they may spare the poor and needy and save and redeem their soul from deceit and violence and their bloud may be precious in their sight Bless these Kingdoms wherein we live and as thou hast long continued to us the knowledge of thy Truth so give us grace to bring forth fruit becoming the Gospel that thou mayst not cut us down as barren trees which cumber the ground Lord save the King and establish his Throne in righteousness that we may see many happy days under his government and be Psal 90.15 comforted now after the time that thou hast plagued us and for the years wherein we have suffered adversity Prosper the pious endeavours of all those that faithfully feed and instruct thy people and increase the number of them O that the seed which hath been sown this day may take deep root in all our hearts and bring forth fruit abundantly that being not Jam. 1.25,26 forgetful hearers but doers of the work we may be all blessed in our deed Help us in all the week following to Psal 141.3,4 set a watch before our mouth and to keep the door of our lips Preserve us that our heart incline not to any evil thing to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity but we may be always 1 Pet. 3.13 followers of that which is good 1 Thess 4.1 and as we have received how we ought to walk and please thee our God so we may abound more and more Protect us we beseech thee and all our friends every where this night Grant us quiet and undisturbed rest and sleep and awaken in the morning these good thoughts and desires again in our hearts Joh. 15.7 that the words of our Saviour may abide in us and we in him till we come to endless life together with him by whom we are incouraged thus to address our selves unto thee and to continue to pray as he hath taught us in his holy Gospel saying Our Father c. A shorter form of Prayer for the Lords day Morning O Most holy eternally Blessed Deut. 10.14 The heaven and the heaven of heavens is thine the earth also with all that therein is Thou art every where and canst not be excluded from any place but art present to the greatest secrets of our souls and seest the closest and most retired thoughts of our hearts Thou knowest very well with what designs and affections we now bow our selves before thee and canst not be deceived by any words that we are able to speak in thy praise whilst our hearts are far from thy fear and love Behold O Lord our hearts are full with desires to be possessed with a mighty reverend sense of thee and all the benefits thou hast bestowed on us and to be lifted up to heaven in love to thee and joy in thee whilst we bless and praise thee and speak good of thy Name We here remember with all humility and thankfulness that thou art our Creator And acknowledge thy care and providence over thy ancient people in blessing and sanctifying a day wherein thou thy self restedst from thy works that they might cease from all other imployments and admire thy wonderful works extol thy power bless thy goodness and be astonished at thy wisdom in making preserving adorning and governing this excellent frame of the world The heavens declare thy glory O God and the firmament sheweth thy handy-work The Sun the Moon and all the host of Heaven proclaim the greatness and splendor of thy Majesty The Psal 104.24 whole earth is full of thy rich goodness so is the great and wide sea wherein are things moving innumerable both small and great living creatures There is nothing but what speaks of thee and above all the children of men whom thou hast wonderfully made and curiously wrought and impressed with thine own Image that they might understand thee and love thee in all and above all things The variety the order the stedfastness of all thy works in this great world abundantly utter thy adorable perfections But thou O Lord by thy goodness in giving thy Son for us and then raising him up from the dead and setting him at thy right hand hast given us new matter of wonder and praise and consecrated a better rest and holy-day of rejoycing wherein we should behold the glories of another world and have before our eyes the happiness thou intendest for us there together with all the excellent means which lead unto it Thou givest us occasion not only to reflect upon all the good things thou hast provided for our bodies which we can never acknowledge enough the very health and ease of one day deserving the thankfulness of many but we must also remember that we are thy redeemed ones and that thou hast done great things for our souls in thy Son Jesus who is entred into the heavens for us and gone to prepare a resting place for all those that follow him This exceeding riches of thy grace infinitely surpasses all our acknowledgements since all the praises we are able to render thee are less than is due for thy temporal blessings To this love we â—owe the knowledge of thee the true and only God our freedom from Idolatry and a vain conversation the true principles of holy living the benefit of repentance the promise of a pardon the assistance of thy holy Spirit the ministry of thy Angels the hope of immortal life and the pledges our Lord hath left us of his endless love To this we owe thy forbearance in the days of our ignorance thy unwearied patience towards us in a continued rebellion and thy earnest intreaties of us when we were passionately bent upon our own destruction Thou hast sent us in much love many holy Instructors and guides to blessedness We have had the benefit of sundry pious Sermons good Examples wholesome admonitions and serious counsels of the power of the Holy Ghost and divers restraints of fear and shame and love and thou still pursuest us with thy merciful kindness and beseechest us to attend to thy call and receive thy blessings and make thee our choice and be eternally happy in thy Divine favour and likeness What shall we render to the Lord for all his benefits towards us O help us to manifest our real and unfeigned desires to make some worthy returns to thee by our careful improvement of the holy opportunity which thou this day puttest into our hands O that our minds may be more inlightned to understand the truth as it is in Jesus that our wills may be more steadfastly resolved to cleave unto it that our affections may be excited to a stronger and more ardent love to thee and to a greater delight in thee and all the powers of our souls disposed to serve thee at all other times more cheerfully and readily in all the Duties of Piety Soberness Righteousness and Mercy So that every day may become an holy rest to the Lord by
