Psal. xxii.

John xv.

tion: our vows will we perform in the sight of them that fear thee.

And all the ends of the world shall remember themselves, and be turned unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before him.

Glory be to the Father. &c.

As it was in the beginning. &c.

After the Psalm, the prayer following shall be said by the Minister alone, with a high voice. At saying whereof, the people shall devoutly give ear, and shall both with mind and speech to themselves assent to the same prayer.

The prayer.

ALMIGHTY and everliving God, our heavenly Father, we thy disobedient and rebellious children, now by thy just judgment sore afflicted, and in great danger to be oppressed, by thine and our sworn and most deadly enemies, the Turks, Infidels, and miscreants, do make humble suit to the throne of thy grace, for thy mercy and aid against the same our mortal enemies. For though we do profess the name of thy only Son Christ our Saviour, yet through our manifold sins and wickedness we have most justly deserved so much of thy wrath and indignation, that we can not but say: O Lord, correct us in thy mercy, and not in thy fury. And better it is for us to fall into thy hands, than into the hands of men, and especially into the hands of Turks and Infidels, thy professed enemies, who now invade thine inheritance. Against thee (O Lord) have we sinned, and transgressed thy commandments: Against Turks, Infidels, and other enemies of the Gospel of thy dear Son Jesus Christ have we not offended, but only in this, that we acknowledge thee, the eternal Father, and thy only Son our redeemer, with the Holy Ghost, the comforter, to be one only true, almighty, and everliving God. For if we would deny and blaspheme thy most holy name, forsake the Gospel of thy dear Son, embrace false religion, commit horrible Idolatries, and give ourselves to all impure, wicked, and abominable life, as they do; the devil, the world, the Turk, and all other thine enemies would be at peace with us, according to the saying of thy Son Christ: If you were of the world, the world would love his own. But therefore hate they us, because we love thee; therefore perse

cute they us, because we acknowledge thee God the Father, and Jesus Christ thy Son, whom thou hast sent. The Turk goeth about to set up, to extol, and to magnify that wicked monster and damned soul Mahumet, above thy dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ, whom we in heart believe, and with mouth confess to be our only saviour and redeemer. Wherefore awake, O Lord our God and heavenly Father, and with thy fatherly and merciful countenance look upon us thy children, and all such Christians, as are now by those most cruel enemies invaded and assaulted: overthrow and destroy thine and our enemies, sanctify thy blessed name among us, which they blaspheme, establish thy kingdom, which they labour to overthrow: suffer not thine enemies to prevail against those that now call upon thy name and put their trust in thee, lest the Heathen and Infidels say: Where is now their GOD? But in thy great mercy save, defend, and deliver all thy afflicted Christians, in this and all other invasions of these infidels, and give to the Emperor1 thy servant, and all the Christian army now assembled with him, thy comfortable might and courage, that we and they that delight to be named Christians, may enjoy both outward peace, and inwardly laud, praise, and magnify thy holy name for ever, with thy only Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, to whom be all laud, praise, glory and empire for ever and ever. Amen.

This prayer to be said at Evening prayer, immediately after the Collect of the day.

O LORD God of hosts, most righteous Judge, and most merciful Father: These dreadful dangers and distresses wherein other Christian men our brethren and neighbours do now stand, by reason of the terrible invasions of most cruel and deadly enemies the Turks, Infidels, and miscreants, do set before our eyes a terrible example of our own worthy deserts, by our continual sinning and offending against thy great majesty and most severe justice; and do also put us in remembrance, here in this our Realm of England, of our most deserved thanks for our great tranquillity, peace, and

[ Maximilian II. lay then encamped in the vicinity of Raab, with the main body of his army, to watch the motions of the Turks, who, under Solyman, again entered Hungary in the spring of 1566. Coxe's House of Austria, Vol. 1, p. 322.]

