Holy devotions, with directions to pray also a brief exposition upon [brace] the Lords prayer, the creed, the Ten commandments, the 7 penitential psalms, the 7 psalms of thanksgiving : together with a letanie / by the Right Reverend Father in God Lancelot Andrews ...

In time of Pestilence.

O Lord God, who rejectest none, that, trusting in thy goodness, and believing in thy promises, come to thee for succour and help. Behold, we beseech thee, with the eyes of compassion and mercy, thy poor, sin∣ful, and miserable people; who now are much afflicted and visited with the Plague of Pestilence, with the scourge of thine angry hand. Our streets are full of grief, and our houses are filled with heaviness, and all our joy is turn∣ed into mourning, by reason of thy heavy wrath, and hot displeasure, which now is gone out, to destroy and consume us from the face of the Earth. We confess, O Lord, it is but just, that all thy Creatures should rebell against Man, and oppose themselves against him, who hath so desperately rebelled against thee, his Creator: For they are all obedient to thee, only Man, sinful and wretched Man, is continually stubborn and rebellious, daily abusing thy Blessings, and hourly transgressing thy Commandments, got

leaving his evil wayes for fear of thy threats, nor being allured to goodness with the hope of thy promises. We daily hear by thy Messengers, and read in thy Sacred Word, what thou hast threatned of old to thy rebellious peo∣ple, and in them, to us: How, that if they kept not thy Commandements, Thou wouldst send upon them the Sword, to avenge the quarrel of thy Covenant, and when they should be gathered in their Cities, thou wouldst send the Pestilence among them, and they should be deli∣vered into the hands of the Enemy: And yet they have hitherto been so senseless thereof, that we fear not to add sin to sin, and to multiply iniquity upon iniquity. And now, O Lord, we reap the just reward of our impi∣ety, and feel (too soon) that we are justly plagued for our disobedience. O Lord, we confess, that thy Iudge∣ments are just, and withall humbly ac∣knowledge our misdeeds, and heartily repent us of them, and earnestly beg and crave, that thou wouldest in mer∣cy pardon them, and remit the punish∣ment, which in Iustice is due unto us for them. O Lord, In thy just anger remember mercy; encline thine ear,

and hear, open thine eyes, and behold our desolations; and upon our repen∣tance and humiliation, remove this thy punishment: which in thy displea∣sure, thou hast begun to inflict upon us. Command thy destroying Angel to spare us, and not to strike us to utter desolation. Be merciful unto us, who are every hour in danger of thy Iudgements, Take away the unwhile∣someness of the air, and purifie our dwellings unto health and safety. Keep those that are well, & release those up∣on whom thou hast laid the rod of thy afflictions. Thou hast promised, O Lord, That, if at any time thou send∣est the Pestilence among the People, if that people do humble themselves, and pray, and seek thy presence, and turn from their wicked wayes; thou wilt hear in Heaven, and be merciful to their sin, and heal their Land. We hum∣bly pray thee, O Lord, to make good thy promise, and ease us of our afflicti∣ons. For behold, O Lord, we hum∣ble our selves under thy mighty hand; we bewail, and lament our sinful lives past; and humbly beseech thee, to give us thy assisting grace, that we may henceforth order our wayes to

please thee, Then shall no Contagion hurt us, but we shall live to praise thy Name; and all the World shall know, that thou art our God, and that thy Name is called upon by us. Hear us, O Lord, and be merciful un∣to us, even for Iesus Christs sake the Righteous: To whom, with thee, and the Blessed Spirit, be ascribed all honour and praise, now, and for ever, Amen.

Notes

• Levit. 26. 25.
• Jer. 4.112.
• Ps. 19.9.
• 1 Chr. 21. 15.
• Ezech. 9.
• 2 Chro. 7. 13, 14.
• 1 Kings 8.
• Dan. 19 8.