the fruits of righteousness Ephes 2.10 to which thou hast created me again by Christ Jesus that I should walk in them Blessed be thy Name who hast sent him to give me a new and better life I thank thee for all the helps and comforts of his Religion O that my heart may be possessed with such a strong belief of it and such a sincere love to it that I may feel indeed that I am born again and made a new creature meditating daily of thy mercies breathing forth my soul to thee in prayers and praises and thanksgivings walking in the Spirit of goodness righteousness and truth Ephes 5.9 and proving what is acceptable to our Lord. All the thanks and services I acknowledge that I am able to render to thee are nothing worth but the longer I live I most earnestly desire the more hearty and the purer they may be and the more I may be inabled to do for thy honour and glory If thou sufferest me to continue in this life another year O that in the conclusion of it I may present my self unto thee again more improved in all that is praise worthy The time past is too much to have mis-spent O that I may suffer no more of my precious hours to run waste but that they may all be taken up and carefully laid out in well doing Help me diligently to husband so great a treasure which thou intrustest me withal and to imploy it in order to a blessed Eternity Let not the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches Mark 4.19 and the lusts of other things entring in choke those good seeds which thou hast sown in my heart so that they become unfruitful but inable me as I grow in years to increase also in love joy peace long-suffering Gal. 5.21 gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance and all other fruits of thy holy Spirit And since I have been thy care so long I will still hope in thee continually Psal 71.14 that I shall yet praise thee more and more 9.17 Cast me not off if I live to the time of old age forsake me not when my strength faileth O God thou hast taught me from my youth and hitherto I have declared thy wondrous works Hold me up still Psal 119.117,133 and I shall be safe Order my steps in thy word and let not any iniquity have dominion over me That so if the evil days come and the years draw nigh Eccles 12.1 when I shall say I have no pleasure in them 7.1 I may rejoyce in the remembrance of a well-spent life and having a good hope in thee the day of my death may be better than the day of my birth O that death may never surprize me nor find me unprepared Help me to walk alway so circumspectly and to be so mindful of my latter end that when death comes it may be no stranger to me but I may entertain it as an acquaintance and a friend and with the same chearfulness put off my body and lay it down in the grave that I put off my clothes and lay my self down in my bed I commit my self intirely to thee both now and ever waiting for thy mercy in Christ Jesus at that great Day when thou shalt awake us out of the dust O that I may then be numbered among the Just and stand at the right hand of my Saviour and hear that joyful voice Come ye blessed of my Father Matth. 25.34 inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world Amen THat we may be stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord here follow particular Prayers for that grace and in case of any failing in our duty for repentance and pardon and an heart sensible of the divine goodness and more considerate and careful for the time to come A PRAYER FOR RESOLVTION IN WELL DOING O Most blessed God the fountain of wisdom power strength and all other perfections from whose bounty I have formerly received and at present enjoy innumerable blessings and have no hope for the future but what arises from the same everlasting spring of all good which is never weary of deriving its benefits unto us I ought in a sense of my intire dependance upon thee to be very humble very thankful exceeding solicitous for thy favour and desirous of thy good will sorrowful for my neglects of thee ashamed of the pitiful returns I have made to thee and most peremptorily resolved and zealously bent to approve my self hereafter to thy Divine Majesty in all well doing Accordingly I am now prostrate before thee to implore the continued powerful presence of that infinite grace to which I owe these holy thoughts that are in my mind and by which alone I can hope to perform and accomplish them Possess me O God with such a full and lively sense of thy undeserved and unwearied love and kindness to me in passing by so much ingratitude and so many transgressions in laying on me such strong and manifold obligations to be happy by obeying thee and in affording me such powerful assistances to attain that happiness that I may love thee proportinably with a more constant and steadfast affection and feel an unalterable will settled in me to do the duty thou requirest of me into whatsoever state and condition of life thou shalt be pleased to dispose me When we have loved thee all that we can I am sensible we have loved thee but a little because we and all that we can do are so inconsiderable How small a thing then is it how poor and contemptible that we return unto thee when we love thee not so much as we are able O blessed God cause such a delightful sense of thy goodness to fall upon my heart and to abide with me that all the powers of my soul may strain themselves to love thee and unite themselves unto thee in an unalterable choice of thy Will to be the sole governour of all my designs and desires and actions throughout the whole course of my life I love my self most I see when I love thee intirely and serve my self by doing thee all faithful service In union with thee I am at rest and peace and in constant adherence to thee consists my eternal safety and security To thee therefore with the deliberate and full consent of my will I devote my self resolving to love and serve thee with all my heart and with all my soul and with all my strength I vow unto thee as I have done often all sincere obedience and protest against every thing that is contrary to thy holy commands as contrary also to my own sense and judgement to my most sober and serious thoughts and to my most advised counsels and resolutions They all acknowledge how just and reasonable how good and pleasant how profitable and beneficial how honourable and glorious it is to be a doer of thy Will which besides the
