herein Was not thy servant Moses a very meeke man above all the men that were on the earth Doth not my blessed Saviour command mee to learne of â—iâ— who was meeke and lowly in heart he was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth he was led as a Lamb to the slaughter and as a sheepe before her sherer he was dumb and can all the indignities offered to me be comparable to all those shamefull spittings and revilings that he for my sake was exposed unto alasse no. O teach me therefore to bring downe my swelling and proud heart to suffer patiently for his sake the servant of God must not strive but be patient toward all men why doe I not then rather take wrong and suffer injury why doe I not take up my Crosse daily and follow him that endured such contradiction of sinners Labouring for A meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price but hee that is soone angry dealeth foolishly O make mee therefore wise in watching over mine owne heart in keeping downe mine owne unmortified spirit to restraine my mouth with a bridle seeing the discretion of a man deferreth his anger and it is his glory to passe over a transgression vouchsafe mee thy grace for Iesus Christ his sake To whom with thee and c Against Apostacie and Backsliding in religion O Lord my God never I beseech thee let there be in me an evill heart of unbeliefe to depart from thee the living God let mee never be of the number of them that draw back unto perdition leaving my first love casting off my first faith to embrace this present world or to enjoy the pleasures of sin which are but for a season O Lord though some fall away and are already turned after Satan even denying the Lord that bought them and so bring upon themselves swift destruction yet doe thou please so to establish my heart with grace that I may continue to the end in that good way in which I have begun let mee not leave the pathes of righteousnesse to walke againe in the wayes of darkenesse or with the dog returne to my former vomit and with the sow that was washed to my wallowing in the mire O Lord there is in me by nature a revolting and rebellious heart I am bent to backsliding from thee unlesse thou doe draw me I shall settle and lag O teach mee to looke to my selfe to keepe my heart with all diligence that I lose not those things which I have wrought but that I may receive a full reward make mee to run with patience the race that is set before me and to be faithfull unto the death that thou maist give me a crowne of life As thou hast given mee a little strength to keepe thy word and not to deny thy name so establish O God the thing that thou hast wrought in me ' â— is he that continueth to the end that shall be saved not he that beginneth well that putteth his hand to the plough and looketh backe O let me hold Faith and a good conscience that my last workes may bee better moe than at first thou art able to keep mee from falling and to preserve me faultlesse before the presence of thy glory with exceeding joy O doe it I beseech thee for thy names sake Even so Lord Iesus Amen See Apostate Backslide Persevere c. in the Scripture phrases Against distrustfull Cares O Lord hast not thou commanded me to cast all my care upon thee because thou carest for me hast not thou said thou wilt never leave me nor for sake me art not thou God all-sufficient Thy Sonne my Saviour hath also bidden mee to take no thought for my life what I shall eate or what I shall drinke nor yet for my body what I should put on Doest not thou feed the fowles of the ayre which sow not neither reape nor gather into barnes By taking thought I cannot adde one cubit unto my stature and thou my heavenly father knowest what things I want what things are best for me and hast promised rather to starve the Lyons than to let thy children want any thing that is good for them O let me believe thy gracious promise to live by Faith to be content with those things that I have yea to receive evill at thy hands as well as good I am yet in better condition to the world-ward than many of thy dearest Saints and now-glorious Martyrs that wandered up and downe in sheepe-skins and goatâ—-skins being destitute afflicted and tormented of whom the world was not worthy yea I have more worldly riches than the Lord of the whole world my blessed Saviour who had not wheron to rest his head who when he was to pay tribute-money had never a penny but sent his Disciple Peter to the Sea to cast in a hooke and to take up the first Fish and there found to supply his present necessitie O let not me expect to be carved to in a better condition than my Lord and Master But to wait on thee my God continually Teach me first to seeke the Kingdome of heaven and the righneousnesse thereof then hast thou promised that all other things shall be added unto me Amen Vid. Care Providence c. For Marriners or Seafaring men c. O Lord the great and dreadfull God which hast placed the sand from the bound of the Sea by a perpetuall decree that it cannot passe it and though the waves thereof tosse themselves yet can they not prevaile though they roare yet can they not passe over it for thou shuttest up the Sea with doores and barres and sayest to the waves hither shall yee come and no further Thou art the hope of all the ends of the earth and of such as abide in the broad Sea wee O Lord whose imployment and calling is in the deepe in this heape of great waters in the midst of the Seas that go down to the Sea in ships and doe businesse in great waters we see thy works and wonders in the deep For thou commandest and raisest the stormie wind which lifteth up the waves thereof We mount up to the heaven we go downe againe to the depths our soule is melted because of trouble wee reele too and fro and stagger like a drunken man and are at our wits end O teach us to cry unto thee in our trouble and doe thou bring us out of our distresses make thou we beseech thee the storme a calme that the waves therof may be still and so bring us to the desired haven then shall we praise thee Lord for thy goodnesse and for thy wonderfull works towards the children of men Thou art our refuge and strength a very present helpe in trouble therefore will wee not feare though the earth be removed and though the mountaines be carried into the midst
iniquity of our sinne Thou hast stricken us but we have not grieved thou hast consumed us but wee have refused to receive correction wee have made our faces harder than a rocke and have refused to returne We have received the grace of God in vaine and have neglected the great Salvation which thou tendrest unto us in Iesus Christ Wee have grieved the holy Spirit of God whereby wee are sealed to the day of redemption and have turned the grace of God into lasciviousnesse We have left our first love our soule thirsteth not for God for the living God We have even sinned wilfully since we received the knowledge of the truth so that we may justly feare there remayneth now no more sacrifice for our sinnes but a certaine fearefull looking for of judgement and fiery indignation For if he that despised Moses law died without mercy Of how much sorer punishment shall wee be thought worthy who have troden under foote the Sonne of God and have counted the blood of the covenant wherewith we were sanctified an unholy thing and have done despite to the Spirit of Grace Many scarlet and crimsin sins have wee committed whereby great occasion hath beene given by us to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme Yea we overpasse the deeds of the wicked Wherefore I abhorre my selfe and repent in dust and ashes For innumerable evils have compassed me about mine iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I am not able to looke up they are moe then the haires of my head therefore my heart faileth me For thou art the God of my strength why dost thou cast me off why goe I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy Thou hast set our iniquitles before thee our secret sinnes in the light of thy countenance When yee come to appeare before me who hath required this at your hand to tread my courts For Ierusalem is ruined and Iudah is fâ—llen because their tongues and their doings are against the Lord to provoke the eyes of his glory Woe unto them that draw injquity with cords of vanity and sinne as it were with a Cart rope But your injquities have separated between you and your God and your sinnes have hid his face from you that hee will nor heare As a Fountaine casteth out her waters so shee casteth out her wickednesse violence and spoyle is heard in her before mee continually is griefe and wounds Yet I had planted thee a noble vine wholly a right seed How then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me For though thou wash thee with niter and take thee much sope yet thine injquities is marked before mee saith the Lord God The sinne of Iudah is written with a pen of jron and with the point of a diamond it is graven upon the table of their heart and upon the hornes of your altars Behold I am pressed under you as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sinnes For wee know that the Law is spirituall but I am carnall sold under sinne But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sinne which is in my members O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death 2. EVILL of punishment And for all these thou our God hast punished us lesse than our injquities deserve It is of the Lords mercies that wee are not consumed because his compassions faile not If thou shouldst lay judgement to the line and righteousnesse to the plummet thou mightest make thy anger and jealousie to smoke against us and all the curses that are written in thy booke thou mightest lay upon us and blot out our name from under heaven Thou mightest give us our portion with the wicked that are turned into hell and all the nations that forget God See the heads Plague Punish c. in the Seripture Phrases 2. PETITION for FORGIVENES But with thee Lord is mercy and with thee is plenteous redemption O therefore pardon our injquities and our sinne and take us for thine inheritance Put away our transgressions as a cloud and our sinnes as a mist O Lord though our injquities testifie against us doe thou it for thy names sake for our back-slidings are many we have sinned against thee O that I might have my request and that God would grant mee the thing that I long for even that it would please him to cover mine injquity and cause my sinne to be blotted out from before him Remember not the sinnes of my youth nor my transgressions according to thy mercie remember thou mee for thy goodnesse sake O Lord. For thy names sake O Lord pardon mine injquity for it is great O remember not against us former iniquities let thy mercies speedily prevent us Take away our injquitie and receive us graciously so will we render the calues of our lips Turne againe and have compassion upon us subdue our injquities and cast all our sinnes into the depthes of the Sea Behold the Lambe of God that taketh away the sinnes of the world To this end was hee borne and for this cause came hee into the world that hee might save sinners of whom wee are the chiefe Hee was wounded for our transgressions hee was bruised for our injquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes are we healed For his sake and in his blood wash me throughly from mine injquities and cleanse me from my sinne Purge me with Hysope and I shall be cleane wash mee and I shall bee whiter than snow Hide thy face from my sinnes and blot out all mine injquities I have sinned greatly in that I have done and now I beseech thee O Lord take away the injquitie of thy servant for I have done very foolishly Looke thou upon me and bee mercifull unto me as thou usest to doe unto those that love thy name Though your sinnes bee as scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they be red like câ—imson they shall be as wooll Behold thou art the Lord the God of all flesh there is nothing too hard for the. For FAITH O we are of little faith therefore O Lord encrease our faith though it be yet but as a graine of mustard seed that being justified by faith wee may have peace with thee Worke in us not a dead faith but that which may bee rich in good workes following after peace with all men and holinesse without which none shall see God Create in mee a cleane heart O God and renew a right spirit within me Not having mine owne righteousnesse which is of
