life and uprightness of heart. Grant this (0 most loving and merciful Father) for thy dear Son's sake Jesus Christ, our Lord and only Saviour. Amen. Another. O ALMIGHTY and eternal God, Creator and Governor of the whole world, unto whom all power belongeth over all creatures both in heaven and earth, and by whom alone it is, that not only all Kings and Princes do rule and govern the people committed to their charge, but are likewise by thy divine providence and mighty protection defended and delivered, even in the midst of all their perils and dangers, out of the hands of all their enemies: We yield unto thee most humble and hearty thanks, for that it hath pleased thy gracious goodness, according to thine accustomed favour towards her, still to preserve and defend thy well-beloved Handmaid and our most gracious Queen Elizabeth from all the wicked conspiracies, traitorous attempts, and devilish devices, which either the foreign and professed enemies abroad, or else her most unloyal, desperate, and rebellious subjects at home, were able at any time to devise and practise against her. But especially (O Lord) at this time, as just occasion is offered unto us all, we all even from the bottom of our hearts praise thy holy name, and give thee most hearty and unfeigned thanks for this thy late and most happy delivery of her Majesty's most royal person from those desperate treasons, which were most wickedly invented, and cruelly attempted against her most humbly beseeching thee, of thine infinite goodness and mercy, still to continue thy fatherly protection over her, daily to increase and multiply thy heavenly blessings and graces upon her. Be thou ever unto her (O Lord God of hosts) even a strong rock and tower of defence against the face of all her enemies, which either openly abroad, or secretly at home, go about to bring her life unto the grave, and lay her honour in the dust. Disclose their wicked counsels, and make frustrate all their devilish practices, in such sort, as that all the world may learn and know, that there is no counsel, no wisdom, no policy against the Lord. Let them fall into the ditch which they have digged for others, and be taken in their own nets but let her Majesty (O Lord) ever escape them, that all the world may see how dear and precious in thy sight the life of this thine anointed is, who doth not so much as imagine this evil against them that thus continually thirst after her blood; and so behold her with thine eye of pity and compassion, daily with thy mighty power and stretched out arm so save and deliver her from all her enemies, preserve and keep her as the apple of thine own eye, and grant unto her (O most merciful Father) a long, prosperous, and happy reign over us, and so prolong her days as the days of heaven here upon earth, that she may be an old mother in Israel, and see her desire upon all thine and her enemies, though in number never so many, or in power never so mighty. And finally, after this life, give unto her everlasting life, through Jesus Christ thine only Son, and our only Saviour. Another. O MOST gracious God and our most loving and merciful Father, which hast not only created us and all things by thy power, but hast also continued our preservation by thy holy providence, therein working wonderfully, revealing things hidden and secret, as thou dost discover the bottoms and foundations of the deep: that though our foes have taken wicked counsels together, saying, None shall be able to espy it; yet thou hast opened them, and brought them. out of darkness into light for thou art God alone, which destroyest the wisdom of the wise, and castest away the understanding of the prudent, and defeatest the executions of the malignant therefore do we worship thee, and praise thy holy name, rejoicing continually in thy strength and thy salvation; for thou art the glory of our power, and by thy favour and loving kindness are we preserved. Our shield and defence belongeth to thee (O Lord of hosts), and our gracious prince to thee, O thou Holy One of Israel. Thou (O Lord) hast preserved her honour from the ignominy, her life from the cruelty, and her crown from the tyranny of the wicked, her estate from ruin, her peace from disturbance, her kingdom and her people from being a prey to the malignant. The foot of pride ha th come against us, but the hand of iniquity hath not cast us down: Therefore do we rejoice before thee, and be glad in thee, yea, our songs do we make of thy name, O thou most Highest, and will be ever setting forth thy praise and thy glory, thy might, and thy mercy from one generation to another. Only, O Lord, forsake us not in this time of our age, but give courage and constancy to our Sovereign to persevere in perils: prudence and wisdom to her Council, wisely to foresee and discover the subtile sleights and dangers of all enemies: faithfulness and fortitude to the Nobles of the land, duty and obedience to us all that are under her. Forgive also, we most humbly pray thee, through thy fatherly kindness in Jesus Christ, the multitude of our sins and transgressions against thy divine Majesty, and thy commandments, and according to the multitude of thy mercies do away all our offences, that the light and candle of thy servant