The Prayer.

O Lord thou art a righteous Iudge, and thy justice is so essential to thée, [Ver. 1] that thou canst no more defrand thy servants of thy promised comforts, nor let the wicked escape unpunished in their sins, than deny thy self to be God. Thou art upright in thy judgments, even in those stripes thy children receive, and in all those plagues the wicked receive at thy hands. O Lord we confesse that for our sins we justly have deserved to receive those blowes, and yet we comfort our selves in this, that these chastisements are to be but temporal, whereas the stripes of the wicked are like to be eternal. They may escape thy anger and flourish here, but they shall never flye from the wrath to come.

Now from this eternal justice which is in thée, hath procéeded thy Law, which is a Law of equity, for the testimonies which thou hast commanded, [Ver. 2] are exceeding righteous, a Law of truth having no admi•tion of vanity or falshood, [ 4] a law of purity, the finest gold purged from the drosse is not purer, [ 5] a perpetu∣al and eternal law, that to all men, and at all times prescribes their duty. [ 3] Put then, O Lord, into my heart a zeal, a love to this Law, [ 4] let me never forget it, but take my delight in it, [ 5] even then when trouble and heavinesse have taken hold on me. [ 6]

It is not unknown unto thée, how I have béen consumed with grief, and in∣flamed with anger, because ungodly men have forgotten thy words, [Ver. 3] this they laugh at, for this they despise me, [ 5] but their milice doth but increase my love to thy Law, and their contempt quicken me in the memory of thy promises. [ 8] O give me an understanding heart, and an inflamed soul to thy truth, and so I shall live quietly in the midst of my calamities, and chearfully end my dayes in thy sear, and by thy favour be brought at last to a safe harbour in heaven by Iesus Christ my only Lord and Saviour. Amen.