the law but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousnesse which is of God by faith For REPENTANCE Oh that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountaine of teares that I might weepe day and night for O that all the night I could make my bed to swim that I could water my couch with my teares that I might repent in sacke-cloth and ashes and grant us repentance unto life Thou hast in love to our soules vouchsafed unto us space and time to repent in O that thou wouldst also give us grace to repent O that there were such an heart in us that wee might repent and recover our selues out of the snare of the Devill who have beene hither to taken captive by him at his will Doe thou melt our stonie hearts into godly sorow which worketh repentance unto salvation not to bee repented of SANCTIFYING GRACE Sprinkle cleane water upon us that we may bee cleane from all our filthinesse and from all our a new heart also doe thou give us and a new spirit doe thou put within us and take away the stony heart out of the middest of us and give thou unto us an heart of flesh and put thy Spirit within us and cause thou us to walke in thy statutes and keepe thy judgements and doe them KNOWLEDGE That the God of our Lord Iesus Christ the father of glory would give unto us the spirit of wisedome and â—evelation in the knowledge of him The eyes of our understanding being inlightned that we may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints that the earth may bee filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the Sea that all may know thee from the least to the greatest of us That Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith that we being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and heighth And to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that wee might be filled with all the fulnesse of God That I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death And because it is not good that the soule bee without knowledge incline our eares to wisedome and apply our hearts to understanding that we may cry after knowledge and lift up our voice for understanding that wee may understand the feare of the Lord and find the knowledge of God That wee may be enabled to cry unto thee Our God wee know thee Vid. Ier. 31. 33. 34. LOVE of GOD c. That wee may love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soule and with all our mind that because our sinnes which are many are forgiven us therefore we may love thee much That wee may love one another as Christ hath loved us that our love may abound yet more and more towards all men especially them that are of the houshold of faith That wee may love our enemies blesse them that curse us doe good unto them that hate us and pray for them that dispitefully use and persecute us ZEALE Make us to bee zealous of good workes that we may not rest contented with a luke-warme profession being neither cold nor hot but that our soule may breake for the longing that it hath to thy judgements at all times that the zeale of thine house may eate us up that so our zeale may provoke very many SINCERITIE Behold thou desirest truth in the inward parts O therefore make us Israelites indeed in whom there is no guile That in simplicitie and godly purenesse wee may have our conversation in the world because thine eyes are upon all our wayes and thou understandest our thoughts a farre off and art acquainted with all our wayes for there is not a word in our tongue but loe O Lord thou knowest it altogether And thou wilt bring to light the hidden things of darknesse and wilt make manifest the counsels of the heart Though they dig into hell thence shall my hand take them though they climbe up to heaven thence will I bring them downe And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel I will search and take them out thence and though they be hid from my sight in the bottome of the Sea thence will I command the Serpent and hee shall bite them If thou sayest behold wee knew it not doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it and that keepeth thy soule doth not he know it and shall not he render to every man according to his workes God shall bring every worke into judgement with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evill the Lord seeth not as man seeth for man looketh on the outward appearance but the Lord looketh on the heart I beseech thee O Lord remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight the Lord searcheth all hearts and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts Can any hide himselfe in secret places that I shall not see him sayeth the Lord doe not I fill heaven and earth sayeth the Lord. Shall not God know this for he knoweth the secrets of the heart The darknesse hideth not from thee but the night shineth as the day the darknesse and the light are both alike to thee The Spirit of man is the candle of the Lord searching all the inward parts of the belly thou even thou knowest the hearts of all the children of men Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and opened to the eyes of him with whom they have to doe BOLDNES the Profession of the GOSPEL That we may not be ashamed of the Gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that beleeveth Grant unto thy servants that with all boldnesse we may speak of and professe thy word Considering that if we shall bee ashamed of Our Lord Iesus Christ and of his words in this adulterous and sinfull generation the Sonne of man also will be ashamed of us when he commeth in the glory of his Father with the holy Angels PERSEVERANCE O that there were such an heart in us that we might feare thee and keepe thy commandements alway that it might be well with us and with our children after us for ever Give us our heart and our way that we may feare thee for ever and make thou an everlasting covenant with vs that thou wilt not turne away from us to doe us good and put
rise not againe Make them like Iohn burning and shining lights that they may bee holinesse to the Lord Whom thou hast set as watch-men over thy people make them instant in season and out of season that they may give warning from thee that they may cry aloud and not spare lifting up their voyce like a trumpet and shew thy people their transgressions COMMONALTIE Blesse all Israel from Dan to Beershebah make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and with the fowles of heaven breake the bow and the sword and the battell out of the earth and make them to lye downe safely For the AFFLICTED And thou Lord who givest power to the faint and to them that have no might encreasest strength comfort them that lie upon beds of languishing make all their beds in their sicknesse for unto thee Lord belong the issues from death Behold the teares of such as are oppressed and have no comforter Lord remember them that are in bonds that are tryed in the furnace of affliction Bind up the breach of thy people heale the stroke of their wound Let the sighing of the prisoners come before thee according to the greatnesse of thy power preserve thou those that are appoynted to dye Bee thou a strength to the poore a strength to the needy in their distresse a refuge from the storme a shadow from the heat when the blast of the terrible Ones is a storme against the wall His place of defence shall bee the munition of rockes bread shall be given him his waters shall be sure THANKS GIVING for Blessings Spirituall and Eternall And now our God we thanke thee and praise thy glorious name for blessing us with all spirituall blessings in heavenly places in Christ for delivering us from the power of darknesse and translating us into the Kingdome of thy deare Sonne Blessed be God even the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort who when we were sometimes aliens and enemies in our mind by wicked workes and were by nature the children of wrath as well as others out of his rich mercy for the great love where with hee loved us even when we were dead in trespasses and sinnes and the uncircumcision of our flesh hath quickned us together with Christ having forgiven us all trespasses Blotting out the hand-writing of Ordinances that was against us which was contrary unto us and tooke it out of the way nayling it to his Crosse Blessed bee thy glorious Name which is exalted above all blessing and praise for great is thy mercie towards us and thou hast delivered our soule from the lowest hell and hast made us meet to bee partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light 3. For TEMPORALL blessings of Creation and Providence I thanke thee Father Lord of heaven and earth that Blesse the Lord O my soule and all that is within mee blesse his holy name c. For thou art he that tookest me out of the wombe thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mothers breasts I was cast upon thee from the wombe thou art my God from my mothers belly We have beene borne by thee from the belly and are carried from the wombe And even to our old age be thou hee and even to hoarie haires doe thou carry us Thou hast covered me in my mothers wombe I will praise thee for I am fearefully and wonderfully made marveilous are thy workes and that my soule knoweth right well How precious are thy thoughts unto me O God how great is the summe of them If I should count them they are moe in number than the sand Thy hands have made me and fashioned me I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies and of all the truth which thou hast shewed nuto thy servant Thus will I blesse thee while I live I will lift up my hands in thy name My soule shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatnesse and my mouth shall praise thee with joyfull lips when I remember thee upon my bed and meditate on thee in the night watches c I know Lord that thy judgements are right and that thou in faithfulnesse hast afflicted me Before I was afflicted I went astry but now I have kept