our sins 1 John 3.5 If ye being evill know to give good things to your children how much more shall your Father which is in Heaven give good things to them that ask him Matth. 7.11 This is a faithfull saying and worthy of â—ll accepâ—ation that Jesus Christ came into the World to save sinners He that hath given us his â—on how should not he with him give us all things else Acts of hope to be used by sick persons after a pious life I Am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nâ—â— Principalities noâ— powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord Rom. 8.38 I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me onely but unto all them also that love his appearing 2 Tim. 4.7 Blessed be the God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of mercies and the God of all comforts who comforts us in all tribulation 2 Cor. 1.3 A prayer to be said in behalf of a sick or dying person O Lord God there is no number of thy dayes nor of thy mercies and the sins and sorrows of thy servant also are multiplied Lord look upon him with much mercy and pity forgive him all his sinnes comfort his sorrows ease his pain satisfie his doubts relieve his fears instruct his ignorances strengthen his understanding take from him all disorders of spiritâ— weakness and abuse of fancy Restrain the malice and power of the spirits of darkness and suffer him to be injured neither by his ghostly enemies noâ— his own infirmities and let a holy and a just peace the peace of God be within his conscience Lord preserve his senses till thâ— last of his time strengthen his faith confirm his hope and give him a never ceasing charity to thee our God and to all the world stir up in him a great and proportionable contrition for all the evills he hath done and give him a just measure of patience for all he suffers give him prudence memory and consideration rightly to state the accounts of his soul and do thou reminde him of all his duty that when it shall please thee that his soul goes out from the prison of his body it may be received by Angels and preserved from the surprize of evil spirits and from the horrors and amazements of new and stranger Regions and be laid up in the bosom of our Lord till at the day of thy second coming it shall be reunited to the body which is now to be layed down in weakness and dishonour but we humbly beg may then be raised up with glory and power for ever to live and to behold the face of God in the glories of the Lord Jesus who is our hope our resurrection and our life the light of our eyes and the joy of our souls our blessed and ever glorious Redeemer Amen Hither the sick persons may draw in and use the acts of several vertues respersed in the several parts of this book the several Letanies viz. of repentance of the passion and the single prayers according to his present needs A Prayer to be said in a storm aâ— Sea O My God thou didst create the Earth and the Sea for thy glory and the use of man and doest daily shew wonders in the deep look upon the danger and fear of thy servant my sins have taken hold upon me and without the supporting arm of thy mercy I cannot look up but my trust is in thee Do thou O Lord rebuke the Sea and make it calm for to thee the windes and the sea obey let not the waters swallow me up but let thy Spirit the Spirit of gentleness and mercy move upon the waters Be thou reconciled unto thy servants and then the face of the waters will be smooth I fear that my sins make me like â—onas the cause of the tempest Cast out all my sins and throw not thy servants away from thy presence and from the land of the living into the depths where all things are forgotten But if it be thy wil that wâ— shall go down into the waters Lord 〈◊〉 my soul into thy holy hands and preserve it in mercy and safety till the day of â—estâ—â—â—tion of all things and be pleased â—oâ—n â—e my dâ—â—th to the 〈◊〉 of thy Son and â—o accept of it so united as a punishment for all my sins that thou mayest forget all thine anger and blot my sins out of thy book and write my soul there for Jesus Christ his sake our dearest Lord and most mighty Redeemer Amen Then make an act of resignation thus TO God pertain the issues of life and death It is the Lord. Let him do what seemeth good in his own eyes Thy will be done in earth as it is in Heaven Recite Psalm 107. and 130. A form of a vow to be made in this or the like danger IF the Lord will be gracious and hear the Prayer of his servant and bring me safe to shore then I will praise him secretly and publickly and pay unto the uses of charity or Religion then name the sum you designe for holy uses O my God my goods are nothing unto thee I will also be thy servant all the dayes of my life and remember this mercy and my present purposes and live more to Gods glory and with a stricter duty And do thou please to accept this vow as an instance of my importunity and the greatness of my needs and be thou graciously moved to pity and deliver me Amen This form also may be used in praying for a blessing on an enterprize and may be instanced in actions of devotion as well as of charity A Prayer before a journey O Almighty God who fillest all things with thy presence and art a God afar off as well as neer at hand thou didst send thy Angel to bless Jacob in his journey and didst lead the children of Israel through the Red Sea making it a wall on the right hand and on the left be pleased to let thy Angel go out before me and guide me in my journey preserving me from dangers of robbers from violence of enemies and sudden and sad accidents from fals and errours and prosper my journey to thy glory and to all my innocent purposes and preserve me from all sin that I may return in peace and holyness with thy favour and thy blessing and may serve thee in thankfulness and obedience all the dayes of my pilgrimage and aâ— last bring me to thy country to the celestial Jerusalem there to dwell in thy house and to sing praises to thee for ever Amen Ad. Sect. 4. A prayer to be said before hearing or reading the word of God O
