O Lord Zach. 12.10 prepare our hearts to Prayer and so assist us with thy holy Spirit of Prayer and Supplication Rom. 8.26 27. that our Prayers may be acceptable Rev. 8.3 4. and we may receive a gracious Answer in and for the sweet Incense and Merits of the Lord Jesus Christ our blessed Lord and Saviour Amen O eternal Deut. 32.27 most gratious merciful everlasting everliving Exod. 34.6 7. Jer. 10.11 1 Tim. 1.17 Isaiah 46.9 10. Rom. 8.28 Rom. 11.33 34 35 36. and only wise God who orderest all things according to the Counsel of thy own most just and holy Will and disposest of all for thy own eternal Glory and the eternal good of thy Church and Children in Christ Jesus of whom may we seek for Protection and safety of Soul or Body or any other blessing but of thee our God and heavenly Father in our Saviour Christ from whom cometh every good and perfect Gift James 1.17 with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning The last night we durst not lay down our eyes to sleep Psal 132.4 nor suffer the temples of our head to take any rest until we had begged thy gratious Providence for preservation of us and ours in particular and of thy whole Church in general And thou O blessed God who art the hearer of Prayer hast in thine abundant goodness heard our Prayer Psal 65.2 Psal 66.18 19 20. and brought us to the light of this day blessed be thy great and glorious Name thou mightest O Lord in thy Justice have consumed us by Fire to ashes Exod. 12.29 30. and made our Beds our Graves One or more of us might have been stricken with some terrible tormenting Sickness we might have been found dead in our Beds as many have been many other miseries might have befallen us But in thy great mercy thou hast spared us Lam. 3.22 23. and renewed thy mercies to us this Morning What shall we render to thy heavenly Majesty for thy Favours And now we dare not adventure into the World without intreating thy Protection and Blessing in and upon our just and lawful Endeavours We confess O Lord we are not worthy the least of all thy mercies Genesis 32.10 and thy loving-kindnesses which from time to time thou hast shewed to thy Servants We acknowledge we have not been sensible of that original corruption of our depraved Natures Eph. 2.1 2 3. and our proneness to Sin drawn from our first Parents corrupted by their lamentable Fall Genesis 3.6 7. Genesis 6.5 nor have we humbled our selves in sence of this our misery as we should have done we have not kept our Hearts with all diligence out of which are the issues of death Prov. 4.23 But our Hearts have followed our Eyes beholding Vanity Jer. 4.14 Psal 141.3 and vain thoughts have too long lodged within us We have not set a watch O Lord before our Lips and kept the doors of our Mouths but many idle unprofitable sinful words for which we must answer at the Day of Judgment have been uttered by us to thy dishonour Mat. 12.36 and evil example of others yea Eph. 4.4 29 30. too many times corrupt Communications to the grief of thy holy Spirit Psal 39.1 Psal 119.67 We have not taken heed to our Feet to walk in the right wayes of thee O Lord but gone aside from the Pathes of thy Commandements and so have been guilty of many actual transgressions both in thought word and deed breaking thy most righteous Lawes We have failed in the Duties of our several particular Relations as Husband to Wife and Wife to Husband Parents to Children and Children to Parents Masters or Dames to Servants and Servants to them not performing our Duties in the fear of God as we ought to have done We have not walked as becometh Christians towards others nor done as we would they should do to us according to that Golden Rule of our blessed Saviour Mat. 7.12 Phil. 1.27 So that by our good Conversation as becometh the Gospel of Christ others might have been stirred up to glorifie thee our heavenly Father Mat. 5.16 So that if thou shouldest enter into judgment with us O Lord Psal 143.2 how can we be justified by any our own righteousness in thy presence Phil. 3.9 10. O then behold us we humbly beseech thee in the face of thy Son Jesus Christ as washed clean by his Blood and accepted by his Merits Mat 3.17 He it is in whom thou art well pleased Acts 5.31 and him thou hast exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour to give Repentance to Israel and remission of Sins Psal 19.12 Oh give us true Repentance for all the Errours of our Lives past for Christ's sake and grant that being delivered out of the hands of all our Enemies Luke 1.74 75. we may serve thee without fear of them in righteousness and true holiness all the days of our lives Bless with us we pray thee all our Friends Psal 35.11 12 13 14. Mat. 5.11 and change the Hearts of our Enemies make them our Friends if it be thy will be gracious to our Children and Servants make our Children thy Children our Servants thy Servants Isa 41.8 and our Friends thy Friends Lev. 19.17 Let us reprove we pray thee and not give evil example Eph. 5.11 nor suffer our Children or Servants to be prophane Swearers or Cursers Lyars Drunkards or unjust Joh. 13.15 Psal 101.6 7. But grant that we may be good examples and that they may be faithful