the Apprehensions of God and the Obligations of Religion have a deeper Root and a stronger Influence on us We must not imagine God demands our Prayers and Thanksgivings as if he received any Benefit from them any Addition to his Happiness was fond to hear himself entreated and commended or was not of himself willing to do us good but must be overcom'd as it were through meer Importunity by many repeated Addresses But Experience teaches us how apt they are to create in us a vigorous sence of God our Duty and Eternal Interest and how necessary to preserve it since any considerable neglect therein bereaves us by degrees of that devout and zealous Temper which is the chief Root of all true Holiness and Vertue It was not for nothing our Blessed Saviour spent so many hours both day and night in Meditation and Prayer It was not for nothing he set so good an Example to us and gave us an express Command to watch and pray alwaies Luke 21.36 and his Apostle after him exhorts us to continue in Prayer and watch in the same with Thanksgiving Col. 4.2 Would not one guess Christians after this to be the most devout men in the World and the most constant in Prayer Yet 't is nothing so He had not the advantage of the Gospel of Christ that sang unto God I have remembred thy Name O Lord in the night and have kept thy Law seven times a day do I praise thee in the night-season I am not silent I call to remembrance my Song in the night I commune with mine own Heart and my Spirit makes diligent search Psal 119.55 164. Ps 22.2 77.6 Even the Mahumetans we are told fearing that a whole Night would cause too great an Interval between their Devotions interrupt their Sleep and rise constantly every night to spend some of that time in Prayer But we who have the Son of God for our Master and Teacher nay for our Guide and Pattern we that are commanded to pray without ceasing 1 Thess 5.17 that is constantly how cold and careless are we in the performance of this Duty There are but few of those that call themselves Christians will spend so much as an hour in the day in God's Service If ever they pray God 't is but by Fits And how uneasie and unattentive are the most part of them all the while Strange We scandalize our Neighbours and those we live and converse with often perhaps in a day It would make some reparation if presently after we gave them the Marks of our Sorrow and Repentance by our Devotion and the constancy earnestness and fervency of our Prayers But alas how little is this minded What makes us so dull and sottish in the things that concern the Service of God and the eternal Salvation of our Souls when we are so sagacious so earnest and vigilant about poor momentany concerns For shame let 's no longer be so very childish and foolish If we 'll act seriously and rationally to mean and do as we profess we must either renounce the Name of Christ or become new Creatures that we may be holy as our Blessed Lord is holy and as his Divine Religion indispensably obligeth us to be There are a great many that name the Name of CHRIST who rise eat and drink follow their Worldly Business lye down at night and scarce ever think of God all the while tho they cannot subsist one moment without Him and they receive from Him daily nay hourly innumerable Benefits They pretend to be the Disciples and Followers of the Son of God and yet they are perfect Strangers with God It 's no wonder therefore there is so little Zeal so little Charity and so much Malice and Wickedness to be seen among those that are called Christians But it is not to be question'd we should soon see with the Blessing of God that primitive Christian Purity break forth and shine again in the midst of us if Men would be perswaded to use constant Devotions in their Families Many excuse themselves as if they were not able or had not the Time and Opportunity to perform them Yet they can find the time and opportunity to meet together for their Repasts Morning and Evening And why not to pray God and consult his Word Are the Concerns of this World and this Body so precious as to be more worth than our Souls And is it not strange that those that have the Word of God in their Hands and have often heard it read and expounded should not know what great Obligation God has laid and daily heaps on them for which they are to thank him and praise his Holy Name what Failings they have been subject to which they are to beg Pardon for and pray against that they may never be guilty of them and what things they stand in need of which they are to beg of God And do they not know we are to pray one for another 1 Tim. 2.1 and are commanded to make Supplications Prayers Intercessions and Thanksgivings for all men Let none think to excuse himself because he is not eloquent Out of the abundance of the Heart the Mouth speaketh Luke 6.45 He that cannot pray cannot be a Christian There 's no man tho' never so mean but can reason pertinently of his Business It is a sign he doth not look upon Religion as his Business that can say nothing of it But are Scholars only and Learned men commanded to pray Or is it a Duty incumbent upon All And is it our Words and Phrases God looks at and not the pious Dispositions of our Souls rather In fine Has not our Church put most excellent Prayers into our Hands And have we minded them so little all this while as to remember nothing of them That