University of Virginia Library

THE PRAIER OF HESTER, for the deliverance of her and her people.

In the xiiii. Chap. of Hester.

O mighty Lord, thou art our God, to thee for aid I crie,
To help a woman desolate, sith danger now is nie:
Even from my youth I oft have hard my predecessors tel,
That from amongst the nations all thou chosest Israell.
And chosest those our fathers were, from theirs that went before
To be thine owne and hast perform'd, thy promise evermore.
Now Lord we have committed sin, most grievous in thine eies,
Wherfore thou hast delivered us, unto our enemies.
Because that to their heathen gods, with worship we have gone,
Knowing that thou art God the Lord, the righteous Lord alone.
Yet not content, nor satisfied, with these our captives bands,
But with their Idols they themselves, have join'd & shaken hands
Quite to abolish and subvert, what thou appointed hast,
And this thine owne inheritance even utterly to waste.
To shut and stop the mouthes of those, that yeeld thee thanks and praise,
Thy glorious temples to defile, thine Altars up to raise:
And to induce the heathen folke, to laud their Idols might,
To magnifie a fleshly King, a man, a mortall wight.
Then let not such the Scepter sway, whose glorie is of nought,
Least they deride us when that we, to miserie are brought.
And those devises they have wrought, t'intangle us withall,
May turne unto their owne decay, and on their heads may fall.
Remember Lord, and shew thy selfe, to us in time of need,
And strengthen me thou King of kings, & Lord of power indeed.
Instruct my tongue with eloquence, my speaches to impart.
Before the Lions face, and by, thy wisdome turne his heart,
To hate our deadly enemie, so wholly bent to ill,
Destroy him, and al such as doo consent unto his will.
But let thy hand deliver us, and help and succour me,
Sith I am now left comfortlesse, and have no help but thee.
Thou know'st right well all things O Lord, & this thou knowest then,
I hate the glory and the pompe, of wicked sinful men,
And utterly detest the bed, of any heathen wight,
Uncircumcised, most unpure, and odious in thy sight:
Thou knowest my necessitie, and that with hate I beare
This token of preheminence, which on my head I weare.
And as a filthy menstruous cloath, I take thereof such shame,
As being by my selfe alone, I never weare the same.
And that at Hamans table yet, thy handmaid hath not fed,
Nor tooke delight in princes feast, nor drank wine offered,
And never joi'd in any thing, since first I hether came,
Until this day but in the Lord thou God of Abraham.
Oh thou the high and mightie God, heare thou the voice & crie
Of them, whose hope, whose trust and stay, only on thee doth lie.
And now in need deliver us, out of their cruell hand,
And from the dread and feare O Lord, wherin we dayly stand.