O Lord that he may give a proof of his sincere intentions hereafter to submit himself in all things to thy will by his patient submission to thy fatherly correction now O that he may so quietly so meekly so humbly and chearfully resign his will unto thee to suffer what thou inflictest that he may be the more disposed readily to deny his own desires in doing whatsoever thou commandest For which end make him throughly apprehensive of thy soveraign power and authority over all creatures Possess him with a great reverence of thy wisdom and justice with an intire confidence in thy goodness and charity and with a thankful remembrance of all thy past mercies to him which have been innumerable That so he may the better endure what thou layest upon him at present and ever chuse to follow thy directions and submit to thy orders and love thy commandments and delight to do thy will O God Bless and succeed those remedies that are used for the restoring him to his former health that he may live to perform his holy purposes Or if thou hast otherwise appointed accept of them graciously and dispose him to return back his spirit willingly unto thee who gavest it and with great humility and deep sense of his own undeservings to expect thy mercy declared in Christ Jesus who hath so highly merited of thee Fix his mind stedfastly upon him who hath led the way through the grave unto heaven that he may not be affrighted with the approaches of death but looking beyond it to that high and holy place where the Lord Jesus is may rejoyce in hope of thy eternal glory And give every one of us in our best estate of health to consider perpetually how frail and weak we are That so we may not abuse our selves by an intemperate use of any of the pleasures of sense nor load our minds with the cares of this life nor spend our days in a vain pursuit of the honour and glory of this world But may pass all the time of our sojourning here in fear 1 Pet. 1.17 Tit. 2.12 and live so soberly righteously and godlily in this present world as becomes those who expect shortly to give an account to thee who wilt judge all men according to their works Hear â—s O Lord we most humbly beseech thee through Christ Jesus our merciful and compassionate High-priest who sits at thy right hand â—nd lives for ever to make intercession for us In whose name we continue to recommend our selves â—nd friends and all thy people to â—hee as he hath taught us saying Our Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy Name Thy kingdom come Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that â—respass against us And lead us not â—nto temptation but deliver us from evil c. If the disease proceed to such an extremity that in all appearance the Soul is ready to depart there is a Commendatory Prayer appointed in the Publique offices of Devotion to be said by the Minister whose assistance then sure will be desired And besides the sick person himself as long as he is able may thus recommend his soul unto Almighty God A Prayer when a person is giving up the Ghost I Resign my spirit O God most chearfully into thy hands hoping to find mercy with thee through Christ Jesus I know no other name under heaven whereby I may be saved but thine alone O blessed Jesus who wast dead and â—rt alive again Rev. 1.18 and livest â—or evermore I come unâ—o thee O Lord confiding in thy â—ost precious promises which I beâ—ieve are faithful and true as thou art â—or pardon and for immortal life Accept I beseech thee of my most â—earty thanks for all thy mercies to â—e from the beginning of my life to â—his moment Pass by all my ingraâ—tude and disobedience Receive â—e into the company of the spirits â—f just men made perfect to give thee â—hanks for ever And as I desire to find mercy with â—…ee so I forgive all my enemies â—eseeching thee likewise to forgive â—em and to bless and comfort all â—y friends and to make thy whole â—hurch glorious and to bring us â—l at last to live together in everlasting love and joy through Christ Jesus Amen IF God be pleased to restore the sick person to a state of health publick Thanksgivings ought to be rendred to Almighty God for it And together with the Sacrifice of praise which is the fruit of our lips Heb. 13.15,16 he ought not to forget to do good and to communicate to them that are in misery for with such sacrifices God is pleased And to preserve a grateful remembrance of Gods mercy here follows a Form of Thanksgiving to be used in private by himself and by his friends that are concerned in his recovery A Thanksgiving after recovery from a Sickness to be said by the person himself who is restored to health O God the fountain of life and of all good who art continually more and more pouring forth thy benefits upon us I thy poor creature whose life thou hast mercifully spared when I deserved to be cut off prostrate my self in an humble sense of thy divine goodness to render thee my most hearty thanks and to renew my vows which I made in the day of my distress Bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me Psal 103.1,2,3 c. bless his holy name Bless the Lord O my soul 34.8 118,17,18 and forget not all his benefits Who forgiveth all thine iniquities 111.1 who healeth all thy diseases Who redeemeth thy life from destruction who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things so that thy youth is renewed like the Eagles The Lord is merciful and gracious slow to anger and plenteous in mercy He will not always chide neither will he keep his anger for ever He hath not dealt with me after my sins nor rewarded me according to my iniquities But as far as the East is from the West so far hath he removed my transgressions from me O tast and see my soul how gracious the Lord is blessed is the man that trusteth in him I shall not die but live and declare the works of the Lord. The Lord hath chastned me sore but he hath not given me over unto death I will give thanks therefore unto the Lord with my whole heart secretly among the faithful and in the congregation I can do no less than dedicate this new life which thou hast bestowed upon me intirely to thy service resolving to employ more vigorously all those powers of soul and body which are so graciously restored unto me unto thy honour and glory For which end I most earnestly desire to have a lively sense preserved in my mind of those things which were most powerful to move my heart towards thee
