The fourth part of the true watch containing prayers and teares for the churches. Or A helpe to hold up the hearts and hands of the poorest servants of God, untill our Lord Iesus Christ shall have rescued his glorie, kingdome, and people in all the world, and fully prepared the way to his most glorious appearing.

XV. A humble thanksgiving for our dread Soveraigne, our graci∣ous Prince, the Prince and Princesse Palatine, and all their royall progeny, and for all the great deliverances which our blessed God hath given unto them, and to us all by them: with an earnest prai∣er, that hee may make them (each in their times and pla∣ces) the happiest heades of the most prosperous and blessed Nations and people, that ever have bene in the world.

OH. Lord our God, in∣finite inithy mercy, and endlesse in thy compassions, who by thy wonderfull pro∣vidence, orderest all things in heaven and earth, disposing all to the right ends, which before the world thou hast ordayned to thine owne glo∣ry,

and the good of thine e∣lect; wee doe with all thank∣fulnesse* 1.1 of heart, humbly ac∣knowledge before thy sacred Majesty, how wee especially in this sinfull Nation, & with us many other, and namely, all thy chosen flocke among us are bound unto thy sacred Majesty, for the admirable setting up, and the wonder∣full preservation of thine An∣noynted servant our dread Soveraigne, & of all his Roy∣all progeny, with every of thy deliverances and mercyes, which thou hast heeretofore vouchsafed by them, or as yet dost through them, most gra∣ciously offer unto us all, upon our unfeigned repentance and true turning to thee. Lord make us ever to bee wisely pondering, of thy divine and Fatherly providence, even in every one of these (which hath bene so sensible that our

very enemies have taken no∣tice of it) and so give thee glo∣ry, acknowledging thy hand in them. Diddst thou not (Oh good Lord) at the very na∣ming of thy Royall Servant to* 1.2 be our Lord and King, deli∣ver us all from the hand of our Brother Esau, even from all those who had long vow∣ed our death, and thirsted af∣ter our blood? Diddest thou not thereby, cast such a terror upon all thine, and all thy Churches enemies, as that the feare of him, and of thy peo∣ple fell upon them all, that not so much as adogge wag'd his tongue against any of thy ser∣vants: though our sinnes had long before cryed for such a vengeance as they had threat∣ned.

And afterward, when wee* 1.3 had so provoked thee againe, by our impenitency, and by al our unthankfullnesse, mani∣fested

in the breach of our re∣newed vowes and Covenants, as that wee were indangered to bee consumed at once by that fiery furnace, made like Nebuchadnezzars, large and wide, or much more terrible, by thine and our most merci∣lesse enemies (stirr'd up a∣gainst us in thy wrath:) yet diddst not thou againe deli∣ver us and pluck us forth, e∣ven as the three children of the Captivity, and cast in sun∣dry of our enemies for us? Diddest thou not also princi∣pally, worke this as by the hand of thine Annoynted, not suffering him to rest, untill all our deliverance was wrought? And hast thou not both before and since that* 1.4 time, given unto him many great deliverances: and in all his preservations still preser∣ved us all, especially us of this Nation, together with all our

blessings of so much peace and prosperity, as wee still in∣joy, in the middest of the ca∣lamities of the other Chur∣ches.

And above all, hast thou not thus continued thy hea∣venly Gospell, the life of our lives, which hath bene so re∣moved from other Countries, together with their outward blessings: so as thou hast made him to this day the very breath of our nosethrils, and that through him wee injoy all these our mercies, as under our vine and figtree, and by him givest us new and most blessed hope, that wee shall injoy them perpetually. Lord these are mercies and favours never to bee forgotten of us: Good Lord set them ever be∣fore our eyes.

And for our gracious Prince, besides all his and our former deliverances, & hopes

in and by him, hast thou not* 1.5 made him to bee to us as Io∣seph▪ and disposed of all his journey and of his dangers in it, to the greatest discovery of the devices of our adversaries, and overturning the hopes of all our wicked enemies. Never suffer us to forgett, how thou revivedst the hatts of us all, making us to breake out into joyfull Triumphes & praises, when thou hadst cau∣sed us to see his face againe, delivering him from so many perils, as our sins had brought him and •…•…s into: and those dangers of all sorts, both by sea and land, yea both bodily and spirituall.

