to us Though we are not worthy we confess of the least regard from thee whom we have so much neglected and whose love and clemency we have too often abused yet we hope thou wilt accept of this small oblation which we make of our selves our souls and bodies with unfeigned devotion to thee Pardon and forgive us we most humbly beseech thee all our past offences the remembrance of which is grievous and bitter to us and vouchsafe us the grace of thy holy Spirit to enable us to do thy will with greater care and diligence for the time to come Let it ever accompany and assist us according as thou seest us sincerely desirous and studious to please thee in all the actions of an holy life in chastity and temperance justice and fidelity mercy and charity meekness and humility patience and contentedness â—nnocency and peace and in contiâ—ual prayers praises and thanksgiâ—ings to thee the Father of mercies in Christ Jesus our Lord. We see how frail and weak our bodies and all their enjoyments are and therefore we the more earnestly desire to have our souls inriched with those immortal treasures of thy Divine Grace O that we may never cease most zealously to seek and pursue them and that we may think our selves happy enough in the possession of them and may rejoyce in nothing so much as in Rom. 6.22 having our fruit unto holiness that in the end we may attain eternal life Suffer not our spirits to sink too deep into the love of any the dearest good that we have in this world But rather by all these earthly things which thy goodness affords to us for our support ease and delight raise our minds and hearts to those Celestial enjoyments which will yield us eternal pleasure and satisfaction Set our affections principally on things above Make us so wise as to provide our selves friends that never dye and to be still preparing our selves by all divine qualities for their company and society that so they may Luk. 16.9 receivs us when we remove hence into their everlasting habitations Thus now we commend our selves this day to thy most gracious protection guidance and blessing hoping that the same good providence which preserved us and our habitations the last night from fire and innumerable other dangers for which we thank thee will guard us this day from all evil and mischief and bring us in safety of soul and body to praise thee in the Evening Help us thankfully to receive and soberly to use all thy mercies quietly to do our own business and bear our several burdens to be just in our dealings innocent and harmless â—n our conversation well pleased â—ith the prosperity of our neighâ—ours desirous of the good of all â—he world especially that they may all love and honour and joyn â—ogether in magnifying and praising â—hee our Lord and Governour whose name is excellent in all the earth More particularly we implore thy mercies towards these Kingdoms wherein we live Remember not against us our high provocations Spare us good Lord and have patience with us if perhaps we may bring forth better fruit becoming thy holy Gospel and all the care thou hast taken about us Indue our Soveraign with much Wisdom from above that he may always discern what is most profitable for us and earnestly pursue it to the utmost of his power Bless him in his Relations in his Councellors in his Judges and all other Officers in all the Nobility Clergy Gentry and Commonal y of the Realm that every one of them may uprightly and zealously do their duty to the maintenance of thy true Religion and the increase of Piety Honesty and Brotherly love among us Comfort and relieve all those that are in any distress trouble or anguish either of body or of mind And give us tender and pitiful hearts towards them ready to help and ease them according to our abilities That we following the example of our merciful and compassionate High-Priest Christ Jesus may have now the benefit of his intercession for us and at last be admitted into the high and holy place where he is In whose blessed Name and words we conclude our Prayers Our Father c. At Night WE fall down before thee O Lord of heaven and earth and worship thee in the deepest humility of our souls acknowledging â—hat we are thy creatures who stand infinitely bound unto thee by innumerable blessings and favours which thou hast conferred upon us out of thy mere bounty and goodness We owe our lives to that alone and all the comforts of them together with all the hopes we have hereafter either in this world or the other And blessed for ever blessed be thy merciful kindness for giving such glorious hopes by the Lord Jesus By his Death and Resurrection by his Ascension and being inthroned at thy right hand and by the coming of the Holy Ghost to be a witness of his Majesty and Glory We rejoyce O Lord in that great salvation which thou hast sent unto us and cannot but be still praising thee whose love hath so abounded towards us beyond all our thoughts and desires Pardon we most humbly beseech thee out of the same grace and mercy all our past neglects of thee our insensibleness of thy benefits our carelesness or inconstancy in our obedience and particularly whatsoever we have done or omitted this day contrary to those holy purposes and resolutions wherein we stand ingaged to thee And vouchsafe us the assistance of thy holy Spirit to inable us to perform those vows better which here we renew of greater gratitude and more chearful and steadfast obedience to thy divine Majesty for the time to come Awaken our minds to frequent and serious reflections upon thy undeserved and most bountiful mercies towards us Touch our hearts with such an ingenuous and dutiful sense of them that our wills may be overcome to yield themselves wholly and absolutely to thee And that we may feel them constantly provoked to love and good works help us ever to set our Lord and Master by whose name we are called before our eyes and to admire his unspotted purity his condescending humility his tender-hearted charity his meekness of wisdom his hearty trust in thee and resignation to thee his forgiveness of injuries his patience under reproaches and cruel torments his peaceable and contented spirit his acknowledging thee in all things and ever seeking thy Honour and Glory That being in love with all these and valuing them more than life it self we may never cease our indeavours till this Image of our dear Lord and Master be formed in our hearts O Lord Jesus favourably behold these holy desires wherewith our souls aspire towards thee Preserve and maintain them incourage and increase them make them restless and unwearied till they be accomplished in the injoyment of this great blessedness Thou who hast begun a good work in us finish and compleat it we most humbly and earnestly beseech
us especially those in the Lord Jesus in whom thy Grace hath so exceedingly abounded as to surpass not only our deserts but the largest of our desires Blessed blessed for ever blessed be thy fatherly goodness who hast sent him from heaven so unexpectedly to visit us vile wretches who dwell in houses of clay whose foundation is in the dust Lord what is man that thou art mindful of him or the son of man that thou didst thus visit him We thank thee according to our poor ability from the very bottom of our hearts for his manifestation in our flesh for the charitable testimonies he gave of his love to mankind in the course of his life for that astonishing grace in submitting himself to dye for us for his glorious Resurrection and Ascension to heaven for the Soveraign Power and Authority which thou hast given him at thy right hand for his compassionate intercession for us and the assurances we have received of his being the King of glory and of his continued kindness to us by the coming of the Holy Ghost We will never cease to bless thee for that great salvation Heb. 2.3,4 which was first preached by the Lord was confirmed by them that heard him and for the witness which thou barest to them both with signs and wonders and with divers miracles and gifts of the holy Ghost according to thy own will We rejoyce in the Light of thy holy Gospel that we see the way to be happy both by the Doctrine and example of thy Son Jesus that we have the incouragement of his precious promises and such good hope of remission of sin and eternal life in the day when he shall judge the world in righteousness O how much are we bound unto thee for that comfortable hope which thou hast given us of seeing our dear Saviour in all his glory and being there where he is and reigning with him for ever We again render thee our most hearty thanks for that everlasting consolation and good hope through grace which thou hast given us and for all those benefits likewise which thou art pleased to bestow upon us to make our stay here on earth the more convenient and delightful to us We are every way obliged to thee beyond all that we are able to express or conceive Thou feedest us and clothest us thou preservest our health and our strength thou hast delivered us from innumerable dangers and when thou hast chastised us it hath been in great mercy and clemency and not according to our deserving O that all the world would shew forth thy praise and devote themselves to the service of our Lord. Let all Kings of the earth submit themselves unto him and glory in the name of his obedient subjects High and low rich and poor let them praise the name of the Lord from this time forth and for evermore Accept most gracious God of these unfeigned desires of us thy servants who for our parts intirely dedicate our selves both souls and bodies unto thee Resolving in all things to walk worthy of thee who hast called us to thy Kingdom and Glory and blessed us also with many other good things which make this life to be a more easie passage to a better We will never forget how much we are indebted to thee but study to express our grateful remembrance of thy mercies by living Tit. 2.12,13 soberly righteously and godly in this present world looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Favour we pray thee these holy purposes with the constant assistance of thy good spirit that we may be able to accomplish what we have begun and to perfect holiness in thy fear Help us to 2 Pet. 1.5,6,7,8 add to our faith vertue and to vertue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity That these things being in us and abounding they may make us to be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ Preserve us this day especially that we swerve not presently from these pious resolutions But may give such a proof of their sincerity by our being steadfast and immoveable in all well doing notwithstanding any temptation to the contrary that we may have the better hope we shall persevere to the very end through thy continued grace in Christ Jesus in whose words we desire all that thou seest needful either for our souls or bodies saying Our Father c. At Night WE are here again prostrate before thee O Lord of heaven and earth to joyn our selves with all that holy company Revel 4.8,11 who rest not day and night saying Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created Blessed be thy divine goodness which hath made the children of men but little lower than the Angels and crowned us with such glory and honour that we are capable to accompany that heavenly host in giving continual thanks and praise unto thee Praised be thy name that we are now alive and that we have the use of our reason and understanding and enjoy so many of the comforts and conveniences of this present life and have attained a good hope through Christ Jesus of being immortally happy O how great was thy love which sent him into the world to direct us in the way to that happiness by his holy doctrine and life and to be a propitiation for our sins by his death and to Act. 26.23 be the first that should rise from the dead and should shew light unto the world We rejoyce in that light of life We most chearfully devote our selves to be the faithful Disciples of him the Prince of peace the Lord of life and glory It is our happiness as well as our duty to be governed by him and obey his commands We are sensible that they are all equal just and good and that thou hast done us an infinite kindness in teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world And therefore we here again most heartily surrender our wills to thine desiring that we may unchangeably cleave unto it with the greatest and most intire love and affection to all its commands O that there may abide for ever in us such a strong and powerful sense of thy mighty love towards us in Christ Jesus as may constrain us freely and willingly to please thee in the constant exercise of piety and devotion righteousness and mercy temperance and chastity meekness and patience truth and fidelity together with such an humble contented and peaceable spirit as may adorn the Religion of our Lord and Master O God that these holy desires and inclinations may
most high wisdom hath set us And we desire the comfort of those that mourn the ease of those who are in pain the health of the sick the release of poor prisoners and captives the quiet and satisfaction of those who are in trouble and anguish of mind and the true content of all men in whatsoever condition they are that we may be all continually giving thanks to thee the Father of mercies for the joy thou hast set before us and the hope we have by running our Christian race with patience to come to that blessed place into which Jesus our fore-runner is already entred for us By whom we continue to desire in his own words that thou mayst be glorified every where in our well doing saying as he hath taught us Our Father c. At Night O Lord the Almighty Creator and Governour of the world Psal 104.24 How great and manifold are thy works in wisdom hast thou made them all 74.16 The day is thine the night also is thine thou hast prepared the light and the Sun We thy creatures a small part of mankind prostrate our selves before thee this evening in the humblest adoration of thy divine Majesty praising thy incomprehensible perfections and rendring thee our thanks for all the benefits thou hast bestowed on the whole world especially on us whom thou hast called to the knowledge of thy grace in Christ Jesus It is a marvailous love wherewith thou hast loved us Thou hast not dealt so with all people and as for thy great and precious promises they have not known them We are bound therefore more particularly to offer up unto thee continually spiritual sacrifices by Christ Jesus and to laud and bless thy great and glorious Name in the behalf of our selves and the rest of mankind among whom thou hast left innumerable testimonies of thy careful providence in that Act. 14.17 thou dost them good and givest them rain from heaven and fruitful seasons filling their hearts with food and gladness We praise thee we bless thee we magnifie and extol thy wise and powerful goodness we thank thee for thy never ceasing bounty towards us especially that thou hast vouchsafed to send Jesus Christ to restore us by his appearing among us and his humbling himself to the death for us and his glorious Resurrection from the grave and Ascension on high to a blessed hope of thy mercy unto eternal life We can do no less than devote our selves souls and bodies eternally to thee returning what we have received from thee back again with the greatest love and most grateful acknowledgements Accept we pray thee O most gracious and merciful Father of this small oblation we make thee of our most hearty and unfeigned resolutions to worship and serve thee in the constant exercise of righteousness mercy meekness patience humility and purity with whatsoever is lovely and of good report And we humbly beg thy holy Spirit may constantly accompany us inabling us to think of these things to cleave unto them to delight in them and to persevere in a free and willing performance of all our duty towards thee and all men to our lives end And we most heartily desire the rest of mankind may at last be so happy as to come acquainted with the exceeding riches of thy grace in Christ O that Psal 67.2 thy way may be known upon earth and thy saving health among all nations Rom. 15.10.6 that all the Gentiles may rejoyce with thy people and we may with one mind and one mouth glorifie thee our God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ O that all Idolatry and ungodliness all cruelty and filthiness all rapine and violence may be abolished and rooted out of the earth and true piety righteousness holiness and brotherly kindness may flourish in the room thereof For which end we beseech thee indue all Kings and Princes especially those that are Christian with a great sense of thy Soveraign Authority over all that they may humbly obey thee as they desire others should obey them and govern all their people with great wisdom uprightness and a tender compassionate care of their welfare O that no covetousness ambition or revenge may rule in any hearts provoking them to war and bloudshed but there may be great peace in all Lands by observing the holy Laws of the Prince of peace Christ Jesus More particularly we recommend unto thy blessing these Kingdoms wherein we live beseeching thee to be merciful to our sins in giving us grace to repent of them and to bring forth fruits meet for repentance and amendment of life Bless our Soveraign and all that are imployed under him either in Spiritual or Civil affairs with all those graces which are necessary for the right discharge of their duties in such high places Prosper all their pious indeavours for the good either of mens souls or outward estates that true Religion and Vertue increasing and all ungodliness and vice being put to shame we may become a renowned Nation and a praise in the earth We commend to thee also O Father of mercies all those who are in a distressed and sorrowful condition most earnestly desiring their seasonable relief and comfort with their release from those troubles when thou pleasest And now that we are going to lay down our selves to sleep we put our selves and our habitations with all that belong unto us into thy most gracious protection hoping thou wilt take care of us when we cannot so much as think how to secure our selves from any danger that may approach us Thou hast been our helper keeper and defender therefore under the shadow of thy wings will we still rejoyce When we close our eyes let these holy thoughts of thee and affections towards thee still remain in us and possess our hearts that they may awake again with us in the morning and send up our souls in renewed love and thanks and praise to thy divine Majesty by our blessed Saviour and Redeemer Christ Jesus In whose words we continue to implore thy mercies towards us Our Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy Name Thy kingdom come Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil c. PRAYERS FOR FAMILIES SATVRDAY MORNING O Lord all thy works praise thee and declare the greatness of thy Majesty Power Wisdom and Bounty which surpass all understanding Thou art good unto all and thy tender mercies are over all thy works Thou art holy in all thy wayes and righteous in all thy doings and keepest truth for ever Thy Kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations We all decay and perish the heavens themselves wax old like a garment but thou art the same and thy years shall have no end We adore thee O Lord