betray them And fortifie their minds against the power of all allurements to sin that we may live to see them thy dutiful and obedient children and may leave the world in hope that they will continue so unto their lives end Or if thou takest us away before they come to their full age we commend them with the more ardent affection to thy never failing mercy and compassion O thou who art the Father of the fatherless Psal 68.5 be their God and let them find mercy with thee Hos 14.3 according to thy word Dispose of them so that by loving and careful governours holy examples innocent and good company pious and discreet counsels with the help of thy divine grace they may ever be secured in their duty and follow after us to eternal life through Christ Jesus Amen A short Prayer for the use of a little Child O Lord my most loving Saviour and merciful Redeemer who commanddest that the little children should come unto thee and didst take them up in thine arms lay thy hands upon them bless them Look graciously upon me I humbly beseech thee and bless me who am one of thy children dedicated to thy service Pitty the weakness of my tender age and prevent me betimes with thy grace Make me seriously to remember my Creator in the days of my youth Indue me with the fear of my God and make me always mindful of the Vow and Promise that was made in my name when I was baptized to forsake the Devil and all his works to believe in God and to serve him Make me dutiful as thou O Lord Jesus wast unto my Parents loving to my Brethren and Sisters obedient to my instructors thankful for the good counsel of my Friends humble and reverent to my betters and meek and gentle to all men That as I grow in years so I may grow in wisdom and favour with thee and with all those who are good Preserve me from all dangers let thy good Angels be my keepers and defenders and guide me by thy holy Spirit that the longer I live the better I may be to the comfort of my Parents the honour and glory of my God and my own happiness here and for ever Amen A shorter HEavenly Father who despisest nothing that thou hast made but takest care of the beasts of the earth and of the fowls of the air bless me thy child whom thou hast made in thy own Image Preserve me this day from all evil both in soul and body Give me what thou seest good for me Especially an heart to know thee early to be thankful to thee to love thee and to do thy will as well as I am able Bless my Father and my Mother and all my friends and make me a follower of those who are good for the sake of my Saviour Christ Jesus the Lord. Amen A Prayer for the use of a Child that hath lost its Parents O Lord who never failest those that seek thee but givest to the beast his food Psal 147.9 and to the young ravens which cry I cast my self upon thy infinite goodness with whom the fatherless have been wont to find mercy Be thou Ecclus. 23.4 O Lord Father and God of my life a most merciful and gracious Father unto me and provide what thou seest in thy wisdom to be necessary for me Especially bestow upon me some faithful friend that will admonish me and take care of my soul to bring me up religiously in the fear of thee my God Preserve me from all distrust of thy good providence Give me favour in the eyes of others by an humble submissive and good behaviour towards them Make me diligent and industrious in some honest calling And bless my labours and endeavours that I may not be a burden unto others But whatsoever my portion be in this world give me grace to live so piously justly and soberly that I may not miss of that incorruptible inheritance which fadeth not away 1 Pet. 1.4 reserved in the heavens for us through Christ Jesus Amen A Prayer to be used by a Widow O God by whose wise providence which I humbly adore and reverence I am left without my dearest companion and guide in this our pilgrimage and thereby deprived of the sweetest comfort of life behold the desolate and sorrowful estate of thy poor handmaid who supplicates thy tender mercy and compassion towards her Comfort me good Lord with a delightful sense of thy Divine Presence with me and draw my heart the nearer to thee in holy love and devout affection and a lively hope that thou wilt never leave me nor forsake me I ought to thank thee at all times for the many tokens of thy love towards me and particularly for lending me this blessing so long the value of which I now feel by the want I am in of its support Pardon me I beseech thee that I have not been so thankful for it and the rest of thy mercies as I ought nor so carefully improved them as I might have done O take not away thy loving kindness from me in displeasure But vouchsafe still the continuance of thy favour towards me especially the support of thy Divine Grace by the power of the holy Ghost to enable me to bear this affliction with an humble meek and patient spirit Moderate all my passions Free me from all discontented and distrustful thoughts Help me to cast all my care on thee who relievest the fatherless and widow Psal 146.9 and carest even for the strangers Fix my mind upon thy love in the Lord Jesus in whom thou wouldst have us to rejoyce always Lift up my thoughts to those heavenly enjoyments in that blessed place where he is to which I hope my husband is departed And help me to follow after him with all diligence in a pure grave and godly conversation and by a careful education of my Children to endeavour that they may be also with us in that glory Let thy blessing ever rest upon them And now that they are left to me alone give me so much the more wisdom to instruct and govern them aright and so much the more love to them and tender affection to their good and welfare Make them to be a comfort to me in my Widow-hood by their increase in godliness that we may chearfully serve thee together in Prayers and Thanksgivings and reading of thy holy Word and Communion with our blessed Saviour and all other actions of a Christian life Prepare us for whatsoever condition it is into which thou shalt be pleased to bring us that neither fulness nor poverty honour nor reproaches health nor sickness may ever separate us from thy love in Christ Jesus but we may persevere in patient obedience to thee till we receive that crown of life which he hath promised to them that love thee Amen A Prayer for the use of a poor Servant O Lord most high who arâ— the Maker of the rich and
