Ancilla pietatis: or, The hand-maid to priuate deuotion presenting a manuell to furnish her with necessary principles of faith. Forcible motiues to a holy life. Vsefull formes of hymnes and prayers. ... By Daniel Featly, D. in Diuinity.

A Prayer for Good-friday.

DEarest Redeemer, the Mediatour of Heauen and Earth, who this day werest placed on the Crosse be∣tweene them both, with thine armes stretched abroad to em∣brace, and thy head bowed downe, as it were, to kisse all that come vnto thee; I humbly prostrate my selfe at thy feet, desiring in vnfained repentance, with my teares to wash those thy wounds that bled for my sinne; and in a liuely faith to touch the print of thy nailes, and thrust my finger into

the hole of thy side, thereby to take reall and corporall possessi∣on of thee, that I may with Tho∣mas truely call thee, My Lord, and my God; my dread, and my loue; my surety, and my ran∣some; my Sacrifice, and my Priest; my Aduocate, and my Iudge; my desire, and my contentment; the life of my hope here, and hope of my life hereafter. Before, I was thine (for thy hands haue made me and fashioned me:) but now sith thou hast offered thy selfe to be my pledge, and thy bloud for my ransome, thou art truly mine, My Lord and my God. O let the Speare which ranne thee thorow, fasten my heart to thy Crosse: Let the nailes which printed thy flesh, imprint thy loue in my soule: let the thornes which pricked thy temples not suffer the temples of mine head to take any rest in sinne: let the vineger which was giuen thee, melt my adamantine heart into sorrow: let the Spunge

which was offered thee on the Crosse, wipe out all my debts out of thy Fathers Tables. Let others goe on forward if they please; I will stay still at the Crosse, and take no other Lesson. for I de∣sire no other Pulpit then that tree; no other Preacher then thy crucified body; no other Text then thy death and passion; no o∣ther parts then thy wounds; no other amplification then thy ex∣tension; no other notes then thy markes; no other points then thy nailes; no other booke then thy opened side. The first Adam did eat the fruit of the forbidden tree; therefore thou, the second Adam hangedst vpon a Tree. By his fall all mankinde were so sorely wounded, that the whole head was sicke, and the whole heart faint; from the crowne of the head to the sole of the foot, there was nothing but wounds, and bruses, and sores, full of corruption: therefore thy whole head was pained, thy whole

heart wounded: from the sole of thy foot, which was gored with nailes to the crowne of the head, which was pricked with thornes there was nothing but cuts, and stripes, and markes, and skars, and sores, and wounds in thy whole body. Because our heads plotted and deuised wickednesse, on thy head was platted a Crowne of thornes. Because our eyes burned with lust, thy eyes were bedew∣ed with teares. Because we bel∣ched out blasphemies against God, thy face was spit vpon. Because our bodies haue beene stretched want only vpon our soft beds, thy body was stretched vpon the hard Crosse. O Lord, our eares haue offended thee by listening to want on Musicke, prophane spee∣ches and songs, therefore thou suffredst in thine eare by hearing scoffes and blasphemous taunts. Wee haue offended God in our smell by luxurious perfumes, and sweete odours, therefore thou

sufferedst in thy smell by the stench of Golgotha. Our taste had offended in gluttony and drun∣kennesse, therefore thou sufferedst in thy taste by gall and vineger. Because our feet were swift to shed bloud, thy feet were nailed to the crosse. Because our hands were defiled, thy hands were ba∣thed in bloud. Because all parts of our bodies offended, thou wast punished in all parts; in thy temples with thornes, on thy cheekes with buffets, in thy ioints with straines, in thy flesh with stripes. Lastly, because our hearts most grieuously offended in vn∣chaste, malicious, couetous, am∣bitious thoughts, desires, and af∣fections, and piercing our selues with worldly cares; therefore thou wast most grieuously puni∣shed in thy heart which was run thorow with the Speare. If all the sufferings of Martyrs since the worlds beginning were put in one skale, and thine in the

