King Charles I - Eikon Basilike (A Prayer in Time of Captivity) lyrics

A PRAYER in time of Captivitie. O Powerfull and Eternall God! to whom nothing is so great, that it may resist; or so small, that it is contemned; look upon my miserie with thine eye of mercy, and let Thine infinite power vouchsafe to limit out some proportion of deliverance unto me, as to Thee shall seem most convenient; let not Injurie, O Lord, triumph over me; and let my faults by thy hand be corrected; and make not my unjust Enemies the ministers of thy Justice: But yet my God, if in thy Wisdom this be the aptest chastisement for my unexcusable transgressions; if this ingratefull bondage be fittest for my over-high deserts; if the pride of my (not enough humble) heart be thus to be broken, O Lord, I yeeld unto thy will, and cheerfully embrace what sorrow thou wilt have me suffer: Onely thus much let me crave of thee, (let my craving, O Lord, be accepted of, since it even proceeds from thee) That by thy Goodnesse, which is thy Self, thou wilt suffer some beam of thy Majestie so to shine in my minde, that I, who in my greatest Afflictions acknowledge it my noblest Title to be thy Creature, may still depend confidently on Thee. Let Calamity be the exercise, but not the overthrow of my Vertue. [page 274] O let not their prevailing power be to my destruction. And if it be thy will that they more and more vex me with punishment; yet O Lord, never let their wickednesse have such a hand, but that I may still carry a pure mind, and stedfast resolution ever to serve thee without fear or presumption; yet with that humble Confidence which may best please thee; so that at the last I may come to thy eternall Kingdom through the merits of thy Son our alone Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.