benefits we have received and therefore may justly fear thou shouldest withhold thy tender mercies and shut up thy loving kindness in displeasure But the desires and holy resolutions thou hast wrought and continuest in our souls to amend and become still more fruitful in all good works incourage us to hope in thee for pardon through the bloud of Jesus Christ and for the assistance of thy holy Spirit to inable us to accomplish that which we intend and purpose to grow more and more in wisdom and knowledge and in righteousness and true holiness O that this Image of thine may appear every day fairer and more beautiful before thee and in the sight of all men That so we may adorn the Religion we profess and be a good Example unto others and have a solid foundation of peace and comfort in our own hearts and be able to hope in thee for thy future mercy in Christ Jesus even unto eternal life We commend our selves to thy wonted grace and in a sense of what thou hast done already for us and what thou hast promised to do depend on thy goodness for what thou seest profitable and conducing to our chiefest good referring our selves wholly to thy wise will and pleasure and resolved contentedly to submit to thy appointments thankfully to receive thy mercies and to rest satisfied with our portion whatsoever it be that thou orderest for us Make us but steadfast in thy faith and love unwearied in well doing patient and constant under all sufferings full of a lively hope in thy mercy and willing to dye when and as thou pleasest and we have enough In confidence that thou hearest us and art every where and never slumberest nor sleepest we commit our selves to the custody of thy watchful providence this night to be secured and protected by thee when we cannot at all attend to our own preservation May it please thy goodness to give this whole family a comfortable rest and repose to defend this habitation and all about us from fire and such like sad accidents to deliver us from the power of evil spirits and of evil men and to raise us in health and chearfulness to praise thee and to glorifie thee both in soul and body the next day Psal 59.16,17 Then will we sing of thy power yea we will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning because thou hast been our defence and our refuge at all times Vnto thee O our strength will we sing for God is our defence and the God of our mercy 111.1 We will praise the Lord with our whole heart in the assembly of the upright and in the congregation 92.1,2 For it is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing praises unto thy name O most High to shew forth thy loving kindness in the morning and thy faithfulness every night 24.1 The earth is thine and the fulness thereof the world and they that dwell therein 22.27,28 Let all the people praise thee O God let all the people praise thee O that all the ends of the world would remember and turn unto the Lord and all the kindreds of the Nations worship before him For the kingdom is the Lords and he is the governour among the Nations Bless especially all Christian Kings and Princes that it may Prov. 16.12 be an abomination to them to commit wickedness and their thrones may be established by righteousness And incline the hearts of all those who have any authority in these Kingdoms to love and hold fast thy true Religion and to live according to to it that 20.28 by mercy and truth the king may be preserved and his throne be upholden by mercy We heartily desire the ease peace and satisfaction of all those who are in pain trouble and perplexity and that all poor miserable people may find supply of their wants from thy bounty and the charity of those on whom thou hast bestowed plenty and abundance We humbly also wait for thy blessing upon all our Relations and Friends trusting in thee for such a measure of health and all other good things as thou judgest useful for us and especially that the Lord Jesus 1 Tim. 4.8 will deliver us from every evil work and preserve us to his heavenly kingdom To whom be glory for ever and ever Amen Our Father c. A shorter Morning Prayer for any day in the week when there is not time by reason of some extraordinary occasions for the other O Most great and glorious God the Soveraign of the World Upon whom we continually depend to whom we owe all the love the service and the praise that we are able to render to all eternity We adore thy infinite mercy from whence we have received so many blessings for the comfort of this life and by which we have a sure Hope of good things in the life to come Blessed be thy goodness which hath not suffered us to wander without instruction after the foolish desires of our own hearts but hath clearly shown us where our happiness lyes We receive with all thankfulness those holy words which teach us the blessedness of poverty and contentedness of spirit of meekness and humility of mind of hungering and thirsting after righteousness of mercifulness and purity of heart of peaceableness and patient suffering for doing the will of our Lord Christ O that we may have grace to labour alway to be in the number of those blessed Souls that never set their hearts on any thing so much as these heavenly vertues O that we may ever think and feel our selves happy in the comfort of those great and precious promises of being made the children of the highest the heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven and at last of seeing thee our God It suffices O Lord that we have these glorious hopes hereafter which make us believe thou wilt not let us want what is necessary for us whilst we continue here We commend our selves with an humble confidence to thy watchful providence this day beseeching thee to guide and assist us that in all our desires words and actions we may keep our selves innocent and undefiled before thee and be disposed to do all good as we have opportunity And we heartily desire that all mankind may be filled with the same devotion to thee and especially that all Christian people may glorifie thy Name and be joyful in thee And the greater any are in Dignity and Power raise their spirits to the greater pitch of Wisdom Mercy and Piety that they may right those that suffer wrong and defend those that have no helper and provide for the ease and comfort of all miserable creatures to the utmost of their power In this ardent charity we commit both souls and bodies to thee beseeching thee to increase our love to thee and to all men till we be fit to be translated to the region of love and joy and perfect satisfaction through Christ Jesus
contented and in every condition to give thanks unto thee and rejoyce in thy holy Name and in the hope of eternal life through Christ Jesus my most blessed Lord and Saviour Amen A Prayer when the time of heâ— Travel draweth near O God the helper and delâ—verer of all those that trust iâ— thee by whose power I was formed in my Mothers Womb by whoâ— care I was brought from thence anâ— by whose merciful kindness I havâ— been preserved in many dangers since I praise and magnifie thy great and glorious Name and am encouraged by the remembrance of thy mercies which have been ever of old to implore thy compassionate help in the approaching time of my need pain and danger Thou art present to all thy creatures and hearest the cryes of the beasts of the earth which all wait upon thee O be not far from me when trouble is near but hearken unto me and save me when I call upon thee Shorten my pains or lengthen my patience which thou pleasest Bear up my spirit in submission to thy will and in some humble hope that I shall forget my anguish for joy that a man is born into the world Joh. 16.21 Psal 138.8 22.4,5 Forsake not the work of thy own hand but in due time perfect it and bring forth that which thou hast wrought in secret into the light that we may all see the wonders of thy wisdom and praise thy goodness and thy power My parents trusted in thee they trusted and thou didst deliver them They cryed unto thee and were delivered they cryed unto thee and were not confounded In thee likewise do I humbly put my trust and confidence which nothing disheartens but my own great unworthiness by reason of my forgetfulness of thy benefits and unthankful returns for former mercies bestowed upon me But thou hast taken care that this should not discourage me neither by proclaiming a gracious pardon by him that was born of woman and dyed for us unto contrite and reforming sinners Accept I beseech thee of my sincere resolutions to preserve hereafter a more affectionate remembrance of thy love to me and to dedicate my self and all I have to thy service 1 Tim. 2.15 in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety Or if thou art pleased oâ—herwise to dispose of me I resign â—y self heartily unto thee Lord â—eceive me to a better life where all â—ghing and sorrow shall be done away and eternal joy intirely posâ—ess our hearts Amen for Christ Jeâ—us his sake Amen 〈◊〉 Prayer to the same purpose to be said by her Relations O Most mighty Lord who hast already given us innumerable â—ledges of thy love and many arâ—uments to trust in thee for ever â—nd to expect with quiet and patient â—inds the issue of thy wise and good â—rovidence Thou hast respect to all â—e works of thy hands especially 〈◊〉 the sons of men and to those aâ—ove the rest who seek thy favour â—d give thee the glory of all thy â—ercies and are resolved to devote â—emselves and their children and all they have to do thee honour in the world We most humbly commend thy servant drawing near the time of her Travel to thy care and blessing beseeching thee to give her a gracious deliverance and to ease her of the burden wherewith she labours We our selves are monuments oâ— that mercy which we beg of thee Thou broughtest us into this world and didst unloose the bands wherewith we were swadled in our mothers womb We have had long experience also of thy readiness to succour us and to do us good eveâ— since many times beyond our desires and hopes and always beyond our deservings We dare not buâ— commit our selves and every thing belonging unto us most heartily into thy hands remembring that thou hast the same power and goodnesâ— still by which we came into thâ— light of the living and that thou still exercisest them as thy wisdom thinks most meet We cannot desire to be better provided for than as thy infinite understanding and counsel judges most convenient for us Unto that we refer our selves beseeching thee if it be thy good pleasure that her deliverance may be as speedy as her cryes unto thee or her patience as great and long as her pains Thou who ripenest the fruits of the earth and then givest us to gather them to our comfort blast not our humble hopes of the fruit of the womb But after thou hast brought it to maturity deliver it into our hands as a new pledge of thy goodness to us for which we will ever thankfully acknowledge and praise thy Name Or if thou hast otherwise determined Lord give us grace to submit to thy holy will and to rest satisfied in thy wise appointments and never to distrust thy goodness and care over us Yea help us still to bless thee and to speak good of thy Name saying The Lord gave and tâ—e Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord from henceforth and for ever Amen A Thanksgiving to be used by those present after her safe Deliverance WE thank thee O Father Lord of heaven and earth for thy long continued goodness to us thy creatures who are unworthy of the least of thy favours In thee we live and move and have our being And it is only of thy mercy that we have not lived in perpetual pain and torment spending our days in sighs and lamentations but have enjoyed much health and ease and had innumerable occasions to praise thee and to rejoyce in thee who loadest us daily with thy benefits Blessed be thy Name O Lord who forgivest all our iniquities and healest all our diseases Who redeemest our life from destruction and crownest us with loving kindness and tender mercies More particularly we thank thee that thou hast heard the humble supplications of this thy servant to whom thou hast now granted a gracious deliverance and turned her sorrow and heaviness into joy and gladness We thank thee that thou hast sent her seasonable helpers and blessed their endeavours for the preservation of her and of the fruit of her womb And that thou likewise vouchsafest her all needful things for her refreshment in this weak condition wherein she lies waiting upon thee for the perfecting of thy mercies towards her Accept we beseech thee of our hearty acknowledgements of thy powerful and good providence over her and over any person here present in the like necessity which we now thankfully call to mind and desire may never be forgotten O that a lively remembrance of this and all other thy mercies may so mightily affect our hearts that we may be moved thereby to fear thee all our days and to love thee and to put our trust in thee and with quiet and resigned minds to cast all our burdens and cares on thee in a constant and chearful obedience to all thy holy commands And since thou hast begun to be so gracious to this thy hand-maid grant
darkness and his Sovereign Dominion over all Angels Authorities and Powers whom thou hast made subject to him 1 Pet. 3. ult O God how great was thy love to the sinful sons of men which moved thee to pass by such innumerable offences whereby they had provoked thy severest displeasure How great was that love which hath honoured our mortal nature with so high a glory and committed the care of our immortal souls to one so mighty to save and so full of kindness and most tender charity toward us O the greatness of thy love which hath chosen us to be thy sons and heirs together with Christ Jesus and set such an high Priest over thy house and family to make intercession for us to dispense all divine blessings to us and send forth Angels themselves to be Heb. 1. ult ministring spirits for them who shall be heirs of salvation Who can understand the exceeding riches of thy grace in sending the holy Ghost to be a witness of our Saviours Resurrection and Exaltation and to make us abound in hope Rom. 15.13 that we shall be one day raised from the dead and carried to heaven and keep a perpetual rest after our short labours here with our blessed Lord and Master in his eternal glory O that we could begin it this day in devout Meditations of these things in unspeakable joy and satisfaction of heart in the assured hope and expectation of them and in blessing and praising thee who hast given us such good hope and everlasting consolation Lift up our minds we pray thee this morning above all these little things here below which are apt to distract our thoughts and turn away our eyes from that heavenly bliss And keep them above in the serious contemplation of it till we be in love with it and our hearts be fully bent and resolved to seek it every day in those ways wherein Jesus hath gone before us though it should be with the loss of all that we here possess It is but meet and fit that we should wholly quit our own will and devote our selves to follow thine especially since thou hast shown such unusual kindness towards us as if we had been innocent we durst not have presumed to expect from thee We are asham'd O Lord to think that ever we have disobeyed thee to whom we stand so deeply indebted both as we are thy creatures and as we are redeemed by the precious bloud of thy Son Jesus It grieves us that we have transgressed any of thy righteous and good Laws by which it is our happiness as well as our duty to be govern'd We abhorr the thoughts of ever breaking them any more beseeching not only thy gracious pardon but thy acceptance of our intire resolution to agree with thy Will in all things for the time to come We here again most solemnly dedicate all the powers of our souls and bodies to thy service desiring unfeignedly that all the thoughts and designs of our minds all the affections and passions of our hearts and all the actions of our life and conversation may be pure holy and unreproveable in thy sight For which end we most humbly implore the assistance of thy good spirit which our Lord hath incouraged us to hope thou wilt give to those that ask and seek it with their whole heart O let thy mercy be upon us according to thy word according as our hope is in thee and our hearts sincerely and stedfastly set to keep thy Commandments Psal 139.23,24 Search us O God and know our hearts try us and know our thoughts And see if there be any way of wickedness in us and lead us in the way everlasting Fill our minds with awful and reverend thoughts of thee as our Sovereign Lord and Judge Settle in us an immutable love to thee and the highest esteem of thy favour and grace as better than life it self That so we may study above all things to approve our very hearts and all our actions to thee and feel the sense of thy acceptance of us giving us greater pleasure than all the world can afford us Make it our delight to praise thee to call to mind thy loving kindness to offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving and to meditate on thy pretious promises Help us to Luk. 21.34 take heed to ourselves lest our hearts be at any time overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and the inordinate cares of this life Heb. 13.5 To have our conversation without covetousness and to be content with such things as we have 1 Thess 4.4 To possess our bodies in sanctification and honour Rom 13.9 To love our neighbours as our selves Matth. 7.12 And as we would that others should do to us to do even so to them Rom. 12.18 To live peaceably as much as in us lyeth with all men 1 Pet. 3.4 To put on the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit Jam. 5.12 To take those who have spoken in the name of our Lord for an example of suffering affliction and of patience 1 Pet. 4.16 And when we suffer as Christians not to be ashamed but to glorifie thee our God on this behalf And accept good Lord of all the praises and acknowledgements of all thy people met this day together according to thy Will and assist us to render thee still more hearty and affectionate praises in that holy Assembly to which we are going to joyn our selves O that all people on the face of the earth were united together likewise in one body to shew forth thy praise O that thy way were known upon earth thy saving health among all Nations And that all Christian Kings especially may be filled with thy holy Spirit and think it their Crown and their Glory to be the devout worshippers and faithful subjects of the Lord Jesus the King of kings and the Lord of lords Psal 132.9 O that thy priests may be cloathed with righteousness and thy Saints shout aloud for joy That all who are in distress and misery may rejoyce also in hope that all afflictions shall turn to their good and Heb. 12.11 afterwards yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness O Lord hear us and make thy face to shine upon thy servants that we may enter into thy gates with thanksgiving and into thy courts with praise that we may be thankful unto thee and bless thy Name 100.4,5 For the Lord is good his mercy is everlasting and his truth endureth to all generations Our Father c. At Night O Lord most high the Holy One who inhabitest Eternity who only hast immortality and art most blessed in thy own incomprehensible perfections Thou art to be feared and loved and worshipped and praised by us and all reasonable creatures who have any knowledge how great how mighty how wise and merciful thou art All thy works praise thee O Lord and we more especially ought to bless thee whom thou hast