in the Land such as thy servant David would have make them religious like faithful Abraham's servant praying when they are sent about our occasions Lord send me good speed this day Genesis 24.12 that we and they may be blessed Bless with us thy universal Church scattered thorough out the whole World Be gracious we pray thee to the Nations of England Scotland and Ireland poure down thy blessings upon the Kings most excellent Majesty with his Royal Consort the Queen and all the Royal Family preserve Him and Them from all His 1 Tim. 2.1 2. Their and our Enemies Bless all the honourable Nobility the Reverend faithful Ministers of the Gospel in their several places with all the Magistrates Gentry and Commons of the Land and inable us thy humble servants rightly and justly to do our Duty to all our Superiours 1 Pet. 2.17 Inferiours and Equals and to this end increase we most humble intreat thy Majesty all necessary Graces in all our souls Give us we beseech thee a daily supply and increase of Divine Knowledge and heavenly Wisdome Lord increase our Faith Luk. 17.5 and give us such a Faith as purifieth the Heart Acts 15.9 and worketh by Loves Give us true Conversion from all our sins Gal. 5.6 2 Cor. 7.10 and Repentance to Salvation not to be
an especiall Gold-link of Love to bind love fast between husband and wife The fourteenth Gold-link of Love followeth The fourteenth Direction or Gold link of Love There ought to be a mutual care of and for Education of their Children which God hath graciously given unto them as Jacob spake to his Brother Esau Gen. 33.5 That they be taught and instructed both in civil and spiritual Respects both in divine and humane Learning according to the Honour and Dignity of their Places and Calling It is King Solomon's Counsel Prov. 22.6 Teach a Child in the way he should go and he will not depart from it when he is old Especially that they be seasoned with the Catechism and first principles of the Oracles of God Heb. 5.12 and the Knowledge of God's will in the Sacred Scriptures as blessed Timothy was for which St. Paul giveth that excellent Testimony you may read 2 Tim. 3.15 That from a Child he had known the holy Scriptures which are able to make us wise unto Salvation through Faith which is in Christ Jesus This is life eternal to know God the onely true God and whom he hath sent Jesus Christ John 17.3 For this care of instructing Children and Family the Lord himself commended faithful Abraham and maketh him of his secret Counsel Shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I do And he giveth this for one Reason For I know him saith the Lord that he will Command his Children and his Houshold after him to keep the way of the Lord to do Justice and Judgment that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him and his Posterity Gen. 18.19 Again this was God's Command to his People Israel That they should teach their Children diligently the Law and Word of the Lord and thou shalt talk of them when thou art in thy House and when thou walkest by the way and when thou risest up as it is recorded Deut. 6.6 7. and this no doubt with holy reverence and devotion as desirous to reveal God's mind to their Children and Family And Children are commanded to hearken to their Parents instruction Prov. 1.8 My Son hear the Instruction of thy Father and forget not the Law of thy Mother And again Prov. 31.1 you may find the words of King Lemuel the Prophecy which his Mother taught him To conclude the Apostle St. Paul Ephes 6.1 2 3 4. presseth the duty both of Children and Parents First Children obey your Parents in all things as it is fit in the Lord and honour thy Father and Mother which is the first Commandement with promise That it may be well with thee and thou mayest live long in the Land And Fathers provoke not your Children to wrath that they be not discouraged but bring them up in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord. Thus Children well instructed in the knowledge of God's mind may be a joy to Parents and Parents enjoy their Children as blessings from the Lord and behold them as Olive branches round about their Table to God's Glory Psal 128. and as the Pledges of their mutual Love to each other And this is an excellent Gold-link of Love to preserve and keep mutual Conjugal Love between Husband and Wife The fifteenth Direction The fifteenth Direction or Gold-link of Love or Gold-link of Love is That the Husband and Wife according to their duty do live together and not seperate the one from the other except with consent for a time upon most necessary occasions or that they may give themselves to Fasting and Prayer and come together again that Satan tempt them not as St. Paul directeth 1 Cor. 7.5 That so living lovingly together as heirs of the Grace of life they may be mutual Helpers to each other in these Conjugal Duties This Rule St. Peter giveth 1 Pet. 3.7 Husbands dwell with your Wives as men of Knowledge And St. Paul 1 Cor. 7.13 If a woman that believeth hath a husband that believeth not or is not a Christian yet if he please to dwell with her let her not leave him but continue that she may be a help to him for his Soul as