FORMS OF PRAYER FOR EVERY Day in the Week MORNING and EVENING Composed for the use of PRIVATE FAMILIES By John Meriton D. D. Rector of St. Michael Cornhill London and Lecturer at St. Martins in the Fields LONDON Printed by H. H. for Robert Boulter at the Turks Head in Cornhill 1682. THE PREFACE THat all Men are obliged to worship God by praising and praying to him is so evident by the light of natural Reason as well as the Revelation of Scripture that none can question it but they whose Immoralities and improved Debaucheries have laid such a foundation of Atheism as makes them inclinable to deny the Being of God and loath to acknowledge their dependance upon him lest this should involve them in the dreadful consequence of their being accountable to him And that men ought dayly to pay this Homage and Tribute of Praise and Prayer unto God as they stand linked in the relations of Families though all readily grant that are sensible of the Sins there committed that need his Pardon of the many Temporal and Spiritual blessings either wanted and to be sought at his Hands or injoyed and to be thankfully acknowledged yet the too common neglect of Family Prayer is it 's to be feared and he must have a very easie and credulous charity that can be otherwise minded not only one of the many instances of the decay of Piety and Religion but one of the provoking Sins that cry aloud to Heaven for vengeance It is no doubt by many totally omitted from an insensible stupidity an irreligious profane disregard of God and their Duty but by others not a few as was well and charitably suggested by the Good Man that earnestly pressed me to this undertaking only from a consciousness of their inabibility decently to perform it Now that this might be neither a feigned pretence nor a real hinderance But that they that like Joshua are willing and resolved to serve God with their Families might have Materials of Devotion ready at hand As the Water near the Road offered it self to the Eunuch willing to be Baptized I have for the help of such as can read complyed with my Friends desire and composed a Form of Weekly Prayers Morning and Evening And though their length will not I hope be complained of by any whose leasure may allow and whose Affections can vigorously attend one quarter of an hours solemn and religious Address to God Yet in consideration of others multiplicity of Business and that flatting and depression of Spirits that may follow from it all the Prayers are printed in many distinct Paragraphs that some of the Confessions or Petitions or both may easily and without disturbing their Devotion be pass'd over and the Prayer thereby so contracted as to suit their convenience And I desire they would rather do so than wholly omit the Duty for better a short Prayer than none at all Lord's Day Morning ALmighty most high and holy Lord God who art the glorious Creator Preserver and Governour of all things in Heaven and in Earth and most worthy to be praised and honoured by all Creatures And with infinite kindness and compassion hast redeemed lost and undone Sinners by thine only beloved Rom. 4. ult Son whom thou hast delivered to death for their offences and raised again for their justification and so thou art for ever to be loved and delighted in obeyed and worshipped praised and honoured by thy redeemed ones We thy poor Creatures and Children are here before thee this Morning humbly sensible of this our great and bounden duty and of our own inability without the assistance of thy Grace to perform it And in a deep sense both of our duty and insufficiency we desire to offer up our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to thy Divine Majesty our mighty Creator and most merciful Redeemer and humbly desire that thou wouldest sanctifie and prepare both our Souls and Bodies by the Grace of thy Holy Spirit that we may present unto thee acceptable thank-offerings We acknowledge O Lord that besides the sins of our Callings common Imployments and even those of the Week last past whereby we have greatly offended thee the sins of our holy duties and our profanation of this thy holy day have given thee a just provocation to withdraw the grace of thy good Spirit from us and leave us to the ignorance and vanity of our own minds the wandrings and distractions of our thoughts the earthliness and sensuality of our affections the hardness impenitency and unbelief of our hearts And then by all the duties of thy Worship and Service we should dishonour thee and by offering the Sacrifices of Fools increase our own guilt before thee But we humbly beseech thee most merciful Father forgive us all our past offences that they may not stand as a partition Wall between thy Majesty and us to hinder either thy Grace from coming down upon us as Rain upon the tender Herb or our Prayers from coming up before thee as Incense Fill every one of our hearts with awful thoughts of thee as a God that searchest hearts and art throughly acquainted with our most secret imaginations dispositions and purposes and because thou art a God of purer Eyes than to behold iniquity Let us worship thee with an holy worship so as to fear thy Goodness and love thy Justice to delight in thy Mercy trust and rely upon thy Power and Faithfulness to admire praise and imitate thy Holiness In the publick Duties and Services of this thy Day help us so to joyn with the Assembly of thy Servants that our hearts may be inflamed with a love of thee and delight in thee and in the vigour and fervency of devout affections we may together glorifie thy holy and great Name set forward our own edification and comfort and advance in those ways of holiness that lead to everlasting happiness And seeing in great mercy and compassion to our Souls thou art pleased to continue to us thy Sabbaths and the use of thine ordinances which by our many and great sins we have long since forfeited Let us not like Children sitting in Mat. 11. 16. the Market-place trifle away the precious opportunities and means of Grace and Salvation Help us seriously to consider when we are in thine House the Habitation of thine Holiness Psal 26. 8. and the place where thine Honour dwelleth the glorious Majesty and spotless perfect purity of that God with whom we have to do and let us behave our selves in thy sacred and dreadful presence with that reverence and holy fear that humility and lowliness of mind that simplicity and godly sincerity that heavenly mindedness and purity of affection that firm constancy of resolution to devote our selves to thee by our hearty obedience to thy Laws as it becomes dust and ashes vile Creatures that dwell in houses of Clay when they worship and do homage to that Sovereign Majesty the Throne of whose Glory is in the highest
wherein we must give an account of our Stewardship and Luk. 16. 2. be no longer Stewards We acknowledge O Lord that we are guilty Sinners unable to help our selves and unworthy that thou shouldst help us our own consciences condemn us and thou mightest 1 John 3. 20 much more condemn us for thou knowest more by us than we do by our selves and art greater than our consciences But O God be merciful to us and spare us in the multitude of thy tender compassions Thou that hast promised pardon and forgiveness to all repenting Sinners work in us we beseech thee a serious and unfeigned repentance and let us thereby obtain remission of Sins And by a true and lively faith in our Lord Rom. 3. 24 25. Jesus Christ whom thou hast set sorth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood justifie us freely by thy Grace and let not any of our sins be charged upon us to our condemnation But let us by his Merits and Righteousness be so delivered from the guilt of them that we may serve thee in righteousness Luk. 1. 75. and holiness before thee all the days of our life And grant that as Christ dyed for us that were dead in sin and under a sentence of death for it we may not henceforth live unto our selves but unto him which 2 Cor. 5. 15. dyed for us and rose again Guide our Feet into those ways of righteousness and peace temperance and sobriety mercy meekness and charity that are well-pleasing to thee and guard us against the temptations of the World the Devil and our own naughty Hearts that we never depart from them Let a continued sense of thine Omnipresence and all-seeing Eye make us upright and sincere in the discharge of every duty careful and vigilant for the avoiding of every sin firm and constant in the resisting every temptation let us so set thee alway before us that thou being at our right hand Psal 16. 8. we may not be moved Heb. 13. 9. Keep us stedfast in thy truth and when many are carryed about with divers and strange Col. 2. 7. doctrines let us be more and more rooted and stablished in the faith by bringing forth the fruits of righteousness And 2 Pet. 1. 5 6 7. add to our faith virtue and to virtue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity v. 8. that these things being in us we may not be barren and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ but an entrance may be ministred v. 11. unto us abundantly into his everlasting Kingdom Let the whole race of mankind find favour in thine eyes and let the glorious light of the Luk. 1. 79. Gospel of Salvation shine upon them that sit in darkness and the regions of the shadow of death Let the people praise Psal 67. 3. thee O God let all the people praise thee call home the Jews thine ancient people accomplish the promised fulness of the Gentiles that the whole Church may be in Christ as one Sheepfold under one Shepherd O be gracious and favourable unto Sion and build up the decayed and ruinous Walls of thy Jerusalem Free thy Church from all Heresie Prophaness Schism Superstition and Idolatry and whatever is displeasing in thy sight and a blemish of the blessed Gospel of God her Saviour Keep the Vineyard which thy right hand hath planted from all its enemies that would pull up the Hedges thereof and lay it waste water Isa 27. 3. it every moment lest any hurt it keep it night and day Bless these Kingdoms of England Scotland and Ireland forgive those many and crying Sins that might make us desolate without Inhabitants and let every one of us that have added to the great weight of wickedness and made it heavy enough to sink us into utter ruine turn from the evil of our ways and by an hearty repentance and real reformation stand in the gap and stop those Judgments that are gone forth against us and entering in at our wide breaches to destroy us Amend us by thy just severities and merciful salvations and let both thy punishments and preservations of us lead us into the ways of righteousness Bless with thy richest blessings our Sovereign Lord the King preserve him as thou hast done wonderfully heretofore from the malice and subtlety the mischievous Plots and Combinations of his Enemies and let him so remember the deep distress out of which thou hast drawn him and the high authority wherein thou hast placed him that in all his actions designs he may promote thy honour and glory and all 1 Tim. 2. 2. that are under him may lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty Let the Bishops and Pastors of thy Church further truth and holiness by their life and Doctrine and civil Magistrates discountenance and suppress all wickedness and encourage virtue and goodness and not bear the Sword in vain And let all from the highest to the lowest so carry themselves as that thou mayest be glorified true Religion advanced the Gospel of Christ honoured and Truth and Peace may be established among us Let all that are Sick pained or impoverished distressed either in Body or Mind find thy gracious hand to sweeten and sanctifie their Afflictions and in thy good time to deliver from them Bless us O our God that are here before thee direct assist and prosper us in all that we this day set our hand unto and let us not undertake any business but what thou hast warranted by the rules of Righteousness and upon which we may desire and expect thy blessing Guide us by thy Counsel till Psal 73. 24. thou bring us to thy Glory by Christ Jesus our only Lord and Saviour who in compassion to our Infirmities hath taught us thus to pray OVr 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 Monday Evening BLessed and holy Lord God who madest all things by thy Power and rulest all things by thy Providence and fillest all places by thy presence art about our Bed and about Psal 139. 3. our Path and spyest out all our Ways we thy poor Creatures most heartily beseech thee that thou wouldest fill every one of our hearts with an awful sense of thee and an humble sincerity in our approaches to thee that laying aside all guile and hypocrisie we may draw near thee Heb. 10. 22. with a true heart and worship thee that desirest truth in the in Joh. 4. 24. ward