mouth with praises that my duty and returns to thee may be great as my needs of mercy are and let thy gracious favours and loving kindness endure for ever and ever upon thy servant and grant that what thou hast sown in mercy may spring up in duty and let thy grace so strengthen my purposes that I may sin no more lest thy threatning return upon me in anger and thy anger break me into pieces but let me walk in the light of thy favour and in the paths of thy Commandments that I living here to the glory of thy name may at last enter into the glory of my Lord to spend a whole eternity in giving praise to thy exalted and ever glorious name Amen We praise thee O God we knowledge thee to be the Lord. All the earth doth worship thee the Father Everlasting To thee all Angels cry aloud the heauens all the powers therein To thee Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Sabaoth Heaven and Earth are full of the Majesty of thy glory * Thâ— glorious company of the Apostles praise thee * The goodly fellowship of the Prophets praise thee * The noble army of Martyrs praise thee * The holy Church throughout all the world doth knowledg thee * The Father of an infinite Majesty * Thy honourable true and only Son * Also the Holy Ghost the Comforter * Thou art the King of glory O Christ. * Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father * When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man thou didst not abhor the Virgins womb * Wheâ— thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all Believers * Thou sittest at the right hand of God in the glory of the Father * We believe that thou shalt come to be our Judge * We therefore pray thee help thy servants whom thou hast redeem'd with thy precious blood * Make them to be number'd with thy Saints in glory everlasting O Lord save thy people and bless thine heritage Govern them and lift them up for ever Day by day we magnifie thee and we worship thy name ever world without end Vouchsafe O Lord to keep us this day without sin O Lord have mercy upon us have mercy upon us O Lord let thy mercy lighten upon us as or trust is in thee O Lord in thee have trusted let me never be confounded Amen A Prayer of thanksgiving after the receiving some great blessing as the birth of an Heir the success of an honest designe a victory a good harvest c. O Lord God Father of mercies the fountain of comfort and blessing of life and peace o plenty and pardon who fillest Heaven with thy glory and earth with thy goodness I give thee the most earnest most humble and most enlarged returns of my glad and thankfull heart for thou hast refreshed me with thy comforts and enlarged me with thy blessing thou hast made my flesh and my bones to rejoyce for besides the blessings of all mankinde the blessings of nature and the blessings of grace the support of every minute and the comforts of every day thou hast opened thy bosom and at this time hast powred out an excellent expression of thy loving kindness here name the blessing What am I O Lord and what is my Fathers house what is the life and what are the capacities of thy servant that thou shoul'd do this unto me * that the great God 〈…〉 and Angels should make a speciall decree in Heaven for me and send out an Angel of blessing and in stead of condemning and ruining me as I miserably have deserved to distinguish me from many my equals and my betters by this and many other speciall acts of Grace and favour Praised be the Lord daily even the Lord that helpeth us and powreth his benefits upon us He is our God even the God of whom cometh salvation God is the Lord by whom we escape death Thou hast brought me to great honour and comforted me on every side Thou Lord hast made me glad through thy works I will rejoyce in giving praise for the operation of thy hands O give thanks unto the Lord and call upon his name tell the people what things he hath done As for me I will give great thanks unto the Lord praise him among the multitude Blessed be the Lord God even the Lord God of Israel which only doth wondrous and gracious things And blessed be the name of his Majesty for ever and all the earth shall be filled with his Majesty Amen Amen Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. A prayer to be said on the Feast of Christmas or the birth of our blessed Saviour Jesus the same also may be said upon the feast of the Annunciation and Purification of the B. Virgin Mary O Holy and Almighty God Father of mercies Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of thy love and Eternal mercies I adore and praise and glorifie thy infinite and unspeakable love and wisdom who hast sent thy Son from the bosom of felicities to take upon him our nature and our misery and our guilt and hast made the Son of God to become the Son of Man that we might become the Sons of God and partakers of the divine nature since thou hast so exalted humane nature be pleased also to sanctifie my person that by a conformity to the humility and laws and sufferings of my dearest Saviour I may be united to his spirit and be made all one with the most Holy Jesus Amen O holy and Eternal Jesus who didst pity mankinde lying in his blood and sin and misery and didst choose our sadnesses and sorrows that thou mightest