made to understand thy most adorable excellencies which are far beyond the highest of all our thoughts And we have yet a more particular obligation to thee for thy marvailous love in Christ Jesus whom thou hast sent in great humility to visit us who are but dust and ashes to make his abode among us to testifie thy great love to us and assure us of thy good will notwithstanding our many offences and to make us exceeding great and precious promises to invite us to approach thee and to incourage our obedience to thee We thank thee that he hath sealed them with his bloud and thou hast confirmed them by his Resurrection and Ascension and the coming of the holy Ghost that thou hast given us so many happy opportunities to acquaint our selves with the truth and purity of the Christian Religion which comforts us in this state of mortality and misery with the blessed hope of eternal life Blessed be thy goodness for that great consolation and that thou hast shown us the way to it by his doctrine and example and assured us of the assistance of thy holy Spirit to inable us to follow after him to that glory which he possesses Blessed be thy goodness that we have felt it so often in our minds and hearts inspiring us with holy thoughts exciting in us devout affections and godly resolutions filling us with Divine Joys and with comfortable expectations of the glory that shall be revealed We thank thee that thou hast permitted us this day to attend upon thee together with our Christian Brethren in the publick Duties of thy Worship and Service And that there we have received any good instructions any holy exhortations and Christian incouragements to proceed and go forward in the course of well doing and have begun in any measure that eternal rest which we wait for with all the faithful when we shall praise and thank and love thee our heavenly Father better than we can do now whilst we are in these frail bodies and absent from the Lord. We can do no less than offer up again our souls and bodies to thee to be order'd and govern'd by thy blessed Will and not our own that so we may be every day more prepared for that happy state and draw nearer and nearer in the disposition and temper of our spirits to that immortal blessedness It is our satisfaction our security the ease and joy of our hearts to be under the conduct of thy unerring wisdom to follow thy counsels and to be determined in all things by thy holy Will who art so good and hast given us such large demonstrations of thy abundant kindness and good will to us as will not let us distrust thy tender care of us whatsoever it is thou wouldest have us do or suffer in this world O God purifie our minds and thoughts more perfectly that we may never conceive amiss of thee but have right apprehensions in all things and all our passions and affections likewise that we may intirely love thee and rejoyce in being beloved of thee and humbly confide in thee and absolutely resign our selves to thee and be filled with constant devotion towards thee our Almighty Creator and most merciful Redeemer Possess our hearts with such a lively sense of our relation to thee in both respects and of the honour thou hast done us in preferring us so much above the rest of our fellow creatures that we may ever behave our selves suitably to the dignity of our Nature and of our Religion O that we may never degenerate into a base and unworthy love of any thing here below nor be oppressed with the burden of the cares of this life nor sink under the weight of any affliction nor be vainly puffed up with the greatest fulness of earthly goods if thou art pleased to bestow them on us But assist us with thy grace to Rom. 12.9 abhor that which is evil and cleave to that which is good Dispose us to a discreet and temperate use of all the pleasures of this world Indue us with true modesty and humility of spirit that we may Rom. 12.3,10,16 not think of our selves more highly than we ought to think but think soberly according to the measure which thou hast dealt unto us Keep us from being wise in our own conceits and inable us so to order our selves that Phil. 4.5 our moderation may be known to all men Make us kindly affectioned one to another in brotherly love To delight in doing good Tit. 3.2 to shew all meekness to all men Rom. 13.7,8 To render to all their dues Tribute to whom tribute is due custom to whom custom fear to whom fear honour to whom honour and to owe no man anything but to love one another Make us so happy that we may be able to Matth. 5.44 love our enemies to bless those that curse us to do good to them that hate us Rom. 12.15 to rejoyce with them that do rejoyce and weep with them that weep Compose our spirits to a quiet and steady dependence on thy good providence that we may not Matth. 6.25 take too much thought for our life nor be careful for any thing Phil. 4.6 but by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving still make known our requests to thee our God And help us Luk. 18.1 to pray alway and not faint 1 Thess 5.18 In every thing to give thanks Heb. 13.15 and offer up the sacrifice of praise continually 1 Pet. 1.17 To pass the time of our sojourning here in fear Rom. 5.2 To believe those things which we do not see and to rejoyce in hope of thy glory Luk. 21.19 To possess our souls in patience Phil. 4.11,12 And to learn in whatsoever state we are therewith to be content Make us know both how to be abased and how to abound every where and in all things instruct us both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need being inabled to do all things through Christ which strengtheneth us That we feeling the joys of uprightness and integrity of heart our Religion may be the greatest comfort and pleasure to us and we our selves an ornament to our Religion O that we could alway by an innocent good and useful life commend the Doctrine of God our Saviour to those who converse with us And that the light of all Christians did so shine before men that others beholding their good works might be moved to glorifie thee and heartily to believe on the Lord Jesus Send forth thy Light and thy Truth into all the dark corners of the Earth That Psal 72.11,12,13,14 all kings may fall down before him and all nations serve him And indue them whom thou hast placed in such high Authority over others with that divine Spirit which was in him that they may deliver the needy when he cryeth the poor also and him that hath no helper That
ceasing to do evil â—nd constantly doing well and we â—ay glorifie thee throughout our whole life in all our actions 1 Pet. 2.9 showâ—ng forth thy praises who â—ast called us out of darkness into thy marvailous light accordâ—ng to thy abundant mercy in Christ Jesus By whom thou hast given us a good hope in thee that thou wilt hear our prayers and do for us above all that we can ask or â—hink which we humbly beg in â—hose holy words which he hath â—aught us saying Our Father c. Another at Night O Most blessed for evermore the Father of Mercies and the God of all Comfort How precious are thy thoughts to us ward how great is the sum of them Thou renewest thy favours continually and art still pouring upon us innumerable benefits of which this is not the least that thou givest us leave to come into thy presence to call thee Father and to make known our requests to thee by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving We accept O Lord with all thankfulness this thy great grace and loving kindness to us and are here again prostrate before thee this evening to acknowledge thy goodness in making us such excellent creatures capable to know thee and acknowledge thee and love thee and by being made like thee to be eternally happy with thee Blessed be thy name that we are now alive and that we have lived so long in health and strength and peace and plenty of all good things whereas our eyes might have been consumed with grief our bones sore vexed and we might have mingled our drink with continual weeping We are bound unto thee for the free use of our understandâ—ngs for the good inclinations we find in our wills for any devout â—ffections which are stirring in our hearts for all the advantages we have had by our education good company and holy examples And more especially for the illuminations of the holy Ghost by thy blessed Gospel the breathings of it frequently into our spirits the importunities thou hast used to draw us to thee and the great and precious promises whereby thy love in Christ Jesus constrains us to resign our selves intirely to the obedience of thy Precepts We ought likewise to admire and praise thee for thy goodness to all thy creatures who live daily upon thy bounteous allowance Psal 145. The eyes of all wait on thee and thou givest them their food in due season Thou diffusest thy blessings in several streams to every one of them according to their needs 104.28 That thou givest them they gather thou openest thy hand they are filled with good We give thee the glory of the plentiful provision thou hast made for them and more particularly admire thy great liberality to the children of men under whose feet thou hast put in subjection all sheep and oxen yea and the beasts of the field the fowl of the air and the fish of the sea and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the waters O Lord we praise thee for thy goodness to those who praise thee not themselves Be thou adored and acknowledged in thy bounty which bestows so many blessings unasked and unsought and continues them notwithstanding abundance of provocations and most high offence that they have given to thy merciful kindness And let thy goodness to thy Church be never forgotten by us which thou hast in all ages protected and defended in a marvailous manner propagating the Gospel of our Saviour confounding its opposers and spreading it by the power of the holy Ghost over the face of the earth We thank thee for thy singular favour to these Countries wherein we live To whom these glad tydings of Salvation have reached and who have long enjoyed a more glorious light than many other places and been delivered from the darkness of Popish superstition and from sundry attemps that have heen made to bereave us of this happiness and are again settled after many confusions in a peaceable enjoyment of thy true Religion which thou hast also continued to us though we have not brought forth fruit worthy of the Gospel of thy Grace O that all thy undeserved goodness may have this effect upon us to make us heartily love thee and devoutly worship thee and zealously obey thee and steadfastly trust and hope in thee for ever That by a careful improvement of the knowledge of thee our God and our Lord Jesus Christ by whom thou hast given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness we may still enjoy this inestimable treasure and all thy love to us may at last be finished in those eternal joys which he hath promised to the faithful And as we have been taught exhorted and incouraged this day out of thy holy word and have likewise publickly acknowledged our obligations to thee and made profession of love and gratitude and dutifulness to thy Divine Majesty So help us all the week following openly to testifie the truth and honesty of our hearts in all this by a blameless conversation in all humility meekness temperance righteousness charity and peace with all them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart Bless our Soveraign the Defender of the Faith we profess and all imployed under him in their several offices that they may be instruments of continuing to us these holy opportunities with all other good things that may make these Kingdoms happy O that all our Friends may be thine and if we have any enemies Father forgive them Comfort and support the sick the needy and all other distressed persons with an immoveable belief of thy wise and good providence to which give them grace patiently and obediently to resign themselves And when all our senses this night shall be bound up with sleep be thou O Lord our keeper and after the refreshment of that repose and this holy rest from our labours raise us in the morning to return unto them with cheerful minds and ready wills praising still and magnifying thy multiplyed mercies to us in Christ Jesus by whom we present our selves and petitions to thee saying further as he hath taught us Our Father c. Another for the Afternoon or any other time of that day O Most Holy Glorious and Blessed Thy Name is excellent in all the earth and thou art for ever praised by all the host of heaven who are never weary of thy service We thy creatures sinful dust and ashes have many times professed it is our happiness to joyn with those heavenly inhabitants in admiring worshipping blessing and loving thee the great Lord of all with pure hearts in unity of spirit sincere friendship and brotherly accord one with another We have often spoken great things of thee and declared thy service to be the sweetest pleasure and one hour spent in holy meditations devout affections and cheerful thanksgivings to be far better than all the time we spend in other imployments How much then if we mean sincerely and according to our words should our
thee Give us thy grace continually for our seasonable relief and succour that we persevering in well doing may have a solid and lively hope in our death of coming to see thee in that high and holy place where thou livest and reignest for evermore As for all the things of this life we most heartily refer our selves to thy Fatherly Wisdom and Goodness O Lord God Almighty trusting thou wilt order for us that which is most convenient and bless our honest diligence with such a competent portion of them that we may have the more leisure to give continual praise honour blessing and thanksgiving to thee whose mercies endure for ever Accept we pray thee of our thankful acknowledgements at this time for those which this day hath added to the rest of thy benefits which thou hast been continually heaping upon us ever since we were born And let all the people of the earth praise the name of the Lord which is highly exalted above all blessing and praise O that all the Kingdoms of the World would become the Kingdoms of our Saviour Christ and that all they who acknowledge his authority would religiously obey his holy Laws that all wars oppression and cruelty may cease among Christian people and they may live together in brotherly love and unity Make our Soveraign and all his Realms happy by a great increase of true knowledge godliness and vertue every where Bless all our friends forgive our enemies requite all the kindness of our benefactors comfort every one of thy desolate and afflicted servants and turn their mourning and heaviness into joy and gladness at the last And now that we are going to repose our selves keep us we beseech thee and all belonging to us in safety Refresh our wearied spirits with comfortable rest and sleep and when we awaken again in the morning direct our thoughts immediately to thee our merciful preserver and help us to imploy all our renewed strength to thy honour and glory according to thy will declared by Christ Jesus in whose blessed Name and Words we commend our selves to thy infinite Mercies Our Father c. PRAYERS FOR FAMILIES WEDNESDAY MORNING O Most great and mighty Lord the Possessor of heaven and earth All the Angels worship and adore thy incomprehensible Majesty with the humblest reverence and rejoyce in rendring praise blessing and thanksgiving to thee the Father of spirits For thou hast created all things and in wisdom hast thou made them all and spread thy tender mercies over all thy works It is no less our happiness than our duty to joyn our hearts and voices with that heavenly host most gratefully to acknowledge thy bounty to us among the rest of thy creatures and thy particular grace and favour in our Lord Jesus Christ our most merciful Saviour and Redeemer We can never sufficiently admire that love which gave him to dye for us and hath made him the Lord of life and glory that he may be the Author of eternal Salvation to all those that obey him All the love we have is too little to give thee to whom all our services are due by a former title Our highest praises fall infinitely short of thy most excellent Majesty and we are ashamed of the most affectionate thanks we can render to thee for those inestimable benefits which thou hast conferred on us and so long continued to us How much greater reason then have we to be abashed at our shameful ingratitude and disobedience to thy divine Majesty for which we are heartily sorry and do now most earnestly repent our selves of it unfeignedly resolving and protesting to be more faithful to thee for the time to come Pardon us therefore Good Lord and receive us unto thy mercy Accept of our renewed vows to study and do our duties conscientiously towards thee and towards all men And as thou hast excited these holy desires and purposes in our hearts so inable us to perform them constantly in the whole course of our life Our blessed Saviour hath told us thou wilt as readily give thy holy Spirit to them that ask it as a Parent will give bread to his hungry children O Father of mercies let it be unto us according to his Word Cherish these little beginnings of goodness which thou seest in our souls and prosper all our endeavours to attain a greater measure of it And since at the best we are but unprofitable servants and can do no more than was our duty to do inable us to do every thing which thou hast commanded us heartily with good will and true love to thy service We know this is all that can in the least commend us to thy free grace and favour and therefore we most humbly again dovote our selves to do thy Will with a cordial affection to it We would ever approach unto thee with delight and pleasure and feel it the joy of our hearts to think of thee to praise thee to give thee thanks and to offer our selves with absolute resignation to thee O that Mercy may always please us as it pleaseth thee that we may be strictly just and righteous may chearfully pass by injuries freely deny all desires of sinful pleasures willingly submit to thy fatherly corrections and perform the duties of our several relations with singleness of heart Render us so mindful of the great love of our Lord and Master Christ that we may be zealously concerned for his glory and use our utmost diligence to do Him and his Religion some honour in the world delighting to commemorate his Death and Passion making a joyful sacrifice of our souls and bodies to him and desiring most earnestly that his kingdom may come and all mankind submit themselves to his Government Fulfil most merciful Lord all our petitions and as thou hast mightily protected us and our dwellings this last night from fire and thieves and whatsoever might disturb our repose blessed be thy goodness so accompany us all this day with thy blessing that we may please thee in body and soul and be safe under thy defence who art nigh to all those that call upon thee that call upon thee in truth And O that all those who are forgetful of their duty to thee may be awakened to a lively sense of all thy benefits and fill the whole world with thy praises Stir up especially the minds of all Christian people to inquire after and follow the Truth as it is in Jesus abandoning all vice and wickedness and exercising themselves to have consciences void of offence towards thee and towards all men And dispose the hearts of all their Kings and Princes to make themselves the greatest examples of Christian Piety to all others Bless these Kingdoms and indue our Soveraign with such excellent Wisdom and holy Zeal for thy honour and glory that we may see many good days under his Government O that true Religion Justice Mercy Brotherly kindness and all things else that are praise-worthy may so flourish among us that we