heavens Let us hear thy holy Word that shall be read and preached to us as the Oracles of God and those Divine Messages which thou hast sent us from Heaven to guide us in the ways that lead thither Let us hearken to it with diligent attention imbrace it with holy and heavenly affections rejoycing in the Promises dreading the threatnings loving and practising the commands of it let us receive it with meekness and mix it with Jam. 1. 21. Faith that it may be an ingrafted Heb. 4. 2. word to the salvation of our Souls And as the Rain Isa 55. 10 11. cometh down the Snow from Heaven and returneth not thither but watereth the Earth and maketh it bring forth Fruit and bud that it may give seed to the Sower and bread to the eater So let not thy Word that goeth forth out of thy mouth return to thee void but accomplish that which thou pleasest and prosper in the thing whereto thou hast sent it Help us to pray in faith and fervency let all our petitions be addressed to the Throne of thy Grace in the prevailing name of thy dear Son and by the efficacy of thy holy Spirit the Spirit of Supplication And that the Prayers that we shall this day send up to Heaven may find a gracious acceptance with thee Let the holy Ghost make intercession Rom. 8. 26. in our hearts by exciting holy humble earnest and hearty desires and let our blessed Redeemer make intercession in Heaven and sweeten all the displeasing unsavoriness of our Flesh with the Perfume Rev. 8. 3. of his Incense Let us give thanks unto thee with our whole hearts and let all that is within us magnifie and praise thy Name as for all thy mercies to our Souls and Bodies for this Life and a better so especially for our Redemption by the precious death and Sufferings of thy Son and finishing that glorious work by the raising him from the Dead Raise up our Souls O Lord to the highest pitch of hearty thankfulness in the remembrance and sense of those inestimable benefits that redound to us and thy whole Church from this great and alsufficient Redeemer And help us so to sing praises to thee and to the Lamb that sits with thee upon thy Throne that by praising thee on Earth we may tune and prepare our hearts for those glorious and triumphant Praises that in Heaven will be the business and happiness of thy Saints to all Eternity Let us so carry our selves this whole day as remembring thou hast separated and sanctified it to thine own service and made Religion which is the great Work of every day the more proper and peculiar imployment of this Let us therefore make a difference betwixt the thoughts the words the practises of other days and this which thou hast set apart to different purposes and so sanctifie this day of holy Rest and make it our delight that we may be sanctified and fitted for that perpetual Rest that remains for thy People and satisfied with those Rivers of Psa 16. ult Pleasures that are at thy Right Hand for evermore Bless we beseech thee thy whole Church and that part of it especially which thou hast planted in these Kingdoms Pardon our many Sins and remove far away from us whatever may provoke thy displeasure unsettle our foundations or disturb our peace Let thy Servant our Sovereign Lord the King find favour in thine Eyes So bless Him in His Person in His Counsels and Enterprizes that upon his Head His Crown may long flourish and His Government be a publick Blessing to these Kingdoms Govern those that govern under Him in Church and State and let all His Subjects in their several Orders and Stations do what lies in them to the healing of our wide Breaches the restoring of Christian Love and Charity the establishment of Truth and Eph. 4. 3. Righteousness and keeping the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace Let all afflicted ones in what kind soever find thy gracious hand ready for their relief and succour and by the more immediate working of thy holy Spirit supply the want of thy publick ordinances to all that desire them and are by Imprisonment Banishment Sickness or any other hinderance deprived of them let us that by thy special favour are blessed with the rich and in estimable priviledge injoying them carefully improve them to a growth in Grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to an increase of Faith and all godliness till we come to the full and perfect happiness of an immediate injoying thee without them in thy heavenly and everlasting Kingdom by thy dear Son Jesus Christ our ever blessed Redeemer through whose Merit and Mediation and in whose Form of Words we are bold to call thee Father saying OVr 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 Lord's Day Evening EVer blessed and gracious Lord God and in Jesus Christ our loving and merciful Father and most liberal and open-handed Benefactor from whose favour and kindness we have all the good things that we receive in this Life and the hopes of a better to make us everlastingly happy in the next We thy poor Servants acknowledging our manifold unworthiness of the least of thy mercies and the guilt of those sins whereby we have made frequent forfeitures of them are here before thee to offer up to thee our Evening Sacrifice of hearty praise and thansgivings for all those blessings that with a most free and unwearied bounty thou hast been pleased to confer upon us and continue to us Thy hand hath formed us in the Womb given us Life and Breath and Being and having brought us into the World bestowed on us many conveniencies of Life that have made our Being in the World easie and delightful to us Thine O Lord is our health and strength our ease and liberty thine the Air we breath in and the Earth we tread upon thine our Food and our Raiment the Sun that shines to give us Light and the Rain that falls to give us plenty thine the use of our Limbs and thine the exercise of our Understanding and Reason And we bless thy Name for all those outward and temporal blessings the multitude whereof such is thy goodness makes us unable to recount them and whose dayly repetition that should heighten our esteem of them and thankfulness for them makes us such is our folly and weakness too apt to undervalue them But above all we adore and with our highest and heartiest praises desire to magnifie thy rich and free Grace for spiritual blessings in heavenly
its affections and lusts and rise with him to a life of holy and new obedience that as Christ being raised from the dead Rom. 6. 9. dieth no more so being risen with him we may wilfully sin no more but run the race of thy Commandments till at length we receive the prize of a glorious and incorruptible inheritance Extend thy mercy and goodness to all the Sons of Men and let the Kingdoms of the World that are ignorant of thee and thy Salvation behold the light of thy glorious Gospel and become obedient to the Scepter of thy Son Bless thy whole Church scatter the Mists of Ignorance and Errour heal the breaches of Schism and Division quench the Wildfire of Strife and Contention cleanse the Spots of Profaneness and Superstition that defile and deform it and make thy Sion the Beauty and the joy of the whole Earth Be gracious to these sinful Nations forgive those many and great sins that have pulled down thy heavy Judgments upon us and still provoke thee more and more to punish us and particularly pardon we pray thee our wicked and scandalous profanation of this thy day our unthankfulness for the light of thy blessed Gospel and walking unsuitably to the principles of that holy Religion that hath been of a long time publickly taught and professed among us Wash us throughly Psal 51. 2. from our Iniquities and cleanse us from our Sins and grant that by unity and charity and holiness of life we may glorifie thy great Name evidence the truth of our Christianity and adorn the Gospel of God our Saviour Continue thy Gospel among us defeat and overthrow the evil designs of bloody and deceitful Men that would pervert the truth of it by mixtures of Superstition and Idolatry and let all that Psal 40. 16. love thy Salvation say continually let the Lord be magnified Guide and guard bless and protect thine Anointed Servant our Soveraign Lord King Charles let his days be many his Counsels wise and religious his enterprizes successful his Reign happy to himself and all his Subjects Cloath his Enemies with shame and upon his head Psal 132. 18. let his Crown flourish let the Bishops and Pastors of thy Church further the edification of it by soundness of Doctrine and holiness of Life and Magistrates cherish and defend it by the encouragement of all virtue and goodness and the punishment and suppression of all vice and ungodliness and let all men follow after peace and holiness without which Heb. 12. 14. none shall see the Lord. Refresh and support the Sons and Daughters of Sorrow and in the multitude of their Psal 94. 19. thoughts within them let thy comforts delight their Souls Be gracious and favourable to us that are here before thee forgive us all our Sins and remember not against us those iniquities that have this day polluted our holy offerings defend and protect us this night from all those dangers and mischiefs that might overtake us and let us find safety under the shadow of thy wings refresh our frail Bodies with a quiet and moderate rest and help us in the renewed strength of it vigorously to serve thee in a faithful discharge of the duties of the next day and all our days let us live to thee that in the end of them we may live with thee through Jesus Christ our Lord who hath taught and commanded us when we Pray to say OVr 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 Monday Morning O Most mighty Lord God and merciful Father the Author of our Being both Bodies and Souls and the Giver of every good Gift that may tend to the benefit and happiness of both our Souls and Bodies we thy poor and most unworthy Servants are here before thee this Morning thankfully to acknowledge thy great goodness in all the blessings we injoy for this Life and a better humbly to implore thy mercy in the free pardon of all our Sins and earnestly to beg the grace of thy holy Spirit that we may faithfully discharge the duties of pardoned Sinners and answer the Obligations thou hast laid upon us by thy manifold blessings We bless thy holy and great Name as for all Spiritual and Temporal blessings bestowed on us through thy Son so particularly for all the ordinances of the Gospel and the priviledges of thy House yesterday injoyed and for the safety and quiet rest and refreshment of the last Lam. 3. 