Obedience to the Gospel, Prayer
Let vsus pray,
O Eternall God in Iesus Christ our most louing and mercifull Father, vvee render vntounto thy Maiestie most humble and hartie thanks for all thy blessings and manifold benefites bestovved vponupon vsus, namely, for those inestimable graces of our election, creation, vocation, iustification, sanctification, and redemption: & for this great treasure of thy holie vvord, vvherein vve acknovvledge thy great louelove tovvardes vsus vile vvretches and miserable sinners. And for as much (O Lord) as thou hast taught vsus at this present, hovve forcible and effectuall thy vvorde vvas vntounto the Sheepeherdes, vvorking in them such an ardent and burning louelove to see thy sonne Iesus Christ, vvhen he vvas manifested in the flesh, such forvvardnesse and haste to satisfie that godlie desire vvhichwhich thy holie spirit had vvrought in them, & finding that vvhichwhich they soght for, vvere carefull to publish it abroade, that others might be partakers of that comfort, and after returned vntounto their vocation againe, glorifying thy holie name, vvith all obedience vntounto thy blessed vvorde. And moreouer, bicause vve hauehave lerned from thee, that the multitude that heard of it, yet shevved not anie zeale or care to see the truth of it themselues, but suffered the cogitation therof to vanish out of their mindes, vvithout any profit vntounto themselues: but contrarivvise, thy seruaunt Marie kept euerie thing in remembrance, being carefull by continual pondering thereof in her heart, to make vse of it for her comfort and further instruction. VVe confesse (good father) that the example of these parties doth teach vsus both the duetie that vve ovve vntounto thee, the obedience that thy vvorde requireth at our hands, and the zeale vvhichwhich vvee shoulde expresse in our liues, to set foorth thy glory, and also hovv to shun that carelesse course vvhichwhich the greatest number doth follovve: but (O Lord) vve acknovvlege against our selues, that vvee are not able to thinke a good thought, much lesse to yeelde that obedience to thy vvorde that thou requirest, nor to make anie fruit of it vntounto the comfort of our soules, vnlesse thou of thy merciemercy vvorke it in vsus: vvee therefore most humbly beseech thee mercifull father, to graunt vsus thy grace, that euerie one of vsus may be so truely persvvaded of the trueth of this doctrine, novve deliuered vntounto vsus, that thy holie spirite may imprint it in our hearts, and vve may feele the comfort of it in our soules and consciences, and labour diligently to bring foorth the fruit of it in our liues and conuersations: most gratious Father, vve pray thee subdue our affections and rule our desire by the gouernmēt of thy grace and holie spirite that the enticements of sinne doe not pull vsus avvay from that seruice that vve ovve vntounto thee, that vvee neuer faint or vvaxe vvearie in the course of godlinesse, that our zeale be neuer quenched by anie allurements of Sathan, but that vvee may daily grovve and encrease in all the Vertues of Christianitie to the glorie of thy blessed name and consolations of our ovvne conscienences, through Iesus Christ our Lord: to vvhom vvith thee and the holie Ghost, be all praise▪ novve and euer,
Amen.
FINIS.
End of the text · John Udall, Obedience to the Gospel (1584)