darkness and his Sovereign Dominion over all Angels Authorities and Powers whom thou hast made subject to him 1 Pet. 3. ult O God how great was thy love to the sinful sons of men which moved thee to pass by such innumerable offences whereby they had provoked thy severest displeasure How great was that love which hath honoured our mortal nature with so high a glory and committed the care of our immortal souls to one so mighty to save and so full of kindness and most tender charity toward us O the greatness of thy love which hath chosen us to be thy sons and heirs together with Christ Jesus and set such an high Priest over thy house and family to make intercession for us to dispense all divine blessings to us and send forth Angels themselves to be Heb. 1. ult ministring spirits for them who shall be heirs of salvation Who can understand the exceeding riches of thy grace in sending the holy Ghost to be a witness of our Saviours Resurrection and Exaltation and to make us abound in hope Rom. 15.13 that we shall be one day raised from the dead and carried to heaven and keep a perpetual rest after our short labours here with our blessed Lord and Master in his eternal glory O that we could begin it this day in devout Meditations of these things in unspeakable joy and satisfaction of heart in the assured hope and expectation of them and in blessing and praising thee who hast given us such good hope and everlasting consolation Lift up our minds we pray thee this morning above all these little things here below which are apt to distract our thoughts and turn away our eyes from that heavenly bliss And keep them above in the serious contemplation of it till we be in love with it and our hearts be fully bent and resolved to seek it every day in those ways wherein Jesus hath gone before us though it should be with the loss of all that we here possess It is but meet and fit that we should wholly quit our own will and devote our selves to follow thine especially since thou hast shown such unusual kindness towards us as if we had been innocent we durst not have presumed to expect from thee We are asham'd O Lord to think that ever we have disobeyed thee to whom we stand so deeply indebted both as we are thy creatures and as we are redeemed by the precious bloud of thy Son Jesus It grieves us that we have transgressed any of thy righteous and good Laws by which it is our happiness as well as our duty to be govern'd We abhorr the thoughts of ever breaking them any more beseeching not only thy gracious pardon but thy acceptance of our intire resolution to agree with thy Will in all things for the time to come We here again most solemnly dedicate all the powers of our souls and bodies to thy service desiring unfeignedly that all the thoughts and designs of our minds all the affections and passions of our hearts and all the actions of our life and conversation may be pure holy and unreproveable in thy sight For which end we most humbly implore the assistance of thy good spirit which our Lord hath incouraged us to hope thou wilt give to those that ask and seek it with their whole heart O let thy mercy be upon us according to thy word according as our hope is in thee and our hearts sincerely and stedfastly set to keep thy Commandments Psal 139.23,24 Search us O God and know our hearts try us and know our thoughts And see if there be any way of wickedness in us and lead us in the way everlasting Fill our minds with awful and reverend thoughts of thee as our Sovereign Lord and Judge Settle in us an immutable love to thee and the highest esteem of thy favour and grace as better than life it self That so we may study above all things to approve our very hearts and all our actions to thee and feel the sense of thy acceptance of us giving us greater pleasure than all the world can afford us Make it our delight to praise thee to call to mind thy loving kindness to offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving and to meditate on thy pretious promises Help us to Luk. 21.34 take heed to ourselves lest our hearts be at any time overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and the inordinate cares of this life Heb. 13.5 To have our conversation without covetousness and to be content with such things as we have 1 Thess 4.4 To possess our bodies in sanctification and honour Rom 13.9 To love our neighbours as our selves Matth. 7.12 And as we would that others should do to us to do even so to them Rom. 12.18 To live peaceably as much as in us lyeth with all men 1 Pet. 3.4 To put on the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit Jam. 5.12 To take those who have spoken in the name of our Lord for an example of suffering affliction and of patience 1 Pet. 4.16 And when we suffer as Christians not to be ashamed but to glorifie thee our God on this behalf And accept good Lord of all the praises and acknowledgements of all thy people met this day together according to thy Will and assist us to render thee still more hearty and affectionate praises in that holy Assembly to which we are going to joyn our selves O that all people on the face of the earth were united together likewise in one body to shew forth thy praise O that thy way were known upon earth thy saving health among all Nations And that all Christian Kings especially may be filled with thy holy Spirit and think it their Crown and their Glory to be the devout worshippers and faithful subjects of the Lord Jesus the King of kings and the Lord of lords Psal 132.9 O that thy priests may be cloathed with righteousness and thy Saints shout aloud for joy That all who are in distress and misery may rejoyce also in hope that all afflictions shall turn to their good and Heb. 12.11 afterwards yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness O Lord hear us and make thy face to shine upon thy servants that we may enter into thy gates with thanksgiving and into thy courts with praise that we may be thankful unto thee and bless thy Name 100.4,5 For the Lord is good his mercy is everlasting and his truth endureth to all generations Our Father c. At Night O Lord most high the Holy One who inhabitest Eternity who only hast immortality and art most blessed in thy own incomprehensible perfections Thou art to be feared and loved and worshipped and praised by us and all reasonable creatures who have any knowledge how great how mighty how wise and merciful thou art All thy works praise thee O Lord and we more especially ought to bless thee whom thou hast