to thy holy Commands There is nothing O Lord so afflictive to me as the remembrance that I have any time offended thy Soveraign Authority I am heartily sorry for the breaking of any of thy sacred righteous and good Laws I abhorr the thoughts of doing so again And protest eternal enmity to all that is contrary to thy blessed Will addicting my self with most hearty affection to thy true and faithful service Pardon me therefore most gracious and merciful Father and accept these holy resolutions which thou hast inspired me withal Strengthen I beseech thee and further them with thy continued grace that no sudden desires vehement inclinations ineffectual purposes no nor partial performances may deceive and lead me into a false opinion of my self but I may bring forth actually and with a constant spirit all the fruits of righteousness which are by Christ Jesus to the praise and glory of thee my God Possess me with such a deep and strong sense of thy supreme Authority over all of the obligations I have to thee and the great kindness thou hast done me in ingaging me to be thy servant that Religion may be the very business of my life and my greatest pleasure may be to please thee in every thing and my highest design to attain that blessed immortality which Christ Jesus hath promised O lift up my affections more and more to those things above where he is That heaven may have my heart while this world hath my body and I may have perfect contentment of mind in well doing and patient suffering and the good hope I have of being eternally beloved of thee the Lord of heaven and earth may make me rejoyce evermore Free me from all inordinate cares for the things of this life from all distrust of thy good providence from all repining at any thing that befals me and inable me in every thing to give thanks believing that all things are ordered by the greatest reason and shall work together for good to those that love thee I doubt not of thy Fatherly affection to those that study in all sincerity to approve themselves unto thee and therefore still resolve to leave my self intirely to thy wise Counsels that thou mayst dispose me into such a condition as thou seest best in this world Remember me but of my duty quicken and excite me to it strengthen me in the doing of it support me under all discouragements advise me in all difficult cases and comfort me with a steadfast belief of thy holy Word and I shall ever be giving thanks and praise unto thee who dealest so bountifully with me Into thy hands I commend this night both soul and body which have been mercifully preserved in safety all this day I repose my self in the belief of thy watchful providence and that thou givest thy Angels charge of us and art about our beds and about our paths and spiest out all our thoughts O continue these holy thoughts and desires in me till I fall asleep that thou mayst have a soul full of love to thee in thy custody and I may receive the light of the Morning if thou prolongest my life with new joy in thee and thankful affection to thee I most heartily desire likewise O merciful God the good of the whole world Pitty the follies of mankind deliver them from their sins and from their miseries Hear the groans of every part of the creature that is yet subject to the bondage of corruption and bring them all into the glorious liberty of thy children Hear the daily prayers of the Catholick Church Free her from all foul and dividing errors Let the Truth as it is in Jesus prevail and peace be in all her borders O that all Christian Kings and Governours may follow after peace and insue it Make thy Ministers the Messengers of peace and dispose the hearts of all Christians to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace Inlighten the minds of all Jews Turks and Infidels with the knowledge of thy Truth Give repentance unto sinners and increase of grace and strength to all thy faithful servants Reduce those that wander out of the way raise up those who are faln confirm and settle those that stand and grant them a steadfast resolution to persevere in faith love and obedience Relieve and comfort all those that are in any distress Make the earth to bring forth her increase in due season And let all honest and industrious people be succeeded and blessed in their labours Remember all those to whom I am indebted for my birth education instruction or promotion Thou who art rich in mercy reward and recompence their care and love Grant forgiveness and charity to all my enemies Continue good will among all my kind Neighbours Assist those who are dying and leaving this world Fit them for a better place receive the souls which thou hast redeemed with thy Sons most precious bloud and sanctified by the holy Ghost and give us all a glorious resurrection and eternal life Amen Amen Our Father c. A shorter Prayer to be used by any one alone in the Morning I Adore thee O Lord the possessor of heaven and earth who surpassest all our thoughts and dost us good beyond all our desires There is all reason that I should acknowledge thee continually that I should worship and praise and love and obey thee whilst I have my being I cannot but witness against my self whensoever I neglect thee much more when I oppose thy most high Authority by doing contrary to thy Laws For thy Almighty Goodness gave me my being and by that alone have I been maintained and liberally provided for yea it hath born with me very patiently in my rebellion and used extraordinary means to make us friends and ceases not its intreaties after many unkind denials but continues to importune me till my heart consent to yield it self intirely to thee I cannot withhold my self O Lord from thee when I consider what thou art and what thou hast been to me such a tender gracious and compassionate Father as my greatest affections cannot find words to express I must again surrender soul and body into thy hands which have been so long so lovingly stretched out towards me resolving to stay with thee and never to depart away from thee For the more I know of thee the more I find that I must needs love thee and the more I love thee the more I desire to love thee and to resemble thee and to be beloved of thee O that I may feel the power of thy love so great in my heart that it may govern the rest of my passions and affections and nothing in the world may tempt me to displease thee but every thing provoke me more to love thee and delight in thee and obey thee For whom is there in heaven that I can desire but thee or on earth besides thee who art the blessed and only Potentate the King of kings and the Lord of
lords who only hast immortality and designest by thy Son Jesus to raise us sinful dust and ashes to a kingdom glory honour and immortality in the heavens I most earnestly beseech thee that this sense of thee may accompany me wheresoever I go and in whatsoever I do this day That approving my self to thee in such a godly sober righteous charitable and prudent behaviour as may adorn the Gospel of my Lord and Master Christ Jesus I may have a greater assurance of thy good will towards me and an undoubted hope of thy mercy in him to eternal life In whose most blessed name and words I humbly recommend my self my friends and all thy servants to thy infinite charity saying as he hath taught us Our Father c. Another for the Evening BLessing Glory Honour and Praise be again returned to thee O Father of mercy from a most thankful heart which offers up it self also in holy devotion to thee Who art my Soveraign Lord my most loving Saviour my Deliverer and Benefactor the Fountain of all the good things I enjoy at present and the hope of my soul for ever and ever Blessed be thy renewed kindness to me this day past both to my self and my relations to my soul and my body in my transactions with men and in the liberty thou allowest me of addresses to thy self Pardon good Lord whatsoever hath escaped me in thought word or deed contrary to my duty And accept of those sincere intentions and unfeigned purposes which were and I hope shall always be in my heart to study to approve my self to thee in all well doing It is but just and reasonable that I should follow thy will and not my own and in a grateful sense of what I have received from thee I ought to be moved to imploy all the powers of my soul and body for thee But such is the goodness of thy will that it is for my ease and pleasure and greatest happiness to be absolutely led and governed by it I am sensible O Lord how much I am indebted to thee for teaching me by Christ Jesus and also strongly obliging me to exercise my self to all godliness purity righteousness humility goodness and truth And accordingly I thank thee above all things for his holy instructions and example for the hope thou hast given us by his bloud that thou wilt be so merciful to our sins as not to deny us the power of thy holy Spirit to inable us to follow him and obey his commands and for that exceeding great and precious promise which he hath given us of immortal life to incourage us to follow him willingly and chearfully even to the death O that I may feel a lively and steadfast faith in his Word continually working with great power in my heart exciting me to an unwearied diligence and zeal and love and patient continuance in my duty towards thee and towards all men That so my hope in thee may grow and increase and I may joyfully expect that hour which shall translate me hence to the eternal happiness of the other world And during my stay here I commend my self to thy good providence which hath hitherto been so tender of me I trust thee wholly with my self and all belonging to me and am willing in every thing to be disposed of as thou seest good This night 〈◊〉 fly unto thy Almighty protection hoping thou wilt keep me safely and whether I awake in this or the other life I shall still be praising thee whose Mercy endureth for ever Amen for Christ Jesus his sake by whom thou hast incouraged me to hope in thee and taught me to call thee father saying Our Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy Name Thy kingdom come Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil c. THat time which is wont to be spent in the Church in talking or looking about before Divine Service begin may be better imployed in private Prayer to dispose us to joyn with greater seriousness in the Publick And indeed our business being there with God alone and that place being separated to his service only the custom which now universally prevails of entertaing discourse one with another is very undecent to say no worse and ought to be reformed We have other times and places enow to confer with our neighbours and therefore have no temptation to pervert the use of this which is set apart for devout intercourse with God and none else by speaking to him in Prayer and Praises and hearing him speak to us in his holy Word It is fit to silence all other speech and therefore here follow some helps for that purpose which I hope all good Christians will indeavour to use or imitate and not despise this loving admonition Private PRAYERS IN THE CHVRCH A short Prayer before Divine Service begins BEhold O Lord of heaven and earth a Soul prostrate before thee desirous to be filled with such an awful sense of thy divine Majesty that no other thing may interpose it self while I am in thy presence Fix my inconstant thoughts in a steadfast attention to thy most holy Word Inspire me with devout affections when I set forth thy praise and render thanks for all thy benefits And excite in me such fervent desires for all those things which I ask of thee that I may feel my self better disposed by these addresses to thee to every Christian duty the rest of this day through Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour Amen Another IN an humble and thankful sense of thine infinite goodness which honoureth us so much as to speak to us and gives us leave to speak to thee I bow down my self before thee O most high and holy Lord the Creator of the world desiring my mind may be possessed with such great thoughts of thee whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain and who openest thy hand and fillest all things with good that I may most reverently worship thee and affectionately acknowledge thy bounty and set my heart open to receive thy holy Word and my mouth may praise thee with joyful lips Silence all other thoughts and desires in me while I am here in thy presence And lift up my heart so towards heaven that I may feel it united to that glorious company above who perpetually praise thee and rejoyce in thee and do thy Commandments hearkning to the voice of thy Word Which I humbly beg in the name of Christ Jesus which is ever dear unto thee and by whom thou hast promised to hear us Amen Or those words of the Prophet David which you read Psal 5.7 17.1 118.28 119.47,48 c. may be a little altered in this manner IN the multitude of thy mercy I am come into thy house and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy
graciously accept such holy resolutions and certainly further and succeed them as the effect of thine own inspirations Suffer not his spirit to be oppressed under the sense of his great weakness or discouraged though he fall short of his present holy desires purposes and endeavours But bear him up in a strong perswasion that by sincere constant and unwearied diligence in well doing he shall at last obtain the victory through the power of thy holy Spirit assisting of him Make him see how reasonable it is most gratefully to acknowledge thy infinite Mercies if after much pains many conflicts and long patience he may recover a state of friendship with thee That so he may not spend his time in dejected complaints nor ever faint in his mind or despond in the Christian course but still pursue the compleat mastery over himself in assured hope that thou wilt be with him and never leave him or forsake him We bless thee for that instance of thy exceeding grace to the chiefest of sinners which thou gavest in thy holy Apostle of us Gentiles Who was a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious 1 Tim. 1.13,16 but for this cause obtained mercy that in him Christ Jesus might show forth all long-suffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting Above all we bless thee for our Lord Jesus himself whom thou sentest in our flesh that he might save sinners We bless thee for all the miraculous cures which he wrought on miserable creatures whereby he demonstrated his great charity towards us For the gracious proclamation he hath made of thy pardoning mercy and for the Universal invitation which he hath given to every one Rev. 22.17 that is a thirst to come and take the waters of life freely 1 Joh. 2.2 We thank thee for his death upon the Cross Luk. 23.34 that he might make a propitiation for the sins of the whole world Act. 5.31 2 Cor. 5.18 for his great love in praying then for his bitterest enemies Matth. 