22. night acknowledging it to be of thy mercies that we are not consumed and because thy compassions fail not for hadst thou rewarded us after our Iniquities we had long since been incapable of any the least blessing and had been punished with utmost and everlasting misery We confess O Lord there hath on thy part been nothing wanting that might work in us a Conformity to thy Will but there hath wanted on ours a care to please thee and a fear to offend thee a love and delight in thee and a stedfast purpose to give up our selves to the obedience of thy heavenly Laws And which hath made us more remiss and negligent we have not firmly believed the excellent and glorious things thou hast promised upon a compliance with thy Will nor the fearful and insupportable punishments which thou hast threatned to our disobedience We have with great folly over desired over loved over trusted to and over delighted in the things of this World which cannot profit us nor in the least promote our spiritual interest or eternal happiness whilest we have been Mat. 6. 33. careless and negligent in seeking thy Kingdom and righteousness though for our incouragement to do that in the first place thou hast graciously promised that all the conveniencies of life shall be added unto us How have vain transitory profits and pleasures drawn off our hearts from the love of thee who alone canst make us happy and from a delight in thy Laws in the keeping of which there Psal 19. 11. is great reward We have with too great care pampered our vile bodies and made provision Rom. 13. 14. for our flesh to fulfil the lusts of it and with too little provided for our Souls and secured their happiness in the future state We have misimployed the Talents intrusted with us in the service of Sin and abused to thy dishonour our time and opportunity of doing good our health and strength our ease and liberty our credit and plenty the members of our Bodies the faculties of our Souls which being received from thy bounty should all have been improved to thy glory nor have we remembred the great day of reckoning
part in Spirit and in Truth We thankfully acknowledge our dependance upon thee and that our lives and all the comforts of our lives are the effects of thy bounty and goodness thy hands have both made and fashioned us in the Womb and brought us into the World and ever since we saw the Light thou hast all along opened thine hands and filled us with variety of good things though for our many and great sins thou mightest have left us naked and miserable and brought upon us all the punishments that the threatnings of thy holy and righteous Law have made justly due to the Transgressors of it and had thy ways been as the ways of a Man are or thy thoughts towards us like unto our thoughts we had long since been past the Thank-offering of Praise the benefit of Prayer and the hope of Pardon for our trangressions have been multiplied against thee and our Iniquities have gone over Psal 38. 4. our Heads as a burthen too heavy for us The corruption of our nature is opposite to thy holy Law that requires no less holy principles than holy practises and by the transgressions of our lives we have broken it in thought word and deed We confess O Lord with sorrow and shame our ignorance of thy will and in many things our acting contrary to the knowledge we have had of it our pride earthliness and hypocrisie our injustice uncharitableness and sensuality our inordinate self-love eagerness in the pursuit of worldly things and indifferency in matters of Religion our impenitency and unbelief the hardness of our hearts notwithstanding all the ways and methods thou hast taken to soften them our unthankfulness for all thy mercies our incorrigibleness under all thy chastisements our unfruitfulness under the means of Grace our unfaithfulness under all our vows and promises and resolutions of service and obedience We have sinned against a clear revelation of thy Will and against the greatest obligations to compliance with it against the expressions of a tender kindness in thy multiplyed mercies and the evidence of a righteous severity in thy justly deserved chastisements we have sinned against thine inviting promises and dreadful threatnings against the frequent warnings of thy Word the renewed motions and powerful convictions of thy Spirit and the precious blood of thy dear Son we have sinned against the light of our understandings against our promises and purposes of obedience against the checks of our own consciences we cannot recount the number of our sins they are so exceeding many nor set in order the aggravating circumstances whereby they are become exceeding sinful But O Lord have mercy upon Psal 51. 1. us according to thy loving kindness according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out our transgressions Help us to forsake our sinful Isa 55. 7. thoughts and crooked ways and by unfeigned repentance to return unto thee that thou mayest have mercy on us and abundantly pardon us Speak peace to us most merciful Father through the death and sufferings of thy dear Son who gave up himself in Sacrifice to expiate the guilt of our sins and by that precious ransom to buy off the punishment that was due to our transgressions O sprinkle our consciences with that blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things Heb. 12. 24. than the blood of Abel work in us a true and lively faith that we may be justified and have Rom. 5. 1. peace with thee through our Lord Jesus Christ For though we have no righteousness of our own that we dare plead to the strictness of thy Law and the severity of thy Justice thou hast treasured up an alsufficient righteousness in thy Son that believing in him we may be pardoned and through his stripes be healed And let thy pardoning mercy be accompanied with thy purifying grace that we may be both delivered from the guilt and punishment of our sins and cleansed from the filth and impurity of them And as our Lord Christ dyed unto sin to condemn it in the flesh let us dye unto sin to crucific it in ours that it may never reign in our mortal bodies that we Rom. 6. 10 11 12. should obey it in the lusts thereof Help us heavenly Father to put off the old man which is corrupt according to deceitful Eph. 4. 22 23 24. lusts and to put on that new man which is created after thine own image in righteousness and true holiness and as by the natural birth we have in sin and corruption born the image of the first Adam that was made a living Soul so let us by the spiritual birth in sanctification and holiness bear the image of the second Adam that was made a quickning Spirit Give us a new Ezek. 36. 26 27. heart and put within us a new Spirit take away the stony heart out of our flesh and give us an heart of flesh put thy Spirit within us and cause us to walk in thy Statutes that we may keep thy Judgments and do them Wean our hearts from an excessive and inordinate love of all the things of this World and let us never place our happiness in the pomps and pleasures the profits and honours or any transitory injoyments of this Life where we are told not only in thy Word but by our own experience it is not to be found but let us weep as though we wept not and 1 Cor. 7. 30 31. rejoyce as though we rejoyced not and buy as though we possessed not and use this World as not abusing it because the fashion of this World passeth a-away Let us never adventure upon sin with the foolish and deceitful hopes of getting any thing by it but let our minds be influenced with the great and certain truth of what our Saviour hath taught us that the gaining of the whole World can be 〈◊〉 16. 26. no recompence for the loss of our Souls Let the great and strict account that we must ere long make be often in our serious thoughts and the course of our Lives be thereby so ordered that we may think of it with a joyful expectation and never allow our selves to do to speak or think any thing that may make the thoughts of the day of Judgment a terrour to us Let us so obey the Laws of our great Lord and Saviour and follow the steps of his example that when Christ who is our life shall appear we may lift up our heads with joy and appear with Col. 3. 4. him in glory Show forth the favour and loving kindness of a Father to all the Children of Men and as thou hast made them capable of eternal life and happiness make known unto them the way of thy Salvation that leads unto it Let the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his Mal. 4. 2. Wings and dispel the darkness of Heathenish and Mahometan Superstition and Idolatry that the Kingdoms of the Earth may become the Kingdom of thy Son
Bless thy whole Church and let the company of the Faithful that thou hast incorporated and knit together as one Body in thy Son by thy Grace be desended and preserved enlightned and instructed ordered and governed purged and sanctified and let the Ordinances of Christ be so administred and his Laws observed as may become the Spouse and Body of thy Son Be merciful O Lord to the sinsul Nation wherein we live and let neither our abuse of thy mercies nor our hardning our selves under thy Judgments bring upon us that ruine that they have justly deserved Lord thou hast been favourable to the Land in that thou hast often rescued us from the destruction that was due to our Sins and hast blessed us with the long continuance of thy Gospel that was no way due to our walking so unworthy of it Oh let that infinite mercy that hath hitherto spared us and interposed betwixt us and thy desolating vengeance forgive our iniquity and turn away the fierceness of thine anger Heal our back-slidings and heal our breaches take away Hos 14. 2. all our iniquity receive us graciously and love us freely to us belongeth confusion of Face Dan. 9. 8. 9. but to the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses though we have rebelled against thee Continue thy mercies our peace and our plenty and above all the truth of thy Gospel and purity of Religion Cause us to fear thee and thy goodness and let thine infinite wisdom find out a way to bring us out of those woful confusions from which to be delivered is above the contrivances of our wisdom Bless with the blessings of the right and left hand of this life and a better thine Anointed Servant and our Sovereign Lord King Charles let his Reign be religious peaceable long and prosperous so rule his heart in thy faith fear and love that he may ever seek thy honour and glory And let all that are Governours under him in Church or State exercise their power for the punishment of 1 Pet. 2. 