The Christian Combat, Prayer
A Prayer and Meditation of the faithfull Soule, Touching the present Affliction of the Church.
O Lord, our good God and Father, wee thy poore creatures humbled before thy face, dare present our selues before thy holy and high Maiesty, although wee are nothing but dust and ashes. Thou dwellest in the light which no man can approch vntounto; but we are by nature plunged in darkenesse. Thou art a consuming fire, but we are as the stubble. Thou art a soueraigne Iustice, and we are poore sinners. Thou art the Spring of life, and we are naturally in death.
No withstanding (O Lord) thou hast commanded vsus to call vponupon thee in our necessities, with a promise that thou wilt heare vsus. And thou hast giuen vsus thy owne Son for a Mediator, promising vsus to giuegive vsus all things which we shal aske of thee in his Name. Thou hast called vsus to an holy vocation, and amidst the thicke clouds of ignorance wherewith the earth was couered: thou hast enlightened vsus with thy knowledge, and admitted vsus to be of the number of thy children. Euen eueryevery one of vsus a-part hath felt thy particular assistance, and thy Fatherly helpe in the whole course of his life.
But (O Lord) the greater thy graces are towards vsus, the more guilty are we of ingratitude. For wee hauehave abused thy gifts, and thy feare hath not beene before our eyes. We hauehave despised thy Word, and hauehave not had it in reuerence. After the fires and Massacres, whereof we are a remnant, and as it were a brand pluckt out of the fire, thou hast restored vsus, and hast giuen vsus dayes of peace and of refreshing. But wee hauehave abused this rest, and hauehave turned it into licenciousnesse and dissolute behauiour. Wee hauehave had more care to repaire our houses, then to set forwards thine. We hauehave run after the profit and vanity of this world. In stead of couering the poore, we hauehave clothed our bodies sumptuously. Wee hauehave torne one another with quarrels, and enmities, and thereby are become contemptible to our aduersaries. Our prayers hauehave beene cold, our zeale fainting, our almes sparing; and because iniquity hath abounded, the louelove of many hath waxed cold. In stead of drawing the ignorant to the knowledge of thee by our good life, wee hauehave offended them, and frighted them by our euill conuersation. When we hauehave had strength and humane meanes, and when thou hast brought vp and raised vp amongst vsus Princes and Potentates, which seemed to hauehave beene a firme prop vntounto the Church, and a sure retreat during the tempest; Wee hauehave rested on the arme of the flesh, in lieu that wee should hauehave put our trust in thee onelyonly, God, who bringest low the pride of the haughtiest, and raisest vp the poore out of the dust, raisest vp and bringest downe the degrees and rankes. Therefore hast thou also brought vsus downe, and humbled vsus, and made vsus know the vanity of our thoughts, contrary to thy Counsels. Yea euen the Ministers and Preachers of thy Word hauehave failed in their charges, and in many places the euill and profanation is issued from the prophets. And truely in these yeeres of peace, the reuolt and apostacie of many that hauehave had the leading of thy flocke hath beene seene. For these causes (O Lord God) iust Iudge, thine anger is inflamed against thy people, being confounded in our selues, wee acknowledge that thy chastisements are iust. Yea, Lord, a great deale lesser then wee hauehave deserued. Thou hast couered our faces with confusion; thou hast cloyed vsus with bitternesse; Thou hast made vsus drinke of the cup of thine anger. Thou hast called to weeping, to mourning, to sackcloth, and to ashes; Thou hast lifted vp the hand of our aduersaries, and hast exposed vsus to reproch, & hast made heauy thy hand vponupon vsus. Thou hast pluckt vp the plants which thou hadst planted, and cast to the ground those Churches which thou haddest set vp by the bloud of thy Martyrs, and by the preaching of the Gospell. Thou hast broken vp the hedge of thy prouidence, which inclosed thy Church, and hast exposed it for a prey vntounto the sauage beasts. And now (Lord) wee see, that in those places where thy Gospell was purely preached, lyes doe now resound, and idolatry is re-established; and the enemies of thy truth doe insolently triumph and insult ouer the ruines of thy House.
