A companion for the persecuted, or, An office for those who suffer for righteousness containing particular prayers and devotions, for particular graces, and for their private or publick wants and occasions.

6. Prayers for Patience.

1. In easie and unwearied endurance.

O! Almighty & most gracious God, who suitest thy Gifts to our Ne∣cessities; in these suffering-times, give me a suffering spirit, and enable me

to* 1.1 bear hardship as a good Souldier of Jesus Christ.

Endue me with such patience under the same, as no heaviness, or length of my Tryals shall overcome. Let me not be driven by any cruel and un∣just usage for thy sake, to accuse thy Providence, or to revile my Persecu∣tors. Let me not shew uneasiness un∣der my sufferings, but willingly and contentedly bear them; yea, rejoyce in the same, and thankfully praise thee, * 1.2 that thou countest me worthy to suffer for thy Name. Keep me from growing weary of bearing thy Cross, or from fainting under it. Tho' thou tarryest, enable me to wait for thee. Oh! that I may persevere in waiting, and hold on to the end, and never let go my patience, when my Persecutors have left me nothing else, or cast away my confidence in thee.

Oh! that I may inwardly triumph in the Righteousness of my Cause, when I am trodden down by the vio∣lence of the Oppressors. That I may be comforted to think, that I have still the more of thy Love, as I bear the more of their Malice. Oh! that I may

be* 1.3 joyful in hope, as well as patient in tribulation; and count it an extra∣ordinary favour to me, that I have been called out to lose any thing for thee, to testifie my love unto thy Laws, and to dispose me for thy Gracious Acceptance, through the Merits and Mediation of my dearest Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

2. In not envying the success of the wick∣ed, in compassing unrighteous Devices.

O! Lord, who for wiseends, art oft∣times pleased to permit a Righte∣ous Cause to be worsted, and the de∣visers of unrighteousness to prevail against it: Suffer us* 1.4 not to fret, or torment our selves, when we see such wicked men prosperous, and triumph for bringing their unrighteous devices to pass. Let not that tempt us, O! God, * 1.5 to envy sinners, much less to think favourably; yea, or even doubtfully of their wicked Violence. Never give us up to measure the Justice or Inju∣stice of Undertakings, by success; and to miscall apparently wicked things, naming Evil Good, and Wrong Right,

only because we see it prosperous. Let us not fall to take part with the Injury, only because of its seeming prosperi∣ty; or to think that God has forsaken what is right, because he permits it to be oppressed for a while; or, when we see it once down, to despair of his ever raising it up again.

Thy Judgments, O! most Mighty Lord, are unsearchable, and a great deep: teach us with all humility to reverence them, not by bold expositions, espe∣cially in favour of apparently unrigh∣teous things, to abuse the same. They surprize us with doing right, when all outward hopes and appearances there∣of are gone. Help us therefore, when things are at the worst, still to have hope and faith in thee, to raise them up again. They open a way, and make a light of deliverance to break forth, at thine own time. Give us patience in expectation, till that time come. The Unrighteous, as Pharas was, are more in the way of thy mercy, when thou keepest thy plagues upon them, to soften their hearts, than when thou takest them off. Oh! let us not envy them for that ease, which har∣dens

sinners, and is their greatest un∣happiness. They are kept up with suc∣cesses, for full tryal of thy servants patience; and, if they will not re∣pent thereof, to* 1.6 fill up the measure of their own wickedness.* 1.7 Let us there∣fore learn therein, Gracious Lord, to adore thy forbearance, and to imitate the same, not to repine at it: And to finish the work of our own patience, that* 1.8 patience may have its perfect work in us.

And however it passes here on earth, O! God, yet we are assured that at the Great Day, the Judge of all the World will do exact Justice. The wicked shall then be eternally punish∣ed, for all their prosperous wicked∣ness: And the Just shall be everla∣stingly recompensed, for all the suf∣ferings which they have endured, and for all the losses which they have su∣stained, in adhering to the ways of Righteousness. Oh! therefore, bles∣sed Lord! that we may ever detest all wickedness, & carefully keep off from it, even when here we see it most pros∣perous. And steadfastly reverence the ways of Duty and Righteousness, and

stick to them, even when we see them labouring under the Cross▪ and born down with cruel Oppressions. Oh! that we may see, and believe assured∣ly, that although we do not live to see the prosperity of the ungodly turn∣ed into punishments, and the suffer∣ings of thy Saints, exchanged for Crowns and Glories, in this world; yet we shall certainly see the same ful∣filled in both to the uttermost, in ano∣ther world. Where, Lord, grant that I may have my Place of Ease, what∣ever Troubles I meet with here, for my Dear Saviour Jesus Christ's sake Amen.

Notes

• * 1.1

  2 Tim. 2. 3.
• * 1.2

  Act. 5. 41.
• * 1.3

  Rom. 12. 12.
• * 1.4

  Pro. 24. 19. 20.
• * 1.5

  Pro. 23. 17.
• * 1.6

  Matth. 23. 32.
• * 1.7

  Gen. 15. 16.
• * 1.8

  Ja. 1. 4.