14. evil doers and the praise of them that do well Be merciful to all afflicted ones to our Friends and Relations to all that have wronged us forgive our Enemies O Lord and help us to forgive them as we expect to be forgiven both of them and thee We humbly commit our selves to thy merciful protection this night defend from all danger our persons our dwellings our possessions refresh us with a quiet and healthful sleep and with the health and strength of our Bodies and the vigour of our minds let us serve thee all our days till at the end of them we receive the end of our Faith the salvation of our Souls through thy dear Son our alone Saviour Jesus Christ in the merit of whose righteousness and intercession we further pray OVr 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 Tuesday Morning GReat and glorious Lord God who art infinite and incomprehensible in all perfections art cloathed with Glory and Majesty and dwellest in that light that no mortal creature can approach and live we thine unworthy servants humbly sensible of our infinite distance as creatures and our abominable vileness as Sinners are here before thee this morning to offer up our prayers and praises in the Name and Mediation of thy Son In our selves we have no confidence to appear before thee for we are as dry stubble and thou a consuming fire but in thy beloved Son our ever blessed Redeemer and Intercessor we have access with confidence who hath opened Heb. 10 19 20. an entrance into the Holiest by his Blood and consecrated a new and living way to the Throne of thy Grace through the Veil of his Flesh that we coming to thee in his precious and prevailing Name Heb. 4. ult may obtain mercy and find grace to help in our time of need We are guilty Sinners and want pardon we are defiled Sinners and want cleansing we are weak Sinners and want strengthning we are foolish Sinners and want to be instructed in the ways of thy Word and wandring Sinners that want to be brought back into them but though our case be all necessity thy glorious attribute is Al-sufficiency and thy grace and mercy thy wisdom and power is ready to supply all our wants Phil. 4. 19. according to thy riches in glory by Christ Jesus We admire with all thankfulness thy great patience and long-suffering towards us that thou hast hitherto spared us and not speedily brought upon us that punishment and misery that our sins have righteously deserved of which we can give no account but that thou art merciful because mercy pleases thee and shewest compassion because thou delightest in compassion but such is thy goodness thou hast not only spared but bountifully supplyed us and given us all things richly to injoy that belong to life and godliness thou feedest and cloathest us preservest and defendest us hast safely brought us through the darkness and the dangers of the last night to the light of another day for these and all the blessings of this life we praise thee but we much more magnifie and adore thine inconceiveable goodness and love in giving us thy Son to redeem us from wrath and condemnation and thy holy Gospel to conduct us in the way to eternal life And we cannot without confusion of face reflect upon the shameful and disingenuous returns we have made of thine abundant and undeserved kindnesses that when thou hast nourished and brought up children we have rebelled against Isa 1. 2. thee Thy holy Laws we have broken in sinful thoughts words and actions though thou hast therein commanded us nothing but what is in it self just and reasonable and what is sutable to our dependance upon thy holy Majesty we have not carried our selves as it becomes us to thee in holiness and godliness to our neighbours in righteousness and charity to our selves in temperance and sobriety but have followed after and fulfilled the sensual appetites and inclinations of our own hearts and instead of serving thee our God have served divers lusts and pleasures We have known that our vile bodies must ere long lye down in the house of dust and rottenness and yet we have pampered them to fulfil the lusts of our flesh and that our immortal Souls must last an Eternity of Happiness or Misery and yet we have neglected laying up in store for them an Happiness in the future State Joh. 6. 27. And while we have laboured for the meat that perishes we havâ— neglected that which endureâ— unto everlasting Life We havâ— little considered the great enâ— of our
our own consciences And to violate thy holy and good Laws have offered violence to the dictates of our own minds We judge our selves O Lord and acknowledge we have justly deserved all that wrath that might make us everlastingly miserable and made our selves liable to those threatned punishments which we can neither escape nor endure but O our merciful Father do not thou condemn us we are ashamed and confounded in the sense and remembrance of our transgressions comfort us O Lord we beseech thee with a sense of thy pardoning mercy in our blessed and all-sufficient Redeemer Help us by a sincere and hearty repentance to return to thee from whom in our own crooked and perverse ways we have gone astray Let the time past of our lives suffice us to have 1 Pet. 4. 3. wrought the wills of the flesh and seeing we have already by the frequent commissions of sin too much offended thee and endangered our Souls let us not by the repeated and continued practice of it heighten the offence and add to our guiltiness Let the Blood of thy dear 1 Joh. 1. 7. Son Jesus Christ cleanse us from all sin and through his precious Sacrifice and meritorious sufferings that was pure and perfectly innocent discharge and acquit us that have been foul offenders Let thy holy Spirit sanctifie and renew us after thine own Image in righteousness and true holiness and as we hope to be pardoned by the precious death of Christ grant that crucifying our Lusts upon his Cross we may follow the example of his holy Life and in all holiness and humility meekness and charity zeal for thy Glory and submission to thy Will patience heavenly mindedness and self-denial contentment and the contempt of this World we may walk as Christ walked and be filled with all Phil. 1. 11. the fruits of righteousness which are through him unto thy praise and glory Help us to live by faith in thy promises in all varieties of thy providence let this be our great support and comfort that thou hast said thou wilt never Heb. 13. 5. leave us nor forsake us and in all difficulties and temptations let this be our great care that we do not leave nor forsake thee But sanctifie the Lord God 1 Pet. 3. 15. in our hearts and with a zealous faithfulness endeavour to please and approve our selves to thee in all our ways and seeing we call on the Father who without respect of persons judges according to every mans work let us pass the time of our sojourning here in fear 1 Pet. 1. 17. And give diligence to make our calling and election sure that 2 Pet. 1. 10 11. we may never fall either into scandalous sins or insupportable miseries but an entrance may be ministred to us abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Col. 3. 4. and when Christ who is our life shall appear we may also appear with him in glory Shew thy favour and goodness to all mankind and grant O Lord we beseech thee that the course of this world may be so peaceably ordered by thy governance that thy Church may joysully serve thee in all godly quietness and being delivered from the Plots and Combinations the Oppositions and Persecutions of its Enemies may alway walk before thee in truth and holiness and all that profess the Gospel of our Lord Jesus may hold fast his pure and heavenly Doctrines and express the power of them in their lives Bless this sinful and provoking Nation wherein we live pardon our many great and crying sins heal our wide breaches unite our divisions compose our distractions and remove from us whatever may provoke the Eyes of thy Jealousie and Glory and deprive us of thy long continued temporal and spiritual blessings and lay us open to thy dreadful and desolating Judgments Send thy blessed Spirit into our hearts a spirit of wisdom and knowledge and of the fear of the Lord a spirit of truth and holiness of peace and unity of righteousness moderation meekness and charity and instead of loading one another with slanders and scandals foul reproaches and bitter censures help us to bear one anothers Gal. 6. 2. burdens and so fulfil the Law of Christ Bless our Sovereign Lord King Charles with the choicest of thy blessings fill his heart with wisdom and piety with a mighty sense of the great Trust thou hast committed to him and the great obligations thou hast laid upon him with courage and resolution to support and promote Righteousness and true Religion And grant that all in places of Power and Authority may exert and use it for the punishment of evil doers and the praise of them that do well as it becomes them that have received their Power from thee and are accountable for it unto thee Order all publick Affairs to thy glory and the comfort and encouragement of all that fear thee Support and comfort all those whom thou hast fed with the Bread of Tears and mingled their drink with weeping And we humbly beseech thee for a blessing upon our selves as thou hast preserved us this night direct assist and prosper us in all the affairs and enterprizes of this day and let us all the day long be in thy fear remembring thou observest and thou wilt judge us and let a sense of this preserve us from all sin and quicken us to the doing of whatever may be pleasing in thy sight through our blessed Redeemer who when we pray hath taught and commanded us to say OVr 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 Wednesday Evening BLessed Lord God the high and lofty One that inhabitest Isai 57. 15. eternity whose Name is Holy who dwellest in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble Spirit We wretched and miserable sinners most humbly beseech thee to look down upon us from the habitation of thy Holiness and glory in the multitude of thy tender mercies and work in us that humble and contrite Spirit that is so pleasing and acceptable in thy sight that our hearts hardned by the deceitfulness of Sin may be softned by the effectual working of thy Grace By commanding us to call upon thee thou hast made Prayer our Duty and by promising to hear us when we Pray thou hast made it no less our priviledge in obedience to thy command and in the incouragement of thy Promise we are here before thee to offer up our Evening Sacrifice of Prayer desiring thee both to prepare our Hearts to Pray and bow down thine ear to hear We are not of our selves sufficient to perform