well as for his Body and Estate When God did make the woman The Lord God said It is not good for man to be alone I will make him a help meet for him Gen. 2 18. And a good wife will be a Helper for good not a hinderance to her husband God did make the woman to be a second-self Mr. Ainsworth in Gen. 2. like him in nature knit to him in Love needful for Children helpful in all Duties present always with him and so very meer and profitable as a joyful Companion in all estates in adversity as well as in Prosperity in Sickness as well as in Health in Poverty as well as in a rich Estate This requireth cohabitation That the wife leave not the husband nor the husband forsake the wife Because this unjust and unchristian forsaking of husband or wife for light differences for any thing less then that which is a sufficient ground for a lawful Divorce by the Law of God This giveth occasion of sin abateth love and cannot expect a blessing from God yea this too often doth break off Love betwixt Husband and Wife when cohabitation doth preserve Conjugal Love and will do if they live in the fear of God and follow his Directions to the end The sixteenth Direction The sixteenth Direction or or Gold-link of Love or Gold-link of Love to bind love fast and prevent sinful Breaches betwixt husband and wife is for both to learn that first lesson of a Christian which our Saviour taught his Disciples Math. 16.24 They must sometimes deny themselves that is their own wills and desires passions and affections bridle rash anger and over-rule their passions yea their right sometimes for quietness sake they must not be both self-willed nor both angry at once or at the same time King Solomon witnesseth That he that is stow to Anger is better then the Mighty and he that ruleth his Spirit then he that taketh a City Prov. 16.32 And a soft answer turneth away wrath but grievous words stir up anger Prov. 15.1 And again that wise man Prov. 19. Prov. 19.9 19. It is better to dwell in a Corner of the house top then with a Brawling woman in a wide House And again verse 19. It is better to dwell in the Wilderness then with a contentious and angry woman And that Kingly Preacher again Eccles 7.9 Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry for anger resteth in the bosome of Fools Simile It was a witty conceit of the Father who gave two Caps to his new married Son and Daughter made fit for Solomons angry Fools with this Contract that they should never put them on both at once But if the husband had put on his Cap the wife should let hers lie still not take it by any means and the same direction to
come unto thee O heavenly Father most humbly beseeching thee to embrace us in the everlasting Armes of thy Mercy Deut. 33.27 and to take us with all ours and all thine into thy holy Protection this Night Give us that comfortable sleep and quiet rest in our Beds Psalm 4.8 that we being refreshed by thy goodness may be better inabled to do thee faithful service in our several Places Vocations and Callings if it please thee to continue and preserve our Lives and Healths the next day to our comforts and the glory of thy Name O our most blessed God we beseech thee preserve with us thy Catholick Church all over the World especially that part of thy Church in these Nations Keep from all dangers we humble pray thee our most gracious King Ezra 6.10 give him a long life to thy glory Blesse his Royal Queen and the whole Royal Family and preserve we beseech thee all the honourable Nobility the Reverend and faithful Ministery in their several places the righteous Judges and Magistrates with all the Gentry and Commons of the Land Give all Wisdome and Power to honour thy Majesty in their Places and Orders in which thou hast set them to do thee service Bless we pray thee the several Cities Towns and Countries in the Kingdome keep them and us out of the hand of all our Enemies That under his Sacred Majesty we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godlinesse and honesty 1 Tim. 2.1 2. Be gracious unto all thy Faithful Servants under any manner of affliction by Sea or by Land at Liberty or in Restraint in Poverty or in Riches in Sickness or in Health especially any that are known to us or who have desired our Prayers Eph. 6 18 19. sanctifie thy afflicting Hand unto them that they may receive the peaceable fruit of Righteousnesse when they are sufficiently exercised thereby Heb. 12.11 and in every temptation strengthen them to bear 1 Cor. 10.13 and in due time make a way for them to escape Prepare us all for those eternal Habitations those blessed Mansions which Christ our Saviour hath prepared for us in Heaven John 14.12 Grant O Lord of glory Eph. 1.17 that we may be so prepared like wise Virgins Mat. 25.1 2 c. with Oyl in our Lamps that whensoever the Lord Jesus our heavenly Bride-Groom with his glorious Angels shall come to Judgment at Midnight Mat. 25.6 at Cock-Crowing or in the Dawning we may be admitted to enter in with him in to that blessed heavenly Kingdome of eternal happiness Thus by Prayer and Supplication with Thanksgiving we have made our Request known unto thee our heavenly and most gratious Father O let