those that shall meet with these Papers may be absolutely without Excuse I conclude with a Prayer that may serve both for Morning and Evening They that have so much Piety as not to think that time lost which is spent in Devotion will not complain of its length And as for them that are otherwise dispos'd it 's no matter what they shall think of it I have but one thing to add by way of Caution to those that shall use this or any other Form of Prayer that is To take care they let not their Tongue run faster than their Understanding but considering to whom it is they speak namely to Him who is to be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth let their Hearts ever accompany their Words and then they may be sure that the LORD who is far from the Wicked will hear the Prayer of the Righteous Prov. 15.29 FINIS ☞ By Mistake at the Press the Recapitulation which should have followed next after the Discourse c. is put after the Prayer Books Printed for William Rogers A Perswasive to frequent Communion in the Holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper 12o. 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Men with Abomination and Horror as a damnable Contrivance of Hell and the Devil Nay if it were not more apt to reform Mens Lives and Manners and make them much better and holier than any other Religion that was established in the World before I don't see what Reason we could have to think that God is the Author of it or that God will have us prefer it to his former Revelations But I am sure if it was true that the Christian Religion did not exact a perfect Comformity to the Laws of Nature but encourageth Men to or indulgeth them in the Practice of Immorality and Wickedness we could never perswade the wise Heathens and much less the Jews and we our selves should have no Reason at all to believe that it proceeds from God For the only convincing Reason that we have to prove that our Saviour's and the Apostles Miracles which both Jews and Heathens attributed to the Power of Magick or at best to God's Permission to try the Children of Men were affected by the immediate Power of God in confirmation of the Truth of the Gospel is because the Doctrine of the Gospel or the Christian Religion is infinitely averse to the Genius of the Devil and most agreeable to the Spirit of God the Dictates of right Reason and our own Consciences that is the divine and everlasting Laws of the Kingdom of Heaven If the Design of the Christian Religion had been to alienate Mens Minds from God and Goodness we could not but conclude it to be the Works of the Devil But if it tends to the Glory of God and the Good of Mankind if it be apt to promote true Piety and Vertue and if its Design be to inspire Mens Minds with great and worthy Thoughts of God and suitable Affections towards him and to reduce the World to the Practice of Charity Justice and Humility Chastity Temperance and Sobriety Patience Meekness and Gentleness and all other divine Vertues then it is impossible or at least absolutely unreasonable to attribute the wonderful Deeds that were wrought in confirmation of the Truth of its Promises and Threatnings to a wicked malicious proud unjust revengeful and impious Spirit It being then evident that all those Doctrines which reconcile Vice with Religion are false and Diabolical we may therefore be sure if we explain any obscure Saying of Scripture so as to make it encourage or palliate Wickedness and excuse Men from being holy and doing Righteousness we put a false Sense upon it Our Traditions are false and abominable if by them we make the Commandments of God of none effect That 's the First Inference Secondly Those Men are infinitely mistaken who fancy the Essence of Religion to confist in Speculation and not in Practice and cry out against Morality as if true Morality was not true Religion Hollness is the end of Faith and the end of Divine Revelation it is the Law and the Prophets and the very Gospel For God's Design in the Gospel is no other than that of the Law or any former Revelation As we read of the Housholder of the Parable Matth. 21.33 c. That he sent several of his Servants at several times and last of all his own Son to those Hubandmen to whom he had let out his Vineyard and that all the Messages he sent were to no other end but this viz To demand the Fruits of his Vineyard So God at sundry times has sent divers Messengers to the Sons of Men Angels and Prophets and at last his only begotten Son And to what end was all this but to excite Men to pay him those Fruits he expects from them to take them off from their Sins and perswade them to their Duty and Allegiance to make them good and obedient that they may become his good Subjects and may be Partakers of his Holiness and divine Nature and so of his everlasting Kingdom We must then beware of those who make the end of Religion and the Essence of it to consist in Speculation and not in a holy Practice Those Men know not the Power of the Gospel they are not acquainted with the Nature of the Kingdom of Heaven they are ignorant of what they pray for in their daily Prayers when they say unto God Thy kingdom come Thirdly It follows that our chief and main Business is to study our Duty to learn it and to practice it that we may work out our own salvation with fear and trembling as it is Phil. 2.12 Those are in a great