make us to partake of thy felicities Let thine eyes pity me thy hands support me thy holy â—eet tread down all the difficulties in my way to Heaven let me dwell in thy heart be instructed with thy wisdom moved by thy affections choose with thy will and be clothed with thy righteousness that in the day of Judgment I may be found having on thy garments sealed with thy impression and that bearing upon every faculty and member the character of my elder brother I may not be cast out with strangers and unbleivers Amen O Holy and ever blessed spirit who didst overshadow the holy Virgin Mother of our Lord and causedst her to conceive by a miraculous and mysterious manner be pleased to overshadow my soul and enlighten my spirit that I may conceive the holy Jesus in my heart and may bear him in my minde and may grow up to the fulness of the stature of Christ to be a perfect man in Christ Jesus Amen To God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. To the eternall Son that was incarnate and born of a virgin To the spirit of the Father and the Son be all honour and glory worship and adoration now and for ever Amen The same Form of Prayer
door of my lips that I offend not in my tongue neither against piety nor charity Teach me to think of nothing but thee and what is in order to thy glory and service to speak nothing but thee and thy glories and to do nothing but what becomes thy servant whom thy infinite mercy by the graces of thy holy Spirit hath sealed up to the day of Redemption VII LEt all my passions and affections be so mortified and brought under the dominion of grace that I may never by deliberation and purpose nor yet by levity rashness or inconsideration offend thy Divine Majesty Make me such as thou wouldst have me to be strengthen my faith confirm my hope and giue me a daily encrease of charity that this day and ever I may serve thee according to all my opportunities and capacities growing from grace to grace till at last by thy mercies I shall receive the consummation and perfection of grace even the glories of thy Kingdom in the full fruition of the face and excellencies of God the Father the Son and the holy Ghost to whom be glory and praise honour and adoration given by all Angels and all Men and all creatures now and to all eternity Amen ¶ To this may be added the prayer of intercession for others whom we are bound to remember which is at the end of the foregoing Prayer or else you may take such special Prayers which follow at the end of the fourth Chapter for Parents for children c. After which conclude with this eâ—aculation Now and in all tribulation and anguish of spirit in all dangers of soul and body in prosperity and adversity in the hour of death and in the day of judgment holy and most blessed Saviour Jesus have mercy upon me save me and deliver me and all faithfull people Amen ¶ Between this and Noon usually are said the publick prayers appointe by â—uthority to which all the Clergie are obliged and other devout persons that have leisure to accompany them ¶ Afternoon or at any time of the day when a devout person retires into his closeâ— for private Prayer or spiritual exercises he may say the following devotions An exercise to be used at anytime of the day IN the name of the Father and of the Son c. Our Father c. The Hymn collected out of the Psalms recounting the excellencies and greatnesse of God O be joyful in God all ye lands sing praises unto the honour of his Name make his Name to be glorious * O come hither and behold the works of God how wonderful he is in his doings toward the children of men He ruleth with his power for ever He is the Father of the fatherlesse and defendeth the cause of the widow even God in his holy habitation He is the God that maketh men to be of one minde in a house and bringeth the prisoners out of captivity but letteth the runnagates continue in scarceness It is the Lord that commandeth the waters it is the glorious God that maketh the thunder * It is the Lord that ruleth the sea the voice of the Lord is mighty in operation the voice of the Lord is a glorious voice Let all the Earth fear the Lord stand in awe of him all ye that dwell in the world Thou shalt shâ—w us wonderfull things in thy righteousness O God of our salvation thou that art the hope of all the ends of the Earth and of them that remain in the broad Sea Glory be to the Father c. Or this O Lord thou art my God I will exalt thee I will praise thy Name for thou hast done wonderful things thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth Isa. 25.1 Thou in thy strength setst fast the Mountains and art girded about with power Thou stillest the raging of the Sea and the noise of his waves and the madness of his people They also that remain in the uttermost parts of the Earth shall be afraid at thy tokens thou that makest the out goings of the morning and evening to praise thee O Lord God of Hosts who is like unto thee thy truth most mighty Lord is on every side Among the gods there is none like unto thee O Lord there is none that can doe as thou dâ—est For thou art great and doest wondrous things thou art God alone God is very greatly to be feared in the councel of the Saints and to be had in reverence oâ— all them that are round about him Righteousness and equity is in the habitation of thy seat mercy and truth shall go before thy face Glory and worship are before him power and honour are in his Sanctuary Thou Lord art the thing that I long for thou art my hope even from my youth through thee have I been holden up ever since I was born thou art he that took me out of my mothers womb my praise shall be alwaies of thee