4 A PRA1ER. 



of all men. If any have been my enemies, I thought 

 not of them ; neither hath the sun almost set upon 

 my displeasure ; but I have been as a dove, free 

 from superfluity of maliciousness. Thy creatures 

 have been my books, but thy Scriptures much more. 

 I have sought thee in the courts, fields, and gardens, 

 but I have found thee in thy temples. 



Thousands have been my sins, and ten thousands 

 my transgressions ; but thy sanctifications have re 

 mained with me, and my heart, through thy grace, 

 hath been an unquenched coal upon thine altar. O 

 Lord, my strength, I have since my youth met with 

 thee in all my ways, by thy fatherly compassions, by 

 thy comfortable chastisements, and by thy most visi 

 ble providence. As thy favours have increased upon 

 me, so have thy corrections ; so as thou hast been 

 always near me, O Lord ; and ever as my worldly 

 blessings were exalted, so secret darts from thee 

 have pierced me ; and when I have ascended before 

 men, I have descended in humiliation before thee. 

 And now, when I thought most of peace and honour, 

 thy hand is heavy upon me, and hath humbled me 

 according to thy former loving- kindness, keeping me 

 still in thy fatherly school, not as a bastard, but as a 

 child. Just are thy judgments upon me for my sins, 

 which are more in number than the sands of the sea, 

 but have no proportion to thy mercies ; for what are 

 the sands of the sea, earth, heavens, and all these are 

 nothing to thy mercies. Besides my innumerable 

 sins, I confess before thee, that I am debtor to thee 

 for the gracious talent of thy gifts and graces, which 