Lord make us able to give* 1.6 thee thy due glory heerein, that thou sitting at the sterne, hast disposed of all that jour∣ney, and all those adventures, to the admired improvement of all thy rich guifts and gra∣ces

in thy Royall servant: caused him to see the vilenesse of that most odious superstiti∣on and Idolatry, which thy soule so much abhorreth, and which hee otherwise had ne∣ver so well understood. That thou hast taught us all to know by most happy experience, what the power of the prayers of thy people is, when they are sent up with an united force; that they are able to open the Iron doores,* 1.7 and to breake in sunder the gates of brasse, to make way for thy children and chosen clocke, to passe through the middest of all thine and their mortall enemies. Lord make us to lay it wisely to heart, how thou hast made him so much more hereby, the future expectation and rejoycing of Israel, under thine Annoynted servant.

And likewise for that pere∣lesse

Princesse, Lord make us* 1.8 all able wisely to consider, what another crowne of glo∣ry thou hast set upon her head, even in her lowest abase∣ment (which thou hast brought her unto for the sins of thy people) that she should thus excell in al true renowne and fame, of all Christian and truely Heroike vertues, above all the Princes of the earth: that thou hast made her a Mirrour to all of her sex, at this day in all the world.

Oh suffer us never to for∣get* 1.9 that wonderfull preserva∣tion of her, when thou deli∣veredst her•…•… at the Powder Treason, from those cruell Nimrods the bloody hunters, the reedifiers of Babell, who had in their account, made a prey of her in a speciall man∣ner, by her to have accompli∣shed all their hellish ends, and most mercilesse designes a∣gainst

our whole Nation, and against all thy poore Chur∣ches and people. Let it never slip out of our minde, that howsoever thou hast suffered her againe to be chased, and pursued, as a Doe before the* 1.10 hunters, yet thou preservedst her in a miraculous manner, with that illustrious Prince, and all their Royall seed, and hast made them most fruitfull in the midst of all their trials* 1.11 and temptations; to the ter∣rour and astonishment of all thine, and thy Churches ene∣mies, and the greater securing and comfort of thy people: to cause all thine to lift up their heades, in an expectati∣on of a more glorious Age & time yet to come in all the world then ever heretofore.

And above all, let this e∣ver be before our faces, how thou hast thus wonderfully kept them all alive, against

all the plots and layings in waite of Sathan, and all his in∣struments, by all their strata∣gems, devises, and bloody pursuites, and hast preserved those thrice happy pawnes & pledges of our peace and safe∣ty, though out of their owne Countryes and people, and in forraigne parts.

And finally, how thou* 1.12 hast begunne this wished and happy union, amongst thy Churches and servants, & the cutting off the long wished hopes of the enemies of thy Church, under their preten∣ded leagues of peace and ami∣ty, whereby they had so much undermined us, and expected our surprizall of a sodaine, whilest we remained yet most secure.

Not unto us (Oh Father) not unto us, but to thy great name, wee give all the glory, humbly consessing, that by all

our impenitency, and breach* 1.13 of vowes and Covenants, which we have so oft renew∣ed, and that neyther judge∣ments nor mercyes could pre∣vaile with us, and especially for making flesh our arme, & withdrawing our hearts and confidence from thy heavenly Majesty, wee had long agoe deserved, that both they and wee, with all our blessings, should have bene wholly left into the hands of thine & our enemies, which have and doe so eagerly thirst after our blood; and that nothing at all hath kept us to this day, but onely thy endlesse compassi∣ons, and the yearning of thy bowels at the cryes and sighes of thy poore Saints and chil∣dren in all the Churches, loo∣king up to thee alone, and lifting up their hands unto thee.

Awaken us therefore gra∣ciously

now at length (Oh* 1.14 thou that hast kept thy Israel, and neither slumbrest nor sleepest) and cause us yet in time, to understand the things that concerne our peace, and whereby thou mayest bee wholly pacified towards us in this Nation, with all thy Churches and people.