thy word O Lord my God I cryed unto thee and thou hast healed me O Lord thou hast brought up my soule from the grave thou hast kept me alive that I should not goe downe to the pit c. Thou hast delivered mee in sixe troubles yea in seven there hath no evill touched me c. There hath no evill befallen me neither hath any plague come neere my dwelling Thou hast delivered my soule from death my eyes from teares and my feete from falling What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. Thou hast extended peace unto us like a river and prosperity like a flowing streame we drinke waters out of our owne Wells Thou hast strengthened the barres of our gates and blessed our children within us c. Thou hast given us bread to eate and rayment to put on yea our bread like Ashurs is fat and wee have pleasures which even Kings doe want Thou hast not dealt so with any nation O that men would praise the Lord for his goodnesse and for his wonderfull workes to the children of men CONCLVSION with a craving of Audience Two things have I required of thee deny me them not before I depart Thy Sonne our Saviour hath promised that What things soever wee desire when we pray if we beleeve we shall receive them Lord we beleeve helpe thou our unbeliefe Now unto him that is able to doe exceeding abundantly above all that wee aske or thinke according to the power that worketh in us unto him be glory in the Church of Christ throughout all ages world without end Amen Now the God of Peace that brought againe from the dead our Lord Iesus that great Shepheard of the Sheepe through the the bloud of the everlasting covenant Make us perfect in every good worke to doe his will working in us that which is well pleasing in his sight through Iesus Christ to whom be glory for ever and ever Amen REVEL 5 13. Blessing honour glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the Throne and unto the Lambe for ever and ever Reve. 7. 12. Amen Blessing and glory and wisedome and thanksgiving and honour and power and might be unto our God for ever and ever Amen MEDITATIONS for the Morning My soule waiteth on thee O Lord more than the morning watch watcheth
may receive them as pledges of thy favour and gracious assurances of thine everlasting love through Iesus c Matter for Graces after meate Blessed bee thy name for health life strength and for all the blessings of this and the blessed hopes of a better life make it our meate and drinke to doe the will of thee our heauenly father make us to hunger after that bread which endureth to everlasting life Provide dayly bread for all thy poore servants till thou bring us to that place where we shall never hunger nor thirst any more thy loving kindnesse is better than life that I may labour not so much for this meat that perisheth but for that meate which endureth to everlasting life the body and bloud of our Saviour which is meate indeed and drinke indeed Keepe us in thy feare while we live on earth and afterward receive us to glory in thy kingdome We thanke thee O Lord for the comfortable use of these good blessings we beseech thee also feed our soules to everlasting life with the meate that perisheth not through Iesus Christ our Lord Amen Blessed bee thy name O Lord God for thus opening thy hand and filling us at this time with thy good creatures vouchsafe still to be our God with-hold no good thing from our soule or body Save all thy Church protect our King Queene Prince Royall Progeny and Realme Grant free passage to to thy Gospel comfort to thy Servants and peace of conscience to us all through Iesus Christ our Lord Amen An EPITOME of a Christians Conversation and Religious course of life gathered out of some Godly Practicall Divines c. Every day bestow halfe an houre in reading the Scriptures and Prayer Gods word will not onely shew thee what to do what to pray but will worke a secret power to accomplish the same Appoint and set a part some time once every day seriously and solemnely to cast up the eye of thy Faith on that never-fading crowne of life which after an inch of time shall for ever rest upon thy head The comforts hereof will make a man live almost without a soule and sweeten all the troubles of this life Set one houre in the weeke a part Saturday in the afternone is more fit by reason of the approching day to consider of search and try thy wayes this will snub and keepe downe the weeds of corruptions from overspreading thy soule Thou bestowed an houre on thy body every day in dressing it and lookest thy selfe in a glasse to attire thy outward sheath and wilt thou not once a weeke doe as much for thy soule thy body must one day rot and turne to dust perhaps to morrow thy soule must live ever either in weale or woe Life and death are now in thy choyse chuse then that good part Give God the honour of thy thoughts as well as of thy words and actions often thinke how all the glistering shewes of this whole world must and doe vanish and moulder into vanity and nothing very smoke As soone as thou hast broken of sleepe set God before thee and thinke What shall I doe what course shall I take that I may bring glory to God that I may not sinne this day O that my wayes were so directed Never speake the evill which thou too certainely knowest by others but with fearefulnesse as it were and some kinde of enforcement being sure thou hast a calling to it and then doe it seasonably charitably discreetly and not in humour spleene imperiousnesse T is the humor of Hypocritts to be supercilious and censorious but for Gods glory thy owne discharge use no moe wordes against mâ—ns sinnes than thou wilt make prayers for their soules in secret Be bold yet wise in speaking for Christ and with height of resolution goe through all the disgraces that the sinfull times lay in the wayes of God In Actions civil Doe as thou wouldst be done to religious Strive to live by faith because faith is the soule of all our actions our prayers will bee cold unlesse this warme them Take heed of falling from thy first love Serve not God for by-respects but onely for himselfe So long as thou art unfeinedly displeased with and sorry for all thy sinnes and dost mortifie the deedes of thy body by the spirit thy cafe is the state of salvation Let thy whole conversation favour of the Lord. Bee alwayes bemoaning thy spirituall pride knowne hypocrisie covetousnesse perfâ—â—ctorinesse and formality in Gods service Give not way to a heartlesse neglect of the use of Gods holy ordinances reading prayer fasting private humiliation for this is the fore-runner to some fearefull sinne or fiery temptation to some heavie judgement or dangerous apostasie Seeke not thy selfe in any of thy actions Looke to thy repentance that it bee sincere universall constant from the heart root for all sinne Incorporate thy selfe into the Communion of Saints be intimate onely with them such an holy and humble majesty is in their carriage such a deale of heaven is in their countenances such spirituall ravishments is in their hearts such grace and powerful piercings in their speeches such zeale and hearty melting is in their prayers that they cannot but worke upon thy heart if thou converse with them Looke well to thy carriage that thou leave not an ill savour behinde thee in any company Wait for occasions to doe good Act. 26. 28. In bad company give them apparent signes of thy dislike Unlesse you give some kinde of reall or verball reproofe they will be hardned Often withdraw your selfe apart imparting unto God your griefes wants desires Walke with God on the top of Mount Tabor once a day Prayer in secret will bee unto thee an unspeakeable comfort a testimony that thou art not left to thy selfe if words will not come sigh God heares the sighing of his servants if thou canst not sigh breath God hath an care for that thou hast heard my voyce hide not thine eare at my breathing at my cry yea speake with thy countenance be humbled for thy unfitnesse dulnesse c. Then wee pray most happily when wee arise from prayer most humbled After prayer thou shalt carry thy selfe in thy vocation with much more zeale and standing thus upright with God thou wilt not feare the world thou shalt have rest and peace within what ever stirres bee without Have a speciall eve to a sincere constant and fruitfull performance of holy duties take heed of customarinesse and Formality which cuts out the heart and drawes the very life-blood from them Strive by all meanes for attainment of what thou prayest for by all occasions helpes and heavenly offers Be diligent in thy personall employments and take heed of idlenesse 2 Have an eye to Gods glory in all thy undertakings 3 Goe about earthly busines with an heavenly mind 4 Let not any unrighteous gaine entice thee to sinne or belime thee 5 Set not thy delight
and try my wayes to looke backe upon all the ungodly actions and aberrations of my fore-past life to view my sinne-deformed soule in the cleare glasse of thy undefiled â—aw that so I may judge and abhorre my selfe in dust and ashes and bee still more vile in mine owne esteeme make me to examine my selfe and so eate of that bread and drinke of that cup knowing that if I eate and drinke thereof unworthily I eate and drinke damnation to my selfe because I discerne not the Lords body Teach mee to try my selfe whether I be in the faith or no for without faith it is impossible to please thee in any service T is my faith in the death of my Saviour that is the hand and mouth by which I must apply him and make him mine in this Sacrament Assure me by these broad seales annexed to the covenant of grace and letters patents of thy holy word that thou wilt make good what thou hast promised that as thou hast called Ho every one that thirsteth come to the waters so thou wilt refresh this my gasping and thirsting soule as thou callest all that be weary and heavie laden to come unto thee so thou wilt in no wise send mee empty away that cast my selfe into the bleeding armes of my dying Saviour Perswade my unbeleeving and doubting heart that as thy Minister taketh and blesseth and breaketh and poureth out and giveth and saith Take and eate the bread take and drinke the wine of the Sacrament so thou from everlasting hast separated consecrated and ordained Iesus Christ to be a Sacrifice for my sinnes hast poured out his blood to be a satisfaction to thy offended justice for my sinfull soule and that hereby I shall continue in communion with him my head and his mysticall body my fellow members Thy flesh O sweet Saviour is meate indeed and thy blood is drinke indeed O let me I beseeth thee find it so in my fainting soule that I may bee ravished with thy love that I may taste and see how gracious the Lord is and find thy free promises and pledges of thy grace to bee better than wine sweeter also than the honey and the honey combe Let thy holy spirit set to his privie seale on my heart inwardly by the secret and sweet refreshment of his blessed testimonie that I am my well beloveds and my well beloved is mine establishing my heart in thy love and knitting my soule unto thee for ever O draw me and I shall run after thee shew me the light of thy countenance and I shall bee saved And Lord make mee to love my brethren as thou