made to understand thy most adorable excellencies which are far beyond the highest of all our thoughts And we have yet a more particular obligation to thee for thy marvailous love in Christ Jesus whom thou hast sent in great humility to visit us who are but dust and ashes to make his abode among us to testifie thy great love to us and assure us of thy good will notwithstanding our many offences and to make us exceeding great and precious promises to invite us to approach thee and to incourage our obedience to thee We thank thee that he hath sealed them with his bloud and thou hast confirmed them by his Resurrection and Ascension and the coming of the holy Ghost that thou hast given us so many happy opportunities to acquaint our selves with the truth and purity of the Christian Religion which comforts us in this state of mortality and misery with the blessed hope of eternal life Blessed be thy goodness for that great consolation and that thou hast shown us the way to it by his doctrine and example and assured us of the assistance of thy holy Spirit to inable us to follow after him to that glory which he possesses Blessed be thy goodness that we have felt it so often in our minds and hearts inspiring us with holy thoughts exciting in us devout affections and godly resolutions filling us with Divine Joys and with comfortable expectations of the glory that shall be revealed We thank thee that thou hast permitted us this day to attend upon thee together with our Christian Brethren in the publick Duties of thy Worship and Service And that there we have received any good instructions any holy exhortations and Christian incouragements to proceed and go forward in the course of well doing and have begun in any measure that eternal rest which we wait for with all the faithful when we shall praise and thank and love thee our heavenly Father better than we can do now whilst we are in these frail bodies and absent from the Lord. We can do no less than offer up again our souls and bodies to thee to be order'd and govern'd by thy blessed Will and not our own that so we may be every day more prepared for that happy state and draw nearer and nearer in the disposition and temper of our spirits to that immortal blessedness It is our satisfaction our security the ease and joy of our hearts to be under the conduct of thy unerring wisdom to follow thy counsels and to be determined in all things by thy holy Will who art so good and hast given us such large demonstrations of thy abundant kindness and good will to us as will not let us distrust thy tender care of us whatsoever it is thou wouldest have us do or suffer in this world O God purifie our minds and thoughts more perfectly that we may never conceive amiss of thee but have right apprehensions in all things and all our passions and affections likewise that we may intirely love thee and rejoyce in being beloved of thee and humbly confide in thee and absolutely resign our selves to thee and be filled with constant devotion towards thee our Almighty Creator and most merciful Redeemer Possess our hearts with such a lively sense of our relation to thee in both respects and of the honour thou hast done us in preferring us so much above the rest of our fellow creatures that we may ever behave our selves suitably to the dignity of our Nature and of our Religion O that we may never degenerate into a base and unworthy love of any thing here below nor be oppressed with the burden of the cares of this life nor sink under the weight of any affliction nor be vainly puffed up with the greatest fulness of earthly goods if thou art pleased to bestow them on us But assist us with thy grace to Rom. 12.9 abhor that which is evil and cleave to that which is good Dispose us to a discreet and temperate use of all the pleasures of this world Indue us with true modesty and humility of spirit that we may Rom. 12.3,10,16 not think of our selves more highly than we ought to think but think soberly according to the measure which thou hast dealt unto us Keep us from being wise in our own conceits and inable us so to order our selves that Phil. 4.5 our moderation may be known to all men Make us kindly affectioned one to another in brotherly love To delight in doing good Tit. 3.2 to shew all meekness to all men Rom. 13.7,8 To render to all their dues Tribute to whom tribute is due custom to whom custom fear to whom fear honour to whom honour and to owe no man anything but to love one another Make us so happy that we may be able to Matth. 5.44 love our enemies to bless those that curse us to do good to them that hate us Rom. 12.15 to rejoyce with them that do rejoyce and weep with them that weep Compose our spirits to a quiet and steady dependence on thy good providence that we may not Matth. 6.25 take too much thought for our life nor be careful for any thing Phil. 4.6 but by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving still make known our requests to thee our God And help us Luk. 18.1 to pray alway and not faint 1 Thess 5.18 In every thing to give thanks Heb. 13.15 and offer up the sacrifice of praise continually 1 Pet. 1.17 To pass the time of our sojourning here in fear Rom. 5.2 To believe those things which we do not see and to rejoyce in hope of thy glory Luk. 21.19 To possess our souls in patience Phil. 4.11,12 And to learn in whatsoever state we are therewith to be content Make us know both how to be abased and how to abound every where and in all things instruct us both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need being inabled to do all things through Christ which strengtheneth us That we feeling the joys of uprightness and integrity of heart our Religion may be the greatest comfort and pleasure to us and we our selves an ornament to our Religion O that we could alway by an innocent good and useful life commend the Doctrine of God our Saviour to those who converse with us And that the light of all Christians did so shine before men that others beholding their good works might be moved to glorifie thee and heartily to believe on the Lord Jesus Send forth thy Light and thy Truth into all the dark corners of the Earth That Psal 72.11,12,13,14 all kings may fall down before him and all nations serve him And indue them whom thou hast placed in such high Authority over others with that divine Spirit which was in him that they may deliver the needy when he cryeth the poor also and him that hath no helper That
hearts rejoyce that we may spend a day in thy Courts are invited to a longer attendance on thy divine Majesty in the duties of thy worship and service We are ashamed that any weariness should seize on our spirits and that it should be irksome to us to renew our thoughts and acknowledgements of thy infinite goodness Behold O Lord we are resolved again to address our selves unto thee with praise and thanksgiving for giving us such opportunities to look back to thee the Author of our being to lift up our souls towards our heavenly Country and unite them to the first and chiefest good from whence we derive whatsoever we have or hope to enjoy Beseeching thee to help us to draw near unto thee with hearts full of wonder at thy incomprehensible Majesty full of love to thy most wise and Almighty goodness full of thankfulness for thy benefits full of desires to be what thou wouldst have us and full of joy that thou wouldst have us be so happy in being made thy children partakers of a Divine Nature and heirs of immortal life We admire thy glory O great Lord of heaven