The Prayer collected out of the sixty third Psalm.
O God, [Ver. 1] thou art my God, the God whom I only serve, that God whom I have alwayes found propitious unto me; therefore even before the morn∣ing light, I will awake, and séek thée; I am at this time banished, and for∣ced to dwell in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; yet the want of neces∣sary relief doth not so much afflict me, as the want of thy presence; after thée therefore I thirst, to thée I sigh, of thée I more attentively meditate, than of any bodily sustenance.
It is the grief of my heart, that I cannot be present to hear thy holy Word, to offer up my supplications before thée, [Ver. 2] to receive the Seals of thy love, and my salvation, in the Assemblies of thy Saints; there I was wont to behold thy power in thy Sanctuary; [Ver. 5] I did contemplate thy glory, and my mouth shall be satisfied, as it were, with marrow and fatness, even with the chiefest delights, might I be again restored to those spiritual comforts in thy house.
My life is not so dear unto me, as is thy loving-kindness, that kindness which I was wont to enjoy in thy presence; [Ver. 3] bring me then back again to thy Sanctuary, [Ver. 5] and my lips shall praise thee: Thus will I bless thée whil'st I live, and with the invocation of thy Name in prayer I will lift up my hands unto thée, [ 6] begging help and grace of none but thée, who art my Gracious, Merci∣ful, [ 5] and Almighty God: This I account the joy of my heart, and for this, my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips.
And yet being where I am, in a desolate Wilderness, in a thirsty and dry Page 167land, I will remember thee in my Bed, Morning, [ 6] and in the Night-season I will meditate upon thee, and not without great reason; for thou alwayes hast béen my help: Thou hast protected me, as the Hen doth her Chickens under her feathers; and therefore under the shadow of thy wings will I rejoyce. [ 7] My soul, out of the consideration of thy power and goodness, shall cleave unto thée, and follow hard after thee; and I am perswaded, [ 8] that I shall not be frustrate of my hope, for in all my dangers hitherto, thy right hand hath uphold∣en me.
This is my hope, this is my confidence. I doubt not therefore, [ 9] but that all those that seek after my life to destroy it, shall quickly perish, and be brought to the power of death, or to the lower parts of the earth: And many of them, as they have sought to shed my blood, have their own blood let out by the edge of the Sword, and their bodies being unburied, [ 10] torn and devoured by Birds of prey, and Beasts of rapine and cruelty.
O Lord, let the King, séeing the vengeance which thou wilt take of his ene∣mies, rejoyce in thee, in thy help, in thy salvation: And let all those who re∣ligiously serve thée, and truly fear an Oath, glory in thee, [ 11] and make their boast of thée, especially when they shall sée, That the mouth of all those that have spoken lyes against thy people, and by perjury oppressed and undone them, shall be stopped by an immature death, and made an example to others, that they do no more so wickedly, nor any more calumniate thy people, that serve thée with an honest and sincere heart. Amen.