hast loved me yea to love my very enemies for thy names sake reconciling my selfe to those whom I have offended following peace with all men and forgiving them their hundred pence as thou hast freely forgiven me my ten thousand talents Vouchsafe me this aud all other graces which may fit mee for thy service in thy kingdome of grace and prepare mee for the enjoyment of everlasting glory through my Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ Amen After the receiving of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper O Lord what shall I render unto thee for all the benefits which thou hast bestowed upon mee and daily ladest mee withall a most unworthy sinner how shall I bee sufficiently thankefull unto thee for them when they bee more than I can reckon up unto thee more then my heart is able to conceive or comprehend Should I offer up unto thee thousands of rams or ten thousand rivers of oyle they all would come farre short of thy most free eternall undeserved infinite love Lebanon it selfe is not sufficient for wood nor the beasts upon a thousand hils for a burnt offering What shall I then doe unto thee O thou Preserver of men or what recompence shall I make thee I will even take the cup of salvation and give thankes to thy name O Lord. I will offer up my soule and body for a holy living and acceptable sacrifice unto thee this will please thee better than bullocke that hath hornes and hoofes Thou O Lord in the beginning didst make mee to bee when I was not before and when I had lost my selfe and forfeited my being and life and happinesse didst in Christ restore mee to a more blessed estate than at my Primitive integrity Thou thy selfe art become my Father thy sonne my Saviour thy holy Spirit my Sanctifier thy word my Instructor thy Sacraments the food to refresh satisfie and feed my poore hungry soule to everlasting life This day thou hast called me to thy holy Mountaine and made me joyfull in thy house of prayer this day hast thou invited me to sit downe at thy table and made unto mee a feast of fat things full of marrow a feast of wines on the lees well refined thou hast abundantly satisfied me with the fâ—â—nesse of thy house and hast made mee to drinke of the river of thy pleasures Blessed bee thy glorious name for ever and ever which is above all thankesgiving and prayse of mine O that I could bee indeed thankefull unto thee as thou art gracious unto me If I should open my mouth never so wide thou wouldest fill it thy favours to my poore soule are more than all tongues of men and Angels can worthily magnifie And now O Lord accept I beseech thee the free will-offering of thy servant that desires to feare thy name and to make a covenant with thee never to bee broken that my soule shall cleave close unto thee and avouch thee this day to bee my God and Saviour for ever more Here I doe resigne myselfe soule and body all that is in me and all that belongs unto me to bee wholly thine and that I will never wickedly depart from thee my God as I have done O that my wayes were so directed that I might keepe thy commandements alway Never let mee with the disgorged dog returne any more to my former vomit nor with the washed sow to wallow in the mire but as I have now washed my feete so suffer mee no more againe to defile them as I have put off the filthy rags of my old conversation so I may never againe put them on but become a new creature That seeing the expiation of my sins cost my Saviour so deare as the shedding of his precious blood and that thy wrath lay so heavie upon him who was our suretie onely being innocent in himselfe I may hence conceive how heinous a thing sinne is how abhorred by thee and so hate it in my selfe with a perfect hatred and resist it even to blood and not crucifie againe hereby the Lord of life and glory O make mee thankefully to remember that bitter passion of his and thy love O Father unto mee in that thou hast accepted mee to life in him and hast brought salvation this day home to my house to my heart Lord enter in abide with and dwell in my soule for ever Take not
to come Amen A Prayer for a Trades-man Merchant c. O Lord the righteous God that triest the reines and the heart thou lovest truth in the inward parts and hast commanded all those that call upon thy name to depart from iniquity and to put away lying speaking the truth from his heart every man unto his neighbour not using false weights deceitfull ballances or unjust measures and wouldest that no man should goe beyond and defraud his brother in any matter because that the Lord is the avenger of all such O Lord the heart of man is deceitfull above all things and desperately wicked and in nothing more discovers it selfe than in the gaine of unrighteousnesse The love of money is the roote of all evill which while some have coveted after they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrowes Thus in buying and selling and trading with each other so they may lade themselves with thicke clay they care not to load their consciences with heavie Sinne. Thus it often is as with the buyer so with the seller 'T is naught 't is naught saith the buyer but when he is gone his way he boasteth and how many severall tricks of deceit and sleights there are practised by the cunning craftinesse of men that lye in waite to deceive which the false and dissembling heart of man is guilty of thou onely knowest who searchest the heart and tryest the reines and wilt one day bring to light the hidden things of dishonesty and darknesse so that as a naile sticketh fast betweene the joyning of stones so doth Sinne sticke close betweene buying and selling O Lord what shall it profit me to win the whole world and to lose mine owne soule could I rejoyce because my wealth was great or because my hand had gotten much If I should get my house full of silver and gold heaping up silver as dust and fine gold as the mire in the streets or prepare rayment as the clay being filled with all precious and pleasant riches yet thou that hatest false ballances and the bag of deceitfull weights canst blow upon all my substance that it shall melt away by thy blast it would perish a fire not blowne should consume it suddenly thou couldst make my riches to take them wings and fly away as an Eagle towards heaven to vanish as a dreame and not bee found or chased away as a vision of the night And thou hast in thy assured mee that hee that getteth riches and not by right shall leave them in the midst of his dayes and at his end shall bee a foole and howsoever bread of deceit may bee sweet to a man yet afterwards his mouth shall bee filled with gravell O let mee never be given over to that reprobate mind supposing that gaine iâ— godlinesse Let mee not grind the face of my brother or pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poore making the Ephah small and the shekell great and falsifying the ballances by deceit Never let me bee so greedy of gaine that in the seeking thereof I should enlarge my desire as hell or as death that cannot be satisfied O make me to hate and take heed of guile Let not my soule bee poysoned with the mammon of unrighteousnesse that I should by lying and fraud obtrude bad wares on the men I trade withall for hereby I should take the name of my God in vaine and cause thy Gospell to bee evill spoken of Wicked ballances and the bag of deceitfull weights are an abomination unto thee and much better will a dry morsell be or a dinner of greene herbes gotten by honest dealing then a stalled Oxe by coozening and deceit Godlinesse with contentment is great gaine but they that will bee rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtfull lusts which drowne men in destruction and perdition O Lord faith and a good conscience are speciall jewels a precious treasure Let not mee make shipwracke of them for every trifle how ever prophane and godlesse men may disesteeme them they are not to bee valued with the gold of Ophir with the precious Onyx or the Saphire Let mee ever remember that golden rule to doe unto other men as I would they should doe unto me And if by my industry thou doest please to blesse my estate that my riches doe encrease O let me not set my heart upon them making gold my hope or saying to fine gold thou art my confidence or if I shall wax poore and fall into decay through crosses and losses by thy hand of providence and not by mine owne negligence sloth or ill husbandry yet make mee to learne in whatsoever state I am therewith to bee content and may know both how to be abased and how to abound to be full and to bee hungry which grace I beseech thee to grant me for Christ Iesus sake Amen A Servants Prayer MOst holy and great God thou hast commanded servants to be obedient to them which are their masters according to the flesh with feare and trembling in singlenesse of heart as unto Christ not with eye-service as men-pleasers but as the servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart Therefore as thy good hand of providence hath placed mee in this condition so I beseech thee give me thy grace that with good will I may doe service as to the Lord and not unto men knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth the same shall hee receive of the Lord whether he be bond or free O teach me therefore first to serve and to feare thee for thy service is perfect freedome thus being the Lords free man I shall no more be a Servant but a Sonne and heire of God through Christ To this end make thy face to shine upon thy servant be thou with me in all that I doe and let the beauty of the Lord my God be upon mee and establish thou the worke of my hands upon me that thy blessing may be upon all that my master hath in the house and in the field make thou a hedge about him and about all that he hath on every side and blesse thou the worke of his hands that his substance may be encreased in the Land And as thou blessedst Laban for Iacobs sake Potiphar for Iosephs sake Obed Edom for the Arkes sake Ahab for Obadiahs sake so also I beseech thee to blesse me and all the things that are under my hand cause thy blessing to rest in my masters house prevent him daily with blessings of goodnesse that he may learne by experience that thou Lord hast blessed him since my comming O make mee a faithfull and a wise servant as Eliezer unto Abraham that if my master commit his goods into my hand and make me ruler over his houshold to appoint them their worke to give them their meate in due season I may with all my power serve him therein not eating the bread of
