tual wickedness: O take me from these tents of Keder, into thy heavenly Jerusalem, where Satan shall be utterly trodden under my feet.

I cannot here attend one minute to thy service without distraction; O take me up to stand before thy throne, where I shall serve thee day and night.

I am here in heaviness through many tribulations; O receive me into that place of rest, where all tears shall be wiped from my eyes, where there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor pain.

I am here in a state of banishment and absence from the Lord: O take me where I shall for ever behold thy face, and follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth.

I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness.

O blessed Jesu, who hast loved me, and washed me from my sins in thine own blood, receive my

soul.

Into thy hands I commend my spirit: for thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, thou God of truth. Come Lord Jesu, come quickly.

Prayers for their Use, who mourn in secret for the Public Calamities, &c.

Psalm lxxiv. O God, wherefore art thou absent from us so long? Why is thy wrath so hot against the sheep of thy pasture, &c.

Psalm lxxix. O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance: thy holy temple have they defiled, and made Jerusalem an heap of stones, &c. Psalm 1xxx. Hear, O thou Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep, shew thyself also, thou that sitteth upon the Cherubims, &c.

A Prayer to be used in these times of Calamity.

O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth, I desire humbly to confess before thee, both on my own behalf, and that of this nation, that these many years of calamity we have groaned under, are but the just (yea mild) returns of those many more years of our provocations against thee; and that thy present wrath is but the due punishment of thy abused mercy. O Lord, thou hast formerly abounded to us in blessings above all the people of the earth. Thy candle shined upon our heads, and we delighted ourselves in thy great goodness: peace was within our walls, and plenteousness within our palaces: there was no decay, no leading into captivity, and no complaining in our streets: but we turned this grace into wantonness; we abused our peace to security, our plenty to riot and luxury and made those good things which should have knit our hearts to thee, the occasion of estranging them from thee. Nay, O Lord, thou gavest us yet more precious mercies, thou wert pleased thyself to pitch thy tabernacle with us, to establish a pure and glorious Church among us, and give us thy word to be a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our paths. But, O Lord, we have made no other use of that light than to conduct us to the chambers of death: we have dealt proudly, and not hearkened to thy commandments; and by rebelling against the light, have purchased to ourselves so much the heavier portion in the outer darkness. And now, O Lord, had the overflowings of thy vengeance been answerable to that of our sin, we had long since been swept away with a swift destruction, and there had been none of us alive at this day to implore thy mercy. But thou art a gracious God, slow to anger, and hast proceeded with us with much patience and long-suffering; thou hast sent thy judgments to awaken us to repentance, and hast also allowed us space for it. But alas! we have

perverted this mercy of thine beyond all the former: we return not to him that smiteth us, neither do we seek the Lord; we are slidden back by a perpetual backsliding; no man repenteth him of his wickedness, or saith, what have I done? it is true, indeed, we fear the rod, (we dread every suffering, so that we are ready to buy it off with the foulest sin) but we fear not him that hath appointed it; but by a wretched obstinacy, harden our necks against thee, and refuse to return. And now, O God, what balm is there in Gilead that can cure us, who, when thou wouldst heal us, would not be healed? We know thou hast pronounced, that there is no peace to the wicked and how shall we then : pray for peace, that still retain our wickedness? This, this, O Lord, is our sorest disease: O give us medicines to heal this sickness: heal our souls, and then we know thou canst soon heal our land. Lord, thou hast long spoken by thy word to our ears, by thy judgments even to all our senses: but unless thou speak by the Spirit to our hearts, all other calls will still be ineffectual. O send out thy voice, and that a mighty voice, such as may awake us out of this lethargy: thou that didst call Lazarus out of the grave, O be pleased to call us, who are dead, yea, putrified in trespasses and sins, and make us to awake to righteousness. And though, O Lord, our frequent resistances even of these inward calls, have justly provoked thee to give us up to the lusts of our own hearts; yet, O thou boundless ocean of mercy, who art good not only beyond what we can deserve, but what we can wish, do not withdraw the influence of thy grace, and take not thy Holy Spirit from us. Thou wert found of those that sought thee not: O let that act of mercy be repeated to us, who are so desperately, yea, so insensibly sick, that we cannot so much as look after the physician; and by how much our case is the more dangerous, so much the more sovereign remedies do thou apply. Lord, help us, and con

sider not so much our unworthiness of thy aid, as our irremediable ruin, if we want it: save, Lord, or we perish eternally. To this end, dispense to us in our temporal interest what thou seest may best secure our spiritual; if a greater degree of outward misery will tend to the curing our inward, Lord, spare not thy rod, but strike yet more sharply. Cast out this devil, though with never so much foaming and tearing. But if thou seest that some return of mercy may be most likely to melt us, O be pleased so far to condescend to our wretchedness, as to afford us that; and whether by thy sharper or thy gentler methods, bring us home to thyself. And then, O Lord, we know thy hand is not shortened, that it cannot save: when thou hast delivered us from our sin, thou canst and wilt deliver us from our troubles. O show us thy mercy and grant us thy salvation, that being redeemed both in our bodies and spirits, we may glorify thee in both, in a cheerful obedience, and praise the name of our God, that hath dealt wonderfully with us, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

A Prayer for the Church.

O Thou great God of recompences, who turnest a fuitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein; thou hast most justly executed that fatal sentence on this Church, which having once been the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth, is now become a scorn and derision to all that are round about her. O Lord, what could have been done to thy vineyard, that thou hast not done in it and since it hath brought forth nothing but wild grapes, it is perfectly just with thee to take away the hedge thereof, and let it be eaten up. But, O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us, yet do thou it for thy name's sake: for our backslidings are many, we have sinned against thee. O the hope of Israel, the Saviour thereof in time of trouble, why shouldst thou be as a stranger in the land, as a way

faring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night? Why shouldst thou be as a man astonished? as a mighty man that cannot save? Yet thou, O Lord, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; Yeave us not; deprive us of what outward enjoyment thou pleasest, take from us the opportunities of our luxury, and it may be a mercy; but, O take not from us the means of our reformation, for that is the most direful expression of thy wrath. And though we have hated the light, because our deeds were evil, yet, O Lord, do not, by withdrawing it, condemn us to walk on still in darkness; but let it continue to shine till it have guided our feet into the way of peace. O Lord, arise, stir up thy strength, and come and help us, and deliver not the soul of thy turtle dove [this disconsolate Church] unto the multitude of the enemy; but help her, O God, and that right early. But if, O Lord, our rebellions have so provoked thee, that the ark must wander in the wilderness, till all this murmuring generation be consumed, yet let not that perish with us, but bring it at last into a Canaan, and let our more innocent posterity see that which in thy just judgment thou deniest to us. In the meantime let us not cease to bewail that desolation our sins have wrought, to think upon the stones of Sion, and pity to see her in the dust, nor ever be ashamed or afraid to own her in the lowest and most persecuted condition, but esteem the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt: and so approve our constancy to this our afflicted Mother, that our blessed Lord and Head may own us with mercy, when he shall come in the glory of thee his Father, with the holy angels. Grant this, O merciful Lord, for the same Jesus Christ's sake.

A Prayer for the Peace of the Church.

Lord Jesus Christ, who of thine Almightiness madest all creatures, both visible and invisible: who, of thy godly wisdom governest and settest all things in most goodly order, who of thine unspeak