Glory be to the Father c ¶ After this may be read some portion of holy Scripture out of the New Testament or out of the sapiential books of the Old viz Proverbs Ecclesiastes c. because these are of great use to piety and to civil conversation Vpon which when you have a while meditated humbly composing your self upon your knees say as followeth Eiaculations My help standeth in the name of the Lord who hath made Heaven and Earth Shew the light of thy countenance upon thy servant and I shall be safe Doe well O Lord to them that be true of heart and evermore mightily defend them Direct me in thy truth and teach me for thou art my Saviour and my great Master Keep me from sin and death eternal and from my enemies visible and invisible Give me grace to live a holy life and thy favour that I may die a godly and happy death Lord hear the prayer of thy servant and give me thy holy â—pirit The Prayer O Eternal God merciful and gratious vouchsafe thy favour and thy blessing to thy servant let the love of thy mercies and the dread and fear of thy Majesty make me careful and inquisitive to search thy will and diligent to perform it and to persevere in the practises of a holy life even till the last of my daies II. KEep me O Lord for I am thine by creation guide me for I am thine by purchase thou hast redeemed me by the blood of thy Son and love me with the love of a Father for I am thy child by adoption and grace let thy mercy pardon my sins thy providence secure me from the punishments and evils I have deserved and thy care watch over me that I may never any more offend thee make me in malice to be a childe but in understanding piety and the fear of God let me be a perfect man in Christ innocent and prudent readily furnished and instructed to every good work III. KEep me O Lord from the destroying Angel and from the wrath of God let thy anger never rise
the glory of pardoning all my sins and I may reap the fruit of all thy mercies and all thy graces of thy patience and long-suffering even to live a holy life here and to reign with thee for ever through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Ad Sect. 6. Special devotions to be used upon the Lords-day and the great Festvals of Christians In the Morning recite the following form of Thanksgiving upon the special Festivals adding the commēoration of the speciall blessings according to the following prayers adding such prayers as you shall choose out of the foregoing Devotions 2. Besides the ordinary publick duties of the day if you retire into your closet to read and meditate after you have performed that duty say the song of Saint Ambrose commonly called the Te Deum or We praise thee c. then adde the prayers for particular graces which are at the end of the former Chapters such and as many of them as shall fit your present needs and affections ending with the Lords prayer This form of devotion may for variety be indifferently used at other times A form of thanksgiving with a recital of publick and private blessings To be used upon Easter-day Whit-sunday Ascension day and all sundayes of the yeare but the middle part of it may be reserved for the more solemn Festivals and the other used upon the ordinary as every mans affections or leisure shall determine 1. Ex Liturgia S. Basilii magna ex parte O Eternal Essence Lord God Father Almighty maker of all things in Heaven and Earth it is a good thing to give thanks to thee O Lord and to pay to thee all reverence worship and devotion from a clean and prepared heart and with an humble spirit to present a living and reasonable sacrifice to thy holiness and Majesty for thou hast given unto us the knowledge of thy truth and who is able to declare thy greatness and to recount all thy mervellous works which thou hast done in all the generations of the world O Great Lord and Governour of all things Lord and Creator of all things visible and invisible who sittest upon the throne of thy glory and beholdest the secrets of the lowest abysse and darkness thou art without beginning uncircumscribed incomprehensible unalterable and seated for ever unmoveable in thy own essentiall happiness and tranquillity Thou art the Father of our Lord JESUS CHRIST who is Our Deerest and most Gracious Saviour our hope the wisdom of the Father the image of thy goodness the Word eternal and the brightness of thy person the power of God from eternal ages the true light that lighteneth every man that cometh into the World the Redemption of Man and the Sanctification of our Spirits By whom the holy Ghost descended upon the Church the holy Spirit of truth the seal of adoption the earnest of the inheritance of the Saints the first fruits of everlasting felicity the life-giving power the fountain of sanctification the comfort of the Church the ease of the afflicted the support of the weak the wealth of the poor the teacher of the doubtfull scrupulous and ignorant the anchor of the fearfull the infinite reward of all faithfull souls by whom all reasonable understanding creatures serve thee and send up a never-ceasing and a never-rejected sacrifice of prayer and praises and adoration All Angels and Archangels all thrones and Dominions all Principalities and Powers the Cherubims with many eyes and the Seraphims covered with wings from the terror and amazement of thy brightest glory These and all the powers of Heaven do perpetually sing praises and never-ceasing Hymns and eternall Anthems to the glory of the eternall God the Almighty Father of Men and Angels Holy is our God Holy is the Almighty Holy is the Immortal Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Sabaoth Heaven and Earth are full