and earth which shines in the whole Creation thy greater glory in the work of our redemption by the miraculous Birth Life Death and Resurrection of Christ Jesus and the greatest of all which we hope and wait for at his appearing when he shall come to be admired in his Saints and glorified in all them that believe Thou hast done great things for us already thou hast promised to do greater and thou art daily performing thy promises and preparing us for the accomplishment of them all in the highest blessedness O God of all grace make us wiser Stewards than we have been of thy manifold gifts and graces which we are intrusted withal Help us carefully to husband this sacred opportunity which thou continuest to us to the best advantage of our immortal souls Gather in our thoughts from our ordinary business Fix them on thy self and hold them in the contemplation of thy infinite mercies and of those divine Truths which represent our duty and thy exceeding love and kindness towards us Chase away all worldly affections and over-awe our spirits with a sense of thy divine presence that by serving thee with a religious reverence this day we may be disposed to walk in thy fear all the rest of our lives Having a grateful remembrance of thy benefits a deep and serious reflection upon our own resolutions and thy gracious promises an holy jealousie over our selves lest we should be unfaithful to them and a pious care in all things to approve our selves the constant and diligent servants of the Lord Jesus O that our thankfulness and good affections and zealous desires may not end with our prayers nor conclude with this day But we may be possessed with such a strong and habitual sense of thee and of our obligations to thee that we may every day earnestly and heartily serve thee in all the actions of Christian piety and be unwearied in well doing unto the conclusion of our lives Another O Most holy great and glorious Majesty of heaven and earth To whom all the blessed company above do with the highest admiration and love give continual praise and thanks and honour and worship and obedience acknowledging thou art above all that they are able to speak of thee or ascribe and render to thee Much more art thou exalted above the thoughts of such poor mortals as we who are clothed with flesh and live far remote from the throne of thy glory And yet such is thy goodness thou condescendest to admit nay to draw us to a fellowship with those holy spirits that we may thereby be made happy and called thy servants though when we have done the best we can very unprofitable What is man that thou art mindful of him what are the sons of men that thou dost at all consider them Thou hast crowned us with glory and honour here below and raised us to a Dominion over the works of thy hands Thou hast indued us with understandings to know thee and with wills to love thee whose most excellent wisdom Almighty power and surpassing goodness we discover in all thy works of wonder But what is sinful man that thou shouldest so much regard him as to send after him to seek and save him when he was lost Lord what grace was this that thou shouldest vouchsafe to speak with us and communicate any thing of thy mind to such forgetful and ungrateful wretches But that thou shouldst speak to us by thy Son and declare thy mind in such words of grace and favour and publish such kind intentions towards us and recover us with so much cost and purchase us to thy self with the precious bloud of thy Son Jesus and send thy holy Spirit to purifie us that we might have thy Image renewed in us and be made fit society for thy self again and restored to immortal life Lord how much doth it exceed all belief hadst thou not given us in tender mercy such abundance assurance of it We have those reasons to bless thee which the Angels have not We must admire thee not only as the great Creator and Preserver of all things which we heartily do and give thee the glory of all thy marvailous works but also as the Redeemer of mankind out of a forlorn condition by the manifestation of thy self in our flesh by the bloud of thy Son the constant breathings of the holy Ghost the light of thy Gospel and an unwearied patience which hath waited on us and propounded to us no less happiness than to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus who is advanced far above all principalities and powers and every name that is named not only in this world but in that also which is to come We praise thee O God we magnifie thy most holy Name we confess our selves bound to thee above all other creatures that we have any knowledge of for we are twice thy creatures and thou hast a double title to all we have O stir up all that is within us to bless thee and love thee and offer up the sacrifice of thanksgiving to thee Fill our hearts with joy and gladness that we have another opportunity wherein to recount thy mercies to us to be further instructed in thy mind and will declared by our Saviour and to be under the comfortable influences of heaven to cherish those holy thoughts affections and resolutions which are begun in us and to promote our growth and increase in all wisdom goodness and vertue Possess us with such a strong sense of thy continued love towards us that we may testifie our true and hearty thankfulness for it by attentive consideration of all that we hear out of thy holy Word and by laying it up in our hearts and esteeming it more than the greatest treasures of this World and endeavouring every day to have our conversation as becometh the
good likewise we must hate and abhorr our selves who cannot but love and delight in those who show us any kindness and bestow any benefits upon us though they are but thy Ministers and Servants that have nothing and can do nothing but what thou hast given them and inclinest them to do By thee we were formed and brought out of our Mothers Womb. And by a greater mercy were early born again and made thy children in Christ Jesus We have been thy care ever since and been instructed in that Covenant of Grace into which at our Baptism we were received by the knowledge thou hast given us of thy blessed Gospel Wherein we read the great love of our Saviour in dying for us and have the promise of his Spirit to sanctifie and govern us his holy Precepts for the rule of our actions his glorious Example to excite and quicken us and the hope of eternal bliss by his Resurrection from the dead to incourage and comfort us in well doing And in the mean time we injoy the society of thy Saints the ministry of thy Angels and the direction and assistance of thy faithful servants the Embassadors of