the peace of God Phil. 4.6 7. which passeth all understanding keep our Hearts and Minds in the knowledge and love of God through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ To whom with thy heavenly Majesty and thy blessed Spirit be ascribed all Glory and Honour Might Soveraignty and Dominion Victory and Salvation this night and for evermore Amen Prov. 19.14 House and Riches are the Inheritance of Fathers but a prudent wife is from the Lord. Therefore I desire the Husband that he will pray to the Lord to bestow amongst other Graces this Grace of heavenly prudence upon his wife and increase it in them both that they may be happy Again I desire that both Husband and Wife will be careful to remember and practice by the Grace of Christ that Counsel of that great Apostle St. Peter 1 Pet. 3.7 Husbands dwell with your Wives according to knowledge giving honour to the Wife as unto the weaker Vessel and as being Heirs together of the grace of Life that your prayers be not hindred Your mutual prayers one for another for a virtuous wife will be a Helper to her Husband Gen. 2.18 and will do him good by her prayers as well as otherwise and not evil all the days of her life as wise King Solomon witnesseth Pro. 31.12 A special Closet or secret Prayer of a Husband for himself and his Wife and Children and Family that God will be pleased to inable them to perform their mutual Duties to each other in the fear of God and by God's blessing live lovingly together during their lives to be prayed together or asunder O Most blessed and gracious good God 1 Tim. 1.11 my most merciful and loving Father in Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 6.14 15 16. Gen. 1.1 2. who in thy appointed time didst make the Heaven and Earth Psal 136.5 6. and Creatures in the World and in a special manner create our first Parents Adam and Eve after thy own likeness in Righteousness and true Holiness Gen. 1.27 and in the time of their innocency didst Marry them together Gen. 2.20 21 22 23 24. and institute the holy estate of Marriage which is a mystical representation of that spiritual Marriage and Union between Christ and his Church Hosea 2.19 20. Eph. 5.32 thou O our heavenly Father in thy Divine Wisdom and gracious Providence hast been pleased to bring me thy unworthy servant and my beloved wife into this high and honourable estate I confess O Lord I am now fully enformed that there are many duties required by thy holy Word incumbent upon me at a Husband John 15. â— and upon her as a Wife which by our own strength we are not able to performe as we ought 2 Cor. 3.5 that thy Divine Majesty might have the glory and we thy unworthy servants may have the joy and comfort in our married estate and although we are taught out of thy Word that in Christ our blessed Saviour there is both Wisdom and strength and grace Col. 2.3 Phil. 4.13 to be communicated to thy servants for the performance of every duty in any condition and that Christ our Redeemer hath promised That if we seek we shall find if we knock it shall be opened unto us James 1.5 6. James 5.16 John 16.23 If we pray with Faith and Fervency and in his Name our Petitions shall be granted Yet I thy humble servant confess for my part that I have not knocked at Heaven doors for wisdom and strength for myself and my wife that we might be inabled rightly and in the fear of God and in true love to perform our mutual duties to each other as becometh thy Children And I fear my dear wife hath failed in like manner Isaiah 63.15 16. Isaiah 64.5 6 7 8 9 10. at least that we have not sought this grace of thee O heavenly Father with that sight and sence of our own weakness And of that need of this wisdome and power and so not with that earnestness or with those fervent groans and sighs Rom. 8.26 27. or tears in our prayers nor with that wrastling like Jacob with God in Christ for this mercy as we should have done Gen. 32.24 25 26. Hosea 12.3
Golden Rule Mat. 7.12 to do to each other as they would be done by And if any unkindness hath been not to rest quietly untill there be a Reconciliation Sleep not untill they can sleep in Love and loving Embracements of each other say in any neglect of Love or in any occasion of Breach would I have Christ my Lord and spirituall husband so unkind to me as I am to my wife and may the wife say would I have Christ so unkind to me to forsake my soul or withdraw his love from me as I have done from my husband and so may the husband say in respect of his wife This mutual care of kindnesse is a precious Gold link of Love to bind love fast during life A tenth Direction or Gold-link of love The tenth Direction or Gold link of Love Husbands and wives must take heed their love be rightly qualified First let Love be without Dissimulation This is that Rule of the Holy Ghost recorded by the Apostle St. Paul Rom. 10.9 Secondly Let love be without Bitterness so the same Apostle Coloss 3.19 Husbands love your Wives and be not bitter against them Nor ought wives to be such to their husbands Love and Bitterness connes agree well together Psal 64.3 this is contrary to love to shoot out Arrows even bitterness or bitter actions instead of