other, thy Passion would beare them all down, for thou barest the full weight of thy Father's hea∣uiest hand. Neuer were there suf∣ferings like thy sufferings, because neuer such a Sufferer, the tor∣ments being infinitely improued by the Bearer. Neuer sweat like thy sweat, because neuer any had a burthen like to thine. Neuer teares like thy teares, because shed for them who thirsted for thy bloud. Neuer torments like thy torments, because neuer flesh so pure and tender as thy flesh. Ne∣uer horrour like to thy horrour, being forsaken of thy Father, be∣cause neuer loue like to thy loue of him. Neuer sorrow like to thy sorrow, because neuer sense and apprehension like to thy sense and apprehension of the infinite dis∣pleasure of God, for the sinnes of mankinde. O my most bounti∣full Redeemer, who bestowedst largely, and wast bestowed liberal∣ly for me, it concerneth mee to

know how much I stood thee in. For how should I estimate thy loue, if I cannot cast the totall of the Debt thou did∣dest discharge for mee? But no heart can conceiue what sorrow thou conceiuedst: no tongue can expresse what griefe thou diddest expresse by thy bloudy teares, and those thy strong cries when thou complainedst that thy soule was heauy vnto death, & prayedst thy Father (if it were possible) to let this 〈◊〉〈◊〉 passe from thee. I am appaled at thine agony, I am asto∣nished or thy feare, I am amazed at thy patience, I am rauished at thy loue. My heart riseth, my veines swell, my bloud boiles within me against thy Persecu∣ters. If it were in my power, I would put them all to millions of torments; I would inflict a thousand deaths vpon Iudas that betrayed thee, and Pilat that con∣demned thee, and the enuious Scribes and Pharisees that layed

snares for thee, and the periured witnesses that gaue false euidence against thee, and that execrable rout that preferred a murtherer before thee, and the barbarous Souldiers that spit vpon thee and buffeted thee, and the bloudy ex∣ecutioners of the Iewish malice and Romane cruelty that hanged, and nayled, and goared thee. But when I diue deepe into thy blou∣dy passion, I finde my selfe as deepe in the guilt of thy bloud-shedding as they. They were in that but accessaries, but I by my sinnes was a principall in the death of the Lord of Life. My sinnes by their tongues and hands did all this villany & out∣rage vpon thee. Their nailes and speares pierced but the flesh, but my sinnes pierced thy very soule. My sinnes, my sinnes, O Lord by their hands crucified thee; where∣fore I condemne mine eyes to continuall teares, my heart to per∣petuall sighs, and my thoughts to

euerlasting pensiuenesse. What shall I doe to wash away the guilt of thy bloud which alone can take away the guilt of my sinnes? Verily I should bee vt∣terly swallowed vp in this gulfe, but that the price of thy bloud hath satisfied (as for all other sins: so) for the guilt of spilling it selfe. And now my anger, and feare, and trouble, & anguish are all tur∣ned into ioy, and comfort, and loue, & admiration of the infinite wis∣dome of thy Father in prouiding such a remedy, and his iustice in requiring such a satisfaction; but most of all thy infinite loue, ma∣king so full payment of the infi∣nite debt of my sinnes. What can I do, what can I suffer enough for thee? Gracious God to all the rest of thy blessings spirituall & tem∣porall conferred vpō me, purcha∣sed by thy sufferings, adde this one aboue the rest, the special gift of the remembrance of these thy sufferings, that wheresoeuer I

am, whatsoeuer I doe, I may haue thy passion in my heart and thy wounds bleeding afresh in my mind, with an infinite hatred of sinne that procured them, and loue of thy goodnesse who indu∣redst them for me. Thy Church, since thou leftest her is a widdow, and I am as one of her dead chil∣dren, not (as the Samaritan was) halfe dead, but whole dead in my sinnes and transgressions. Thou Lord art the true Elias, who rai∣sedst and doest raise from death this Widdowes children to life, by stretching thy body ouer them. O my gracious Lord, apply thy Body stretched this day on the Crosse to me. Lay thy head to my head, thy hands to my hands, thy feet to my feet, and thy heart to my heart, that I may receiue warmth from thy bloud, and ease from thy stripes, and health from thy wounds, and spirit from thy breath, and strength from thy grace to stand vp from the dead,

and walke with thee from hence forth in newnesse of life. So bee it, Amen.