Oh grant unto us (most tender Father) to know and throughly to conceive aright, that, •…•…hat which wee have so oft and so many a time pro∣mised unto thee, and so bound our selves unto, in all our perils, and which thou hast so long expected▪ thou now ex∣pectest at our hands above all former times: now that thou hast added this above all for∣mer mercies, thus farre to de∣liver us from our feares, and to vouchsafe unto us such hopes for all future times; & every day to renew the same,

in that heavenly union and harmony of thy Annoynted, and his whole most honou∣rable Parliament, for thy Church & causes, and against thine enemies.

Oh give us all such hearts,* 1.15 that wee may yet now at length performe whatsoever thou requirest of us, to make our repentance unfeigned & sound, and our full reconcili∣ation thereby: in being hum∣bled before thee, both pub∣liquely and privately, and in taking away all our abhomi∣nations and crying sinnes, and in doing whatsoever may tend to the giving of thee thy due glory, with the greatest ad∣vancement of thy heavenly Gospell, and doing whatsoe∣ver thou requirest of us; for the ratifying and confirming all thy mercies towards us, and our making a firme union with thy Majesty, & amongst

us all in Iesus Christ, accor∣ding to the right tenour of thy sacred truth.

That thus, as thy hand* 1.16 hath formerly bene stretched out against us, and against thy Churches, and that the ene∣mies have so sarre prevailed in their designes; so now at last their joy may he as the joy of an hypocrite, and that they may see their confidence as a spiders web. Oh grant such hearts unto us all, that thou seeing ou•…•… true repentance, maiest give to us, and to thy people, the upper hand; that we-may be above and not be∣neath, that we may not onely stand valiantly, as one man of one hart and soule, for thee, & for thy heavenly Gospel, with thine Annoynted, his royall progeny, and Dominions, and each for our selves and ours, our children & posterity, and for the true liberty of us all:

but also that all of us may be as bold as Lyons, and being* 1.17 strengthned by thee, and the power of thy might, five of us thy servants, may chase a hun∣dreth (according to thy pro∣mise made to the true turning of thy people to thee) and a hundreth of us, may put tenne thousand to flight.

That thus thine Annoyn∣ted, and all his Royall Pro∣geny and posterity▪ may be∣come the happyest heades of the blessedest progeny and dominions, that ever were formerly in all the earth: and all theirs, and our sinnes, and the sinnes of all the Churches may be freely forgiven, never to be remembred against us, or against any of thy true Churches any more, accor∣ding to thy heavenly pro∣mise,* 1.18 and that for thy endless glory and praise, & the ever∣lasting triumph of us all; that

wee may for ever sing praises unto thy great name, through Iesus Christ, that King of Kings, our only Lord and Saviour,

Amen.

Notes

• * 1.1

  An acknow∣ledgement of Gods mer∣cies in our dread Sove∣raigne & his royall proge∣ny, with all our blessings & ho•…•…es con∣tinued by them.
• * 1.2

  As namely our delive∣rances at his entrance.
• * 1.3

  At the Pow∣der Treason from Ne∣buchadnez∣zars furnace.
• * 1.4

  And all o∣thers.
• * 1.5

  Preservation of our graci∣ous Prince, & us all with him, and the reioycing of all 〈◊〉〈◊〉 soules through him.
• * 1.6

  The dispo∣sing of all that iourny to so preat ioy to all Gods Church and people.
• * 1.7

  The experi∣ence therein of the power of prayer.
• * 1.8

  For our peerelesse Princesse the crowne of glory renew∣ed upon her head.
• * 1.9

  For her deli∣very from the Nimrods of the earth.
• * 1.10

  Her preser∣vation in the second pur∣suite, toge∣ther with that illustri∣ous Prince & all their•…•….
• * 1.11

  Their fruit∣fulnesse in thir greatest trvals, to the astonishment of all their enemies.
• * 1.12

  Our wished and happy •…•…ion begun.
• * 1.13

  Confession of our deserts, that both they and we should have bene left in∣to the hand of the ene∣my.
• * 1.14

  Prayers to be awaked to understand the thing; which con∣cerne our peace.
• * 1.15

  To performe truely what∣soever we have former∣ly promised.
• * 1.16

  That as the Lords hand hath bene stretched out against us, so how it may be as appa∣rantly for us.
• * 1.17

  Filling us with heaven∣ly courage.
• * 1.18

  Ier. 31. 34.