pleasant and lovely Sinilitude This is to mingle Gall with Honey or soure sharp Vinegar with sweet Wine it will make all distasteful a husband must not be like unto a Crab Orange or Lemon fair on the outside to the shew and soure and bitter within pleasing with sugared words abroad Sweet-heart before Company and of a froward and perverse Disposition at home or in private nor must the wife be so to the husband Eph. 5.1 2. but both walk in true Love as Christ hath loved us The eleventh Direction The eleventh Direction or Gold link of Love or Gold link of Love to preserve mutual love between husband and wife is mutually fidelity and faithfulnesse each to other according to the marriage Covenant they ought to forsake all other and keep mutually onely to themselves so long as they both shall live Yea they ought to be very careful to avoid all occasions of jealousies of or against each other and to hate jealousie as a most dangerous enemy except there be evident and sure ground of each others disloyalty and sinful Breach of the marriage Covenant The Jews were a very jealous People jealous of their wives upon slight occasions and often put their wives away with a Bill of Divorce for slight occasions and causes which did not break the Bands of Matrimony against which our Saviour speaks Mat. 5.31 32. Mat. 19.3 4 5 c. The Jews were so jealous That upon small suspition they would forbid their wives to keep any Company in secret with any of whom they were jealous and if after the wife was thus forbid before two witnesses as the Jewish Doctors declare if she was proved to be in secret with such a Maymony in misn com 2. See Mr. Ainsworth in Numb 5. one The husband brought her before the Magistrate and she was to be put to the Tryal of seu honesti by the bitter water of Jealousy which if she were guilty would cause her Belly to swell and her Thigh to rot as you may read in that Law for Trial of jealousy Numb 5.11.12 to the end And ver the thirtieth The Text saith That when the Man is free from Iniquity Mâ—ymoâ—y in Jotaâ— cap. 2. sect 8. the Woman guilty beareth her Iniquity Therefore amongst the Israelites it is said See Mr. Ainsworth in Num. 5.30 That no man which had himself been guilty that way could bring his wife to this Tryal The guilty man could not bring his wife to this Tryal of bitter Water Rom. 2.1 that is by this bitter water according to the Law of Jealousy afore But it is most certain That it is the duty both of the husband and wife to be careful by power from Christ to avoid all occasions of jealousy in both according to that Rule of God's word and Direction of the Holy Ghost by the Apostle St. Paul To abstain from all appearance of Evill 2 Thess 5.22 And that ancient Law of God Levit. 19.14 Thou shalt not put a stumbling block before the blind But thou shalt fear thy God I am the Lord. And pressed again by the blessed Apostle Rom. 14.13 Let us not judge one another any more but judge thus rather that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his Brothers way I must avoid occasion of sin my self and I must not give occasion of sin to another nor of this sin of unjust jealousy to my husband or to my wife For many are the miseries may follow to husband or wife jealousie is the rage of a man therefore he will not spare in the day of Vengeance He will not regard any Ransome neither will he rest content though thou givest many Gifts witnesse King Solomon Pro. 6.34 35. And jealousie is cruel as the Grave the Coals thereof are Coals of fire which hath a most vehement flame witnesse the spirit of God Can. 8.6 This taking care to avoid all occasion of jealousy is a powerful means to preserve Conjugal Love between husband and wife But much more the Grace of fidelity and constant care of faithfulness each to other according to that sacred Bond of Marriage The husband ought to be careful to be faithful to his wife forsaking all other witnesse the spirit of God Prov. 5.18 19. Let thy Fountain be blessed and rejoyce with the Wife of thy youth Let her be as the Loving Hind and Pleasant Roe Let her Brests satisfie thee at all times and be thou ravished alwayes with her Love And the same Spirit of God speaketh the same again Prov. 6.23.24 25 c. The Commandement is a Lampe and the Law a Light and reproof of Instruction is the way of life to keep thee from the evil Woman which flattereth with her Tongue and from the flattery of the Tongue of the strange woman Lust not after her beauty in thy Heart neither let her take thee with her Eye-lids For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of Bread and the Adulteress will hant for the precious life Can a man take Fire in his Bosome and his Clothes not be burnt Can one go upon hot Coales and his feet not be burnt So he that goeth into his Neighbours wife whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent This sin of Adultery or Fornication breaketh the Command of the great God Who is a consuming Fire Heb. 12.29 The Law of that All-seeing every where present God Jer. 23 23 24. before whose Eye Prov. 5.21 Heb. 4.13 Mat. 12.36 Amos 4.13 all things are open and naked whatsoever we can speak do or think The command of this