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IX.

A SHORT FORM of Thanksgiving TO GOD for the delivery of the Isle of Malta from the invasion and long siege thereof by the great army of the Turks both by sea and land, and for sundry other victories lately obtained' by the christians against the said Turks, to be used in the common prayer within the province of Canterbury, on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, for the space of six weeks next ensuing the receipt hereof.

Set forth by the most Reverend father in God, Matthew by God's providence Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of all England and Metropolitan.

Psalm 50.

Call upon me in the day of trouble; so will I deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

After the end of the Collect in the Litany which beginneth with these words: We humbly beseech thee, O Father. &c. shall follow this Psalm to be said of the minister, with the answer of the people.

We praise thee, O Lord, with our whole hearts, and we will speak of thy marvellous works.

We will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will sing praises unto thy name, O most high.

For that our enemies are turned back, are fallen and perished at thy presence.

For that thou hast rebuked the heathen, and destroyed the wicked, and brought their destruction to an end.

Thou hast been a refuge for the poor, a refuge in due time, even in affliction.

Thou hast delivered us from our strong enemy, and from them that hated us, for they were too strong for us.

We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, and done wickedly.

Nevertheless the Lord hath saved us for his name's sake, that he might make his power to be known.

O our deliverer from our enemies, even thou hast set us

['No doubt, in Hungary (see p. 527), which Solyman the magnificent had himself invaded with another army.]

up from them that rose against us: thou hast delivered us from the cruel man.

Great deliverance hast thou given us, and shewed us great mercy in the day of our calamity.

Though we said in our haste, we were cast out of thy sight, yet thou heardest the voice of our prayer, when we cried unto thee.

Thou rememberedst us in our base estate, and rescuedst us from our oppressors.

O God, the proud were risen against us, and the assemblies of violent men sought our souls, and did not set thee before

their eyes.

They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them altogether, there is no help for them in God.

If the Lord had not been on our side, may we now say: if the Lord had not been on our side, when Infidels rose up against us;

They had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us.

But praised be the Lord, which hath not given us as a prey unto their teeth, nor suffered our enemies to triumph

over us.

Let us therefore confess before the Lord his loving kindness, and his wonderful works before the sons of men.

Let us exalt him in the congregation of the people, and Psal. 72.2 praise him in the assembly of the Elders.

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which only doth wondrous things,

and blessed be the name of his majesty for ever. Amen. Amen.

After this Psalm shall be said by the minister openly, and with an high voice, the Collect following.

The Collect.

O HEAVENLY and most merciful Father, the defender of those that put their trust in thee, the sure fortress of all them that flee to thee for succour : who of thy most just judgments for our disobedience against thy holy word, and for our sinful and wicked living, nothing answering to our holy profession, which hath been an occasion that thy holy name hath been

[The margin is somewhat damaged, so that the other references have disappeared.]

blasphemed emonges the heathen, hast of late most sharply corrected and scourged our christian brethren thy servants with terrible wars and dreadful invasions of most deadly and cruel enemies, Turks and Infidels: But now of thy fatherly pity and merciful goodness, without any desert of ours, even for thine own name's sake, hast, by thy assistance given to divers Christian princes and potentates, at length, when all our hope was almost past, dispersed and put to confusion those Infidels, being thine and our mortal enemies, and graciously delivered thy afflicted and distressed Christians in the Isle of Malta and sundry other places in Christendom, to the glory and praise of thy name, and to the exceeding comfort of all sorrowful Christian hearts: We render unto thee most humble and hearty thanks for these thy great mercies shewed to them that were thus afflicted and in danger; we laud and praise thee, most humbly beseeching thee to grant unto all those that profess thy holy name, that we may shew ourselves in our living thankful to thee for these and all other thy benefits: Endue us (O Lord) and all other Christian people with thy heavenly grace, that we may truly know thee, and obediently walk in thy holy commandments, lest we again provoke thy just wrath against us: Continue thy great mercies towards us, and as in this, so in all other invasions of Turks and Infidels, save and defend thy holy Church, that all posterities ensuing may continually confess thy holy name, praising and magnifying thee with thy only Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, to whom be all laud, praise, glory and empire, for ever and ever. Amen.

(Emprynted at London by Wyllyam Seres, dwellinge at the west end of Paules, at the sygne of the Hedgehogge.