any duty to bear any burden to resist any temptation to mortifie any lust 2. Cor. 3. 5. To think one good thought but all our sufficiency is of thee thou O Lord canst pardon our Sins supply our wants heal our distempers enlighten our blindness soften our hardness strengthen our weakness we have no whither to go but unto thee nor can we come to thee but in thine own Power into such a wretched condition have our Sins brought us that we are both unable to help our selves and unworthy that thou shouldst help us but our comfort is that thy Grace doth not use to find Sinners worthy but make them so nor dost thou shew favour and kindness to them because they please thee but because thou art pleased with thine own Mercy and Goodness Our Iniquities we acknowledge have been many and great a sinful nature as a corrupt Fountain hath sent forth polluted streams in the thoughts words and actions of our Lives and we have often offended against thy holy Laws and expressed the enmity of our carnal minds Though all thy Laws are in themselves most equal just and good and thou hast both encouraged our obedience by the gracious promises of thy favourable acceptance and an eternal recompence and affrighted from sin by threatning it with everlasting punishment yet lightly esteeming thy Promises and contemning thy threatnings we have troddâ—n thy holy Laws under our Feet and broken through the restraints wherewith â—…ou hast hedged us in from finding our own ways Our pride and earthliness our unbelief unthankfulness our hypocrisie sensuality and hardness of heart witness against us to our faces and give us great cause to blush and be confounded to mourn and grieve in the sense of them Who of us hath had that due sense of thy holiness power and goodness thine omnipresence and all-seeing Eye as to be thereby driven from our Sins or quickned to the exercise of Virtue and Godliness Who of us hath been so affected with that Grace that hath appeared bringing Salvation as to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and make it our study and business to please and approve our selves to thee Who of us hath so felt the burthen and tasted the bitterness of our sins as to loath and leave them with dislike and abhorrency Who of us hath been so delighted in thy love as to return thee our hearty love in a sincere and uniform obedience Who of us hath so firmly believed the rewards and punishments of the future state as to press toward the mark for the obtaining the prize and make hast to escape and flee from the bottomless Pit and burning Lake The zeal and earnestness that we should have shewn in matters of Religion we have expressed in following our worldly interests and that coldness and indifferency that would have been well bestowed upon the little and short lived benefits of the present Life hath attended the performance of our holy duties We have in some measure known our Masters Will and yet have done our own and to please our corrupt and fleshly Appetites have done what we have well understood to be displeasing in thy sight Though thou hast often commanded us to repent and turn from our evil ways and we have been convinced that to hear thy Voice to day is both our duty and our wisdom we have demurred by lingring delays and not cast off our Sins by a speedy repentance We are ashamed O Lord of this our folly and beseech thee so to awaken and assist us by thy Grace that we may not receive it in vain nor longer delude our own Souls with the deceitful purposes of a future repentance but let us make haste to hearken to thy loud and earnest 2 Cor. 6. 2. Calls now while it is the accepted time and the day of Salvation And let thy pardoning mercy freely forgive all our Sins thy Grace having by true repentance made us meet partakers of that inestimable benefit So set them before our face as that we may mark and consider them mourn for and confess loath and forsake them and so cast them behind thy back as not to observe them with a wrathful countenance or punish them with a justly deserved vengeance By the precious blood of thy dear Son that immaculate Lamb that was offered to take away the Sins of the World Psal 51. 2. Wash us throughly from our Iniquities and cleanse us from our Sins and through his perfect righteousness let the free gift come upon us unto justification Rom. 5. 18. of Life Deliver us we pray thee as from the guilt and damnation of Sin by his precious Sacrifice so from its power and dominion by his sanctifying Spirit and though like a Leprofie in the Walls of an infected house Sin will remain in us while we are in the world let it not reign Rom. 6. 12. in our mortal Body that we should obey it in the lusts thereof But as the Flesh in us lusteth against the Spirit let thy Gal. 3. 17. Spirit in us resist and subdue the lusts of the Flesh Let not an inordinate love of the allurements and intangling vanities of this World quench or weaken in our Souls that entire and most hearty love that is due to thee and heavenly things nor distracting cares for the conveniencies of the Body eat out and destroy the care of our Souls nor hinder a timely provision for their future and eternal happiness But for as much as our stay here below is very short and the time of our departure hence into an everlasting state very uncertain let us with fear and trembling earnestness and diligence work out our own Salvation and carry our selves with upright and inoffensive Consciences toward thee and all men whilst we are in the World as we shall wish to have done when we come to leave it Help us to run the race of holy obedience meekness and patience charity contentment constancy and perseverance to fight a good fight finish our course and keep the faith that we may receive a Crown of righteousness which the righteous Judge shall at the last day 2 Tim. 4. 7. 8. give unto all them that love his appearing And let the contemplation of that glory and happiness and the well-grounded hope of our attaining it make us diligent and faithful in the discharge of our duty watchful against all fleshly defilements patient and cheerful under all crosses and troubles cold and indifferent to all the profits and pleasures of this Life and let our whole conversation on Earth be such as may become the Heirs of an heavenly glorious and eternal inheritance that when our earthly 2 Cor. 5. 1. house of this tabernacle shall be dissolved we may have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens and be found meet to be Col. 1. 12. partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in Light Look in mercy upon all the Sons of Men
and cause the light of thy Gospel to guide their feet into the way of peace that are wandring in the darkness of sensuality profaneness superstition and idolatry and shew them thy Salvation Bless thy whole Church throughout the World preserve it from the offences and reproachful scandals of its professed Friends and from the oppressions and persecutions of its open and declared Enemies Let thy continual care keep and cleanse thy Vineyard that it may abound in the Fruits of Righteousness Be merciful to this Nation where we live pardon the Sins that cry aloud for vengeance heal the breaches that threaten its ruine and avert those dreadful Judgments that hang over our heads and as thou hast all along often saved us from the destructions miseries that our daring wickednesses might have pull'd down upon our heads give us cause more and more to magnifie thy mercy and triumph in thy Salvation Bless our Lord the King with Wisdom and Courage a zeal for thy glory and a continual care of promoting Righteousness and true Religion and let all under him in places of Civil and Ecclesiastical Government make it their business to further Righteousness and Peace and the good of Souls and let all sorts of men follow after peace without which they cannot see happiness on Earth and holiness without which they shall not see thy Face in Heaven Be thou a present help for the relief and succour of all that are in a suffering condition and let that good providence that hath defended directed and assisted us in the dangers the occurrences and businesses of the day so protect and refresh us with sleep this night that in the morning we may be more fit to serve thee and live to thy praise in Christ Jesus our Lord through whom we beseech thee to accept our persons pardon our sins and hear our Prayers when we say OVr 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 Thursday Morning MOst gracious God and merciful Father in Jesus Christ the Author of our Being and the Fountain of all those good things that may make us happy in this World and that which is to come we thy poor Creatures vile and provoking Sinners in the sense of our own guilt fly to thy mercy to pardon us in the sense of our weakness fly to thy might to strengthen us in the sense of our own ignorance and folly fly to thy wisdom to instruct and counsel us in the sense of our manifold wants and necessities fly to thy fulness and all-sufficiency to supply us We acknowledge O Lord that our nature is not only corrupt and sinful overspread with a Leprosie and loathsome Disease that might make us for ever abominable in thy pure Eyes but our practises have been contrary to thy holy and righteous Laws both in the doing what thou hast forbidden us and the leaving undone what thou hast commanded us we have followed after and fulfilled our own Lusts and yielded to them a vile and slavish subjection as to our Lords and Lawgivers whilst we have refused and been weary of thy Service as a slavery which is perfect freedom We have forgotten thee our God and turning aside to lying vanities have sinned against thee in every state and condition of our lives in our health we have seldom thought how soon we might be cast upon a sick Bed and in our sickness have been unprepared for death that might have been the issue of it in our prosperity we have been secure and sensual wanton proud and unthankful and in our adversity we have repined and murmured with impatience and discontentment and when our folly hath perverted our ways our hearts Pro. 19. 3. have fretted against the Lord. We have suffered our selves to be prevailed upon by the pleasures and profits of this Life those deceitful baits of the Flesh that having for a while gratified our sensual inclination have left the sharp and wounding hook of fear and disquiet in our consciences And though thou hast graciously forewarned us that our most pleasant Lusts will be bitterness in the latter end and the wages of Sin Rom. 6. 23. is nothing less then death and eternal misery yet by our unbelief and carnal affections and the present seeming advantages of Sin we have been drawn into Sin and not frighted from it by its future mischiefs and punishments Thou hast sent thy Son into the World to redeem and save us from our Sins to make known thy Will and publish to us his holy and good Laws that we should govern our thoughts our words and actions by them but we have by our disobedience vilely cast away his Scepter and disown'd the authority of his Laws notwithstanding our professions to Tit. 1. 16. know and believe him we have by wicked works denyed him and naming the Name of Christ 2 Tim. 2. 19. we have not departed from Iniquity We have so resisted and grieved thy holy Spirit who hath earnestly pleaded with us to cast off our Sins and return to our Duty that he might in displeasure withdraw from us and forbearing his blessed motions and leaving us destitute of his gracious assistance might give us up to the blindness of our own minds the unbelief and impenitent hardness of our hearts and suffer us to go on in our own ways till our condition were wholly hopeless and without possibility of recovery we had sinn'd our selves into eternal misery Awaken O Lord we pray thee our sleepy Consciences and so throughly convince us of the great evil of Sin and those fearful punishments that follow it that we may in good earnest and without the least delay flee from it by a most serious and hearty repentance and return unto the Lord our God from Hos 14. 1. whom we have fallen and gone astray by our Iniquities Through the sufferings and precious death of thy Son be reconciled and speak peace to us though our offences are very foul and heinous and our best righteousness cannot encourage us to look up with confidence to thine offended Majesty yet in the righteousness of our blessed Mediator we both pray and hope to be forgiven being by thy self assured that thou hast given him a great and all-sufficient Redeemer for the Atonement of great Transgressors and exalted him Acts 5. 31. to be a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance and remission of Sins For our sakes and in our stead he endured the punishments that himself had not deserved he Isa 53. 5. was wounded for our Transgressions and the chastisement of our peace was upon him O let us through his Stripes be healed Help us being