of the Majesty of thy glory Amen With these holy and blessed Spirits I also thy servant O thou great lover of souls though I be unworthy to offer praise to such a Majesty yet out of my bounden duty humbly offer up my heart and voice to joyn in this blessed quire and confess the glories of the Lord. * For thou art holy and of thy greatness there is no end and in thy justice and goodness thou hast measured out to us all thy works Thou madest man out of the earth and didst form him after thine own image thou didst place him in a garden of pleasure and gavest him laws of righteousness to be to him a seed of immortality O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness and declare the wonders that he hath done for the children of men For when man sinned and listned to the whispers of a tempting spirit and refused to hear the voice of God thou didst throw him out from Paradise and sentest him to till the Earth but yet left not his condition without remedy but didst provide for him the salvation of a new birth and by the blood of thy Son didst redeem and pay the price to thine own justice for thine own creature lest the work of thine owne hands should perish O that men would therefore praise the Lord c. For thou O Lord in every age didst send testimonies from Heaven blessings and Prophets and fruitfull seasons and preachers of righteousness and miracles of power and mercy thou spakest by thy Prophets and saidst I will help by one that is mighty and in the fulness of time spakest to us by thy Son by whom thou didst make both the Worlds who by the word of his power sustains all things in Heaven and Earth who thought it no robery to be equall to the Father who being before all time was pleased to be born in time to converse with men to be incarnate of a holy Virgin he emptied himself of all his glories took on him the form of a servant in all things being made like unto us in a soul of passions and discourse in a body of humility and sorrow but in all things innocent and in all things afflicted and suffered death for us that we by him might live and be partakers of his nature and his glories of his body and of his Spirit of blessings of earth and of the immortal felicities in Heaven O that men would therefore praise the Lord c. For thou O holy and immortal God O sweetest Saviour Jesus wert made under the Law to condemn sin in the flesh thou who knewest no sin wert made sin for us thou gavest to us righteous Commandements and madest known to us all thy Fathers will thou didst redeem us from our vain conversation and from the vanity of Idols false principles and foolish confidences and broughtest us to the knowledge of the true and onely God and our Father and hast made us to thy self a peculiar people of thy own purchase a royall Priest-hood a holy Nation Thou hast washed our soules in the Laver of Regeneration the Sacrament of
the heart and the want of this consideration was declared to be the cause why Israel sinned so grievously For they say the Lord hath forsaken the earth and the Lord seeth not Ezek. 9 9. Psal. 10.11 therefore the land is full of blood and the city full of perversness What a child would doe in the eye of his Father and a Pupil before his Tutor and a Wife in the presence of her Husband and a Servant in the sight of his master let us alwaies doe the same for we are made a spectacle to God to Angels and to men we are alwaies in the sight and presence of the All-seeing and Almighty God who also is to us a Father and a Guardian a Husband and a Lord. Prayers and Devotions according to the religion and purposes of the foregoing Considerations I. For grace to spend our time well O Eternal God who from all eternity doest behold and love thy own glories and perfections infinite and hast created me to doe the work of God after the manner of men and to serve thee in this generation and according to my capacities give me thy grace that I may be a curious and prudent spender of my time so as I may best prevent or resist all temptation and be profitable to the Christian Common-wealth and by discharging all my duty may glorifie thy Name Take from me all slothfulness and give me a diligent and an active spirit and wisdom to choose my imployment that I may doe works proportionable to my person and to the dignity of a Christian and may fill up all the spaces of my time with actions of religion and charity that when the Devil assaults me he may not finde me idle and my dearest Lord at his sudden coming may finde me busie in lawful necessary and pious actions improving my talent intrusted to me by thee my Lord that I may enter into the joy of my Lord to partake of his eternal felicities even for thy mercy sake and for my dearest Saviours sake Amen ¶ Here follows the devotion of ordinary daies for the right imploiment of those portions of time which every day must allow for religion The first prayers in the Morning as sâ—â—n as we are dressed ¶ Humbly and reverently compose your self with heart lift up to God and your head bowed and meekely kneeling upon your knees say the Lords Prayer after which use the following Collects or as many of them as you shall choose Our Father which art in Heaven c. I. An act of adoration being the song that the Angels sing in Heaven HOly Holy Holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come Heaven and Earth Angels and Men the Aire and the Sea give glory and honour and thanks to him that sitteth on the throne who liveth for ever and ever Rev. 11.17 All the blessed spirits and souls of the righteous cast their crowns before the throne and worship him that liveth for ever and ever 5.10.13 Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created Rev 15.3 Great and marvellous are thy works O Lord God Almighty Just and true are thy waies thou King of Saints Thy wisdome is infinite thy mercies are glorious and I am not worthy O Lord to appear in thy presence before whom the Angels hide their faces O Holy and eternal Jesus Lamb of God who wert slain from the beginning of the world thou hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every nation and hast made us unto our GOD Kings and priests and we shall reigne with thee for ever Blessing honour glory and power be unto him that sitteth on the throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever Amen II. An act of thanksgiving being the song of David for the Morning Sâ—ng praises unto the Lord O ye saints of his and give thanks to him for a remembrance of his holiness For his wrath indureth but the twinkling of an eye and in his pleasure is life heaviness may indure for a night but joy cometh in the morning Thou Lord hast preserved me this night from the violence of the spirits of darkness from all sad casualties and evil accidents from the wrath which I have every day deserved thou hast brought my soul out of hell thou hast kept my life from them that go down into the pit thou hast shewed me marvellous great kindness and hast blessed me for ever the greatness of thy glory reacheth unto the heavens and thy truth unto the clouds Therefore shal every good man sing of thy praise without ceasing O my God I will give thanks unto thee for ever Alleluâ—ah III. An act of oblation or presenting our selves to God for the day MOst Holy and Eternal God Lord and Soveraigne of all the creatures I humbly present to thy divine Majesty my self my soul and body my thoughts and my words my actions and intentions my passions and my sufferings to be disposed by thee to thy glory to be blessed by thy providence to be guided by thy counsel to be sanctified by thy Spirit and afterwards that my body and soul may be received into glory for nothing can perish which is under thy custody and the enemy of souls cannot devour what is thy portion nor take it out of thy hands This day O Lord and all the daies of my life I dedicate to thy honour and the actions of my calling to the uses of grace and the religion of all my daies to be united 〈◊〉 the merits and intercession of my holy Saviour Jesus that in him and for him I may be pardoned and accepted Amen IV. An act of repentance or contrition FOr as for me I am not worthy to be called thy servant much lesse am I worthy to be thy son for I am the vilest of sinners and the worst of men a lover of the things of the world and a despiser of the things of God proud and envious lustfulâ— and intemperate greedy of sin and impatient of reproof desirouâ— to seem holy and negligent of being so transported with interest fool'd with presumption and false principles disturbed with anger with a peevish and unmortified spirit and disordered by a whole body of sin and death Lord pardon all my sins for my sweetest Saviours sake thou who didst die for me Holy Jesus save me and deliver me reserve not my sinnes to be punished in the day of wrath and eternal vengeance but wash away my sins and blot them out of thy remembrance and purifie my soul with the waters of repentance and the blood of the crosse that for what is past thy wrath may not come out against me and for the time to come I may never provoke thee to anger or to jealousie O just and dear God be pitiful and gracious to thy servant Amen V. The Prayer or Petition BLesse me gracious God in my calling to such
the Christian Common-wealth and the salvation of their own souls through Jesus Christ. Amen 9. For all estates of Men and Women in the Christian Church O Holy God King Eternal out of the infinite store-houses of thy grace and mercy give unto all Virgins chastity and a religious spirit to all persons dedicated to thee and to religion continence and meekness an active zeal and an unwearied spirit to all married paires faith and holiness to widows and fatherless an all that are oppressed thy patronage comfort and defence to all Christian women simplicity and modesty humility and chastity patience and charity give unto the poor to all that are robbed and spoiled of their goods a competent support and a contented spirit and a treasure in heaven hereafter give unto prisoners and captives to them that toil in the mines and row in the gallies strength of body and of spirit liberty and redemption comfort and restitution to all that travell by land thy Angel for their guide and a holy and prosperous return to all that travel by sea freedom from Pyrates and shipwrack and bring them to the Haven where they would be to distressed and scrupulous consciences to melancholy and disconsolate persons to all that are afflicted with evill and unclean spirits give a light from heaven great grace and proportionable comforts and timely deliverance give them patience and resignation let their sorrows be changed into grace and comfort and let the storm wast them certainly to the regions of rest and glory Lord God of mercy give to thy Martyrs Confessors and all thy persecuted constancy and prudence boldness and hope a full faith and a never failing charity To all who are condemned to death do thou minister comfort a strong a quiet and a resigned spirit take from them the fear of death and all remaining affections to sin and all imperfections of duty and cause them to die full of grace full of hope and give to all faithfull particularly to them who have recommēded themselves to the prayers of thy unworthy servant a supply of all their needs temporall and