Thereupon we hauehave cried to thee, but thou hast turned away thy face. Thou hast couered thy selfe with a cloud, that our Prayer should not passe to thee; and wee see as yet thy hand lifted vp to strike vsus more roughly, and thy rods prepared which thou displayest in thine anger. O Lord God, to thee belongeth righteousnesse, but to vsus confusion of face. We acknowledge in all that which is befalne, the tokens of thy iust anger, and there is no euill in a City, but the Lord hath done it.
Notwithstanding, thou art our Creator, and wee are the workes of thy hands; Thou art our God, and wee are thy people. Thou art our Redeemer, and wee are thine owne purchase, which thou hast purchased vntounto thee with a great price; a people whom thou hast honoured with thy knowledge. Thou art a mercifull God, and of great gentlenesse, slow to anger, and that keepest it not for euer; that takest no pleasure to destroy thy worke. It is of thy goodnesse, that some of vsus remaine as yet. It is of thy compassion, that wee are not altogether consumed. Thou dwellest in the highest heauens, and in the most humblest hearts. A broken spirit and a contrite heart is an acceptable sacrifice vntounto thee.
Now therefore, O God, heare vsus from the place of the Sanctuary, namely, from heauen. Hearken vntounto the prayer of thy seruants, and accept their humiliation. Pardon, Lord, pardon the iniquity of thy children for thine owne sake, for the greater it is, the more admirable is thy goodnesse to pardon it. The greatnesse of our sins serues to exalt thy merciemercy; besides thou hast receiued a sufficient ransome from thine owne Sonne, and a Redemption of infinite price; whereupon wee depending, dare draw neere vntounto the Throne of thy Grace, to obtaine grace and merciemercy in an acceptable time.
For, O God, in these perplexities wee see no meanes here on earth; but our eyes are towards thee. Heare vsus therefore from thine habitation, and looke downe, for thou art mighty to raise vsus vp. Thou art not a God that is onelyonly a God at hand, and not a God a farre off; when humane meanes doe faile, it is then that thou displayest thy vertue, and then when we by our imprudence doe procure euils to our selues, thou makest vse of our imprudence for our good; that the subsisting of thy Church be not a worke of the wisdome of men, but of thy holy prouidence. It is thou that in time past hast helped thy people, and brought them out of the yron furnace with a strong hand and an out-stretched arme; that hast carried them as on the wings of an Eagle; that euen in our dayes hast made vsus feele thy helpe by many deliuerances, and that hast deliuered our fathers from many rough persecutions, hauing made them to passe thorow trials more grieuous then this is. Thy compassions are not exhausted, thy arme not shortened, nor thine eare heauie; but they are our iniquities that make a separation between thee and vsus, which thou wilt take away by thy merciemercy, and by the intercession of our Lord Iesus Christ. It is thou that hast crushed the dragon, and bruised the head of the old serpent, and by the bloud of the couenant hast drawne vsus out of the dungeon where there was no water, hauing ouercomne hell by the death of thy Sonne. Thou therefore, great God, that hast snatched vsus out of the tallons of the deuill, wilt thou not deliuer vsus from the hands of man? Thou that hast saued vsus from hell, wilt thou not deliuer vsus from the power of the world?
O eternall God, thou wilt doe it, and wilt not forsake vsus, but hauing chastised vsus with measures, thou wilt make vsus feele thy comforts, and wilt cause thy face to shine vponupon vsus in ioy and saluation; lest wee faint by infirmity, and be ouercome with the length and bitternesse of thy trials. For also (O Lord) thou hast so promised, and thy promises are certaine, and thy Word more firme then heauen or earth. Thou hast promised by the mouth of thine own Sonne, that thou wilt not forsake vsus, and that thou wilt be with vsus alway, euen vntounto the end of the world. Thou numbrest our haires, thou receiuest our sighes, thou puttest our teares into thy bottle; he that toucheth thy children, toucheth the apple of thine eye. Thou causest thy Angels to incampe round about them that feare thee; deare and precious is their death in thy sight.