delivered from wrath and condemnation Matt. 22. 37 39. to love thee the Lord our God with all our heart and our Neighbour as our selves and let 's evidence our love to thee by keeping thy Commandments 1 Joh. 5. 3. and our love to our Neighbour by forbearing and forgiving reproving and admonishing counselling comforting and relieving him and performing all acts of charity and kindness to him Let us herein exercise our Acts 24. 16. selves to have always a conscience void of offence toward thee and toward men enlighten our understandings with the knowledge of thy Will inflame our affections with a delightful love of it and so conform our wills unto thine that we may readily do what thou wouldst have us do and cheerfully suffer what thou wouldst have us suffer Give us that Jam. 3. 17. wisdom which is from above that is first pure to fit us for the happiness of another life and then peaceable to give a relish to the injoyments of this and let us so imploy our selves in the affairs and businesses of this World as to make Religion our great business and present Rom. 12. 1. our Bodies and Souls a living Sacrifice holy acceptable unto thee which is our reasonable Service Help us to subdue our inordinate desires and all sinful passions and when at any time we are tempted to the breach of thy Laws with courage to resist the temptation not daring to sin against thee our gracious Father and righteous Judge and whatever Talents thou intrustest to our management health strength or credit our time Estates the seasons of Grace and opportunities of doing good let us husband and improve them with that wisdom and faithfulness that become them that must ere long give an account of their Stewardship And because through the weakness of our mortal nature we can do no good thing without thee grant us the help of thy Grace that in keeping thy Commandments we may please thee both in will and deed and in our several Callings whether they be publick or private our several Conditions whether of prosperity or adversity our several Relations whether of Husbands or Wives Parents or Children Masters or Servants Neighbours and Friends we may perform the Duties that those Callings Conditions and Relations require of us And Mat. 5. 16 let our light so shine before Men that they seeing our good Works may glorifie thee our Father which art in Heaven Whilest we are in the way let us quickly agree with our Mat. 5. 25. Adversary and give diligence that by a sincere repentance and an upright universal obedience we may be found of thee in peace and prepared to appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ when he shall sit upon the Throne of his Glory and weighing our thoughts words and actions in impartial Ballances shall render to us according to our works and let the consideration of that account leave such awful impressions in our hearts as both to hinder the doing of whatever may make the thoughts of it terrible to us and cause us to wait for our Lord with our Loyns Luk. 12. 35. girt and our Lamps burning that at his return we may enter with him into everlasting habitations Let thy merciful hands be opened toward all the Sons of Men whom thy hands have made and with a more especial kindness be gracious and favourable to Sion keep thy Church and Houshold continually in thy true Religion and leaning upon the hope of thy heavenly Grace let them evermore be defended by thy mighty Power Bless this sinful and unworthy Nation pardon all our Sins that cry aloud in thine Ears for vengeance purely purge away Isa 1. 25. our dross and take away all our Tin deliver us from the destructions we have deserved and perpetuate thy Gospel and true Religion among us from generation to generation Let the Life and Health the peace honour and safety of our Soveraign Lord be precious in thy sight and let all that govern under Him in Church and State maintain and encourage Truth and Peace Religion Righteousness and all goodness and grant that all under their Authority may lead quiet and â— Tim. 2. 2. peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty Succour and relieve all in any suffering condition recompence the kindnesses of our Friends and Benefactors seven-fold into their Bosom forgive and help us heartily to forgive all that may have offered injury and unkindness to us Look down upon us in mercy that are here lifting up our hands and hearts to thee we bless thee for the peace safety and refreshment of the last night beseeching thee so to guard us through the hazards and guide us through the affairs of this day that we may glorifie thee grow in Grace and go forward in the way that leads to everlasting Life and happiness through our Lord Jesus Christ according to whose directionâ— and command we further pray OVr 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 Thursday Evening ALmighty and everlasting God the wise and righteous Governour of all things in Heaven and Earth who dost whatsoever thou pleasest and whatever thou dost is well and wisely done because thou dost it we thine unworthy Servants whom thy hands have made and ever since supported and supplyed beseech thee in mercy to look down upon us that in a sense of our own vileness are here humbling our selves at thy Foot-stool acknowledging it thy mercy and long-suffering that we are intrusted with one opportunity more to implore thy pardon and forgiveness Thou might'st have destroyed us the polluted Off-spring of disobedient Parents as soon as ever we came into the world and ever since we were capable of breaking thy Laws we have added sin unto sin and heapt transgression upon transgression We have trifled away that time that thou hast allotted us to make provision for an happy Eternity in the pursuit of pleasure and profit transient and momentany vanities and have waged and maintained War against thee in those seasons of Grace thou hast afforded us for the making our peace thy patience and long-suffering that should have led us to repentance we have perverted to fleshly purposes and a more presumptuous and impenitent progress in Sin We have over-cared for over-loved over-desired and over-delighted in the good things of this World and inordinately placed our affections upon earthly and temporary injoyments which thou hast fitted to such things as have in them an heavenly spiritual and everlasting excellency How grievously and how justly might'st thou plague us with the desires of our own hearts and punish us by giving us our portion in this
successful Enterprizes let all subordinate Authority be exercised to the beating down of Vice and the exaltation of Religion and Righteousness and dispose all that are under Authority to a pious obedience unto thee a peaceable subjection to them that thou hast set over them not only for wrath but for conscience Rom. 13. 5. sake and to mutual kindness and a brotherly love of one another We come unto thee holy Father for a blessing upon our selves beseeching thee to take our Bodies and Souls our Habitation and Possessions into the safe custody of thy watchful Providence that no evil befal Psal 91. 10. us nor any plague come nigh our dwelling repair the decays of our frail Bodies by a quiet and refreshing rest and let us lay out our strength and vigour in thy service to thy praise and honour and the giving up our account with joy at the appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in whom as the High Priest of our Profession we offer up all our Prayers and Praises and through whom alone we hope to be heard and accepted when praying we say OVr 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 Friday Morning O Lord the great and holy Dan. 9. 4. God that keepest Covenant and Mercy to them that Psal 145. 18. love thee and art nigh to all that call upon thee in truth and sincerity though thou hast thousands of holy and blessed Spirits and ten thousand times ten thousands dayly Ministring about thy Throne and art not at all better'd by their pure and spotless Services yet thou hast gracious and compassionate regards to the Prayers of weak and sinful Creatures that dwell in Houses of Clay thou openest thine Eyes to take knowledge of their condition bowest thine Ear to hearken to their Cryes movest thy Bowels to pity their infirmities and stretchest forth thine hand to relieve their wants We poor Creatures and guilty Sinners are here fallen down at thy Footstool adoring thine infinite perfections of holiness and wisdom power truth and goodness and beseeching thee mercifully to look upon our follies and frailties to supply our bodily and spiritual necessities to lift up the light of thy countenance upon us and turn away thy Face from our deserts of vengeance to answer 〈◊〉 which purposes we have none in Heaven Psal 73. 25. but thee none in Earth that our Souls can desire in comparison of thee We dare not we confess look up to Heaven with any confidence of being accepted for our own worthiness as being conscious that we have grievously offended that holy just and Almighty Majesty that is there seated on the Throne of his Glory nor are we worthy to tread upon the Earth or injoy the fruits and benefits of it where we have acted our wickednesses in the sight of Heaven We were not only conceived in Sin and brought forth in Iniquity but we have conceived Sin and brought forth Iniquity Num. 32. 14 and are risen up in our Fathers stead a generation of sinful men to kindle and in crease the anger of the Lord against us We have followed after our own imaginations and fulfilled the motions of our own Wills which have been opposite and contrary to the declarations of thine though there hath been the greatest reason we should receive Law from thy Mouth as our Almighty Creator Sovereign Lord and merciful Redeemer How barren and unfruitful have we been in thy Vineyard though thou hast caused the Clouds to drop down their moisture upon us and watered us with the plentiful showers of thy Word and the fructifying dew of thy holy Spirit that should have made us fruitful in all good works How have we neglected the Seasons of Grace And when thou hast called us to a speedy and present repentance the answer of our hearts hath been we will repent to morrow as if we could live as long as we listed and had power in our selves to turn to thee when we listed We bewail before thee the blindness of our understandings the stubbornness of our wills the vanity of our thoughts the earthliness of our affections we have hated what thou lovest and loved what thou hatest and the good things which thou hast allowed us to love moderately and in subordination to thee we have followed with eager and unbounded appetites and embraced with our highest and best love we have not carryed our selves as it becomes those that are Strangers and Pilgrims upon the Earth and profess to seek a better heavenly Countrey but lived as if we were at home and expected nothing better than what is to be here injoyed as if the happiness of this Life would never end and that of the next would never begin O Lord be merciful to us and in the multitude of thy tender mercies be reconciled to us through thy Son and blot out all our Iniquities give us heartily to repent of all our forepast Sins and Follies and so to receive Christ Jesus the Lord as Col. 2. 6. to walk in him And whatever thou denyest us grant us a full pardon through our dear and all-sufficient Redeemer whom thou hast set forth to be a Propitiation Rom. 3. 25. through Faith in his Blood And let the time past of our 1 Pet. 4. 3. Lives suffice to have wrought the wills of the flesh judging that Christ dyed for us that we 2 Cor. 5. 15. should not henceforth live unto our selves but unto him which dyed for us and rose again Col. 1. 10. help us to walk worthy of thee unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God give us we pray thee a Psal 111. 10 good understanding not only to know but to do thy Commandments and by growing 2 Pet. 3. 18. in Grace let us increase the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Phil. 4. 8. Whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any virtue and if there be any praise let us think on and follow these things and never be slothful in the weighty matters of thine honour and the everlasting interest and happiness of our Souls but diligently follow those that have been followers of thee and have Heb. 6. 12. through faith and patience inherited the promises And because we are weak in our selves and insufficient to perform our duty to subdue our lusts to improve our blessings or bear our burdens to resist and conquer our spiritual enemies to stand our ground in the
