, pride nor oppression, nor contempt, the adherent vices of that Mammon shall not ceize me with their easiness in their snares: be I whatsoever I am, be thou my guide and rule of my life, and then all my actions shall be squared and fitted by the aim of thy word, to the level of thy will, that so they may end in thy glory & my comfort: and that they may so do, good Lord so guide & temper my disposition with such a regiment of thy goodness, that thou let not y ^e world with her smiles beguile me, nor with her frowns affright me: arm me with sanctity, strength & wisdom, that I may use it as though I used it not, and let not Satan deceive me therein: let not my own condition betray me to his malice: let me every day increase my strength in thee, adding to y ^e spiritual estate and welfare of my soul, that the longer I live, I may walk more securely in the midst of so many enemies: give me a true estimation of all earthly flatteries, vanities, and pleasures, & such deep sight therein, y ^• through the shades & beauties▪ & allurements, I discern y ^e poison y ^• lies at their roots, & so forbear y ^e one that I perish not by the other: let my delight be least taken when my body most lives, but whilst y ^e one walks dully upon earth, let the other soar sprightly to heaven, let me not for y ^• glimpse and shining like a glo-worm in this world, loose y ^e splendor & beauty more glorious then y ^e stars in y ^e firmamēt in y ^e world to come, prepared for me, and all that persevere in thy ways unto the end, which grant Lord for thy mercies sake.

A short Memoratiue of the mortality of our life, and the folly of our living.