Cum priuilegio ad imprimendum solum.

Anno. 1565.

A FORM to be used in common prayer, every Sunday, Wed- x.
nesday, and Friday, through the whole Realm: To
excite and stir all godly people to pray unto God
for the preservation of those Christians and their Coun-
tries, that are now invaded by the Turk in Hungary,
or elsewhere.

Set forth by the most Reverend father in God, Matthew, Archbishop of
Canterbury, by the authority of the Queen's Majesty.

The Preface.

WHERE as the Turks the last year most fiercely assailing the Isle of Malta, with a great army and navy, by the grace and assistance of Almighty God (for the which we with other Christians at that time by our hearty prayers made most humble suit) were from thence repelled and driven, with their great loss, shame and confusion; they, being inflamed with malice and desire of vengeance, do now by land invade the kingdom of Hungary (which hath of long time been as a most strong wall and defence to all Christendom) far more terribly and dreadfully, and with greater force and violence, than they did either the last year, or at any time within the remembrance of man: It is our parts, which for distance of place cannot succour them with temporal aid of men, to assist them at the least with spiritual aid, that is to say, with earnest, hearty, and fervent prayer to Almighty God for them, desiring him, after the examples of Moses, Josaphat, Ezechias, and other godly men, in his great mercy to defend, preserve, and deliver Christians, professing his holy name, and to give sufficient might and power to the Emperor's excellent Majesty, as God's principal minister, to repress the rage and violence of these Infidels, who by all tyranny and cruelty labour utterly to root out not only true religion, but also the very name and memory of Christ our only Saviour, and all Christianity. And forsomuch as if the Infidels, who have already a great part of that most goodly and strong kingdom in their possession, should prevail wholly against the same (which God forbid) all the rest of Christendom should lie as it were naked and open to the incursions and invasions of the said savage and most cruel enemies the Turks, to the most dreadful danger of whole Christendom; all diligence, heartiness, and fervency is so much the more now to be used in our prayers for God's aid, how far greater the danger and peril is now, than before it was. And although it is every Christian man's duty, of his own devotion to pray at all times: yet for that the corrupt nature of man is so slothful and negligent in this his duty, he hath need by often 'and sundry means to be stirred up, and put in remembrance of his duty.

Exod. xvii.

ii. Para. xx.

iiii. Reg. xIx.

For the effectual accomplishment whereof, it is ordered and appointed as followeth.

First, that all Parsons and Curates shall exhort their parishioners to endeavour themselves to come unto the Church, with as many of their family, as may be spared from their necessary business: And they to resort thither, not only upon Sundays and holidays, but also upon Wednesdays and Fridays, during this dangerous and perilous time: exhorting them there reverently and godly to behave themselves, and with penitent minds, kneeling on their knees, to lift up their hearts, and pray to the merciful God to turn from us, and all Christendom, those plagues and punishments, which we and they through our unthankfulness and sinful lives have deserved.

Secondly, that the said Parsons and Curates shall then distinctly and plainly read the general confession appointed in the book of Service, with the residue of the Morning prayer, unto the first lesson.

Then for the first Lesson shall be read one of the Chapters hereafter following, or so much thereof as is appointed.

Exod. xiiii. Exod. xvii. beginning at these words: Then came Amelech and fought with Israel. &c. Josue x. Unto these words: And laid great stones on the Cave's mouth, which remain until this day. Judges vii. i kyng xvii. iiii kyng vii. iiii kyng xix. The second of the Chronicles, or Paralipomenon xx. Unto these words: And his God gave him rest on every side. Act. xii.

After that, instead of Te Deum laudamus, that is to say: We praise thee, O God: shall be said the li. Psalm: Have mercy upon me, O God. &c.

Then immediately after, upon Wednesdays and Fridays, shall be said the Creed. I believe in God. &c. And after that the accustomed prayers following, unto the end of the Morning prayer. And upon Sundays, the second Lessons shall be read, as they are ordinarily appointed with the rest of the Morning prayer.

That done, the Litany shall be said in the mids of the people, unto the end of the Collect in the same Litany, which beginneth with these words: We humbly beseech thee, O Father. &c. And then shall follow one of these Psalms in their order, to be said of the Minister according to the order of the days, with the answer of the people.

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