spirituall and according to their severall states and necessities rest and peace pardon and refreshment and shew us all a mercy in the day of judgment Amen Give O Lord to the magistrates equity sinceritie courage and prudence that they may protect the good defend religion and punish the wrong doers Give to the Nobilitie wisdom valour and loyaltie To Merchants justice and faithfulness to all Artificers and Labourers truth and honesty to our enemies forgiveness and brotherly kindness Preserve to us the heavens and the Ayre in healthful influence and disposition the Earth in plentie the kingdom in peace and good government our marriages in peace and sweetness and innocence of societie thy people from famine and pestilence our houses from burning and robbery our persons from being burnt alive from banishment prison from Widowhood destitution from violence of pains and passions from tempests and earth-quakes from inundation of waters from rebellion or invasion from impatience and inordinate cares from tediousness of spirit and despair from murder and all violent accursed and unusual deaths from the surprise of sudden and violent accidents from passionate and unreasonable fears from all thy wrath and from all our sins good Lord deliver and preserve thy servants for ever Amen Repress the violence of all implacable warring and tyrant Nations bring home unto thy fold all that are gone astray call into the Church all strangers increase the number and holyness of thy own people bring infants to ripeness of age and reason confirm all baptized people with thy grace and with thy Spirit instruct the novices and new Christians let a great grace and mercifull providence bring youthfull persons safely and holily through the indiscretions and passions and temptations of their younger years and those whom thou hast or shalt permit to live to the age of a man give competent strength and wisdom take from them covetousness and churlishness pride and impatience fill them full of devotion and charity repentance and sobriety holy thoughts and longing desires after Heaven and heavenly things give them a holy and a blessed death and to us all a joyfull resurrection through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Ad Sect. 10. The manner of using these devotions by way of preparation to the receiving the blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper The just preparation to this holy Feast consisting principally in a holy life and consequently in the repetation of the acts of all vertues and especially of Faith Repentance Charity and thanksgiving to the exercise of these four graces let the person that intends to communicate in the times set apart for his preparation and devotion for the exercise of his Faith recite the prayer or Letany of the passion For the exercise of Repentance the form of confession of sins with the prayer annexed And for the graces of thanksgiving charity let him use the speciall forms of prayer above described or if a less time can be allotted for preparatory devotion the two first will be the more proper as containing in them all the personal duty of the communicant To which upon the morning of that holy solemnity let him adde A prayer of preparation or address to the holy Sacrament An act of Love O Most gracious and eternall God the helper of the helpless the comforter of the comfortless the hope of the afflicted the bread of the hungry the drink of the thirsty and the Saviour of all them that wait upon thee I blesse and glorifie thy Name adore thy goodness and delight in thy love that thou hast once more given me the opportunity of receiving the greatest favour which I can receive in this World even the body and blood of my dearest Saviour O take from me all affection to sin or vanity let not my affections dwell below but soar upwards to the element of love to the seat of God to the Regions of Glory and the inheritance of Jesus that I may hunger and thirst for the bread of life and the wine of elect soules and may know no loves but the love of God and the most mercifull Jesus Amen An act of Desire O Blessed Jesus thou hast used many arts to save me thou hast given thy life to redeem me thy holy Spirit to sanctifie me thy self for my example thy Word for my Rule thy grace for my guide the fruit of thy body hanging on the tree of the cross for the sin of my soul and after all this thou hast sent thy Apostles Ministers of salvation to call me to importune me to constrain me to holiness and peace and felicity O now come Lord Jesus come quicly my heart is desirous of thy presence and thirsty of thy grace and would fain entertain thee not as a guest but as an inhabitant as the Lord of all my faculties Enter in and take possession and dwell with me for ever
are check'd from violence and misdemeanour 4. In your retirement make frequent Colloquies or short discoursings between GOD and thy own soul. Seven times a day doe I praise thee and in the night season also I thought upon thee when I was waking So did David and every act of complaint or thanksgiving every act of rejoicing or of mourning every petition and every returne of the heart in these entercourses is a going to GOD an appearing in his presence and a representing him present to thy spirit and to thy necessity And this was long since by a spiritual person called a building to GOD a Chappel in our heart It reconciles Martha's imployment with Mary's Devotion Charity and Religion the necessities of our calling and the imployments of devotion For thus in the midst of the works of your Trade you may retire into your Chappel your Heart and converse with GOD by frequent addresses