Elizabeth our gracious Queen and Governor, which is our life in the light of thy countenance, and the breath of our nostrils, be not put out, but may still shine and burn bright, illumined by the beams of thy heavenly grace. Protect her (O Lord), we still beseech thee, in safety, save her in majesty, keep her in peace, guide her in counsel, and defend her in danger: bless her, Lord, in all temporal and celestial blessings in Christ, that she may still bless thee. Detect and reveal still the foundations and buildings of all treasons and conspiracies both at home and abroad; and herein (O Lord) either convert the wicked hearts and secret conceits from their wicked imaginations, or confound their devices, and make them as the untimely fruit, that they never see the Sun. Hear, Lord, and save us, O King of heaven, when we call upon thee; and so shall we all, both Prince and people, dwell still under the shadow of thy wings, protected by thy power, and preserved by thy providence, and ordered by thy governance, to thy everlasting praise, and our unspeakable comfort in Jesus Christ, to whom with thee, O Father and God of all consolation, and the Holy Spirit of sanctification, be all honour and glory both now and for ever. Amen. Another. Most gracious God, which by thy word appointedst man to rule thy other creatures, but in wisdom hast lifted up Kings and Princes to command and rule men in their several places: We the people of thy choice, and the subjects of this land, heartily acknowledge thy especial providence in anointing over us so gracious a Princess, so careful of thy glory, so religious in thy fear, so tender of our good, and yet so maligned and shot at by the enemies of thy Gospel, both foreign professed rebels, and homeborn unloyal and discontented runagates, as, were not thy mercy her shield of defence, and thy power the sword of her revenge, long since they had brought her life to the grave, and laid our honour in the dust: Of late especially having prepared and applied very near the sacred body of her royal Majesty a most deadly poison, the purpose strangely thou didst reveal, and the practice mightily thou didst defeat: For which exceeding kindness, most loving Father, we on our knees and from our hearts do give thee thanks, and desire the assistance of thy grace for the amendment of our lives, and the repentance of our sins, which are more deadly than any poison to infect us, and more strong than any foe to overthrow us, and the only motives of thy wrath against us, which if thou canst not but execute upon us, our crying sins so calling for thy vengeance, yet, gracious Lord, enter not so far in just revenge as to quench the light of our land, our most Sovereign Queen, lest the enemies of thy Gospel, her prosperity, and our welfare, take occasion thereby to triumph and say, that thou hast forsaken us; but rather, we humbly beseech thee, prosper her days and prolong her life, and renew her years to the advancement of thy glory, the amazement of the foe, and the establishing of our peace by Jesus Christ thy only Son, and our only Saviour. To whom, &c. Another. ETERNAL God, which createdst all men after thy likeness, but hast advanced Kings more like thyself in places of government, and to that end hast both anointed them with thy Holy oil above others, and also laid a curse upon them which touch thine anointed: We render unto thee, in all dutiful service, most hearty thanks for thy continual protection of our sacred Prince, Queen Elizabeth, whom as thou hast many times heretofore preserved from dangerous attempts plotted against her by malignant wretches, either frustrating their counsels, or preventing their executions, or revealing their intentions; so of late most strangely thou hast kept her from a danger not only intended, but practised; from a poison not only confected, but applied very near her; wherein as thou didst manifest thy power in quelling the Asp and the Basilisk, qualifying the deadly force of that dreadful compound, so didst thou shew thy mercy unto us of this land, who, if the Shepherd of Israel had been stroken, might be either confusedly scattered, or cruelly massacred. Good Lord, strike a sense of this thy powerful mercy into our hearts, from thence to fetch a sorrowful sighing for our sins, an carnest desire of amendment, and most entire unfeigned thanks to thee our gracious Preserver: But those priests of Baal, the hellish Chaplains of Antichrist, accursed runagates from their God and Prince, the bellows and fuel of these flagrant conspiracies, confound them in thy wrath, since thy Grace will not convert them, and that which thy power cannot work on them in defeating their enterprizes, let thy fury perform in revenge upon their persons; the rather, O Lord, because that most blasphemously they abuse thy holy Word for the furtherance of their devilish complots: But let our gracious Queen still reign and rule in despite of Rome, and Rheims', and Spain and Hell; preserve her government over us, unite our hearts to her, continue both her and our thankfulness to thyself, which blessest us daily with so many benefits. Hear us, O Lord, for Jesus Christ his sake. [A Seminary had been sometime established in this city. See p. 656, note 5.] |