our strength. O never suffer us to forsake thee, and we know thou wilt never forsake us. Let not the devil circumvent us by his frauds and deceits; nor ever glory that he has prevailed over us: arm us both against the terrors and flatteries of the world, and all the dangers of our passions and concupiscences. And whatever trials thou art pleased to send us, let thy supporting grace ever carry us through them, with advantage to our souls. That by thy favour and mercy, we may be faithful unto death, and so receive the crown of life.
But deliver us from evil.
O Sovereign Goodness, the fountain of all our good, deliver us from all our evils: from our sins and the punishments we deserve for them; from wars, plagues, famine and such like scourges, which thy justice and our impenitence give us too much reason to apprehend are hanging over our heads: from heresy and schism, and all that blindness of soul which self-conceit and pride expose us to: in fine, from a hardened heart, from final impenitence, and everlasting damnation. From all these evils, for thy own goodness’ sake, O Lord, deliver us.
Fifteen Meditations
ON THE PASSION OF OUR SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST.
O GOOD and gracious Jesus! who, being most high in the glory of thy Father, and of one essence with him, didst vouchsafe, of thy infinite love, to be made man, to be born in a stable, to be laid in a manger, to be circumcised, and to fly into Egypt; afterwards to be baptized, to be tempted, to fast, to