Error who imagine we must always rest in the Doctrines of Repentance and Faith against the express Commandment of the Apostle Hebr. 6.1 For as St. James says What doth it profit though a man say he has faith and have not works can faith save him Faith without works is dead and therefore unprofitable Jam. 2. at the 14 and 26 Verses They are then ignorant and sensless Christians or rather no Christians at all who do not much regard God's Commandments or do not much care to learn his Will and what it is he requires of every one of us who undervalue and despise those Books and Discourses that instruct them in all the parts of their Duty and teach them that without the sincere Performance of it it is in vain to hope for Heaven and rather delight in curious and speculative Notions fondly perswading themselves that the Knowledge and Belief of such will bring them to everlasting Happiness and fully discharge them from the Practice of the whole Duty of Man as if there was a way to be righteous without doing Righteousness But if we are seriously desirous of the things that belong to our Peace that our Faith may be approved and may be such as will be accepted of God and if we will not deceive our selves with a vain and dead Faith If we design in good earnest to have a Share in Christ Jesus to enjoy the Benefit of that glorious Redemption he hath wrought in the behalf of fall'n Mankind and to be included in that Act of Grace and Indemnity he hath obtained for all Rebels that will return to their true Allegiance that is all penitent Sinners Then it concerns us to return sincerely and impartially under the Dominion of the Kingdom of Heaven and become God's faithful Subjects which cannot be if we do not conform to his divine Laws Our Business therefore must be to study diligently and learn his whole Will and to practice it with all the Zeal and Sincerity of our Souls Our Business if we will be Christians indeed and not barely in Name is to know perfectly what is our Duty to God what is our Duty to ourselves and what is our Duty to all other Men. We must know exactly what is the Duty of Children to Parents of Parents to Children of Servants to Masters of Masters to Servants of Husband and Wife of Friends and Enemies one to another of the Poor to the Rich and the Rich to the Poor and
inherit the kingdom of God And so for all other Crimes and Vices as Lying and Swearing c. If you have contracted the Habit and Custom of Swearing and taking God's Name in vain then and then only you shall have repented when you shall have overcome that evil Habit and accustomed your self never to pronounce that sacred Name but with Adoration and Religion for God's Glory and Service If you have been careless and have neglected Religion then you shall have reason to think you have repented when you are become diligent when you pray frequently and fervently when you humble your self often in mourning for your sins and in fastings to subdue your sensual inclinations to keep your body under and bring it into subjection and when you are grown zealous of Good Works and constant in all Religious Duties For Repentance is a true and real change of Mind and a conversion from sin to God I say Repentance is a true change of Mind not some one bare Act of change but a lasting durable state of new Life Otherwise 't is not sincere it is but a mock Repentance Some Men think when at the Year's end or Quarter's end they go to the Lord's Table cry out against their Sins form a thousand Resolutions and force themselves into a Religious Posture of Mind after a long Habit of Sin and Carelesness These Men I say fancy that they have well repented that they are right Penitents and that after this they may safely begin upon a new Score with an intent to repent again as they call it at the time appointed So that after a day or two the pious fit is over or to speak more properly the hypocrisie ceaseth and they are themselves again They return to their old sins as the dog to his vomit again and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire 2 Pet. 2.22 But do you find a change in you Are you not the same you were five ten or twenty Years ago when you were led by Vanity and you committed those things whereof vertuous Men and true Penitents are ashamed Are you now of another Mind Do you find you self another Man a new Creature Have you now better Dispositions Have you not only ceased to do evil but also learn'd to do good For then and not else are you Penitents Having thus stated the true Notion of Repentance let us next consider II. What we are to understand by the Kingdom of Heaven and what the Nature of it is It was the Precursor of the Messiah exhorted Men to Repentance upon the account of the approach of the Kingdom of Heaven We may be sure therefore that by the Kingdom of Heaven then at hand is meant the Messiah's dispensation or oeeconomy It was an ordinary expression for it among the Jews They then looked for and were in expectation of the Kingdom of Heaven or the Heavenly Kingdom meaning the Coming of the Messiah in great Power and Glory They were us'd to call it so because they thought the Redeemer of Israel the promis'd Saviour was to be sent to them from Heaven and for the most part they little understood the Nature of his Kingdom or the true End and Design of his Coming But certain it is that 't is a most heavenly