26.28 Heb. 7.25 that they might be forgiven 2.17 4.15 for his resurrection and exaltation at thy right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance and forgiveness of sins And that he hath given to his Apostles the Ministry of reconciliation and admitted us into a Covenant of mercy and forgiveness by Baptism into his Name and hatâ— left us the cup of blessing whicâ— is the New Covenant in his blouâ— for the remission of sins and given power and authority to his Mâ—nisters to absolve all those who heartily repent and unfeignedly believâ— his holy Gospel We thank thee O Lord for the assurance we havâ— that he lives for ever to make interceâ—sion for us and is able to save to thâ— uttermost all those that come to thâ— by him and that he is a merciful and faithful High-priest to make reconciliation for the sins of the people being touched with a feeling of all our miseries We cannot doubt O blessed God of thy gracious intentions and desires to pardon us and to make us better when we seriously meditate on all these testimonies of thy Divine love and on that easie and gentle yoke which thou layest on us to love thee with all our heart and our neighbour as our selves and on the promised assistance which we have hopes of from above to inspire inliven and strengthen us to all well doing and patient suffering O that this languishing soul may likewise feel the comfortable influence of all these heavenly Truths reviving and chearing his spirit into a good hope in thee that thou wilt mercifully accept the oblation which he is willing to make of himself to thee and also constantly inable him to offer himself with greater affection and more pure devotion to thy service Scatter all the clouds that darken his mind and lift upon him the light of thy countenance O give him the comfort of thy help again Psal 51.12 and stablish him with thy free spirit 143.11 Quicken him 4.7 O Lord for thy names sake 85.6 for thy righteousness sake bring his soul out of trouble 2 Thess 1.11 Put gladness into his heart 1 Tim. 1.14 and revive him again that he and we may rejoyce in thee Amen Amen O God of all grace fulfill in him all the good pleasure of thy goodness and the work of faith with power that the name of our Lord may be glorified in him according to that grace which was exceeding ahundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus To whom be glory and praise for ever and ever Amen WHen sickness arrests any person it is time for him presently in the very beginning of it to search and try his ways sorrowfully to confess the sins of which he finds himself guilty with a full purpose of amendment to advise with his Spiritual Guide and before his spirit be feeble and broken to recommend himself heartily to our blessed Saviour by receiving the Communion of his body and bloud thereing making a commemoration of his wonderful love and devoting himself again to his service And having set his house in order as thâ— Prophet said to Hezekiah Isa 38.1 and setled his estate to acknowledge Gods great goodness to him hitherto and to submit himself wholly to his good pleasure in such manner as followeth A Prayer in the beginning of a Sickness O Lord the Soveraign of the world who doest what thou pleasest in heaven and in earth Psal 135.6 and delightest most in acts of bounty as all thy works every where declare and art full of compassion and mercy Ecclus 2.11 long-suffering and very pittiful and forgivest sins and savest in time of affliction I acknowledge my self among the rest of thy creatures to be most deeply indebted to thee whose life thou hast prolonged to this time in much health plenty and peace together with the enjoyment of spiritual blessings in the Lord Jesus I thank thee and praise thee all that is within me blesses thy holy name to whose wise and good Providence I wholly refer my self for the time to come placing my intire trust and confidence in thy almighty Goodness Faithfulness and Truth which endures for ever I ought to receive with all thankfulness whatsoever comes from thy hand and believe that to be good for me which thy infinite wisdom and kindness orders and allots for my portion Accordingly I accept with all humble and dutiful affection this thy Fatherly chastisement I acknowledge thy care of me and submit to what thou wilt be pleased to lay upon me If thou thinkest good to exercise me with a longer sickness and to let the present indisposition of my body proceed to a greater disorder not my will but thine O heavenly Father be done I only wait on thee for the comfortable presence of thy holy Spirit to support my soul by faith and hope and patience under all the
none besides thee Thou art righteous in all thy ways Job 11.7 and holy in all thy works Thou lovest righteousness and hatest iniquity and art excellent in power and in judgement and in plenty of justice The earth is thine and the fulness thereof the world and they that dwell therein The heavens declare the glory of God the firmament sheweth his handy-work The sun moon and stars praise the name of the Lord for he commanded and they were created He hath also established them for ever and ever He hath made a decree which shall not pass I know O Lord that thou canst do every thing and that no thought of thine can be hindred Whatsoever the Lord pleases that doth he in heaven and in earth in the seas and in all deep places For he is great and of great power his understanding is infinite Praised be thy Soveraign goodness and tender mercy which spreads it self over all thy works O Lord how manifold are thy works in wisdom hast thou made them all And they all wait on thee that thou mayst give them their meat in due season That thou givest them they gather thou openest thy hand they are filled with good The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever the Lord shall rejoyce in his works Thou always wast and ever wilt be the most holy powerful wise and good Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations One generation shall â—raise thy works to another and shall deâ—lare thy mighty acts They all pass away like a shadow but thou art the same and thy years shall have no end For ever O Lord thy word is setled in heaven Thy faithfulness is unto all generations While I live there fore will I praise the Lord I wilâ— sing praises to my God while I have any being I will praise thee O Lord with my whole heart whose name iâ— exalted above all blessing and praise For we cannot know the Almighty to perfection His wisdom is unsearchable and his ways past finding out His name alone is excellent his glory is above the earth and heaven II. O what high dignity is this thaâ— I am admitted into thy presence tâ— speak unto thee the blessed and only Potentate 1 Tim. 6.15 the King oâ— kings and Lord of Lords who only hast immortality O how happy ought I to think my self thaâ— I may draw thus nigh to thee whâ— dwellest in light unapproachable who art so happy in thy own most blessed Nature and who if thou dost but open thy self to any soul and fillest it with a great sense of thee and affection to thee thou lettest heavenly joys into it and makest it happy beyond expression For heaven cannot be separated from thee but wheresoever thou art there is peace and satisfaction joy and gladness and unspeakable bliss Adored be thy divine goodness which hath made me so happy this day as to feel some sense of thee begin to shine in my soul Adored be thy goodness which incourages me still to look up unto thee that I may feel more of thee yea hath ingaged me by innumerable Mercies to continue these addresses to thy divine Majesty O how excellent is thy loving kindness Psal 36.7 O God! 139.17 How precious are thy thoughts unto me how great is the sum of them Psal 46.5 Many O Lord my God 22.9,10 are thy wonderful works which thou hast done and thy thoughts which are to me-ward they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee if I would declare and speak of them they are more than can be numbred By thee I was fearfully and wonderfully made in secret Thou art he that took me out of my mothers womb and didst make me hope upon her breasts I have been cast upon thee ever since and thou hast been my gracious God unto this moment My infancy and childhood was attended with a very careful providence And thou hast blessed my riper years with a continued health and strength of body and mind and abundance of good things to support and refresh me in my pilgrimage through this world to a better life I never have wanted my daily bread even when I was not able to ask it of thee And thou hast bestowed on me many friends and kind benefactors And prevented me likewise by a timely grace and sent me many instructors that I might remember thee my Creator and Jesus Christ my Saviour Into whose family blessed be thy Name I was early adopted and assured of thy fatherly love and tender mercy towards me O how deeply do I stand indebted to thee for all those by whose Counsels or Sermons or Writings or religious Society or godly Examples or charitable Prayers I have been helped forward in my way to heaven Blessed be thy Name for all the means whereby I have been led to the knowledge of thy great love in the Lord Jesus which passeth knowledge For ever blessed be thy Name for sending him into the world born of a woman to be a teacher of righteousness to go before us and leave us a pattern of a most holy life to dye for our sins and to rise again for our justification and then to ascend into the heavens to prepare a place for us where thou hast advanced him above all principalities and powers Phil. 3.10,11 and given him a name above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should how and every tongue confess him to be the Lord to the glory of thee O God the Father Almighty I glorifie thee O heavenly Father with all my heart and soul for inspiring thy holy Apostles and Prophets 2 Cor. 4.6 and shining into their hearts to give the light of the knowledge of thy glory in the face of Jesus Christ I thank thee for calling me to faith in thee for making such great and precious promises to incourage our hope and for disposing me in any measure to be an inheritour of them I thank thee for granting such power to our blessed Lord to fulfil his word for making him a royal high-Priest and appointing him to bless us here and eternally Glory be to thee O Lord most high who hast so often favoured me with the gracious visitations of thy holy Spirit inlightning my mind drawing my will towards thee exciting in me holy desires working many pious purposes and resolutions in my heart giving me a taste how gracious thou art setting before me the hope of eternal life and perswading me by innumerable arguments to entertain those blessings which I should have been forward of my self to have desired Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord Psal 106.2 who can show forth all his praise How often hast thou spared me when I deserved to be punished How many dangers have I escaped From how many assaults of the enemy have I been guarded And how many of his designs have been defeated by an invisible and unobserved goodness which ought for
to serve thee be a great reward Let a contented mind be instead of all that I want and a thankful heart sweeten all my enjoyments Let patience always ease me under my burdens and an entire submission to thy will breed in me a settled tranquillity of spirit Let my delight be in the excellent that are in the earth and my thoughts be very much there while I live where I desire to be when I dye That heaven being my aim my hope and the longing expectation of my soul I may conquer all difficulties in my way to it and go through honour and dishonour good report and bad report prosperity and adversity with the same chearfulness and evenness of mind till at last I come to that place of rest and peace with the glorified Jesus who is able to give eternal life to them that obey him XI Blessed be thy name who hast inspired my heart with these holy desires and wrought these purposes and resolutions in me It is an earnest I hope of thy never failing love towards me in assurance of which I repose my self with full satisfaction of heart Yea this is my joy and my glory that I know thee and that I live under the care of thy wise merciful and almighty providence at present and that I have the promise of remission of sins and of a crown of life when the times of refreshment shall come from thy presence and thou shalt send Jesus Act. 3.19 to conduct all the faithful to that glorious place where he lives This is my salvation and and all my desire 2 Sam. 23.5 Now that I see thy abundant love O heavenly Father it sufficeth Rejoyce with me likewise all ye Angels of God according to the word of our Lord that there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth Luk. 15.7 Bless the Lord ye heavenly hosts ye minsters of his that do his pleasure Psal 103.21 And O that this joy may increase continually by my daily increase in all goodness and the perfecting of my repentance till I come to be admitted into their company and enter into the joy of my Lord. XII And I wish the same happiness to all mankind which I desire for my self It will multiply my joy to see all the people praise thee O God to see all the people praise thee O make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye lands Serve the Lord with gladness and come before his presence with thanksgiving Psal 100.1 Give unto the Lord O ye kindreds of the people give unto the Lord glory and strength Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name bring an offering and come into his courts O worship the Lord with holy worship fear before him all the earth 96.8,9 More especially I desire the increase of grace mercy and peace to thy chosen people Beseeching thee to bless thy universal Church and to fill the hearts of all its members with thy love that they may rest neither day nor night saying Blessed be God Blessed be the glorious Majesty of heaven and earth whose power wisdom and goodness excel all praise and endure for ever And arise O God for the sighing of the poor and the needy let not the men of the earth always oppress them Psal 10.18 Let the salvation of thy people come out of thy holy place 14.7 Be thou exalted in thy own strength and so will we sing and praise thy power 21.13 Lord continue thy loving kindness unto those that know thee and thy righteousness to men of upright heart Let not the foot of pride come against them and let not the hand of the wicked remove them 36.10,11,12 O let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end but establish thou the just 7.9 Protect O Lord and defend that part of thy Church which thou hast planted in these Kingdoms Great and innumerable have been thy mercies to us but alas we are a stubborn and rebellious people a people that set not our heart aright and whose spirit hath not been stedfast with thee And therefore thou hast justly plagued us many ways and we should have but our deserts if thy hand should still be stretched out to punish us seven times more for our sins But what is man that thou shouldst take displeasure at him or what is a corruptible generation that thou shouldest be extreamly angry with them For in truth there is none among them but hath dealt wickedly and among the faithful there is none that hath not done amiss But in this O Lord thy righteousness and goodness shall be declared if thou be merciful to them which have not the confidence of good works Psal 78.8 2 Esdras 8.34,35,36 Psal 79 8,9 118.25 O be merciful unto us be merciful unto us and do not utterly forsake us O remember not against us former iniquities and that we have so soon forgot thy works and the wonderful deliverances which thou hast given us Help us O God of our salvation for the glory of thy name and deliver us and purge away our sins for thy names sake Fill us with thy wisdom from above that we may be heartily in love with the Religion which we profess and preserve us in it for ever Defeat the counsels of all its enemies and bring their wicked devices to nought Unite us to each other in brotherly love and make us at peace among our selves O let peace be within this Church Let them prosper that love her and seek her good Save now I beseech thee O Lord O Lord I beseech thee send now prosperity And for that end indue our Soveraign Lord the King with all the gifts and graces of thy holy Spirit Hear the daily prayers of thy Church for him that he may always incline to thy will and walk in thy way and study to preserve thy people committed to his charge in wealth peace and godliness Enlighten all our Bishops Priests and Deacons with true knowledge and understanding of thy Word and enable them both by their life and doctrine to set it forth and shew it accordingly Teach all our Counsellors and Senators wisdom and give all our Magistrates courage and zeal to excute Justice and to maintain Truth Vouchsafe to all thy people increase of grace to hear thy word with meekness and to receive it with pure and sincere affection and to bring forth the fruits of the spirit Give them honest and good hearts to honour and obey the King and all that are put in authority under him to submit themselves to all their Governours Teachers spiritual Pastors and Masters to order themselves lowly reverently to all their betters to be careful not to hurt one another by word or deed to be just and true in all their dealing to bear no malice nor hatred in their hearts to preserve themselves to temperance soberness and chastity not to covet one anothers goods but to learn and labour
