toward God and toward Men Bless us in our Callings in all lawful Endeavours and Employments Bless all that belong to us Bless all that are nearly related to us let them be near unto thee and find favour in thy sight Be thou their Refuge and Strength a very present help in trouble Let them obtain Mercy and find Grace to help in time of need VIII NEITHER are we mindful of our selves alone but we beseech thee that thou would'st manifest thy Goodness and thy Power throughout the World Have mercy upon the Jews and all other Infidels Bring in both Jews and Gentiles that there may be one fold as there is one Shepherd the Lord Jesus Christ that good Shepherd who laid down his life for the Sheep Give grace unto all those Nations that name the Name of Christ to depart from all Iniquity and so to live as becomes the Gospel of Christ Purge and purify all Christian Churches from all corruption of Doctrine and Life and let the Doctrine and Truth which is according to Godliness prevail more and more in the World against the spirit of Error and all false Doctrine whatsoever Bless the Protestant reformed Churches with Peace among themselves Sanctify them through thy Truth make them sound and stedfast in the Faith Defend and deliver them from the Oppressions of their Enemies Save thy People and bless thine Inheritance govern them and lift them up for ever IX IN mercy O Lord look down upon these Realms and Dominions Cause us to repent and to turn our selves from all our Transgressions so Iniquity shall not be our ruin Take away all our Iniquity and receive us graciously Give us in this our Day to know the things that belong unto our Peace Look down in mercy upon all from the highest to the lowest Establish the King's Throne in Righteousness Bless him in his Relations in his Council Let the Judges judge the People with just Judgment Let Magistrates rule in the fear of God Cloath thy Ministers with Righteousness make them burning and shining Lights thou who art the Lord of the Harvest send forth faithful Labourers into thy Harvest X. IN mercy look down upon all ranks and estates of Men. Visit the sick strengthen the weak pity the afflicted and remember them in their low estate Succour the tempted heal the broken in spirit and let those that sow in tears reap in joy Instruct the ignorant and enlighten those that are in darkness Convince and humble those that are presumptuous and secure and give them repentance unto Life Confirm and comfort the converted and establish them in every good Word and Work that they may be blameless and harmless the Sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse Generation that they may be steadfast unmoveable always abounding in the Work of the Lord as knowing that their Labour is not in vain in the Lord XI THESE Mercies and whatever else thou knowest to be needful for us or for others we humbly beg of thee for the sake of thy dear Son and our Saviour Jesus Christ in whose Name and Words we further call upon thee XII OUR Father which art in Heaven Hallowed be thy Name thy Kingdom come thy Will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven Give us this Day our daily Bread And forgive us our Trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil For thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory for ever Amen Evening-Prayer FOR A FAMILY I. MOST Holy and Glorious Lord God Infinite in Goodness and Wisdom and Power the Father of Mercies and the God of all Comfort We thy unworthy Creatures desire in all humility to offer up unto thee this our Evening Sacrifice of Praise for the Mercies of thy Providence over us this Day Blessed be the Lord who daily loadeth us with his Benefits even the God of our Salvation Thou art Good and doest Good Thou art unwearied in doing us Good O let us never be weary in well-doing While we live let us praise thee and sing Praises unto our God while we have any being Let us praise and glorify thee in ordering our Conversation aright in devoting our selves to thy Fear and consecrating our lives to thy Service Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power for thou hast created all things and through thy Pleasure they are and they were created Thou art worthy to be loved by us with all our Heart with all our Mind and with all our Strength II. BUT we confess O Lord we have not given thee the Glory due unto thy Name We have been Lovers of our own selves and Lovers of Pleasures more than Lovers of God We have loved this present World and the things that are in the World How have we wandered from thy Commandments and walked contrary unto thee in walking in the ways of our Heart and in the sight of our Eyes And therefore thou might'st walk contrary unto us and make us feel that it is an evil and a bitter thing to have forsaken thee the Lord our God If thou O Lord shouldst mark our iniquities we could not stand in thy sight III. BUT with the Lord there is Mercy and with him there is plenteous redemption Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath visited and redeemed his People Who sent forth his Son made of a Woman made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law from the curse thereof that we might receive the adoption of Sons And Blessing and Honour and Glory be unto Jesus Christ the Lamb of God who was slain that he might redeem us unto God by his Blood IV. WE beseech thee O Lord that thou wouldst fit us and prepare us more and more for that eternal Redemption and the Benefits thereof which Christ hath obtained for us Create in us clean Hearts O God and renew right Spirits within us Give us that broken Spirit which thou wilt not despise that contrite and humble Spirit which thou delightest to revive Give us that repentance toward God and Faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ as may fit us for pardon and peace for Mercy and Grace that in Christ we may have redemption through his Blood even the forgiveness of Sins according to the riches of thy Grace And give us Grace to live as the Redeemed of the Lord and to walk worthy of Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works We are not our own but are bought with a price even with the