Kingdom as is manifest to any one that is acquainted with it not only because that Kingdom is not of this World but is seated in the Hearts and Spirits of Men but because it is a real Theocracy God himself is the King the Legislator and Governour and the Members the Citizens or Subjects of it are all heavenly Persons or Men that lead heavenly Lives agâ—eeable to the most holy most wise righteous and everlasting Laws of God That is Christianity 'T is therefore an heavenly Constitution or Heaven upon Earth God reigns in our Hearts and over all our Passions and his Will is the Rule of all our Actions And what is it the Lord requires of us but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God As it is Micah 6.8 Or according to the Gospel-revelation To deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts and live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Tit. 2.12 It is nothing but the state of Repentance continued and perfected that is a state of Holiness But some perhaps will say this is Morality And doth the Kingdom of Heaven consist in this Why are not these express Texts of Scripture And doth not the very Preparative to Christianity teach us wherein the Nature and Essence of it doth consist If Men must repent that is Cease to do evil and learn to do well before they can be fit to become Christians Doth not that teach us that the Christian Religion doth consist in an entire conformity to the Divine Laws And doth not the Apostle declare as much in the definition or description he gives us of it The kingdom of God says he is not meat and drink doth not consist of things in themselves indifferent but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost For doth he add he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men Rom. 14.17 18. And Gal. 6.15 In Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new creature Nevertheless Men generally have strange odd Notions of the Christian Faith and of Morality We are apt to fancy that the improvement of our Knowledge and Speculations is the end of our Faith the ultimate end of the Gospel-revelation But St. James tells us the Devils then may be as good Christians as we for they also believe and tremble Jam. 2.19 And at the 26th Verse As the body without the spirit is dead so faith without works is dead also Good Works then are the very Life and Spirit of Christianity So that we are infinitely mistaken if we think that any one Article of the Christian Faith ends meerly in Speculation and has not a necessary influence upon Practice That Belief is good for nothing and that Revelation is not worthy of the God of Heaven which doth not tend to the reformation and perfection of Mens Lives and Manners That 's the only wise and reasonable End of all Religion That 's the only reasonable Service and therein the true Glory of God doth consist Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this To visit the fatherless and widows in their afflictions and to keep himself unspotted from the world Jam. 1.27 We are indeed to be very zealous of Faith so it be such a Faith as worketh by Love Gal. 5.6 For without that it is impossible to please God for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him Hebr. 11.6 But to him that hath such a Faith nothing is impossible as we find in that Chapter By Faith Abraham when he was tried offered up Isaac and he that had received the
us the Aid and Assistance of his Holy Spirit Our Saviour affirms it Luke 11.13 He gives it to them that ask it viz. in devout and constant Prayers And sure his Grace is sufficient for us as God Almighty says it himself 2 Cor. 12.9 Whosoever therefore is buried with Christ in the Baptism of Repentance Sin shall have no dominion over him he is freed from it as we read Rom. 6. at the 7th and 14th Verses And whosoever is born of God overcometh the world 1 John 5.4 Those that walk in the spirit do not fulfil the lusts of the flesh Gal. 5.16 But like St. Paul they keep under their bodies and bring them into subjection lest they should be cast away 1 Cor. 9.27 They baffle Hell and the Devil they resist him till he begon from them Resist the devil says St. James and he will flee from you Jam. 4.7 In a word The weapons of their warfar are mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of God as it is 2 Cor. 10.4 5. So that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present northings to come nor height nordepth nor any other Creature is able to separate them from the love of God Rom. 8.38 39. And if this be true if nothing hinders but they may then surely they are obliged ever to continue in his Love that is as I have proved from the 21st Verse of the 14th Chapter of the Gospel according to St. John in the constant Practice and Observance of his will For they and they only that endure unto the end shall be saved as it is Matt. 24 13. But no man we are told Luke 9.62 having put his hand to the plough and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God Our blessed Saviour in Matt. 7.24.25 compares him that learns his will and doth it to a wise man who builds his house upon a rock which stands firm and will never fall tho' the rain descend and the flouds come and the winds blow and beat upon that house From all has been said we may draw the following Inferences I. No Doctrine can be more Antichristian than such as encourage Vice and