fight or recover our selves from our falls let thy grace and holy spirit strengthen Eph. 3. 16. us with might in our inward man and make us more than Rom. 8. 37. conquerors through him that hath loved us Cause us in the first place to Mat. 6. 33. seek thy Kingdom and righteousness and as those that are Col. 3. 1. risen with Christ to seek the things that are above not looking at the things that are seen 2 Cor. 4. 18. for they are temporal but at the things which are not seen for they are eternal Let our Mat. 6. 20. treasure be laid up in Heaven where Moth and Rust corrupt not and where Thieves break not through nor Steal and let our hearts be where our treasure is Guide us continually in all the ways of wisdom and righteousness and defend us against all temptations that might withdraw us from them help us to go on our way rejoycing and working righteousness and perform our several duties to thee and all men with such cheerfulness and constancy as not to be weary of well-doing but by a religious abstinence and moderate use of bodily refreshments let our flesh be so subdued to the Spirit that we may ever obey thy godly motions and in a course of righteousness and true holiness run to the end of the race which thou hast set before us and be made partakers of that glorious prize which thou hast promised to all them that by a patient continuance in well-doing seek for Rom. 2. 7. glory and honour and immortality And let the prospect and blessed hope of thy heavenly Kingdom make us upright and faithful active and diligent contented and cheerful in every condition of life humble and patient stedfast and resolved self-denying and heavenly minded till thou bringest us to the possession of those inconceiveable joys and makest us to drink of the Rivers of Pleasure that are at thy right hand for evermore Do good with us we pray thee to the whole world and let all that bear the image of thy power and wisdom be made partakers of thy favour and kindness let the Nations that know thee not be delivered from the power of darkness Col. 1. 13. and translated into the Kingdom of thy dear Son Be gracious in an especial manner to all whom thou hast called to the knowledge and obedience of his Gospel forgive gracious Father and showr down thy blessings upon the inhabitants of this sinful Land let us prepare to meet thee by an hearty and universal repentance and so prevent those judgments that seem to be arrayed and marching forward to our destruction Give Salvation to our King Psai 144. 10 and preserve thy Servant from hidden Treacheries and the hurtful Sword direct all publick Counsels to thine honour the promoting of true Religion the establishment of Righteousness and Peace and the comfort of all them that heartily love and fear thee and let all that love thy Salvation say Psal 40. 16. continually the Lord be magnified Comfort all that in any kind suffer adversity let thy holy Spirit refresh them as with new Wine whom thou hast given Tears to drink in great measure and let that good providence that hath been our protection and repose this night defend us from all the dangers and temptations direct and prosper us in all the designs and enterprises of this day and by a faithful discharge of our duty bring us nearer to the glorious reward of Eternal Life which thou hast promised in Christ Jesus our Lord in whose Name and Words we further commend our selves and others to thy grace and mercy saying OVr 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 Friday Evening MOst blessed Lord God the Father of Mercies our hope and present help our strength and our Salvation the over-flowing and inexhaustible Fountain of all Good we thy poor Servants in an humble and thankful sense of thy great goodness and emboldned by the invitation of thy gracious promises present our selves before the Throne of thy Grace to offer up our supplications and thanksgivings through the Mediation of thy dear Son in whom thou hast given us access Eph. 3. 12. with confidence through the Faith of him We are most unworthy in our selves to receive blessings or offer praises but worthy art thou O Lord to receive honour and glory and blessing and thanksgiving as for thy divine perfections which we cannot comprehend so for thine abundant kindnesses towards us which we can neither deserve nor number Thou didst frame and fashion us in the Womb by thy wisdom and power and hast maintained and provided for us by thy goodness and bounty ever since thou hast brought us into life and being giving us richly all things to injoy not only the necessaries but conveniencies of Life whereby it hath been made easie and pleasant to us But above all from the bottom of our hearts we praise a dore and magnifie thy transcendent wisdom superlative love in that inestimable benefit of our Redemption by the bitter sufferings and bloody Death of thy dear Son that when we had lost and undone our selves were lyable to wrath and eternal misery when we lay weltring in our own blood and there was no Eye to pity no Hand to relieve us thou redeemedst us in such a way as no creature had wisdom to contrive worthiness to undertake or power to effect We praise thee O Lord that thou hast in thy Gospel manifested this great and admirable Salvation made thy goodness to pass before us and fully and plainly instructed us in our duty that in performing the one we might be made partakers of the other that thou hast afforded us the means of Grace thy Word and Sacraments opportunities of thy publick Worship the motions and assistances of thy holy Spirit that thou hast quickned our obedience by the hopes of a glorious recompence Give us we pray thee a due sense of all thy mercies and withdraw not thy loving kindness from us if our worthiness had been to procure these mercies they had never been put into our hands and if any thing but thy goodness were to continue them we could never hold them our own wickedness might correct us and our Jer. 2. 19. back-slidings reprove us for we have sinned and done very foolishly We have perverted and polluted our ways and professing Tit. 1. 16. to know thee have in our works denyed thee we have called thee our Father but have not loved and honoured thee as Children our Master but have not feared and obeyed thee as Servants our Friend and Benefactor but have
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 Saturday Morning O Eternal Lord God the great Creator and Preserver of Heaven and of Earth and our most merciful Father in Christ Jesus Look down we beseech thee from Heaven upon us vile Dust and Ashes and grant that when we call upon thee with our Lips our Hearts may not be far from thee We do humbly acknowledge the great sinfulness and corruption of our Natures the blindness of our Minds the perversness of our Wills the disorder and depravedness of our affections and the vanity of our thoughts We acknowledge that we are by nature the Children of Wrath and that there is no sound or clean part in us We do farther confess that we have by many actual sins made our selves more the Children of Wrath than we were by Nature We confess our sins of omission as well as commission our sins against Thee our Brother and our own Souls We have many ways offended thee in thought word and deed And if thou shouldst mark Iniquities we were not able to stand before thee We have sinned against light and knowledge after the greatest of thy Mercies under sufficient means of Grace after many and solemn Vows of better obedience We have not been awakened out of our sinful and careless Life by the greatest of thy Judgments but have sinned after the convictions of our own Consciences and the experience of the evil of departing from thee after many confessions and many repetitions We have grieved thy Spirit defaced thy Image mispent our precious time trifled in the great concernments of Eternity and in great measure received the grace of thee our God in vain We humble our selves before thee O God and desire to be vile in our own Eyes as we have made our selves so in thine Enter not into Judgment with thy Servants O Lord for no Flesh shall be justified in thy sight Have mercy upon us O Lord have mercy upon us for Jesus Christ's sake who is the Propitiation for our Sins and ever lives to make intercession for those who come unto God by him Grant that he may not be an empty Name and Title to us but that he may bless us in turning us from our Iniquities and may give us Repentance as well as forgiveness of Sins And we most humbly beseech thee to give us thy holy Spirit purisie and cleanse our Hearts and help us that we may fear love and desire thee above all things Make us like unto thee and help us that we may chearfully do and suffer thy whole Will Supply all our wants sanctifie all thy dealings to us direct us in our difficulties and enable us against our Sins Deliver us O Lord from every evil thing from hardness of Heart and contempt of thy Word keep us from being tempted above what we are able and enable us by thy Grace against the assaults of the Devil the Temptations of the World and the Flesh and make us at the last partakers of Everlasting Life Be merciful we pray thee to the whole World enlarge the Kingdom of Christ and let the whole World be filled with the knowledge of thee and of thy Son as the Waters cover the Sea Bless thy whole Church reform whatever is amiss in the belief or lives of Christians Grant that all who name the Name of Christ may depart from all Iniquity Be gracious to these Kingdoms Pardon our Sins pity our Distractions heal our Breaches unite us to one another reconcile us all to thy Divine Majesty and defend us against our Enemies Especially we pray thee to bless the King endue his Heart with all the Graces of thy holy Spirit defend Him against all His Enemies bless Him in His Royal Relations and teach His Senators wisdom Bless all the Governours and Instructors of thy Church and grant they may all in their several places answer the end of their Institution and Appointment Pity all that are afflicted Comfort them that mourn visit the Sick and Weak have compassion on them who lye a dying and take them not out of this Life before they are fitted for a better Life than this Bless all our Friends with all the Blessings of this