truly to get their own living and to do their duty in that state of life unto which it hath pleased thee to call them And good Lord bless the honest labours of all men among us and crown them with good success Especially of those who have any work in hand for the glory of thy name the increase of Christian piety and the peace of thy Church Reward the bounty of all charitable persons either for the honour of Religion or the relief of them that are in poverty And make the bones which thou hast broken to rejoyce Comfort all that are in a sorrowful condition and bring them out of all their troubles Send thy Angel to guide and preserve those who are in journeys upon their lawful occasions Let them that go down into the deep and do business upon the great waters observe thy providence and praise thee for thy goodness and for thy wonderful works for the children of men Forgive all that have done me any evil and requite the kindness of those who have done me any good Let their souls abide in good and their seed inherit the earth Psal 25.13 Rejoyce the heart of all my Friends and fulfil the petitions of all that have desired my prayers 106. ult Let none that wait on thee O Lord be ashamed let all them that trust in thee say continually the Lord be magnified Save and deliver every one of us O Lord our God from the hands of our enemies to give thanks unto thy holy name and to triumph in thy praise Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ from everlasting to everlasting and let all the people say Amen Praise the Lord. AFter this if the spirits be tyred it will be fit to give them some refreshment And then it will be very profitable to read and weigh seriously our Saviours Sermon on the Mount contained in the V. VI. and VII Chapters of the Gospel according to St. Matthew And such meditations may be interspersed as are most sutable to the persons condition and occasions With the addition of some of the prayers foregoing for RESOLVTION in well doing or for the DIVINE GRACE or for good SVCCESS in any business or for Friends that are TROVBLED IN MIND or are in a long JOVRNEY c. And then conclude with the following Prayer and Thanksgiving I. I Most humbly adore and worship thee O Lord most high the possessor of heaven and earth And admire thy infinite love to mankind whom thou hast thought worth the expence of the bloud of thy dear Son and the conduct and assistance of the holy Ghost and the Ministry of Angels by whom thou exercisest a most watchful providence over us and so many gracious messages from heaven wherein thou hast plainly declared that thou desirest to see us eternally happy by being made partakers of a Divine Nature When we seriously consider thy glorious perfections and thy astonishing kindness towards us we may justly wonder at our selves that we should ever refuse to be conformed to thy will nay that we should not be exceeding forward to joyn our selves unto thee in most hearty love and intire friendship with thee I am amazed at the dulness and stupidity of our Nature that there should need so many intreaties and beseechings of us to be so happy It is impossible to think of thee and to prefer any thing in our esteem and desire and choice and delight and joy before thy favour and good will towards us who art so able and so desirous to bestow the greatest bliss upon us And therefore I most earnestly beseech thy goodness that to all other mercies which I have begged of thee thou wilt add this grace to bring thy self often to my remembrance and to possess my heart with a constant serious and deep sense of thy marvellous kindness in giving me liberty to chuse so great a good as thy self and in propounding to my will such everlasting happiness and in drawing me from those ways which are contrary even to my peace and satisfaction here by such powerful motives to well doing II. Awaken O Lord awaken this sense continually in my mind Fasten my thoughts upon those unseen and eternal enjoyments Make me feel what an happiness it is to love thee with all my heart to cleave unto thee against all temptations which would allure or affright me from my duty to bless and praise thee with joyful lips to be kept in perfect peace and tranquillity while my mind is stayed on thee to be full and satisfied and to desire nothing more but to live for ever in thy love O make me more and more to conceive and remember what an infinite delight thou the infinite good canst pour forth into us how highly our Lord Jesus is dignified and exalted and that thou hast made him most blessed for ever and made him exceeding glad with thy countenance Psal 21.6 and that he will bring all thy children unto his glory Settle in my soul such strong apprehensions of these things that they may purifie my heart more perfectly and provoke me to an unwearied diligence in well doing and make me endure hardship also if need be as a good souldier of Jesus Christ who was made perfect through sufferings III. And assist me especially in these holy addresses to thee that continuing instant in prayer I may feel my heart lifted up more and more towards heaven by ardent breathings after thee And indue me likewise with such a spirit of wisdom and such sincerity of heart that I may never be discouraged though I fall short of the height of my desires but I may always thankfully acknowledge thy grace in what I have attained and labour earnestly to grow better with a quiet patient even and steady mind Preserve in me an humble confidence that thou wilt never forsake the work of thine own hands And let that confidence make me industrious but not slothful And let thy holy Spirit bless and further my endeavours and a fervent desire and hearty good will press me forward and the pleasures of Religion mightily indear it to me and the joy that thou hast set before me make me run the way of thy commandments with an enlarged heart And the nearer I come to the end of my race may it please thy goodness to present me with a clearer sight of that Crown of Life which our Lord hath promised Open to me more of the treasures of thy Kingdom and fill me with a greater joy in hope of thy glory that so I may be willing to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best of all IV. And now O Lord what thanks shall I render unto thee for these holy thoughts desires and affections which by thy grace I feel in my heart together with all the other benefits which thou hast bestowed on me or intendest for me Great and marvellous things O God hast thou wrought for the children of men and thou hast
good likewise we must hate and abhorr our selves who cannot but love and delight in those who show us any kindness and bestow any benefits upon us though they are but thy Ministers and Servants that have nothing and can do nothing but what thou hast given them and inclinest them to do By thee we were formed and brought out of our Mothers Womb. And by a greater mercy were early born again and made thy children in Christ Jesus We have been thy care ever since and been instructed in that Covenant of Grace into which at our Baptism we were received by the knowledge thou hast given us of thy blessed Gospel Wherein we read the great love of our Saviour in dying for us and have the promise of his Spirit to sanctifie and govern us his holy Precepts for the rule of our actions his glorious Example to excite and quicken us and the hope of eternal bliss by his Resurrection from the dead to incourage and comfort us in well doing And in the mean time we injoy the society of thy Saints the ministry of thy Angels and the direction and assistance of thy faithful servants the Embassadors of peace and reconciliation with thee All which fruits of thy wonderful love we have long enjoyed and thou hast this day entertained us at thy Table where thou hast refreshed us with the Communion of the body and bloud of Christ Jesus the earnest of a blessed resurrection and the pledge of immortality Besides innumerable good things which thy most tender mercy hath been pleased to bestow upon our bodies to make our passage to that blessedness through all the troubles and dangers of this life the more easie and delightful to us And all this thou hast done for those who have been too idle and useless cold and dull inconstant and soon weary of their duty forgetful of benefits and unfaithful to their own promises But thy infinite goodness still continues to do it to make us more diligent more zealous more steadfast and immoveable more mindful of thee and of our own holy purposes that we may be abundant as there is reason in the work of our Lord knowing that our labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. And that is the most sincere and fervent desire of our souls likewise who here most humbly beseech thee by the power of thy holy Spirit to preserve in us a perpetual and affectionate remembrance of all thy undeserved kindness to us Stir up all that is within us every morning to bless and praise thy holy Name That by a renewed serious acknowledgement of thy benefits we may be more and more stirred up to love and to all good works O that the Lord Jesus may be always in our thoughts and in our hearts that we may make him our pattern as he is our hope O that nothing may be so dear unto us in this world as his holiness his humility his goodness and charity his meekness and patience his intire trust in thee and resignation to thee his delight to do thy will O God in hope of that Tit. 1.1 eternal life which thou who canst not lye hast promised to us Fix our minds and affections more steadfastly on that glory wherewith he is crowned by his obedient suffering of death that we may never be weary nor faint in our minds under any sufferings for well doing but continuing faithful to the death may also receive the Crown of Life Accept we pray thee of this our bounden duty and service pitty our great weaknesses pardon all our sins and negligences and deny us not the grace of thy holy Spirit which we have implored to inable us to amend our lives according to thy holy Word But after thou hast refreshed us with quiet sleep this night let us feel it moving our hearts to the same holy thoughts acknowledgements desires and resolutions which it now works in us through thy mercy declared to us in Christ Jesus In whose words we conclude our Prayers saying as he hath taught us Our Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy Name Thy kingdom come Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil c. PRAYERS FOR FAMILIES MVNDAY MORNING WE humble our selves O Lord of heaven and earth before thy glorious Majesty we heartily acknowledge thy Sovereign Dominion over us all creatures we praise and magnifie thy eternal Power Wisdom Goodness and Truth and we render thee our most unfeigned thanks for the innumerable benefits which thou in thy bounty hast loaded us withal Above all for the gracious declaration thou hast made of thy good will to us in Christ Jesus by whom thou hast invited and incouraged sinners to return to thee and directed them in the way to everlasting bliss We blush to think of our shameful forgetfulness of thee and ingratitude to thee to whom we owe all that we have in this world and all our hopes in the next We most humbly implore thy tender mercies in the forgiveness of all our sins whereby we have offended either in thought word or deed against thy just and holy Laws For we are truly sorry for all our mis-doings we utterly renounce whatsoever is contrary to thy will and here devote our selves intirely to the obedience thereof Accept O most merciful Father of this renewed Dedication which we make of our whole man body soul and spirit to thee And as thou dost inspire us with holy resolutions so accompany them always with the assistance of thy grace that we may be able every day to offer up our selves more sincerely and more cheerfully to thee with more pure affection and hearty devotion and ready disposition to thy service We adore thy great grace which hath brought salvation to us and Tit. 2.11,12 teaches us that denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world We will indeavour O Lord to preserve a grateful sense of thy mighty love in our mind and to follow the doctrine and example of thy Son Christ Jesus as becomes those who have such a blessed hope and look for so great Salvation at the day of his glorious appearing We desire above all things to be so pure and undefiled so meek and gentle so humble and lowly so just and merciful so peaceable and patient contented and thankful as our blessed Lord and Master was And we hope that thou wilt fulfil all the gracious promises he hath made to us which we esteem far greater treasure than thousands of gold and silver They are the support the comfort the satisfaction of our hearts We ask nothing but that it may be to thy servants according to his Word Thou hast mercifully kept us the last night blessed be thy continued goodness and raised us again to see
most high and most willingly joyn our hearts and voices this Morning together with all the host of heaven and earth to laud and praise thy glorious Name and give thanks unto thee whose mercy endureth for ever We think our selves happy that we know thee and that we live under the care and providence of thine Almighty and most wise goodness and that we have a good hope not only of thy blessing and favour here but of life for evermore Blessed be thy Name for sending thy Son Jesus to give us these hopes by his Death and Resurrection and Ascension to heaven and the coming of the holy Ghost Blessed be thy Name who hast trained us up in his Religion and given us the means and opportunities to know that love of thine which passes knowledge We thank thee for all the blessed operations and motions of thy holy Spirit in our hearts and that thou hast so early inclined us to fear thee and love thee and place our contentment and satisfaction in thy love and favour which is better than life it self And that thou hast also added a number of other mercies for our comfortable subsistence in this world having granted us so long health peace and plenty a great many friends loving relations and acquaintance and continued the enjoyment of them to this day though we be so unworthy of the least of thy favours We thank thee O God that now thou hast graciously renewed thy kindness unto us in protecting us the last night from all the powers of darkness and every evil accident and raising us up this morning in health and safety to praise thy goodness More especially we praise thee for any sense we have of these thy mercies humbly waiting on thee for the increase of it and for thy gracious pardon of all our unthankfulness and undutiful behaviour towards thee which we most heartily bewail and desire and will endeavour to amend And for that end we implore the help of thy holy Spirit which our Lord hath incouraged us to ask of thee and told us thou wilt not deny to those that earnestly seek it and continue to knock importunately at the gate of Mercy for it We believe all his promises to be faithful and true and therefore humbly depend on thy mighty Power to strengthen and inable us to do our duty towards thee and towards all men with care and diligence and zeal and perseverance to the end Indue us good Lord with a spirit of true and servent devotion to thee our Creator and Redeemer with upright just and charitable hearts to all our Neighbours and with temperate contented and humble minds in every condition and state of life unto which thou shalt please to call us Help us to be meek and gentle in our conversation prudent and discreet in ordering all our affairs good and useful in every relation observant of thy fatherly providence in every thing that befals us grateful for thy benefits patient under thy chastisements and readily disposed to every good word and work Preserve in us a constant remembrance of thine all-seeing eye of the many promises and vows we have made of fidelity to thee of thine inestimable love in Christ Jesus whereof thou hast given us so many pledges and of the great account we must give to him the Judge of all at the day of his appearing That so we may continue steadfast and unmoveable and be abundant in the work of the Lord knowing that our labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. Deliver us we beseech thee from all inordinate cares and desires from vain hopes and causeless fears and so dispose our hearts that death it self may not be dreadful to us but we may welcome it with a chearful countenance when and howsoever it shall approach O that our hearts may be so firmly settled and established in the true Religion and our minds kept so free from all delusions that nothing may afright us or shake our constancie But we may rather chuse to dye than dishonour our Saviour who dyed for us We resign our selves to thy wisdom and goodness who knowest what is best for us hoping thou wilt 1 Corinth 10.13 never suffer us to be tempted above what we are able and wilt with the temptation also make a way to escape that we may be able to bear it We commend unto thee likewise all mankind especially thy Church and chosen people these Kingdoms more particularly of which we are members that we may be all faithful to our Lord Christ and zealous of good works Bless our Soveraign his Councellors his Ministers and all imployed in publick business whether Spiritual or Civil that they may be conscientiously industrious and whatsoever they do may prosper for the good of all those who are committed to their charge Be gracious to all our friends and those who are dear unto us Keep us all in thy fear and love and obedience while we live and make us willing to dye and to be with Christ which is best of all Guide us good Lord and govern us by the same spirit of wisdom and goodness that we may be so united to thee here as not to be eternally separated when thou art pleased to order our departure hence But that we all at last may have an happy meeting in the other and better world to dwell with thee in love and joy that shall never dye through Christ Jesus our blessed Lord and Saviour in whose words we still beseech thee to hear us Our Father c. At Night ALL honour and glory thanks and praise love and service be rendred by us and all other reasonable creatures to thy great and glorious Majesty O Lord who hast brought us into the world and preserved our life most tenderly to this moment and made it easie and comfortable to us by more mercies than we can number And to all the former hast added those of this day which we have passed in peace and health and safety blessed be thy never-ceasing goodness Above all we acknowledge thy unconceiveable love in Christ Jesus by whom thou hast made a gracious provision for our souls and their everlasting happiness in the other world Having sent him to us with the promises of eternal life and to be the Way and Director to it and given him to dye that he might seal his promises with his bloud and raised him again from the dead that our faith and hope might be in thee O God 1 Cor. 2.9 Eye had not seen nor ear heard neither did enter into the heart of man the things which thou hast prepared for them that love thee We love thee O Lord and give our selves both souls and bodies to thee most earnestly desiring to be inspired with such a sense of thy infinite goodness that we may love thee more and serve thee better with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our strength We confess we have not walked worthy of the great
