Tormenting Tophet, Prayer
AN EARNEST AND ZEAlous Prayer, to be ſaued from the damnation of TOPHET.
O Moſt glorious euerliuing, and euerlouing Lord God, the fountaine and well-ſpring of all our happineſſe, we thy poore ſeruants (vnworthy, in regarde of our manifold tranſgreſſions of the leaſt of thy bleſſings) doe moſt humbly fall downe before the throne of thy dreadfull Maieſty, confeſſing in the bitterneſſe of our ſoules, the baſeneſſe and vilenes of our eſtates by ſinne: O Lord, aſhamed wee are to come before thee that are nothing but ſinneful corruption and abhomination, but thou a maieſty moſt pure, in compariſon of whom the Angells themſelues are counted impure: we dare not therfore (being thus loathſome and abhominable) preſume to preſent our ſelues before thee, as in our ſelues, but in thy manifold mercies, and thy Sonne Ieſus Chriſt his merites, in whom thou art delightfully pleaſed with all that faithfully call vponupon thy name.
Lord in thy Sonne behold vsus, wee moſt humbly beſeech thee, accept vsus in his worthineſſe, clenſe vsus in his bloud, iuſtifie vsus in his righteouſnes, ſanctifie vsus with his ſpirit, and in his moſt precious death free vsus from the damnation of hell. O till theſe comfortable tidings be ſealed vp to our ſoules, how perplexed are we! O how do our harts quake and tremble till we hauehave found the ſaluation of thee our God! Reiect vsus not (O heauenly Father) that faine would, as be ſaued of thee, ſo vprightly ſerue thee: we pleade now and euer as for pardon ſo for grace, whereby wee may in plentifull manner, bring foorth fruits worthy of amendment.
Lord keepe vsus in body and ſoule to thy euerlaſting Kingdome and ſaluation, Lord preſerue vsus from the terrible torments of Tophet: O what ſhall become of vsus, if we for our ſinnes, when we die, be throwne into that Lake that burnes with fire and brimſtone, ſo bitterly, as forceth ſcreeching and ſcreaming continually! Lord deale not with vsus according to our ſinnes, and thy iuſtice, but in the multitude of thy mercies, ſaue our ſoules aliue: O conſider the terrors of our troubled ſoules: Let not the grones of our hearts bée deſpiſed, but ſuffer them to pierce the heauens for a bleſſing: O thou that art the God of endleſſe compaſſion, caſt vsus not away from thy preſence, wee are the workemanſhippe of thine handes, O Lord confound vsus not: O Lord (that delighteſt not in ye death and damnation of a ſinner) bee moued to ſhew pitty vppon vsus: O Chriſt our bleſſed Sauiour, make interceſſion to God the father for vsus, ſpeake by thy gracious ſpirit peace to our diſquieted ſoules, bind vp our broken hearts, giuegive vsus that we may clearely ſee our names written in the Booke of Life: and our ſoules releaſed from the fearefull damnation of Tophet.
To this end (gracious God) remoue all ſinne from our ſoules, and plant in the garden of our hearts, all thoſe ſpirituall and heauenly graces that are proper and peculiar to thine Elect, that we may be alwayes a ſweet ſmelling ſauour before thee: giuegive vsus faith in thy promiſes, louelove to thy Maieſty, zeale to thy glory, obedience to thy lawes, and guide vsus dayly by thy bleſſed ſpirit into all truth and godlineſſe: Lord giuegive vsus to be out of louelove with the vanities of this life, to hate eueryevery worke of darkenes, the little ſinne aſwell as the great, quicken vsus (O Lord) by thy quickening Spirit: O giuegive vsus hearts to bee inflamed with the louelove of thy truth, O that we could hunger, and thirſt after grace, as the chaſed Hart doth the running brooke, O that we could experimentally ſay with thy ſeruant Dauid, that all our delight is in thy commandements.
Thus (O Lord) we receyuing grace from thy Maieſty, to repell the fierie darts of the Deuill, and to flie euen frō eueryevery apparition of euill, ſo doing we may reape much comfort to our ſoules in this world of trouble, and at the fearfull day of iudgement, we may be … from the lamentable tortu… … … phet, where howling and yelling … be for euermore, and that for Ieſus Chriſts ſake thy Sonne our Sauiour: to whom with thee and thy moſt glorious Spirit wee deſire, euen from the bottome of our hearts, to hauehave offered vp all thankſgiuing and prayſe both in heauen and earth, this day and euermore, Amen.
FINIS.
End of the text · Henry Greenwood, Tormenting Tophet (1615)