acted with a high hand against Knowledge and the cries of a convinced conscience which makes sinne rebellion to know God yet not to glorifie him as God not in the dayes of our ignorance onely but since the light of the glorious Gospell hath shone into our hearts 3 Without any or with small temptation resolving to sinne selling themselves with Ahab even in cold bloud to doe wickedly Heb. 10. 26. as in sinnes in which there is neither pleasure or profit c. As to sweare prophane the Sabbath refuse preaching praying scorning Gods wayes 4 Against frequent purposes faire promises of more holy obedience reiterated vowes and covenants generall in Baptisme Lords Supper particular on such and such an occasion 5 Against meanes 1 Blessings coards of love 2 Corrections thou hast striken us but wee have not sorrowed Ier. 5. 3. 3 Word early and late all the day long 2 Actuall sinnes against the Gospell 1 Not thirsting after Christ Iesus nor prizing nor loving and cleaving unto him with our dearest affection 2 denying him in our lives 2 Not repenting us of our sinnes though God in mercie vouchsafe space and means but hiding excusing not mourning for nor forsaking sinne 3 Not believing the promises of salvation nor relying upon Iesus Christ for justification sanctification and salvation c. not stirring up our selves to take hold of him but forsaking our owne mercies 4 Sâ—â—ning against the holâ— Ghost by tempting grieving or quenching the holy spirit of God receiving the grace of God in vaine turning it into wantonnes growing cold in religion losing our first love Thus bringing our iniquities to remembrance 1 wee must acknowledge and bewayle them not onely generally but individually also one by one fetching and ferreting them out as so many Achans by the poll especially those which are naturalized and habituated in us our beloved and darling sinnes our dearest Dalilahs And that from a 1 Trobled broken bleeding melting spirit beleeving heart clasping the promises Ezr. 10. 2. yet now there is hope in Israel c. 2 Honest heart wishing the confusion as wel as making the confessioÌ„ of sin meaning to leave every wicked way and with purpose of heart cleaving to the Lord 2 Confession of the evill of punishment acknowledging our selves in regard of these our so many and grievous sinnes not onely to bee lesse than the least of all Gods mercies but most justly worthy of his most dreadfull plagues lyable and obnoxious to all evills of punishment in Iudgements Corporall Spirituall Temporall Eternall vid. Ezr. 9. Dan 9. Thus of the first part of Prayer viz. CONFESSION The Second followes which is PETITION PEtition is either for Our selves Others 1 Our selves and is called Supplication consisting of two branches viz. Apprecation Deprecation 1 Apprecation or collation of good which also consists in desiring 1 Supply of all wants Spirituall Corporall 2 Continuance and encrease of all blessings both Eternall Spirituall Corporall 1 Apprecation for bestowing of all good blessings viz. 1 Supplying all our wants of things 1 Spirituall viz. Grace Encrease of Grace Meanes of Grace 1 For the grace of free Pardon for our sinnes that God for his mercies promise Christs sake even the abundant merits of our Lord Iesus his bloudy passion who hath satisfyed for them to the utmost farthing by pouring out his soule for an oblation for the sinnes of the whole world would be pleased freely to forgive and blot them out of his booke never laying them to our charge beforemen to shame us in this world or to our everlasting confusion before men and Angels in the world to come Of which that we may more fully bee assured wee pray for a lively and apprehensive Faith by which we may be inabled to lay hold on and apply the generall and free Promises of Salvation to our selves in particular that God would seale up the assurance hereof to our consciences by the gracious testimony of his holy spirit giving unto us the spirit of adoption whereby we may with comfort and confidence cry ABEA father that so being justifyed and freed from the guilt and punishment of all our sinnes wee may have peace of conscience being reconciled to him in his Sonne 2 Repentance unto life whereby our stony hearts may be softned broken w th godly sorrow our eyes run down w th rivers of teares for our falls and faylings heretofore and we quickned to new obedience to serve the living God in holinesse and righteousnesse all our remaining dayes 3 All other sanctifying graces accompanying furthering our everlasting happinesse 1. as saving knowledge that we may understand what the holy and acceptable will of the Lord is 2 Fervent love to God our brethren yea our very enemies for his sake that loved us when wee were enemies 3 Ardent zeale 4 Lively hope 5 Son-like feare of God 6 True humility and contrition of spirit 7 Sincerity and boldnesse in the profession of the truth Perseverance patience and strength under the crosse Contentation in all estates either of weale or woe want or abundance 2 Encrease and growth of all these graces that the bruised reed may not be broken nor the smoking Flaxe quenched but that our graces like the light may shine more and more to the perfect day and our works be more at last than at the first 3 The meanes of grace continued and sanctifyed unto us as 1 Gods Word preached at Church 2 Read in private that the holy Ghost blessing it from heaven may bring it close home unto and savingly worke it upon our hearts that thus the heavenly spirit breathing on his own ordinances they may quicken us and become effectuall to our salvation 2 Sacraments 3 Sabbaths 4 Prayer 5 Fasting c. 2 Supply of wants temporall our owne personall concernements and all outward blessings appertayning to this present life Health Liberty Friends Rayment Food giving and preserving to our use the kindly fruits of the earth so as in due time wee may enjoy them preservation in our persons and estates Direction in all our courses thoughts words actions the blessing of God upon all our labours a right and sanctifyed use of all Gods blessings and chastisements 2 Deprecation of Evills personall nationall both of sinne and punishment either before or after it comes Before it comes aversion prevention After it comes ablation or removall 1 Wee pray against the evill of sinne that we may be 1 Delivered freed and acquitted of the guilt and danger of all our sinnes 2 Endued with watchfulnesse power and dominion over them all in our judgements to dislike them in affections to hate them in heart to bewaile them and in life to forsake them 1 From the guilt and danger that our sinne may not shame us before men and torture our consciences here in this life nor condemne us body and soule in the world to com that our doing evil
omitting good particular failings frailties distractions indisposednes to serve God our ignorance Atheism infidelitie hypocrisie inconstancie pride vaine-glory envy uncharitablenesse putting off our repentance forgetfulnesse distrustfulnesse unthankefulnesse dulnesse unchearfulnesse felfe-love strife wrath flattery idlenesse gluttony uncleannesse covetousnesse all inordinate desires and all the evill of our good workes c. may never bee imputed or layd to our charge As likewise the Nationall unthankfulnesse heresies schismes swearing oppression security which crye open mouth'd against us may not enter into the eares of the Lord of hosts Secondly That we may from on high be indued with power over those corruptions and lusts to which pleasure allures profit provokes sinfull custome most of all swayes us the plague of our own heart that the lusts of our flesh may be crucifyed and the whole body of sinne abolished and we leade our captivity captive 2 Victory over all the deceits of the whole world which lieth in wickednesse and all the temptations thereof that neither the persons nor things therein may become our suare 3 Over the Devill that arch-enemy of our salvation and his fiercest and eraftiest assaults that he may never finally prevaile over us that the God of peace would tread downe Satan under our feete and so make us more than conquerors through our Lord Iesus who hath loved us Secondly Deprecation of the evill of Punishment 1. All those dreadfull curses due to our sinnes that they may not be inflicted on us 2 Deliverance from all plagues which we now feele or hereafter may feare viz. 1 Iudgements nationall which the whole Land mournes under Plague of the pestilence famine warre sedition conspiracie 2 Afflictions personall that lie on our selves either in soule body or in estate troubles and terrours of conscience griefe of minde scandalls and offences imprisonment banishment sicknesse poverty disgrace losse of friends or any other afflictions of what kinde soever preservation from and in all dangers Death it selfe the king of terrours the day of judgement from Hell and chaines of darknesse from Gods wrath and everlasting damnation c. Secondly We petition for others which is Intercession and thus here wee pray for the Catholike Church of Iesus Christ militant every where on earth which is either 1 Uncalled yet belonging to the election of grace that they may be converted as 1. Iews our elder sister which was in the covenant before us 2 Pagans and Infidels that they may heare the glad tidings of salvation and that the Sunne of righteousnesse may arise on them with healing in his wings that they may enjoy Gods Word Sacraments Sabbaths that God would bring home them that goe astray instruct the ignorant and forgive them that rebelliously transgresse Heretickes yea the Enemies and Persecutours of the Church that they all may bee converted or if implacable confounded beseeching God to forgive our Enemies Persecutors and Slanderers and to turne their hearts 2 Already called that the Lord would purge it from Schisme and Heresie and appease all unhappy differences in the Church making all Christians keepe the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace and that he would warme and enliven the setling and cooled affections of these secure and earthly-minded times To watch over it for good whether in the transmarine parts and forraigne countries abroad or our owne nation at home herein especially our gracious soveraigne King Charles and his Highnes Dominions with all his sacred Stocke and Lineage the Queene young Prince Princesse Duke the Lady Elizabeth the Kings onely sister and her Progenie The Lords spirituall and temporall those of his Majesties most honourable Privie Councell the Nobility Majestraâ—ie Ministrie the two Universities the Gentry and Commonalty our Parents Kindred Friends Benefactours all such as we stand obliged unto by nature desert duty or any speciall relation Thirdly Afflicted in soule body or in estate being oppressed and persecuted under Popish tyranny or Mahumetan cruelty those that bee destitute of all comforts of this life that want foode rayment harbour liberty peace health that grone under poverty famine nakednesse c. that all the Israel of God may bee delivered from all their troubles 3. THANKSGIVING THe third and last Part of our Prayers is Thankesgiving that God would give us thankefull hearts for all his Blessings First Positive Secondly Privative in Temporall spirituall and eternall good things towards his whole Church 1 Triumphant for providing for it Heaven a place of rest and happinesse for the glorious Martyrs godly Bishops Preachers and Confessors that out of their ashes he hath wondrously raysed up beleevers 2 Militant for giving â—â—â—m 1 Christ to be their Saviour captaine and leader 2 Holy spirit to bee their comforter 3 God himself to be their father 4 His Gospell Sacraments c. Secondly For his blessings to our selves for that eternall unchangeable infinite everlasting undeserved love of his to us in our Election in and Redemption by Iesus Christ our vocation our Adoption Iustification Sanctification inchoate