a loose way of living For nothing can be more contrary to the Nature and Constitution of the Kingdom of Heaven Whatsoever doth so is directly opposite to the very design of Christianity tends to the Subversion of it and conspires the Ruine and Overthrow of the Kingdom of God among Men. Nothing then can be vainer or more ridiculous than to take that for a true Christian Doctrine which allows Men in or encourageth them to Sin Whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God 1 John 3.10 So that though our Righteousness doth not reach unto God so as to add to his Happiness yet are we obliged to be righteous Though when we have done all we must say We are unprofitable servants yet we must do all Though we must not be proud and indeed we have no reason to boast for all our good works yet we are obliged to do all good works Though we can do nothing without the Grace of God yet we must believe he affords us sufficient Strength and we are to act upon that Supposition and do our Duty diligently otherwise our Neglect and Folly is inexcusable Though our Saviour died and made a full and sufficient Satisfaction for us yet it was in order to our Reconciliation to God and Holiness He has not purchased for us a Licence to sin but except we repent purifie our selves from all Iniquity and grow zealous of all good works we shall still perish we shall receive no Benefit by his Sacrifice For though the Ceremonial or Judaical Law be abolished yet the Natural Law the everlasting Law of Holiness of Reason and Equity or Conscience stands firm and can never be repealed Could you imagine that that Law was made void through Faith God forbid says the Apostle yea doth he add we establish the Law Rom. 3.31 And though we are justified freely and saved by Grace yet it is through Faith and that not a dead Faith such as the Devils may have but such an one as worketh by Love as we have seen Cal. 5.6 Let us not then object any thing against our Duty but set about it instantly knowing that we are to expect no Grace no Favour no Mercy at God's Hands upon the Account of our Faith if it doth not purifie us from all iniquity and that it will avail us nothing at all to have believed in Jesus Christ if we do not believe in him so as to forsake all our Sins and become pure and holy and fruitful in all good Works and frame our Lives perfectly according to his Will and the Precepts of his Gospel submitting our selves wholly to his Government and his most heavenly Kingdom and letting him rule us and reign over us Otherwise our Faith is a dead Faith no better than that of Devils who believe and tremble Jam. 2.19 We are therefore inexcusable if we are so impertinent after this as to wrest either through our Ignorance or Instability any Saying in the Bible to favour our Lusts and so flatter us in our own Destruction Some Men are very fond of these and the like places Be not righteous overmuch And What I would that I do not but what I hate that I do It is no more I then that do it but sin that dwelleth in me As if by these or the like they were discharged from the Duty and Necessity of Holiness But either these Words are capable of a good sence reconcâ—leable with our strictest Duty or else they are not the Dictates of the Spirit of God nor the Sence of the Holy inspired Men themselve but the Proverbs or Sayings of dissolute Men who are there personated which lie under the Dominion of sin and are brought into captivity to the law of sin We are little verst indeed in Scripture if we know not there are some things obscure in it Yet we must be blind if we do not plainly perceive that it doth indispensably exact of us a righteous and just and a vertuous and holy Life agreeable to the heavenly and everlasting Laws of the Kingdom of Heaven Our God has no pleasure in wickedness neither shall any evil dwell with him Such as be foolish shall not stand in his sight for he hateth all them that work vanity He shall destroy them that speak leasing The Lord will abhor both the blood-thirsty and deceitful man as the Psalmist has it Psal 5.4 5 6. And God is not of another Mind under the Gospel but if the Christian Faith did indeed make void the Necessity of being truly righteous and holy and allowed its Professors the Liberty of living in Immorality and Sin it ought to be rejected of all sober
the Offers of of Grace when the Kingdom of Heaven is preach'd unto them as our Saviour assures us Luke 10.12 Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children and walk in love as Christ also loved us and has given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness let it not be once named amongst you as becometh saints neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor jesting which are not convenient but rather giving of thanks For this you know or may be sure of that no whoremonger uor unclean person nor covetous man which is an idolater hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God Let no man deceive you with vain words for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience Ephes 5.1 c. Let us not therefore flatter our selves with a conceit of God's singular Favour whilst we are the very Children of Disobedience we must either renounce our Christianity and our Hopes of Heaven or renounce our Sins It is the most ridiculous thing in the Word to pretend to either of the former whilst we continue