place Attend unto my cry O Lord and give ear unto my Prayer that goeth not out of feigned lips Thou art my God and I will praise thee thou art my God and I will exalt thee And I will delight my self in thy Commandments which I have loved My hands also will I lift up to thy commandments which I have loved and I will meditate in thy statutes Let thy tender mercies come also unto me O Lord even thy Salvation according to thy Word Look upon me and be merciful unto me as thou usest to do to those that love thy Name Order my steps in thy Word and let not any iniquity have dominion over me Amen A longer Prayer in the Church when there is time for it before the begining of divine Service I Cast down my self O Lord in an holy fear and humble adoration of thine incomprehensible Majesty who fillest heaven and earth but delightest to make thy self more peculiarly present to those that acknowledge and praise thee and are desirous to be filled with a constant sense of thee and intire love to thee Blessed be thy infinite goodness which hath incouraged such wretches as I am by the declaration of thy good will to us in Christ Jesus by thy most gracious invitations and precious promises and by the long experience I have had of thy kindness to approach unto thee O Lord most High I accept most thankfully of this freedom and liberty of access with confidence by the faith of Jesus and am here to joyn with the rest of thy servants in extolling and magnifying thy eternal Power Wisdom and Goodness in giving thanks to thee for thy innumerable blessings in hearing thy most holy Word and making our humble supplications for the continuance of thy undeserved grace and favour towards us Compose mine and every one of our thoughts to the most silent admiration of thee Strike our Spirits with a reverend apprehension of the surpassing greatness and glory of thy Majesty Raise our affections to the highest pitch of love and gratitude to thee bow our wills to the most chearful submission to all thy holy commands and touch us with an unspeakable joy when we read and hear thy exceeding great and precious promises Vouchsafe most loving Father the power of thy holy Spirit to attend upon me to draw my mind from all other things and to give me such a lively taste of the pleasures of thy house as may make me ever delight to attend upon thee here and walk with thee in every other place with a perfect heart That so my own 1 Joh. 3.21,22 heart not condemning me I may have more and more confidence towards thee that whatsoever I ask I shall receive of thee because I keep thy commandments and do those things which are pleasing in thy sight Psal 62.1 O my God truly my soul waiteth upon thee from thee cometh my salvation 61.1 Hear my cry O God and attend unto my prayer for the honour of our Lord Jesus and the love thou bearest to him who hath bid us ask and we shall receive seek and we shall find knock and it shall be opened unto us Let it be to thy servant I most ardently beseech thee according to his Word Amen Another more large O Lord of heaven and earth who art infinite and incomprehensible in thy being eternal in thy duration and unchangeable in thy Nature who canst do what thou wilt and delightest in doing us good By thy Power I and all creatures were made by thy Wisdom we are govern'd by thy Goodness and Bounty we are provided for under thy Soveraign Dominion we live and unto thy Majesty we owe all reverence service and faithful obedience I adore and humbly worship thee I acknowledge my self bound by innumerable tyes to fear thee to love thee to praise thee and to serve thee with all my heart and soul and strength Blessed be thy Goodness that I have any hope thou wilt accept of such a worthless thing as my love Blessed be thy Goodness I admire at the riches of thy Grace that thou dost not reject all the service that I can tender thee Nay it is to be ascribed to this alone that I am alive to worship thee and have the doors of thy house stand open to me and that I have any heart to enter into it to offer up spiritual Sacrifices by Christ Jesus O God I offer thee here my whole self which is all due to thee because I received it all from thee beseeching thee most earnestly to make me feel that I am not mine own any longer but thine by taking off my thoughts and affections from all other things at this present and filling me with such a reverend apprehension of thee such hearty devotion to thee and heavenly joy in thee that I may every day offer up my self to thee more holy and more pure more meek and merciful more humble and thankful more chearfully disposed to every good work and better prepared to bear a part in the praises and services of the glorious company above Thou knowest the weakness of our nature how soon our thoughts are tyred and apt to start aside when we direct them towards heaven Vouchsafe me therefore the assistance of thy holy Spirit to compose my mind to the most serious the most earnest the most devout and chearful attention in all the parts of thy Divine Service That I may have the liveliest sense of thy glorious perfections when I praise thee and the most delightful remembrance of thy Mercies when I give thee thanks and the most thirsty desires to be conformed to thy Will and to feel more and more the influences of thy Grace when I hear thy holy Word and present my prayers and supplications before thee Accept O blessed God of this good will and sincere affection that I have to thy service though performed with broken and distracted thoughts and with too great listlessness and dulness of spirit And help me continually to out-grow this weakness and to present thee with an heart more quiet calm and fit to receive thee more perfect and intire in ardent love to thee and more setled and fixed in thee as its chiefest joy and happiness That so all the rest of the actions of my life may be a more constant and even performance of my duty according to the command and example of my blessed Lord and Master Christ Jesus In whose name it is that I am bold to approach into thy presence believing the Power and Authority thou hast given him over all to bless us and to do for us exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think By him be glory unto thee O Father Almighty in the Church throughout all ages world without end Amen At the conclusion of Divine Service after these words The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ c. Say Amen with the heartiest and most earnest affection And add some such words as these BLessed be thy name
of thee and of my own good as for the small and momentany pleasures of this world to hazard the loss of those great and eternal joys which we expect in the other life But enable me O most gracious God so to behave my self that when I have passed through all the imployments and occasions of this day I may bring my self back again into thy presence so pure and undefiled that I may begin those joys which are to come in chearful praises of thee and in a comfortable sense that thou dwellest in me and art leading me by thy holy Spirit to immortal happiness through Christ Jesus Amen A Prayer for serious and effectual Consideration the better to establish all good resolutions O Most glorious Majesty of heaven and earth who art above the highest of all our thoughts and much more beyond all our words But that thou art great and mighty we know by thy works of wonder which we behold And the admirable disposure and government of all things tell us that thou art infinitely wise and knowest all things We see how good thou art by the large provision which thou hast made for all thy creatures every where Thy Precepts teach us how just and holy thou art and by thy Promises we know that thou art gracious and bountiful and by thy Threatnings that thou hatest iniquity and by thy executing of both that thou art faithful and true and wilt save the godly and punish evil doers When we consider all this we may justly wonder at our selves that we should not fear thee and reverence thee and love thee and seek thy love and favour above all things by studying to please thee in universal obedience to thy blessed will which designs to imploy thy Almighty Power to make us so great so happy and so glorious And there is no other reason I see why we are no better affected towards thee but because our thoughts are exceeding short and light and vain and we so seldom consider and deeply ponder what we confess thou art and in what relation we stand to thy Divine Majesty Vouchsafe therefore O God of all grace to awaken my mind to a more lively and stedfast remembrance of thee my Creator my Redeemer my daily Benefactor and my most loving and tender-hearted Father in Christ Jesus O that no day may pass without some serious and considerate thoughts of those things which so nearly concern my everlasting welfare And by thy powerful presence with me inlighten my mind to a clearer sense of them Quicken and inliven that sense I humbly beseech thee and make it so strong and moving that it may press upon my heart and affections till it overcome me to surrender soul and body absolutely unto thee Pardon all my former neglects of thee and let them not hinder the influences of thy holy Spirit upon me by which I may be changed into thy image and likeness Sanctifie my understanding that I may rightly conceive thy holy Truths and fully apprehend them Sanctifie my memory that I may keep in mind all that I know of thee and of thy blessed will revealed to us in Christ Jesus Sanctifie my will that I may chearfully imbrace and intirely consent to thine in all things And sanctifie all my affections that I may love thee with all my heart and soul and strength and delight in thee more than in all the contentments of this life and hope more for thy glory than all worldly preferments and fear thee more than the greatest potentate upon earth and take more care for my soul and eternal things than for this body and all its momentany pleasures and hate all sin more than my greatest enemies yea help me to love mine enemies to do good to them that do evil to me to bless them that curse me and pray for them that despightfully use me For which end sanctifie all my Passions that I may be angry at nothing so much as that I have displeased thee and in an holy indignation at my self and in revenge of my former negligence and disobedience may be more strict and severe in the performance of all my duty for the time to come Sanctifie me throughout in body as well as spirit that I may possess it in holiness and honour and all my senses may administer occasions to my mind to remember thee to praise thee and to bless thee who every way so liberally providest for me Sanctifie all my conversation with others and all the imployments of this life that I may still be heavenly minded and have a respect to my last end and everlasting good Sanctifie all the blessings of health and strength and peace and plenty and friends yea and all the crosses and afflictions of this life that they may make me more serious and considerate and help more perfectly to purifie my spirit and dispose me for the happiness of the other world Raise me O Lord to such an exceeding great delight in these holy thoughts and meditations and entertain me with such a blissful sense of thee when I address my self unto thee that I may rather be unwilling to depart from thy presence than weary of conversing with thee And when I return to my other imployments again O that my mind may be often looking back towards thee my God my exceeding joy desirous to be always with thee and longing to enjoy thee in unchangeable love and perfect likeness to thee Unto which I most humbly beseech thee to bring me for thy mercies sake declared in Christ Jesus who lives for ever to make intercession for us Amen THe better to preserve a constant sense of God in the mind and pious dispositions in the heart Here follow certain short Ejaculations as we are wont to call them in which upon several occasions any man may lift up his soul to God And if he do it fervently may find it of great effect EJACVLATIONS When he awakes in the morning he may say I Laid me down and slept I awaked for the Lord sustained me Psal 3.5 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me O God how great is the sum of them If I would count them they are more in number than the sand when I awake I am still with thee Psal 139.17,18 When he is dressing himself O how bountiful is the ornament of a pure humble meek patient and charitable spirit Help me O God to put on the Lord Jesus in these and all other vertues When he goes into the Church or his Closet My heart is fixed O God my heart is fixed I will sing and give praise Psal 57.7 When he begins any business My help cometh from the Lord which â—ade heaven and earth Psal 121.2 The Lord Jesus Christ be with my spirit 2. Tim. 4.22 When he goes forth of his doors Hold thou up my goings in thy paths that my foot-steps slip not Psal 17.5 Order my steps in thy word and let not any iniquity have dominion over me 119.133 Give thy
pains I may endure Lay no more upon me O Father of mercies than I shall be able to bear and lay upon me what thou pleasest Free me for the present from all murmuring and repining thoughts and for the future make the sickness and anguish of my body a blessed instrument to purge my spirit more perfectly from all pride and vanity from all covetousness and worldly-mindedness and from all inordinate love of any of the pleasures of this life I believe O blessed Jesus that thou livest for ever who sufferedst and dyedst for us and that thou hast a great compassion towards those who would gladly follow thee though it be through sufferings Behold Lord I commend my self to thy mighty Love desiring above all things to be made conformable to thee in meekness in humility in patience in intire resignation to Gods holy will and pleasure and in perfect satisfaction in his Fatherly love and kindness whatsoever my condition be I am sensible O God that I have not employed my time to the utmost advantage of my soul and to thy honour glory but have wasted many precious hours and several ways neglected my duty towards thee * Here reckon up the sins you may have committed and been but an unprofitable part of this world so that I am not worthy to continue any longer in it But I hope thou wilt vouchsafe me thy gracious pardon and receive me to mercy if thou callest me hence for into thy hands O Father I commend my spirit who hast redeemed me by the precious bloud of Jesus Christ And that if thou prolongest my days on earth I shall serve thee with greater diligence and strictness and zeal and chearfulness to the end of my life I desire not to live but that I may perfect holiness in thy fear and secure to my self by doing more good an happy entertainment into the society of the blessed in the other world I see already the emptiness and insufficiency of all enjoyments upon earth All flesh is grass and all the goodliness of it as the flower of the field The grass withereth Isa 40.7 the flower fadeth Psal 119.50,81 But thy word standeth fast for ever In thy word therefore O Lord and gracious promises is my hope This is my comfort in my affliction And my perfect contentment I see lyes always in thy love and favour alone which is better than life it self O settle me in a certain and unmoveable possession of it by what means thou pleasest Do but love me and preserve me in a lively sense of thy good will towards me and dispose of me as thou thinkest good In the multitude of my thoughts within me Psal 94.19 thy comforts shall delight my soul Rom. 5.2 8.28 I will rejoyce even in the midst of tribulations Psal 23.3 30.10 and glory in thy holy name who makest all things work together for good to them that love thee Though I walk through the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me thy power and tender care they shall comfort me Accept Good Lord of these my desires and resolutions Hear me O God and have mercy upon me Lord be thou my helper for Christ Jesus his sake my ever blessed Redeemer Amen IT will be seasonable here to put the Devout Reader in mind that when he is in distress and desires Mercy of God it ought to excite his charity to others that are in misery and dispose him to shew mercy to them For though that be not Canonical Scripture which we read Tob. 12.9 Alms doth deliver from death yet this is With the merciful God will shew himself merciful Psal 18.25 Blessed is he that considereth the poor the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble 41.1,2,3 If he do not preserve him and keep him alive yet the Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing he will make all his bed in his sickness Therefore as thou recommendest thy self to God and desirest others to pray with thee so remember that Prayer is good with fasting and alms and righteousness Tob. 12.8 A Prayer to be said by the Family with the Sick person O Lord the Father of our spirits who givest to us and all creatures life and breath and all things We sinful dust and ashes blush to lift up our eyes unto heaven when we consider our vast distance from thee and reflect upon thy unspotted holiness and our impurity thy infinite wisdom and our wretched folly thy power and our weakness thy Eternity of life and our short continuance We are but of yesterday and know nothing Job 8.9 because our days upon earth are a shadow Psal 39.11 When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity Job 25.6 thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth Surely every man is vanity But so great is thy condescending grace that thou hast assured us thou wilt not despise such worms as we are Nay thou hast incouraged us blessed be thy goodness to approach unto thee with some confidence that thou wilt mercifully receive us though we have highly offended thy Divine Majesty Having sent thy dear Son into the world to save sinners to purifie our natures to indue us with a divine understanding to strengthen our weakness and to comfort us with the hope of an immortal life Behold O Lord the oblation which we make to thee of most thankful hearts devoted to thy service whose love and tender mercies have so exceedingly abounded towards us We will praise thee and glorifie thee as long as we have any being for this great salvation which Christ Jesus hath brought to light by his resurrection from the dead to an eternal Kingdom in the heavens We are humbly bold to hope in thee that thou who hast not spared thy own Son Rom. 8.32 but delivered him up for us all wilt with him also freely give us all things O thou Father of mercies and God of all comfort who hast not thought a Crown of everlasting life and glory too much to promise us we believe that thou wilt not deny us what is needful and fit for us both for our souls and our bodies in our passage through this world to that honour glory and immortality In this confidence we more particularly recommend this thy sick servant to thy infinite and most compassionate mercy Settle in his * Or her soul a stedfast faith that thou dost not willingly grieve the children of men but intendest good to him by this affliction And now that other pleasures and enjoyments fail him represent thy self effectually unto him as his true happiness and satisfaction Wherein soever he hath neglected thee or committed any offence against thee make him deeply sensible of and heartily sorrwful for his folly And as he earnestly desires pardon and forgiveness of thee so work in him a serious resolution to live more circumspectly and exactly in time to come Assist him graciously