with assured hope of future Glorification That we were borne of Christian and beleeving Parents in a land of righteousnesse in a time of knowledge planted in religious families towns undergodly and painfull Ministers and gracious Governours that we enjoy Gods word and Sacraments in the power and purity of them for the many great and precious promises made to us therein Which are either performed already towards us or shall be hereafter in due time accomplished For all the Graces of the holy spirit for the gracious and free pardon of our many sinnes Faith Repentance some care of sincere obedience and tender hearts desiring to feare God for power against and prevailing over any sinne that we are not given over to Heresies and Errours in opinion nor to those base and fleshly Lusts that some others are in our lives nor to a hard heart reprobate minde benummed conscience and finall Apostasie for victory in any temptation over subtle Satan the alluring world and our own selfe-deceiving selves Secondly Temporall Blessings viz. of Creation Providence 1 Creation after Gods own image not being made a Beast Toad Foole c. 2 Gods providence Nationall Personall in those wonderfull Deliverances of the nation Preservation peace plenty towards us and fatherly care over us in our birth and infancie ever since we hung upon the â—rests in our childe-hood youth mans estate unto old age and gray haires for our health continued so long or restored of late for understanding judgement and discretion peace liberty prosperity food raiment same and good esteeme among Gods people for wealth friends Godly parents carefull â—utours masters and governours good education quietnesse of minde contentment c. Daily preservation manifold deliverances from imminent and apparent yea unseene and unfeared dangers For his fatherly chastisements and corrections for sanctifying to our everlasting good our afflictions
on any earthly thing for nothing brings true content to the soule but God Delight thy selfe in him this will both purifie thy heart and assure it before God In thy carnall delight there are or may be losse of crosses in curses for them They are broken cisternes In the end of every day aske thy selfe What have I done What have I done amisse What have I left undone Thus summe up thy accounts and make all streight twixt God and thee Keepe a Catalogue of all thy g 〈…〉 knowne sinnes nor balking any but dealing truely with thy selfe and then falling downe on thy knees disburden thy conscience of them by humble confession to God carrying this thy owne inditement and spreading it before the Lord and pleading guilty drag thy sinfull lusts to the crosse of thy Saviour and there crucifie them 2 Pray for a soft and tender heart as for life Lord thou hast promised to take out the heart of stone to give an heart of flesh 3 Get the particular promises which thou desirest to have fulfilled to thy soule without booke yea into thy heart as well as thy head Mr. Byfield Mr. GEORGE FLETCHER in Christs victory and triumph pag. 50. VVHo is it sees not that he nothing is But he that nothing sees what vveker brest Since Adams armour faild dares warrant his That made by God of all his creatures best Straite made himselfe the worst of all the rest If any strength we have it is to ill But all the good is Gods both povv'r and vvill The dead man cannot rise though he himselfe may kill Mr. QVARLES Historie of SAMPSON Medit. 21. LOrd if our Father Adam could not stay In his upright perfection one poore day How can it be expected we have povver To hold out siege one scruple of an houre Our armes are bound vvith too unequall bands We cannot strive vve cannot loose our hands Great Nazarite avvake and looke upon us Make haste to helpe the Philistims are on us Medit. 22. ibid. Lord shouldst thou punish every part in me That does offend what member would be free Each member acts his part they never lin Vntill they joyne and make a body of sinne Make sinne my burthen let it never please me And thou hast promis'd when I come to ease me Medit. 19. idem ibid. Thou great Chirurgion of a bleeding soule Whose soveraigne balme is able to make whole The deepest wound thy sacred salve is sure We cannot bleed so fast as thou canst cure Heale thou our wounds that having salv'd the sore Our hearts may feare and learne to sinne no more And let our hands be strangers to those knives That wound not fingers only but our lives Some particular formes of PRAYER 1. For the Sacrament of the LORDS Supper WOnderfull art thou O Lord in all thy works towards the sons of men but more especially wonderfull in that great worke of our redemption by the death of thy Son Hadst thou left us to have perished in that estate of damnation into which wee desperately had implunged our selves by the wilfull disobedience of our first parents it had beene but just with thee so to have done for wee were the clay thou wast our Potter and we all are the work of thine owne hands and hadst thou taken no delight in us to doe us good thou mightest easily have made us dishonourable vessels of thy wrath as well as thou didst the Angels which kept not their first estate but left their owne habitation whom thou hast reserved in everlasting chaines under darkenesse under the judgement of the great day But thou in love to our soules wouldest not that wee should perish and therefore out of thine own incomprehensible wisedome foundest out a meanes of rasoming and redeeming man from hell by causing thine own sonne God equall for ever with thy blessed selfe to bee made sinne for us that so wee might bee made the righteousnesse of God in him who his owne selfe bare our sinnes in his body on the tree and the more to confirme us in the assured hope of everlasting salvation which he once purchased for us by his bloody passion did institute for his Church the blessed Sacrament of his body and blood in which I see him againe crucified and freshly bleeding before mine eyes in the outward elements of bread and wine which he hath appointed to bee often celebrated in remembrance of him Blessed bee thy holy name therefore my daily sinnes have made mee unworthy of daily bread much more of this bread of life yet seeing thou callest and invitest mee at this time to the Supper of the Lambe to eate of that Manna that came down from heaven to partake of those divine mysteries O let not mee suffer my selfe to bee needlesly detained from so blessed a feast by any pretended occasions whatsoever as those did that made excuses and set light by their invitation to the marriage of the Kings sonne Math. 22. 5. left thou sweare in thy wrath that I shall never taste of thy Supper nor enter into that rest which my Saviour is gone to prepare for thy beloved ones For if those in the law that did neglect to eate the Passeover and to worship at Hierusalem at the times appoynted were to bee cut off from the number of thy people of how much sorer punishment shall I bee worthy if I refuse to partake in thy blessed Sacrament and neglect so great salvation which thou tenderest unto mee hereby O therefore make me to come as a guest invited comming prepared unto thy table having on my wedding garment because thou thy selfe the great master of this feast art present in the assembly eying and observing thy guests Let mee therefore first wash my hands in innocencie my heart from wickednesse and so compasse thine Altar O Lord that seeing Christ my Passeover is sacrificed for mee I may purge out the old leaven and become a new lumpe keeping this feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth feeding on him with the sowre herbes of godly sorrow and unfained repentance for all my former sins O make the very remembrance of them to be grievous and the burthen of them intollerable unto mee O wash mee Lord wash mee not onely the feete but even the hands also and the head for I am uncleane I am uncleane a very Leper a sinke of sinne whom thou mighest shut out of the congregation of thy people for ever but yet O Lord if thou wilt thou canst make mee cleane Thy blood O sweet Iesus is able to cleanse more throughly than the waters of Iordan did Naomans leprosie and to wash away all my pollutions and make my Ethiopian skin my leopards spots to be white as snow in Salmon Now the good Lord pardon me and every one that prepareth himselfe to seeke thee in the truth of his heart though wee bee not cleansed and prepared according to that exact purification of thy Sanctuary O Lord make me to search
thy holy spirit from mee make mee one with Christ my head flesh of his flesh bone of his bone make mee one with the mysticall body of thine Elect that I may have my part in the prayers of the Church in the Communion of Saints here on earth in the kingdome of grace and may enjoy thee and them face to face and sit downe and eat and drinke with thee in thy kingdome of glory Amen For the Sacrament of Baptisme O Lord our God the great the mighty and the terrible God who keepest covenant and mercy with all them that feare thy name and trust upon thee even to a thousand generations thou hast promised to bee our God and the God of our seed to enter into covenant with us that wee should bee thine O Lord I come to thy throne of grace at this time to lay claime to my interest in that new covenant sealed unto thy Church in the blood of Iesus that thou wouldst performe the same unto mee and mine also hast not thou said thou wilt circumcise mine heart and the heart of my seed to love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soule that thou wilt put thy Law in our inward parts and write it in our hearts and that thou wilt bee our God and wee shall bee thy people that thou wilt forgive our injquity and wilt remember our sinne no more O Lord hast thou said it and wilt not thou also doe it By faith I plead my interest thereunto not for my selfe alone but for mine also with whom I beseech thee to make an everlasting covenant of life and peace that being baptized into Iesus Christ they may bee sanctified and cleansed with the washing of water by the word O Lord wee are all borne the children of wrath and there is no way for us to escape the damnation of hell except wee bee borne againe of water and of the Spirit O Lord doe thou sprinkle cleane water upon us wash away the filth of Zion and purge the blood of Ierusalem from the midst thereof Baptize us with the Holy Ghost that having our hearts sprinkled from an evill conscience and our bodies washed with pure water wee may bee new creatures fit to bee an habitation of God through the spirit O blessed be thy goodnesse for ever which hast given us this seale of thy rich promise this is that Arke in and through which thou savest thine Elect thou dalliest not with us herein it is no idle ceremonie thou art present in thy own ordinance to fulfill that which thou hast promised O wash our soules with the baptisme of Repentance as thou doest our bodies with the outward element of water Let the vertue of Christs death kill sinne in us for how shall wee that are buried with Christ by baptisme and thereby dead to sinne live yet therein Doe not wee herein vow to forsake the Devill the Pomps and vanities of this wicked world and all the sinfull lusts