FORMS OF PRAYER FOR A FAMILY COMPOSED By the Late Pious and Learned John Worthington D. D. PUBLISHED By the Right Reverend Father in God Edward Lord Bishop of Gloucester LONDON Printed for Luke Meredith at the Star in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1693. TO THE READER THE following Prayers for a Family being hereafter to accompany the Scripture-Catechism which I published soon after the Author's Decease It was thereupon desired by some Friends that I would recommend these additional Prayers to you And I could not but comply with their Request though the Author's Name is sufficient to bespeak their Acceptance I gave a brief Character of that Excellent Person in a Preface to the Catechism And the little that is there said which I need not tell those that knew him he highly deserved and a great deal more is abundantly enough to invite all good People to the perusing of any of his Writings And as to these Prayers Whoever reads them must needs judge them well fitted for the Vse of Families The more so for their being for Substance penned in the Words and Sentences of the divinely-inspir'd Writers which are the aptest of any to excite Devotion and in this Respect they have the Advantage of all the Prayers that I have seen This and other Instances of their Excellency and Usefulness I might here insist upon but I think it wholly needless they being easily to be discerned by a serious Reader I will add a few Words concerning the daily worshipping of God in our Families which I cannot forbear having this Opportunity This is a Duty very shamefully neglected in this loose Age. And no wonder it is so by such as are irreligious and can be content to live in gross Ignorance and the disacknowledgment of him in whom they live move and have their Being But that so many of those who are well instructed in Religon and keep themselves from the more scandalous Pollutions of the World and make Conscience of attending on the Publick Worship of God and of Secret Prayer should be able to satisfy themselves constantly to Neglect Family-Worship is very unaccountable Especially since not only pious People in all Ages have so commended it by their Practice but also that nothing seems more clearly discoverable by Natural Light than that it is the paying of a most Reasonable Service and nothing doth more plainly tend to the begetting keeping up and encreasing a sense of Religion in Families than this doth In a Word since the Divine Providence watcheth over Families as such what serious Christian can doubt whether the Governours of them are strictly obliged to call them every Day together thankfully to acknowledge the daily care God takes of them and the great Obligations he continually heaps upon them to make a penitent Confession of their daily Offences against him and to deprecate the Punishment deserved by them and to put up humble Petitions to the Throne of Grace for the Continuance of those Spiritual and Temporal Blessings they enjoy and a Supply of those they want And that we may be more generally awakened to a Sense of this great Duty as also that the following and all other good Helps for the better Performance thereof which pious Persons have given those who stand in need of them may have the Divine Blessing accompanying them is the Hearty Prayer of Your Faithful Servant Edw. Gloucestr Morning-Prayer FOR A FAMILY I. EVER-Blessed Lord God the God that hearest Prayers and therefore should all Flesh come unto thee Thou who hast promised that where two or three are met together in thy Name there thou wilt be in the midst of them We thy poor and unworthy Servants who are less than the least of all thy Mercies desire in all Humility to offer up unto thee this our Morning-Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving we acknowledge O Lord that it is of thy Mercies that we are not consumed because thy Compassions fail not they are new every Morning Thou hast not dealt with us after our Sins nor rewarded us according to our Iniquities But thou hast spared us according to the greatness of thy Mercy and kept us unto this present Moment In thee we live and move and have our Being with all the comforts thereof Thou O Lord hast preserved us from the dangers of the Night past whereas we might have slept the Sleep of Death and thou hast raised us up to the Light of another Day to walk before thee in the Land of the Living What have we O Lord which we have not receiv'd of thee The Mercies of this Life the means of Grace and the Helps and Advantages for that better Life which is to come they are all from thee And by these Mercies we should have been perswaded to offer up our selves a Living Sacrifice holy and acceptable unto thee O God which is our reasonable Service II. BUT we confess O Lord that we have not rendered unto thee according to what we have received from thee We have been unthankful and have not glorified thee as God We confess O Lord we have sinned against thy Law written in our Hearts and against the Light shining in our Consciences We have sinned against thy righteous Law declared in thy Holy Word whereas thy Word should have been a Lamp unto our Feet and a Light unto our Paths We have sinned against the Light of the glorious Gospel of Christ against the Precepts and Promises of the Gospel nor have we walked agreeably to that excellent Pattern of Holiness shining out therein even the Life of Christ who left us an Example that we should follow his Steps We have sinned O Lord against thy Mercies and against thy Judgments and Corrections against the Motions of thy Holy Spirit against Purposes and Promises of better Service and Obedience Father we have sinned against Heaven and in thy Sight and have made our selves unworthy to be called thy Children And therefore to us belongeth nothing but shame and confusion of Face and the Wrath to come III. BUT there is forgiveness with thee O Lord To the Lord our God belong Mercies and Forgivenesses though we have rebelled against him Thou hast declared thy self in thy Word to be the Lord the Lord God merciful gracious and long-suffering forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance Thou willest not the Death of Sinners but hadst rather they should turn from their evil Ways and live Thou didst so love the World that thou gavest thine onely-begotten Son Jesus Christ that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting Life Thou didst send thy Son to be the Propitiation for our Sins that we might live through him IV. GOOD Lord give us such a sight and sense of our Sins as may beget in us an holy hatred of them