and returnes 5. Represent and offer to GOD acts of love and fear which are the proper effects of this apprehension and the proper exercise of this consideration For as GOD is every where present by his power he calls for reverence and godly fear As he is present to thee in all thy needs and relieves them he deserves thy love and since in every accident of our lives we finde one or other of these apparent and in most things we see both it is a proper and proportionate return that to every such demonstration of GOD we expresse our selves sensible of it by admiring the divine goodness or trembling at his presence ever obeying him because we love him and ever obeying him because we fear to offend him This is that which Enoch did who thus walked with God 6. Let us remember that God is in us and that we are in him we are his workmanship let us not deface it we are in his presence let us not pollute it by unholy and impure actions Isa 26.12 God hath also wrought all our works in us and because he rejoices in his own works if we defile them and make them unpleasant to him we walk perversly with God and he will walk crookedly toward us 7. God is in the bowels of thy brother refresh them when he needs it and then you give your alms in the presence of God and to God and he feels the relief which thou prouidest for thy brother 8. God is in every place suppose it therefore to be a Church and that decency of deportment and piety of carriage which you are taught by religion or by custome or by civility and publick manners to use in Churches the same use in all places with this difference only that in churches let your deportment be religious in external forms and circumstances also but there and every where let it be religious in abstaining from spiritual undecencies and in readiness to doe good actions Jer. 11.15 secund vulg Edit that it may not be said of us as God once complained of his people Why hath my beloved done wickedness in my house 9. God is in every creature be cruel towards none neither abuse any by intemperance Remember that the creatures and every member of thy own body is one of the lesser cabinets and receptacles of God They are such which God hath blessed with his presence hallowed by his touch and separated from unholy use by making them to belong to his dwelling 10. He walks as in the presence of God that converses with him in frequent prayer and frequent communion that runs to him in all his necessities that asks counsel of him in all his doubtings that opens all his wants to him that weeps before him for his sins that asks remedy and support for his weakness that fears him as a Judge reverences him as a Lord obeys him as a Father and loves him as a Patron The Benefits of this exercise The benefit of this consideration and exercise being universal upon all the parts of piety I shall lesse need to specifie any particulars but yet most properly this exercise of considering the divine presence is 1. an excellent help to prayer producing in us reverence and awfulness to the divine Majesty of God and actual devotion in our offices 2. It produces a confidence in God and fearlesness of our enemies patience in trouble and hope of remedy since God is so nigh in all our sad accidents he is a disposer of the hearts of men and the events of things he proportions out our trials and supplies us with remedy and where his rod strikes us his staf supports us To which we may adde this that God who is alwaies with us is especially by promise with us in tribulation to turn the misery into a mercy and that our greatest trouble may become our advantage by intitling us to a new manner of the Divine presence 3. It is apt to produce joy and rejoicing in God we being more apt to delight in the partners and witnesses of our conversation every degree of mutuall abiding and conversing being a relation and an endearment we are of the same houshold with God he is with us in our natural actions to preserve us in our recreations to restrain us in our publick actions to applaud or reprove us in our private to observe us in our sleeps to watch by us in our watchings to refresh us and if we walk with God in all his waies as he walks with us in all ours we shall find perpetual reasons to enable us to keep that rule of God Rejoice in the Lord alwaies and again I say rejoyce And this puts me in minde of a saying of an old religious person In vitam S. Antho. There is one way of overcoming our ghostly enemies spiritual mirth and a perpetual bearing of GOD in our mindes This effectively resists the Devil and suffers us ro receive no hurt from him 4. This exercise is apt also to enkindle holy desires of the enjoyment of God because it produces joy when we doe enjoy him The same desires that a weak man hath for a Defender the sick man for a Physician the poor for a Patron the childe for his Father the espoused Lover for her betrothed 5 From the same fountain are apt to issue humility of spirit apprehensions of our great distance and our great needs our daily wants and houâ—ly supplies admiration of Gods unspeakable mercies It is the cause of great modesty and decency in our actions it helps to recollection of minde and restrains the scatterings and loosness of wandring thoughts it establishes the heart in good purposes and leadeth on to perseverance it gains purity perfection according to the saying of God to Abraham Walk before me and be perfect holy fear and holy love and indeed every thing that pertains to holy living when we see our selves placed in the Eye of God who sets us on work and will reward us plentiously to serve him with an Eye service iâ—â—ery pleasing for he also sees