of the flesh and shal we break our vow transgresse the covenant O let this be far from us teach us therefore to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts deliver us from every evill worke that we may serve the living God Sprinkle cleane water upon us that we may bee cleane from our naturall filthinesse and from all our uncleannesses Wash us O wash us throughly from our iniquities and cleanse us from our sinnes Make our hearts to be stedfast in thy love and never to forget this covenant of our God thy mercie doe thou keepe for us and ours for evermore and let thy covenant stand fast with us and bee established for ever as the Moone and as a faithfull witnesse in heaven And as thou hast thus brought us into the bond of the covenant so let us never depart from thee Bee thou unto us a God and let us be thy people for evermore even till thou bringest us unto Mount Sion and to the Citie of the living God the heavenly Ierusalem and to an inumerable company of Angels to the generall assembly and Church of the first borne which are written in heaven and to God the judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect and to Iesus the Mediatour of the new covenant and to the bloud of sprinkling that speaketh better than that of Abel Make me to be thine my self be thou my Father and make me to be thy Sonne for if the first fruit be holy the lumpe also shall be holy and if the roote be holy so also shall the branches bee This mercie I beg of thee in his name merits and mediation out of whose pierced side issued forth water and bloud for the sanctifying and justifying of thine Elect. To whom with thee and the Holy Spirit be all glory service thanksgiving and dominion through all the Churches of the Saints for ever Amen For Regeneration Sanctification and grace to serve God O Lord thou God of truth who hast sworne in thy faithfulnesse that as thou livest thou hast no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that hee should turne from his way and live and therefore commandest thy people saying Turne ye turne ye from your evill wayes for why will ye dye O house of Israel and hast enjoyned that I should wash me and make me cleane put away the evill of my doings from before thine eyes promising moreover that though my sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as Snow though they bee red like crimson they shall be as wooll I that am a wicked and miserable caitiffe a sinner before the Lord exceedingly even as the men of Sodome that have done abominable workes and denied the God that is above wilfully sinning after I had received the knowledge of the truth and treading under foote the Sonne of God counting the bloud of the covenant wherewith I was sanctified an unholy thing and having done deâ—piâ—e to the spirit of grace O Lord even out of the deepes doe I call unto thee for helpe yea out of the belly of hell doe I earnestly cry for thy mercie O cast not out my prayer Though mine iniquities be more than the haires of my head my transgressions heavier than the sand yet is there forgivenesse with thee and although my sinnes have reached up to heaven yet thy mercie is above the heavens mine are at the most but the sinnes of a man but thine at the least are the mercies of an infinite God yea thou hast the relenting bowells of a most tender Father O spread the robe of thy Sonnes righteousnesse over me that so thou mayest not behold my nakednesse cloath me with the garments of his salvation say unto my soule Live cause breath to enter into my dry bones lay sinewes upon them and bring flesh upon them and cover them with skinne that I may know that thou art the Lord. And albeit I be dead in trespasses and sinnes yet open my grave and cause me
to come out of it yea though with Lazarus I stinke already yet roll away the stone and speake thou by thy all-powerfull word and I shall come forth and live O purge my conscience from dead workes redeeme mee from death ransome me from power of the grave and though I be lesse than the least of all Saints lesse than the least of all thy mercies yet make me a prisoner of hope and by the bloud of thy covenant send forth my soule out of the pit wherein is no water Wash my robes and make them white in the bloud of the Lambe Create in me a cleane heart O God and renew a right spirit within me Make thy word to be unto me like a refiners fire and like fullers sope cleansing me from all filthinesse of flesh and spirit that so I may be meete to be a partaker of the inheritance of the Saints in light not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but holy and without blemish the sonne of thy love through Christ Thou hast promised that if I returne unto thee thou wilt receive me and that if I seek thee early I shall finde thee that thou wilt have mercie upon me and wilt abundantly pardon all my sinnes heale my backeslidings and love me freely O Lord it is not sinne in the highest degree when it is out of measure sinfull and is come to the full that can hinder the Sunne of righteousnesse from arising with healing in his wings on any humbled soule no for where Sinne abounded Grace doth much more superabound and where shall or can the skill of thee our heavenly Physician be so much seene so much adored and magnified as in healing a poore soule weltring and wallowing in its bloud and desperately wounded unto everlasting death O speake thou the word and my soule shall live Subdue mine iniquities and cast all my sinnes into the depths of the Sea O redeeme me from my former vaine conversation that I may renounce the hidden things of dishonesty turne thou mee and I shall be turned betroth my soule unto thee in faithfulnesse make with me a covenant of peace And because no man can come to thee except the father which sent thee draw him O draw me and I will run after thee open my blinde eyes say Epphata to my deafe eares touch my lips with a coale from thy Altar that my iniquity may bee taken away and my sinne purged then shall my lame feet leape as an Hart and my dumbe tongue shall sing forth thy praise A new heart doe thou also give me and a new spirit doe thou put within me and take away the stony heart out of the midst of me and bestow upon me an heart of flesh and put thy spirit within mee as thou hast promised and cause me to walke in thy statutes and to keepe thy judgements and doe them And for the time to come Lord make me more zealous of thy glory more profitable in wayes of my calling more carefull to doe and receive all possible good that I can Alas I have beene a barren tree thou hast planted mee neere the rivers of water hast digged about me and taken much paines with me but I am still unfruitfull thy glory is not so deare unto me as it ought to be nor is my owne salvation or the edification of others so sincerely indevoured by me as was meet O turne me into another man circumcise the foreskinne of my heart let the time past of my life suffice to have served and live in sinne Give mee grace now in this my day to know the things that belong to my peace to make use of this time of my visitation to lay hold on eternall life to take the kingdome of heaven by violence now thou standest at the doore and knockest O let me open unto thee that thou mayest enter in and sup with me Give mee grace to worke out my salvation with feare and trembling to bee often in calling upon thee in prayer and lifting mine eyes up to the hills from whence both pardon of sinne and power over sinne must bee expected Make mee often search and trye my wayes and examine my selfe whether I be in the faith or no. Now I beseech thee to heare me and helpe me doe away the iniquity of thy servant cover my transgressions and let my sinnes bee blotted out from before thee for the Lord Iesus Christs sake Amen Amen Some particular formes of PRAYER For the English Colonies and Plantations in New-England Virginia c. O Most high God Possessor of heaven and earth the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the habitation of thy holinesse and of thy glory by thee the Mountaines were brought forth and thou hast formed the earth and the would and hast given it to the children of men for a possession And by thy word of blessing hast commanded man to encrease and multiply and replenish the face of the earth We in this nation have found thy gracious Providence over us in thy continuall protection and preservation for thou hast strengthned the bars of our gates and blessed our children within us thou hast set peace in our borders and hast abundantly given us blessings of the brest and of the wombe insomuch that wee are exceedingly multiplyed so that the place where wee dwell is too narrow for us for our seed is become as the sand and the offspring of our bowels as the gravell thereof And now O Lord thou of thy good providence hast espied out for us an exceeding good land watred with the dew of heaven from above blessed with the farnesse of the earth from beneath and hast made roome for us to bee planted therein that wee who are growne into so great a nation and are thronged at home may swarme out and bee gathered thither for the glory of thy great name the honour of this Kingdome and the further enlargement of our Kings dominions O let their designe be holinesse to the Lord honour and wealth to our nation and enlargement also to the kingdome of thy Christ who are transplanted into those remoter parts of the world Build a place of rest for thy tabernacle among them that the heathen that have not knowne thee and the families that have not called on thy name may by this meanes bee delivered from the power of darkenesse and translated into the kingdome of thy deare sonne Bee thou a wall of fire round about our people and a little Sanctuary unto them Let no sonne of wickednesse approach neere to hurt them build them up into a nation there plant them and make them to dwell in safety Let no seditious Sheba be author of faction or schisme among them And as thou causest the Sun to arise upon all the earth so that nothing is hid from the heate thereof so leâ— there bee no speech nor language where the voyce