Doe thou therefore (O God) according to thy Word, and let the Angel of thy presence march before vsus. Let thy protection be about vsus as a wall of fire. Thou that asswagest the waues of the sea, and the commotions of nations, and that holdest the hearts of Kings in thine hand as the running of waters; stop the furie of the people, and giuegive vntounto our King thoughts of peace; remoue from him the counsels of violence, make frustrate the expectation of our enemies, that doe alreadie deuoure vsus with hope; dissolue their counsels, thou that surprizest the wise in their wiles, that knowest the depthes of Satan, and piercest with thine eyes into the counsels of the sonne of perdition, whom thou wilt discomfit with the Spirit of thy mouth, and wilt beate downe all power that exposeth it selfe against thine. And if our iniquities doe beare witnesse against vsus, and make vsus vnworthy to see so excellent a worke, doe it for thine owne sake. For if wee be vnworthy to be heard, thou art worthy to be glorified. Therefore thou wilt not permit Satan to triumph and reioyce at the dissipation of thy Church, and thy holy Name to bee blasphemed without punishment.
Stirre vp therefore (O God) thy zeale, and the soundings of thy Fatherly affections; make bare the arme of thine holinesse, and let the ends of the earth see thy saluation. Remember thy ancient compassions, and thy couenant with thy people. Remember the bloud of thy children spilt in abundance, that cries for vengeance vntounto thee from the earth.
Wee confesse indeede, that wee hauehave neede to bee humbled, and that the Church hath neede to bee repurged; and therefore thou takest thy fanne in thy hand, to thorowly purge thy floore, and causest a winde of persecution to rise, that seemes to carrie away the chaffe, and to chase the hypocrites. But also (O good God) amiddest this tribulation, the weake sinke vnderunder, and the good are oppressed, and hauehave part of the affliction, and idolatrie gathereth strength, and the night of ignorance thickeneth, and thy Name is blasphemed, and the doctrine of saluation is trodden vnderunder foote by thy aduersaries.
Therefore wee beseech thee (O Father of merciemercy) that if thou wilt afflict vsus, let vsus not fall into the hands of men; but let vsus fall into thine hands; for thy compassions are great. For besides, men doe not hate vsus, because wee hauehave offended thee, but because we maintaine thy quarrell, and that thy Name is of much note vponupon vsus. These bloud-suckers are thirsty after our bloud, not for to ease the patient, but to satisfie their lust.
Aboue all things (O God and Father) preserue vsus thy Word, and afflict vsus rather with any other affliction in this life, then to take away from vsus this Light, seeing it is the testimony of thy fauour towards vsus, our priuiledge amongst all nations, and the way to attaine vntounto thy Kingdome. Let our children be instructed therein, and be made heires of thy couenant alter vsus, and let our dayes ended in thy fauour, be followed with an age, wherein thy truth may shine, and the Kingdome of thy Son Iesus Christ may much increase and be inlarged. And continuing to vsus the preaching of the Gospell in his purity, giuegive it efficacie in our hearts, and breake not in thine anger the staffe of this Spirituall bread.
Rather (O Lord) make that the feare of losing this light, prouoke vsus to make good vse of it, and to redeeme the time, and aduance vsus in the way, while that wee hauehave the light. And that the euils wherewith thou doest visite vsus, may bee vntounto vsus wholesome remedies, and an instruction for our soules; that they serue to rowze vp our faith, and to draw from our hearts feruent Prayers. And that the deliuerance which it shall please thee to grant vsus, may make vsus acknowledge thy Fatherly louelove towards vsus, which shall accompany vsus all the rest of our dayes, vntill that hauing taken vsus from this valley of misery, to put vsus in possession of thy Kingdome, wee may leaue after the Church in peace, the breaches of thy House repaired, and thy seruice purely established, to the glory of thy Name, and to the saluation of many soules, through thy Soone our Lord Iesus Christ. So be it.