unto her and her relations further favour Tob. 8.16 and finish their life in health with joy and mercy Renew her strength daily and as that increaseth so make her thankfulness and pious affections towards thee and serious resolutions to obey thee faithfully grow up together therewith Refresh her spirit while she lyeth on this bed of weakness with many heavenly thoughts and delightful meditations of all thy mercies towards her and towards mankind especially with a sense of thy wonderful love in Christ Jesus who was pleased to be born of a woman and to become like one of us that we might be assured of thy care over us in every condition and be made thy children and at last be heirs of everlasting life And when she hath recovered her former strength make her to feel this love still more powerful in her heart exciting her to serve thee carefully in all righteousness sobriety modesty devotion and readiness to assist others especially the poor and needy in the same distress wherein she hath been her self We commend likewise this little one which thou hast blessed her withal unto thy tender care and fatherly love beseeching thee that it may live to be dedicated unto thee and to be instructed in the knowledge of thee and to praise thee as we now do for bringing it into the world and for making it partakeâ—… likewise of thy grace in Christ Jesus Or if it shall seem good to thee to let either of them fall into any further danger enable her to endure iâ— with patient submission to thee trusting even in death it self in thy good providence and in thy precious promises who never failest those that faithfully seek thee Hear us O Father of mercies and pardon our offences pitty our infirmities make us more thankful for what we have received and more fit for thy future mercies either in this life or in the next through thy infinite love declared to us in Christ Jesus in whose holy words we conclude our prayers saying as he hath taught us Our Father c. A Thanksgiving to be used by the person her self when she is able UNto thee O God do I give thanks unto thee do I give thanks for that thou art near thy wondrous works declare Psal 75.1 In my distress I called upon thee and my cry came unto thee 18.6 34.4 I sought thee O Lord 138.3 and thou heardest me 30.3 and deliveredst me from all my fears 66.20 56.12 In the day when I cryed 104.33,34 thou answeredst me and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul Thou hast brought up my soul from the grave thou hast kept me alive that I should not go down to the pit Blessed be God which hath not turned away my prayer nor his mercy from me Blessed be God who hath preserved the fruit of my womb and made me the joyful mother of a child Thy vows are upon me O God I will render praise unto thee I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live I will sing praises unto my God while I have my being My meditation of him shall be sweet I will be glad in the Lord. Accept O most merciful Father of these thankful acknowledgements Psal 17.2 57.2 which go not forth out of fained lips And be pleased graciously to preserve such a lasting and fresh remembrance of thy great mercies in my heart that I may always be joyful in thee and speak good of thy name and trust in thee at all times and still cry unto thee O God most high who performest all things for me Make me studious likewise and forward to bring forth all the fruits of righteousness throughout the whole course oâ— my life which may witness the truth and sincerity of my thankfulness to thee O that I may never be less earnest and fervent in the return of obedience than I have been in desires and prayers to receive thy blessings Dispose me to have a kind and tender care of this infant which thou hast committed to my charge Make me willing to undergo to the utmost of my power the pains that accompany its education Let not the love of ease and pleasure breed in me an aversness to any duty to which both Nature and Religion incline me or give me grace by sober thoughts and a thankful remembrance of the late pain from which thou hast delivered me to overcome it Especially indue me with the greatest love to its precious and immortal soul And help me so to grow and encrease in Christian wisdom and goodness that I may be able to instruct it when it is capable in the fear of our Lord and by meek and gentle admonitions together with a good example in all things to win it to the love of true godliness Or if thou art pleased to take it from me who deserve not the least of thy mercies Lord so moderate my affections and bring them in subjection to thee that I may not undutifully repine at thy providence but in an humble adoration of thy unsearchable wisdom and a stedfast confidence of thy good will towards me resign it unto thee from whom I received it And I also beseech thy Divine goodness when thou shalt restore me to the publick assemblies of thy people again to give me grace to receive that mercy with exceeding joy Prepare my heart with enlarged affection to offer unto thee not only the sacrifice of praise giving thanks unto thy name but all other oblations which ought to accompany such addresses to thy glorious Majesty That they may be but an earnest of my future diligence and zeal in thy Divine Service and oâ— my readiness to do good and communicate unto others whereby I may lay up in store for my self a good foundation against the time to come 1 Tim. 6.19 that I may lay hold on eternal life through Christ Jesus Amen A Prayer for good success in some extraordinary business ALmighty and most merciful father the supreme Governour of the whole world who disposest and orderest all things in heaven and earth with admirable judgement and canst not possibly err in what thou doest nor fail of what thou designest I adore in the humblest reverence of my soul thy most glorious Majesty thy eternal Power Holiness Goodness and Truth which are all beyond my comprehension And more particularly I adore thy unspotted Justice and all-seeing Wisdom which penetrates into the deepest secrets and spies out all the ways of the sons of men and renders to every one of them according to their doings Jer. 10.23 I know O Lord that the way of man is not in himself Prov. 16.9 19.21 it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps Tob. 4.19 The success of all our counsels and actions depends on thy pleasure and when we have devised the way we intend to go thou givest it what issue seems good in thine eyes There are many devices in a mans heart
O how comely a thing is judgement for gray hairs and for ancient men to know counsel Pardon me good Lord that I have made no better improvement of my time and experience for the furnishing of my mind with this wisdom and with those vertues Pardon all my negligences and all my offences * Remember them particularly And fill my heart with a comfortable sense of thy pardoning mercy in Christ Jesus that having no other burden but that of age to oppress my spirit I may rejoyce in thee as long as I live and at last lay my self down to rest in peace and return my soul back unto thee chearfully whensoever thou callest for it in sure and certain hope of the resurrection of the dead and of that glory honour and immortality which thou hast graciously promised us by thy dear Son my most blessed Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus With whom I desire to live to give thee eternal praises Amen A large FORM OF DEVOTION When any person is disposed to spend a day or part of it in Devotion the usual addresses to God in the morning may be continued in this manner O Most High and holy One who inhabitest eternity and art God over all most blessed for evermore Happy are they who stand continually in thy presence and are always admiring praising loving and obeying thee and rejoycing in thy love and favour towards them The highest Angels can desire no greater bliss than to be thus knit unto thee and to live in such constant union and friendship with thee An happiness I am sensible that is above our reach who dwell in houses of clay and groan under the burden of this flesh but which we aspire towards and our uncloathed spirits hope for in the other world And blessed be thy infinite goodness we are incouraged by Christ Jesus to look up unto thee for the beginning and taste of this happiness whilst we remain here below at this great distance from the Throne of thy Glory And accordingly I humbly prostrate my self before thee at this time beseeching thee in the name of my dear Saviour who gave himself for me that thou wilt graciously vouchsafe to inspire me with such delightful thoughts of thee and such a transforming love unto thee as may fill my heart with unspeakable joy and satisfaction whilst I am in thy presence to admire and adore thee to praise thy incomprehensible perfections to acknowledge with all humility my intire dependence on thee thankfully to remember all the benefits thou hast done unto me sorrowfully to bewail my ungrateful behaviour towards thee most earnestly to deprecate thy displeasure to implore thy grace and favour and to make an absolute surrender of my self to thee with most hearty Devotion to thy service It is the unfeigned desire of my soul to spend some time in attending wholly to these duties the better to dispose me to serve thee in the rest of my life But alas O Lord what am I or what can I do unless thou wilt make thy self present to me and send down thy holy Spirit upon me My thoughts and affections are exceeding dull and heavy and they will soon flag and grow weary unless thou wilt be pleased by thy Almighty Power to raise and bear them up towards heaven I most humbly therefore again beseech thee in thy infinite mercy to touch my heart with such a lively sense of thy Divine Majesty as may fix my wandring thoughts and compose my tumultuous affections and stir up my flat and cold desires and may make me feel the power and taste the sweetness of every Divine Truth whilst I read or meditate in thy holy Word and whilst I pray to thee and praise thee and bless thy holy Name O that all other things may be shut out of my soul and that I may be so alone with thee as to be more apprehensive of thy greatness and of thy goodness and of thy purity and of my near relation to thee and the innumerable obligations which I lye under to be thine intirely O that nothing may be so bitter to me as to think that I have in the least offended thee and that nothing may be so marvellous in my eyes as thy exceeding abundant love in the Lord Jesus by whom thou hast incouraged sinners to place their faith and hope in thee Help me O my God through that new and living way which he hath consecrated to draw nigh unto thee and to throw down my self at thy feet waiting for a gracious look from thee resigning my will to thee strongly uniting it in hearty affection to thy holy Will and resolving never to rise up any more in opposition to it but to live in thy love and in sincere obedience to all thy commands So shall my soul bless thee as long as I live I will alway be speaking good of thy Name and will shew forth thy praise as well as I am able to all generations Amen AFter this short address to God for his assistance consider a while who it is to whom you have begun to speak Cast your eyes upon the heaven and the earth and think of the glory of that Majesty which fills all things and cannot be contained in any Then labour to affect your heart with your own mean vile and sinful condition For which end examine what particular sins you have been guilty of Set them down in writing before your eyes that they may be confessed and lamented And likewise consider in the same manner what particular blessings you have received that they may be most thankfully acknowledged In all which you may assist your selves and be much excited by reading some of the Psalms of David and some part of such pious Books as you are acquainted withal After which proceed to express the sense of your heart to God with the greatest deliberation in the manner following pausing a while and ruminating upon what you have said at the end of every part thereof I. O Most glorious Majesty of heaven and earth upon whom all creatures depend for life and breath and all things I most thankfully embrace and desire wisely and faithfully to improve this happy leisure which thou vouchsafest me of retiring from this world and making my resort to thee 2 Cor. 1.3 the Father of mercies Rev. 5.13 and the God of all comfort Psal 48.1 Thou art worthy Rev. 4.8 O Lord to receive from me and from the whole world blessing 1 Sam. 2.2 Psal 145.17 45.7 and honour and glory and power Job 37.23 for thou art great and greatly to be praised Psal 19.1 All the host of heaven continually praiseth thee Job 42.2 Psal 135.6 and so ought all the Church on earth 148.5,6 147.5 saying Holy 104.24,27,28,31 holy holy Lord God almighty which is which was 145.4,13 102 27. 119.89 146.2 111.1 148.13 and which is to come There is none holy as the Lord for there is
from the power of Satan to God that they might receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them who are sanctified by faith that is in thee VIII I receive with all thankfulness this thy exceeding great grace which hath declared that if we walk in the light as thou art in the light 1 Joh. 1.7 we shall have fellowship one with another Ecclus. 17.29 and the bloud of Jesus Christ thy Son shall cleanse us from all sin I admire thy incomprehensible love O how great is the loving kindness of the Lord our God and his compassion unto such as turn unto him in holiness It constrains me to offer up my self with the heartiest affection to thy service resolving hereafter to be more watchful more diligent more zealous in the performance of my duty and to walk more circumspectly as a child of the light and to make it my delight to do thy will O God Behold O Lord my heart is bent to resign it self perfectly into thy hands and to make a new dedication of all the powers of my soul and body to be employed continually in well doing I have sworn and am stedfastly purposed to keep thy righteous precepts Psal 119.30 31.11 I have chosen the way of truth 14.15 thy judgements have I laid before me 16.115 I will stick unto thy testimonies 111.112 and run the way of thy commandments Thy word have I hid in my heart that I may not sin against thee I will rejoyce in the way of thy testimonies as much as in all riches I will meditate in thy precepts and have respect unto thy ways I will delight my self also in thy statutes I will never forget thy word Depart from me ye evil doers for I will keep the commandments of my God Thy testimonies have I taken as my heritage for ever for they are the rejoycing of my heart I have inclined my heart to perform thy statutes alway even unto the end IX Accept I beseech thee the free-will-offerings of my mouth O Lord and teach me thy judgements Give me understanding and I shall keep thy law yea I shall observe it with my whole heart Make me to go in the path of thy commandments for therein do I delight With my whole heart have I sought thee O let me not wander from thy commandments Psal 119.108,34,35,10,115,116,117 I am sensible of the exceeding great weakness and inconstancy of our nature and that without thy gracious aids I shall not be able to accomplish these resolutions And therefore I look up unto thee with the more ardent desires for power from above to confirm and strengthen them and to assist me mightily to fulfil thy whole good will and pleasure I will stedfastly depend upon the promise of my blessed Saviour who hath told me that thou wilt give thy holy spirit to them that ask it of thee My hope O God is in this thy true and faithful word Vphold me according unto thy Word that I may live and let me not be ashamed of my hope Hold thou me up and I shall be safe and I will have respect unto thy statutes continually Preserve in me such a lively sense of thy good will and readiness to help me that I may be so strong in our Lord and in the power of his might as to be able to do all things through Christ strengthing of me O thou Father of mercies who hast bestowed so many and so great blessings on us without asking who hast visited us so lovingly when we could not desire any grace from thee and when we could but did not desire it and when we did but very coldly and with little devotion of spirit deny not the humble and importunate requests of thy poor supplicant who most earnestly beseeches thee that thou wilt grant me according to the riches of thy glory to be strengthened with might by thy Spirit in the inner man Ephes 3.16 Arm me therewith against the assaults of all temptations either from the good or the evil things of this life that they may never seduce or deterr me from my duty but I may do vertuously in all points according to my Christian profession and those vows and promises wherein I stand ingaged to thee X. Fill me O God with the whole knowledge of thy Will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding that I may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of thee my God Increase that faith likewise more and more which worketh by love and purifieth the heart and overcometh the world Stir up in me that lively hope which may make me purifie my self even as thou art pure and that ardent love to thee which will make me chearfully do thy will and love my Brethren with a pure heart fervently Excite in me a great hunger and thirst after righteousness till I feel the satisfaction of perfect reconciliation with thee conformity to thee Continue me in the number of those who are humble and lowly in their own eyes moderate in all their appetites and desires who mourn daily that they have offended thee and that others keep not thy laws who are meek and gentle towards all men in heart and word and all their actions who are merciful and kind ready to give and to forgive who are pure in all their thoughts intentions passions and conversation and who study the things that make for peace and who are void of all pride and vain-glory of all strife and contention indeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace O my God possess me with such a strong sense of the blessedness which thou hast pronounced to all these that I may be willing also to suffer wrong rather than to do it and to suffer any thing for righteousness sake with a constant heart giving thanks unto thee that thou wilt honour me and count me worthy to suffer for the name of Christ Help me to give a good example to all my Neighbours by the sincere practice of all these vertues shining as a light in the world and being the salt of the earth That others seeing my good works may glorifie thee our heavenly Father Dispose my heart to cast all its care on thee to pray without ceasing to bless thy holy name at all times to trust in thee with a stedfast confidence in thy almighty goodness to make thee my strength and my fortress and the rock of my salvation to have my conversation without covetousness and to set my affections on things above where Christ is at thy right hand In the multitude of my thoughts within me let thy comforts O Lord delight my soul When I am full O that I may never wax wanton or forget thee but still rejoyce in our Lord alway that so when I have nothing I may be as possessing all things Let the doing of my duty ever be my pleasure and