instructa officina remediorum omnium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Coloss 3. 16. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdome teaching and admonishing one another in Psalmes and Hymnes and spirituall songs singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. A PRAYER gathered out of the PSALMES O Lord that Heaven docst possesse I lift mine eyes to thee Even as the servant lifteth his His masters hands to see Thou the foundations of the earth Before all times hast layde And Lord the heavens are the worke Which thine owne hand hath made Thou Lord I say whose seate is set On Cherâ—bins most bright Shew forth thy selfe and doe not let Send downe thy beames of light Incline thine eare unto my words O Lord my plaint consider And heare my voyce my King my God To thee I make my prayer As incenso let my prayers be Directed in thine eyes And the up-lifting of my hands As evening sacrifice FOr loe my wicked doings Lord Above my head are gone A greater load than I can beare They lye me sore upon O Lord our God if thou shalt weigh Our sinnes and them poruse What one shall then escape and say I can my selfe excuse Thou Lord dost know the thoughts of man His heart thou seest full plaine Thou Lord I say mans thoughts dost scan And find'st them all but vaine The wicked workes that we have wrought Thou seâ—'st before thine eye Our privy faults yea eke our thoughts Thy countenance doth spye Both wee and eke our fathers all Have sinned every one We have committed wickednesse And lewdly we have done Our wicked life so farre exceedes That we should fall therein But Lord forgive our great misdeeds And purge us from our sin IN judgement with thy servants Lord O enter not at all For justified be in thy sight Not one that liveth shall From the beholding of my sinne Lord turne away thy face And all my deedes of wickednesse Doe utterly deface Lord turne thee to thy wonted grace My â—illy soule up take O save me not for my deserts But for thy mercies sake Have mercy on me Lord after Thy great aboundant grace After thy mercies multitude Doe thou my sinnes deface Yea Lord remove our sinnes from us And our offences all As farre as is the Sun rising Full distant from his fall The man is blest whose wickednesse Thou Lord hast cleane remitted And he whose sinne and wickednesse His hid and also covered And blest is he to whom the Lord Imputeth not his sin Which in his heart hath hid no guile Nor fraud is found therein O Lord create in me a heart Vnspotted in thy sight And eke with in my bowels Lord Renew a stable spirit With Hysope Lord besprinkle me I shall be cleansed so Yea wash thou me and so I shall Be whiter than the Snow Of joy and gladnesse make thou me To heare the pleasant voyce That so the bruised bones which thou Hast broken may rejoyce For thy Names sake with quickning grace Alive doe thou me make And out of trouble bring my soule Even for thy justice sake O God my God I watch betime To come to thee in haste For why my soule and body both Doe thirst of thee to taste And in this barren wildernesse Where waters there are none My flesh is parcht for thought of thee For thee I wish alone Direct our hearts unto thy grace Convert us Lord to thee Shew us the brightnesse of thy face And then full safe are we Gods promise I doe minde and praise O Lord I sticke to thee I doe not care at all assayes What flesh can doe to me I still depend with all my heart On thee and thus will say My Father and my God thou art My rocke of health and stay O blest is he whose hope and heart Doth in thee Lord remaine That with the proud doth take no part Nor such as lye and faine My heart doth knowledge unto thee I sue to have thy grace Then seeke my face sayst thou to me Lord I will seeke thy face In wrath turne not thy face away Nor suffer me to slide Thou art my helpe still to this day Be still my God and guide SO grievous is my plaint and moane That I waxe wondrous â—aint All the night long I wash my bed With teares of my complaint Thou seest my sinnes that many be Thou on my teares dost looke Reserve them in a glasse by thee And write them in thy booke Burnt offrings thou delight'st not in I know thy whole desire With sacrifice to purge his sinne Thou dost no man require A troubled spirit is sacrifice Delightfull in Gods eyes A broken and an humble heart God thou wilt not despise Surely with ashes as with bread My hunger I have fill'd And mingled have my drinke with teares That from mine eyes have still'd The Lord is high and yet he doth Behold the lowly sp'rite But he contemning knowes afarre The proud and lofty wight O Would to God it might thee please My wayes so to addresse That I might both in heart and voyce Thy lawes keepe and confesse I have both sworne and will performe Most certainely doubtlesse That I will keepe thy judgements just And them in life expresse Prove me my God I thee desire My wayes to search and try As men doe prove their gold with fire My reines and heart espie O Lord thou hast me tride and knowne My sitting thou dost know And rising eke my thoughts a farre Thou understandst also My paths yea and my lying downe Thou compassest alwayes And by familiar custome art Acquainted with my wayes THen in thy paths that be most pure Stay me Lord and preserve That from thy way wherein I walke My steps may never swerve And whilest that breath within my brest Doth naturall life preserve Yea till this world shall be dissolv'd Thy law will I observe From such as thee desire to know Let not thy grace depart Thy tighteousnesse declare and shew To men of upright heart Thy tender mercies Lord from me Withdraw thou not away But let thy love and verity Preserve me still for aye And whiles I live I will not fayle To worship thee alway And in thy name I shall lift up My hands when I doe pray As thou hast giuen power to me So Lord make firme and sure The thing that thou hast wrought in me For ever to endure O Teach me Lord thy wayes and I Shall in thy truth proceede O joyne my heart to thee so nigh That I thy name may dreed WHat thing is there that I can wish But thee in heaven above And in the earth there is no thing Like thee that I can love HAte I not them that hate thee Lord And that in earnest
wise Contend I not against them all Against thee that arise I hate them with unfained hate Even as my utter foes Try me O God and know my heart My thoughts prove and disclose I will not stay nor linger long As they that slothfull are But hastily thy lawes to keepe I will my selfe prepare THe greater fort crave worldly goods And riches doe embrace But Lord grant us thy countenance Thy favour and thy grace For thou thereby shalt make my heart More joyfull and more glad Than they that of their corne and wine Full great increase have had LOrd leade me in thy righteousnesse For to confound my foes And eke the wayes that I shall walke Before my face disclose Let me thy loving kindnesse in The morning heare and know For in thee is my trust shew me The way where I should goe That folke is blest that knowes aright Thy present power O God For in the favour of thy sight They walke full safe abroad Give us O Lord thy saving health When troubles doe assaile For all the helpe of man is vaine And can no whit availe Lord let thy grace and glory stand On us thy servants thus Confirme the workes we take in hand Lord prosper them to us O God thy house I love most deare To me it doth excell I have delight and would be neare Whereas thy grace doth dwell Send out thy light and eke thy truth And leade me with thy grace Which may conduct me to thy hill And to thy dwelling place I will harke what God saith for he Speakes to his people peace And to his Saints that never they Returne to foolishnesse The righteousnesse of thy judgements Doth laâ—t for evermore Then teach them me for even in them My life lies up in store Therefore will I come to thine house Trusting upon thy grace And reverently will worship thee Toward thy holy place c. vi Ps 84. IT is a thing both good and meeâ—e To praise the highest Lord And to thy name O thou most high To sing with one accord This is the joyfull day indeede Which God himselfe hath wrought Let us be glad and joy therein In heart in minde in thought Fall downe and worship yee the Lord Within his Temple bright Let all the people of the world Be fearefull at his sight Let all thy Priests be clothed Lord With truth and righteousnesse Let all thy Saints and holy men Sing all with joyfulnesse The man is blest whom thou dost chuse Within thy courts to dwell Thy house and Temple he shall use With pleasures that excell Vnto thy house resort will I To offer and to pray And there will I my selfe apply My vowes to thee to pay O come let us lift up our voyce And sing unto the Lord In him our rocke of health rejoyce Let us with one accord Yea let us come before his face To give him thankes and praise In singing Psalmes unto his grace Let us be glad alwayes MY hands I wash and doe proceede In workes to walke upright And to thine altar I make speede To offer there in sight That I may speake and preach the praise That doth belong to thee And so declare how wondrous wayes Thou hast beene good to me Within thy house they shall be fed With plenty at their will Of all delights they shall be sped And take thereof their fill For why the well of life so pure Doth ever flow from thee And in thy â—ight we are full sure The lasting light to see BVt as for me I am but poore Opprest and brought full low Yet thou O Lord wilt me restore To health full well I know And in my bed while I lye sicke The Lord will me restore And thou O Lord wilt turne to health My sicknesse and my sore Then in my sicknesse thus say I Have mercy Lord on me And heale my soule which is full woe That I offended thee Refuse me not O Lord I pray When age my limbs doth take And when my strength doth waste away Doe not my soule forsake Cast thou thy care upon the Lord And he shall nourish thee For in no wise will he accord The just in thâ—all to see FOr neither from the Easterne parts Nor from the Westerne side Nor from forsaken wildernesse Protection doth proceede For why the Lord our God he is The righteous Iudge alone He putteth downe the one and sets Another in the throne But yet the poore he raiseth up Out of their troubles deepe And oft-times doth their traine augment Much like a flocke of sheepe FOr why the Lord the portion is Of mine inheritance And thou art he that dost maintaine My rent my lot my chance The place wherein my lot did fall In beauty did excell Mine heritage assign'd to me Doth please me wondrous well THou givest to beasts their food and to Young ravens when they cry Thy pleasure not in strength of horse Nor in mans legs doth lye But in all those that feare the Lord The Lord hath his delight And such as doe attend upon His mercies shining light The mighty mountaines of his land Of corne shall beare such throng That it like Cedar trees shall stand In Libanus full long He covers Heaven with clouds and for The earth prepareth raine And on the mountaines he doth make The grasse to grow againe THou mak'st our sonnes to be as plants Whom growing youth doth reare Our daughters like carv'd corner stones Like to a Pallace faire Our garners full and plenty may With sundry sorts be found Our sheepe bring thousands in our streets Ten thousand may abound THy promise which thou mad'st to me Thy servant Lord remember For therein doe I put my trust And confidence for ever It is my comfort and my joy When troubles me assaile For were my life not by thy word My life would soone me faile THough th' earth remove we wil not feare Though hils so high and steepe Be thrust and hurled here and there Within the sea so deepe No though the waves doe rage so sore That all the bankes it spils And though it over-flow the shore And beate downe mighty hils The Lord of hosts doth take our part To us he hath an eye Our hope of health with all our heart On Iacobs God doth lie The strength that doth our foâ—s withstand O Lord doth come from thee My God he is my helpe at hand A fort of fence to me Thou art my strength thou hast me stayd O Lord I sing to thee Thou art my fort my strength and ayde A loving God to me Then Lord depart not now from me In this my present greife Since I have none to be my helpe My succour and releife Thy mercy Lord endures for aye Lord doe me not