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
art so great so glorious and dwellest in light not to be approached Adored be thy wonderful love who hast incouraged our approaches to thee by humbling thy self to look down upon us and by appearing graciously to us in our own flesh Blessing Honour Glory and Praise be eternally ascribed unto thee who didst not abhor us and utterly cast us out of thy sight when we had turned our backs upon thee but sent thy only begotten Son into the world to call us again unto thee yea to beseech us and oblige us by laying down his own life for us to return unto thee and live No thought can comprehend the unsearchable riches of thy Grace manifested unto us in the Lord Jesus who was pleased to be vilely intreated and shamefully used to suffer the reproach of the Cross and to shed his dearest bloud that we might not suffer the pain of eternal death but be restored to the dignity of thy children and advanced to honour glory and immortality together with him Thou hast found out a way to manifest thy most tender love to us without the least suspicion of approving and loving our sins and to preserve thy Soveraign Authority without destroying those who were in rebellion against it Thou hast ordered such a chastisement of our iniquities as might save and deliver us who deserved to be punished and so disposed the means of our redemption as to pardon and amend us both at once O the wisdom of thy Love which hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin 2 Cor. 5.21 that we might be made the righteousness of thee our God in him O the riches of thy Grace which hath abounded to us in all wisdom and prudence Healing us by his stripes 1 Pet. 2.24 and condemning sin in the flesh by his sacrifice for sin Rom. 8.3 and making him a curse for us Gal. 3.14 that we might inherit a blessing and receive the promise of the Spirit through faith in him I see O Lord how infinitely I am indebted to thee I behold the design of thy wise goodness in giving him for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity Tit. 2.14 and purifie us to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works I thank thee with all my soul for his bearing our sins in his own body on the tree 1 Pet. 2. that we being dead unto sin should live unto righteousness There is nothing I can more desire than by doing righteousness 1 Joh. 3. to become righteous even as he is righteous Assist me I beseech thee to attain this end of his death and passion by the power of that holy Spirit which he hath thereby purchased for us and hath likewise promised to us and is able to bless us withal I dread to think that his precious bloud should be lost and spilt in vain for me that so great a price should be cast away wherewith thou hast bought me to glorifie thee with my body and spirit which are thine O God preserve in me such a lively sense of his grief and sorrow of his pain and anguish that I may bitterly hate the cause of all his torments and look on every sin as the most fearful curse that can befal me Preserve in me a constant sense of the great value of my soul for which he paid so dearly and a great esteem of that purity righteousness and goodness for the restoring of which he made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was obedient to death even the death of the Cross And especially raise me to a great height of love and gratitude to thee and of hope and confidence in thy infinite mercies of which we have such strong assurance by his being delivered for our offences Rom. 4.25 and raised again for our justification Make me more and more in love with that lowliness of mind that tender and compassionate charity that meekness patience and forgiveness which shone in his sufferings And subdue my will so perfectly unto such an absolute quiet and ready submission to thy holy Will in every thing that my hope in thee may increase exceedingly and not only so but I may also joy in thee my God through our Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 5.11 by whom we have now received the atonement Hear Good Lord the prayers of the whole Church which thou hast purchased with thine own bloud O that every member thereof may serve thee purely and orderly in the rank and condition wherein thou hast placed them to their mutual benefit and comfort and to the conviction of those who are enemies or strangers to the Name of the Lord Jesus that they seeing our good works may glorifie thee our heavenly Father and acknowledge that thou art among us of a Truth Bless all the Ministers of Religion or Justice and endue them with a great love to the honour of our Saviour and with a great zeal to make his holy Laws understood and observed That as he gave himself for his Church Ephes 5.26,27 that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word and present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing So all that name the name of Christ may depart from all iniquity and indeavour to be holy and without blemish and be found of him in peace at the day of his appearing Now unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own bloud and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever Amen Rev. 1.5,6 A PRAYER ON ANY SAINTS DAY THou art to be praised O Lord of heaven and earth in all thy works of wonder which declare the astonishing greatness of thy Majesty Power Wisdom and Goodness throughout the world One generation praises thy works to another and declares thy mighty acts especially the manifold wisdom of thy incomprehensible love in the salvation of mankind by Christ Jesus who hath brought us the glad tidings of peace and reconciliation with thee and the promise of immortal life and glory if we will be obedient to thee An innumerable company of holy Souls have in all ages since most thankfully received and acknowledged this thy grace and tender mercy being obedient to the very death and leaving us an excellent example of pure love to thee and constant affection and hearty devotion and ardent zeal for the honour of our Lord and Master Christ Jesus I add my poor tribute of praise and thanksgiving to all that hath been rendred unto thee O God who in the beginning commandedst the light to shine out of darkness and hast now shone into the hearts of thy holy ones to give the light of thy divine knowledge in the face of Jesus Christ Thanks be to thy infinite goodness as for that glorious manifestation of thy self in our flesh and the eternal