and of a better Life Forgive our Enemies convert and turn their hearts We bless thee for all thy Mercies to us both of this and a better Life above all we bless thee for Jesus Christ humbly beseeching thee so to affect our hearts with the sense of thy Mercies that thy goodness may lead us to Repentance And all we beg for Christ his sake who hath taught us when we pray to say OVr 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 Saturday Evening MOst gracious and ever blessed Lord God and our most merciful Father in Christ Jesus we that are less than the least of thy mercies desire in all humility to come into thy presence and beseech thee for Christ's sake to have a regard unto us We do acknowledge before thee our lost and undone condition without thy great mercy towards us we have grievously offended thee in thought word and deed been unthankful for thy Mercies incorrigible under thy Judgments and very unprofitable under the means of Grace We humble our selves before thee for the Sins of our whole Life and particularly for the Sins of this day with all the circumstances of aggravation with which they have been attended Pardon us O Lord we humbly pray thee for the sake of Jesus Christ who came into the World to seek and to save that which was lost Give us a true faith in him and work in us a sincere and hearty repentance never to be repented of And we pray thee assist us by thy Grace that we may for the time to come walk before thee in newness of Life Enlighten our Minds rectifie our Wills sanctifie our Affections and purifie all the thoughts intentions of our Hearts Make us fit Temples for thy holy Spirit to dwell in and grant that he who is in us may be greater than he who is in the World Be with us under all our Tryals and Temptations and prepare us for all events of things Sanctifie all thy dispensations to us and give us Wisdom and a saving Knowledge of thee and of thy Son Make us humble and lowly heavenly minded and pure in heart patient under every trouble contented in every condition and resigned to thy holy and heavenly Will And because the way of Man is not in himself we humbly pray thee to direct and guide us in the way that we should go Take care of our Affairs prosper all our Undertakings which are agreeable to thy heavenly Will help us that we may live Righteously So berly and Godly in this present World Cast out of our mind every thing that is displeasing to thee discharge our Hearts of all Pride Ambition Covetousness Malice Vain Conceit of our Selves And grant that we may not be overcome by the Temptations of the Devil the World and the Flesh And that we may not go out of this World with false hopes and expectations about us Prepare us we pray thee for our latter end When our Heart and Flesh shall fail us be thou the strength of our Heart and our Portion for ever And suffer us not at our last hour for any Pains or Agonies of Death to fall away from thee make us willing and ready to leave this World whensoever it shall please thee to call us hence Be merciful to the whole race of Mankind Advance the Kingdom of Christ in the World Let the People praise thee O God let all the People praise thee Especially be merciful to thy whole Church Bless these Kingdoms and settle us upon the Foundations of Righteousness of Truth and Peace Bless with the choicest of thy Blessings our Sovereign Lord the King Protect His Royal Person bless His Government let His days be many and His Reign prosperous And bless His Royal Relations and succeed His Counsellors and all in Authority under Him and grant that under Him we may live quiet and peaceable Lives in all godliness and honesty Bless all that minister in holy things and grant they may gain many unto Righteousness Have compassion upon the Afflicted upon the Oppressed and the Poor upon Widows and Fatherless upon all that are persecuted for Righteousness sake upon the Sick and the Weak upon all that are troubled in mind and at the point of Death Be merciful to them all according to their several necessities We beseech thee to be merciful to our Friends and to forgive all our Enemies We bless thy holy Name for all thy mercies to us and to all the World for thy preservation of us this day for the means of Grace and the hope of Glory We bless thee above all for Jesus Christ we praise thee for the clear revelation of thy Will the Promise of thy Spirit the time and space of Repentance which thou art pleased to continue to us for any measure of Health and Strength the many Mercies which we injoy and which others want and which we have been unthankful for Write a Law of thankfulness upon our Hearts we humbly pray thee and grant that we may be bettered by all thy Mercies Take us we pray thee into thy protection this night sanctifie and prepare our Hearts for all the solemn Duties and Services of the next Day and grant all our Requests for Christ's sake in whose words we further call upon thee OVr 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 FINIS
expressed our enmity against thee in wicked works we have 2 Tim. 2. 19. named the Name of Christ but not departed from Iniquity vowed allegiance to thee in our Baptism but have broken thy Bonds asunder and cast away thy Cords from us and as if the temptations of the World and the Devil would not have enough prevailed to defile and destroy us we have tempted our selves and been drawn away of our own lust and enticed Jam. 1. 14. We have not had that sense of thy Love as to love thee with all our hearts that sense of thy Mercies as with those Cords of kindness to be drawn to thy Service that sense of thy displeasure as to fear offending thee that sense of Sins filthiness and deformity as to hate and flee from it with our whole Souls nor have we had that belief of Heavens Glory and Happiness as by a fruitfulness in good works to press toward it with all our might that active and vigorous diligence that should have been used to promote the spiritual good of our Souls and secure their immortal interest we have with great folly misimployed in pursuing the pleasures and profits of this World and in assuring those fickle and slippery vanities that are not capable of a long or certain continuance O Lord have mercy upon us miserable offenders and help us so to repent of all the Sins we have committed as never more to commit the Sins of which we have repented and work in us a true and a lively faith in thy dear Son our blessed Redeemer who is both God and Man that God and Man may be reconciled and through the blood of his Cross grant us repentance and remission of Sins and by that precious Blood sprinkled upon our Consciences Heb. 9. 14. purge them from dead Works to serve thee the living God Wash our hearts from wickedness Jer. 4. 14. that we may be saved and let not vain thoughts lodg within us help us so to govern our Tongue that unruly Member that no corrupt communication may at any time proceed out of our Mouth but that Eph. 4. 29. which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace unto the hearers and let all our actions be directed by thy Word and designed to thy Glory That delight and satisfaction that we might vainly and to no purpose seek in sensual pleasures and the impure gratifications of the Flesh let us seek and find in the ways of holiness and a dutiful compliance with thy Will that in loving and keeping Psal 119. 165. thy Law we may have great peace and nothing may offend us and in the midst of all the troubles and confusions of the World we may rejoyce in our reconciliation with thee and in the harmony and peaceful reports of our own consciences Bless us in our Callings and Imployments that we may neither Pro. 30. 8. 9. abound in Riches lest we be full and deny thee nor be pinched with extream want lest we be tempted to the evils that attend an impoverished State but in thy wise and good providence carve out to us such a convenient share of worldly good things health and strength riches and reputation that we may faithfully serve thee and be cheerfully helpful to our brethren Let thy love and holy fear so intermix with and sweeten all our earthly injoyments that we may eat our Eccl. 9. 7. Bread with joy and drink our Wine with a merry heart because thou acceptest our works In every condition of Life be thou our Guide and our Support help us to love and rejoyce in thee above our highest and best comforts and under our crosses with patience and cheerfulness to resign up our selves to thy wise and righteous providence and with a stedfast faith to rely upon thy gracious and faithful promises Let our conversation be without Heb. 13. 5. covetousness and make us content with such things as we have because thou hast said thou wilt never leave us nor forsake us by all the changes we meet with in this World prepare us O Lord for our last and great change when we shall leave it that death our last Enemy may be to us neither dangerous nor dreadful but a sweet and desireable passage to a blessed and glorious immortality And in these our Prayers we commend allied by a common Brotherhood all Mankind to thy Grace and Favour heal the Sick ease the pained relieve the Oppressed supply the Impoverished feed the Hungry cloath the Naked comfort the Disconsolate cause them that are disquieted in Conscience to Rejoyce spread forth the knowledge of thy Son into all the dark corners of the World that Isai 49. 6. he may be thy Light and thy Salvation unto the end of the Earth Let thy continual pity cleanse and defend thy Church and because it cannot continue in safety without thy succour preserve it evermore by thy help and goodness O be gracious and favourable to the Land of our Nativity forgive all our crying Sins avert thy threatned and approaching Judgments cleanse our defilements heal our divisions stablish us in truth righteousness and peace perpetuate thy Gospel and Ordinances the pledges of thy love and kindness and grant that we may alway walk worthy of those inestimable benefits Bless preserve direct and prosper our Sovereign Lord the King in all his thoughts words and works let him ever seek thy honour and glory and study to preserve thy People committed to his charge in wealth peace and godliness Let the Bishops and Pastors of thy Church by their heavenly Doctrine and exemplary Lives their diligent labours vigilant care and prudent carriage adorn the Gospel silence gainsayers and win many to righteousness and let Magistrates by an equal and indifferent administration of Justice uphold Religion and Virtue and suppress Vice and Ungodliness and grant that all under Authority may follow after Peace and Holiness obeying those that are over them for conscience sake loving and forbearing one another leading quiet and peaceable Lives in all godliness and honesty Follow us with thy mercy and loving kindness this night and let thy good providence that neither slumbers nor sleeps defend and protect us that no danger or disturbance in the intermission of our own thoughts care and reason harm or annoy us And so repair our decaying spirits by a quiet and peaceful rest that we may serve thee with healthful bodies and cheerful minds the next day and all our days till thou bringest us to that blessed state where eating and drinking and sleeping shall be no more but we shall be eternally happy in praising and injoying thee through thy dear Son our ever blessed Redeemer through whose Merits alone we hope to be heard and in whose words we further pray OVr 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