precious Blood of Christ O let us therefore glorifie God in our Bodies and in our Spirits which are God's V. FIT and prepare us also O Lord for the Influences of thy Light and Love Make us meet to be living Habitations and Temples of thy Holy Spirit and do thou delight to dwell in us and make thine abode with us and manifest thy self unto us Fit us for the guidance and the powerful assistances of thy Spirit and fit us for the comforts of thy Spirit Let us not grieve nor resist the Holy Ghost but always follow thy good Spirit as our Guide that we may enjoy thy Spirit as our Comforter Let thy Grace always prevent us and accompany us and enable us to persevere unto the end Make us O Lord perfect in every good Work to do thy Will working in us that which is well-pleasing in thy sight through Jesus Christ Father of Mercies O God the God of our Strength and of our Salvation never leave us nor forsake us Our Eyes are unto thee O God the Lord in thee is our Trust leave not our Souls destitute Let thy presence be with us while we are here in this Wilderness and lead us through it to the heavenly Canaan Let us take heed of grieving or provoking thee through Disobedience or Unbelief but enable us by Faith in thy Goodness and Power to resist and overcome our spiritual Enemies Sin and Satan enable us to follow the Lord fully and to continue patiently in well-doing that through Faith and Patience we may inherit the Promises and enter into thy Rest Guide us O Lord with thy Counsel and afterwards receive us to thy Glory VI. AND now O Heavenly Father we recommend our Souls and Bodies unto thy Fatherly Care and Keeping this Night Thou that neither slumberest nor sleepest watch thou over us for good Preserve us from the Dangers and Fears of this Night hide us under the safe shadow of thy Wings Refresh us with quiet Rest and Sleep Let us lie down in peace in thy Love and Favour and raise us up in health of Body and ability of Mind to serve thee faithfully the next Day Cause us to hear thy loving-kindness in the Morning for in thee do we trust VII MERCIFUL Father preserve all our Relations and Friends Withhold not thou thy tender Mercies from them O Lord let thy loving-kindness and thy truth continually preserve them Bless them with all spiritual Blessings in Christ Bless them with Health and Peace with all the Necessaries of this life and with Contentment and give them all things that pertain to life and godliness VIII BE merciful O Lord unto all the Nations of the World that are without Christ Send unto them able and faithful Ministers of the New Testament to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God Make thy Son to be a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy People Israel and let him be thy Salvation to the ends of the Earth Let the Earth be full of the Knowledge of the Lord as Waters cover the Sea and let all the Kingdoms of the World become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ Let those that enjoy the Light of the glorious Gospel of Christ walk as Children of Light and shew forth the Vertues and Praises of him who hath called them out of Darkness into his marvellous Light Preserve thy little flock and deliver the afflicted Churches of Christ out of all their troubles Weaken the Power and disappoint the Devices of their Enemies Bless thy People with Peace and let all those that love thy Name be joyful in thee IX HAVE mercy upon these Realms and Dominions Turn thou us unto thee O Lord and we shall be turned Give us Grace throughly to amend our ways and our doings and to bring forth Fruits meet for Repentance and do thou rejoyce over us to do us good Establish us in Truth Righteousness and Peace Be merciful to all Orders and Degrees amongst us from the King who is Supreme to all subordinate Magistrates and Rulers that we may lead a quiet and peaceable Life in all Godliness and Honesty Let Judgment run down as Waters and Righteousness as a mighty Stream Let the Word of God run and be glorified and let it appear to be the Power of God unto Salvation in the turning of many Souls from Sin to Righteousness and true Holiness X. IN mercy remember all the Children of affliction Be unto them the Father of Mercies the God of Comfort and the God of their Salvation Let Patience have its perfect work in them and make all things even afflictions work together for good unto them XI O LORD hear O Lord forgive O Lord hearken and do abundantly for us above all that we can ask or think Answer us and accept us in the beloved thy dear Son Jesus Christ To whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be all Praise and Love and Obedience this Night and for evermore Amen XII OUR Father which art in Heaven Hallowed be thy Name Thy Kingdom come Thy Will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven Give us this Day our daily Bread And forgive us our Trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil For thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory for ever and ever Amen PRAYERS To be said Before the reading of the Holy Scriptures I. BLESSED Lord God who alone canst teach us to profit enlighten our Minds and give us a good understanding in all things Open our Hearts that we may receive the love of the Truth Enable us O Lord to receive the Word with meekness and with all readiness of mind and to mingle it with Faith Let thy Holy Spirit which thou hast promised to give to them that ask enable us to know as we ought to know the Holy Scriptures which are able to make us wise unto Salvation that we may thereby be throughly furnished unto all good Works Give us as new born Babes to desire the sincere Milk of the Word that we may grow thereby that we may grow in Grace and in the Knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to whom be Glory both now and for ever Amen II. O GOD the Father of Lights from whom comes every good and perfect Gift Give us the Spirit of Wisdom and Knowledge that the Eyes of our understanding being enlightened we may know the Great Things of thy Law and the Mysteries of the Gospel Make us O Lord to see and taste how gracious thou art