in the Practice of any evil thing The Lord alloweth the righteous but the ungodly and him that delighteth in wickedness doth his soul abhor Psal 11.6 Since therefore ther 's no other way to obtain God's Favour but in being righteous and forsaking all manner of Wickedness since the very Principles of our Religion oblige us to cease from all that is evil and learn all that is good let us be sure to avoid Sin as Men would the Plague and let us daily grow in grace according to St. Peter's Exhortation 2 Pet. 3.18 Let us be sure whatever Interests we have to serve whatever Dealings we may be ingaged in to be always strictly just and upright Let us never use any ill Tricks to serve our own ends but in all our Transactions with one another let us deal with that Simplicity and Integrity and good Conscience that becomes those who would be accounted the Disciples of the holy Jesus Sin is the Transgression of a known Law Now what a horrid thing is it what Impudence for mortal Men to do that they know is forbidden by the Almighty Governour of the World the righteous and impartial Judge of the Quick and the Dead But I cannot forbear saying it once more What piece of Madness is it for Men to do this and yet pretend to be God's Servants and the Disciples of the Son of his Love whom he has sent into the World a purpose to reform the World and shew the stray'd Race of Mankind the way to true Happiness and Bliss in teaching them to turn from their iniquities as it is Acts 3.26 We do infinitely mistake the Design of his Coming and the Nature of his Religion if we do not believe that it is to make Men much better and holier than they were before and indeed to make them as good and as holy as it is possible for Men to be Let us then study earnestly his whole Will and practice it accordingly least those who have never heard of him should be accounted better than we If we will be truly Christians let it be the earnest Endeavour of our Lives to render our selves as excellent and as exemplary for all sort of amiable Qualities as it is possible for Men to be in this World Whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report If there be any virtue and if there be any praise think on these things Phil. 4.8 See what your Obligations are We that have such a glorious light vouchsafed unto us and such unvaluable Promises and such mighty Assistances made over to us by the Gospel of Christ must in reason imagine that in return of these great Advantages great things are expected from us It will not satisfie our Engagements that we do believe and profess the Gospel that we do no Wrong to our Neighbours that we are neither given to Lewdness nor Drunkenness though yet even these as the World goes are very great things and could all Men that profess Christianity truly say this of themselves we should soon see Heaven upon Earth but our Christianity obliges us to aspire after greater things we must get our selves possessed of the whole Circle of Vertues we must be kind and charitable as well as just and honest we must he modest and meek and humble as well as temperate and chast Then may I add to these excellent Words of an Excellent and most Reverend Prelate of our Church Then will Christ indeed own us for his Disciples for then we shall be true Subjects to God's Kingdom upon Earth and if we continue to be so unto the end we shall not fail at last to be admited into his most glorious Kingdom in Heaven where we shall enjoy the infinite Pleasure of Holiness to everlasting Ages A Morning and Evening PRAYER ALmighty God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Creator of Men and Angels and the supream Governour of the World in whom and by whom we move we live and have our Beings who shewest thy self to be perfectly Good and Bountiful infinitely wise and glorious and perfectly just and holy We thy poor Creatures prostrate our selves in the deepest Humility of our Souls before thy Divine Majesty to render unto thee the due Tribute of our Homage and Worship and offer the Morning * Evening if it be at Night Evening Sacrifice of our Prayers and Thanksgivings to beg Pardon for all our Sins and Failings and implore thy all-sufficient Grace that we may from henceforth serve thee better than we have done and may daily grow in Grace and in all Christian Vertues and finally to sue for thy Protection and thy most gracious Favour both for our selves and all Men. We confess O Lord we are not worthy to appear before thee to beg any thing at thy Hands For thou O God lovest Righteousness and hatest Iniquity Thou requirest Holiness and art perfect in all thy ways But we are miserable and wretched Creatures who have not minded our Duty as we ought to have done nor regarded thy Word thy Promises nor thy Threatings but have often been so unreasonable as to slight thy Commandments and prefer our Will to thine as if we had not believed that thou knowest what is best for us to do better than we our selves or as if we had not believed that thou searchest our ways and knowest all our Thoughts and wilt judge the World in Righteousness and reward every Man according to his Works at the great and last Day in the which we must all appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ there to receive the things done in our Bodies according as we shall have done whether it be good or bad To us O Lord belongs Shame and