quietness, which we by thy high benefit, and preservation of our peaceable Prince, whom thou hast given us, do enjoy: Whiles others in the like or less offences, than ours are against thy majesty, are by thy righteous judgments so terribly scourged, these thy fatherly mercies do set forth thy unspeakable patience which thou usest towards us thy ingrate children, as well in the same thy gracious benefits of such our peace and tranquillity, as in thy wholesome warnings of us by thy just punishments of others, less offenders than we be. For the which thy great benefits bestowed upon us without all our deserving, as we praise thy Fatherly goodness towards us so being stricken in our minds with great dread of thy just vengeance, for that we do so little regard the great riches of thy Fatherly goodness and patience towards us, we most humbly beseech thee to grant us thy heavenly grace, that we continue no longer in the taking of thy manifold graces and goodness in vain. And upon deep compassion of the dreadful distresses of our brethren and neighbours the Christians, by the cruel and most terrible invasions of these most deadly enemies the Turks; we do make and offer up our most humble and hearty prayers before the throne of thy grace, for the mitigation of thy wrath, and purchase of thy pity and fatherly favour towards them and not only towards them, but to us also by them; forsomuch as our danger or safety doth follow upon success of them: Grant them and us thy grace, O most merciful Father, that we may rightly understand, and unfeignedly confess our sins against thy majesty, to be the very causes of this thy just scourge, and our misery: grant us true and hearty repentance of all our sins against thee, that, the causes of thy just offence being removed, the effects of these our deserved miseries may withal be taken away. Give to thy poor Christians, O Lord God of hosts, strength from heaven, that they, neither respecting their own weakness and paucity, nor fearing the multitude and fierceness of their enemies, or their dreadful cruelty, but setting their eyes and only hope and trust upon thee, and calling upon thy name, who art the giver of all victory, may by thy power obtain victory against the infinite multitudes and fierceness of thine enemies, that all men understanding the same to be the act of thy grace, and not the deed of man's might and power, may give unto thee all the praise

and glory and specially thy poor Christians (by thy strong hand) being delivered out of the hands of their enemies, we for their and our own safety with them may yield and render unto thee all lauds, praises, and thanks, through thy Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost, one eternal God of most sacred majesty, be all praise, honour and glory, world without end. Amen.

Or this Collect of the Litany following.

O ALMIGHTY God, king of all kings, and governour of all things, whose power no creature is able to resist, to whom it belongeth justly to punish sinners, and to be merciful to them. that truly repent: save and deliver us (we humbly beseech thee) from the hands of our enemies: abate their pride, asswage their malice, and confound their devices, that we, being armed with thy defence, may be preserved evermore from all perils, to glorify thee, which art the only giver of all victory, through the merits of thy only Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

¶ Psalms which may be sung or said before the beginning or after the ending of public prayer, or before and after Sermons.

ii. iii. vii, x. xi. xxii. unto the end of these words:

In the mids of the congregation will I praise thee.

xxvii. xlvi. lii. lvi. lxx. lxxiiii. lxxxiii. xci. xciiii. cxxi. cxxiii. cxl.

IMPRINTED AT LONdon in Powles Churchyarde by Richarde Iugge, and Iohn Ca

wood, Printers to the Queenes

Maieftie.

Cum priuilegio Regia Maieftatis.

XI.

¶ THE PRAYER'.

O MOST mighty God, the Lord of hosts, the governour of all creatures, the only giver of all victories, who alone art able to strengthen the weak against the mighty, and to vanquish infinite multitudes of thine enemies with the countenance of a few of thy servants calling upon thy name, and trusting in thee: Defend, O Lord, thy servant, and our governour under thee, our Queen Elizabeth, and all thy people committed to her charge. O Lord, withstand the cruelty of all those which be common enemies as well to the truth of thy eternal word, as to their own natural prince and country, and manifestly to this crown and Realm of England, which thou hast of thy divine providence assigned in these our days to the government of thy servant, our sovereign, and gracious Queen. O most merciful Father, if it be thy holy will, make soft and tender the stony hearts of all those that exalt themselves against thy truth, and seek either to trouble the quiet of this Realm of England, or to oppress the crown of the same; and convert them to the knowledge of thy Son the only saviour of the world, Jesus Christ, that we and they may jointly glorify thy mercies. Lighten, we beseech thee, their ignorant hearts, to embrace the truth of thy word; or else so abate their cruelty (0 most mighty Lord), that this our Christian region, with others that confess thy holy gospel, may obtain by thine aid and strength surety from all enemies, without shedding of christian blood, whereby all they which be oppressed with their tyranny may be relieved, and they which be in fear of their cruelty may be comforted and finally, that all christian Realms, and specially this Realm of England, may by thy defence and protection continue in the truth of the Gospel, and enjoy perfect peace, quietness, and security; and that we for these thy mercies

[See p. 476. This prayer, and the fourth part of the 'Homilie against disobedience and wylfull rebellion,' were appended to a Form of prayer, which Charles the first caused to be printed at Oxford in 1643 by the university printer, Leonard Lichfield, for a solemne Fast the second Friday in every moneth, beginning on the tenth day of November."]