peace and reconciliation with thee All which fruits of thy wonderful love we have long enjoyed and thou hast this day entertained us at thy Table where thou hast refreshed us with the Communion of the body and bloud of Christ Jesus the earnest of a blessed resurrection and the pledge of immortality Besides innumerable good things which thy most tender mercy hath been pleased to bestow upon our bodies to make our passage to that blessedness through all the troubles and dangers of this life the more easie and delightful to us And all this thou hast done for those who have been too idle and useless cold and dull inconstant and soon weary of their duty forgetful of benefits and unfaithful to their own promises But thy infinite goodness still continues to do it to make us more diligent more zealous more steadfast and immoveable more mindful of thee and of our own holy purposes that we may be abundant as there is reason in the work of our Lord knowing that our labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. And that is the most sincere and fervent desire of our souls likewise who here most humbly beseech thee by the power of thy holy Spirit to preserve in us a perpetual and affectionate remembrance of all thy undeserved kindness to us Stir up all that is within us every morning to bless and praise thy holy Name That by a renewed serious acknowledgement of thy benefits we may be more and more stirred up to love and to all good works O that the Lord Jesus may be always in our thoughts and in our hearts that we may make him our pattern as he is our hope O that nothing may be so dear unto us in this world as his holiness his humility his goodness and charity his meekness and patience his intire trust in thee and resignation to thee his delight to do thy will O God in hope of that Tit. 1.1 eternal life which thou who canst not lye hast promised to us Fix our minds and affections more steadfastly on that glory wherewith he is crowned by his obedient suffering of death that we may never be weary nor faint in our minds under any sufferings for well doing but continuing faithful to the death may also receive the Crown of Life Accept we pray thee of this our bounden duty and service pitty our great weaknesses pardon all our sins and negligences and deny us not the grace of thy holy Spirit which we have implored to inable us to amend our lives according to thy holy Word But after thou hast refreshed us with quiet sleep this night let us feel it moving our hearts to the same holy thoughts acknowledgements desires and resolutions which it now works in us through thy mercy declared to us in Christ Jesus In whose words we conclude our Prayers saying as he hath taught us Our Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy Name Thy kingdom come Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil c. PRAYERS FOR FAMILIES MVNDAY MORNING WE humble our selves O Lord of heaven and earth before thy glorious Majesty we heartily acknowledge thy Sovereign Dominion over us all creatures we praise and magnifie thy eternal Power Wisdom Goodness and Truth and we render thee our most unfeigned thanks for the innumerable benefits which thou in thy bounty hast loaded us withal Above all for the gracious declaration thou hast made of thy good will to us in Christ Jesus by whom thou hast invited and incouraged sinners to return to thee and directed them in the way to everlasting bliss We blush to think of our shameful forgetfulness of thee and ingratitude to thee to whom we owe all that we have in this world and all our hopes in the next We most humbly implore thy tender mercies in the forgiveness of all our sins whereby we have offended either in thought word or deed against thy just and holy Laws For we are truly sorry for all our mis-doings we utterly renounce whatsoever is contrary to thy will and here devote our selves intirely to the obedience thereof Accept O most merciful Father of this renewed Dedication which we make of our whole man body soul and spirit to thee And as thou dost inspire us with holy resolutions so accompany them always with the assistance of thy grace that we may be able every day to offer up our selves more sincerely and more cheerfully to thee with more pure affection and hearty devotion and ready disposition to thy service We adore thy great grace which hath brought salvation to us and Tit. 2.11,12 teaches us that denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world We will indeavour O Lord to preserve a grateful sense of thy mighty love in our mind and to follow the doctrine and example of thy Son Christ Jesus as becomes those who have such a blessed hope and look for so great Salvation at the day of his glorious appearing We desire above all things to be so pure and undefiled so meek and gentle so humble and lowly so just and merciful so peaceable and patient contented and thankful as our blessed Lord and Master was And we hope that thou wilt fulfil all the gracious promises he hath made to us which we esteem far greater treasure than thousands of gold and silver They are the support the comfort the satisfaction of our hearts We ask nothing but that it may be to thy servants according to his Word Thou hast mercifully kept us the last night blessed be thy continued goodness and raised us again to see
to us Though we are not worthy we confess of the least regard from thee whom we have so much neglected and whose love and clemency we have too often abused yet we hope thou wilt accept of this small oblation which we make of our selves our souls and bodies with unfeigned devotion to thee Pardon and forgive us we most humbly beseech thee all our past offences the remembrance of which is grievous and bitter to us and vouchsafe us the grace of thy holy Spirit to enable us to do thy will with greater care and diligence for the time to come Let it ever accompany and assist us according as thou seest us sincerely desirous and studious to please thee in all the actions of an holy life in chastity and temperance justice and fidelity mercy and charity meekness and humility patience and contentedness â—nnocency and peace and in contiâ—ual prayers praises and thanksgiâ—ings to thee the Father of mercies in Christ Jesus our Lord. We see how frail and weak our bodies and all their enjoyments are and therefore we the more earnestly desire to have our souls inriched with those immortal treasures of thy Divine Grace O that we may never cease most zealously to seek and pursue them and that we may think our selves happy enough in the possession of them and may rejoyce in nothing so much as in Rom. 6.22 having our fruit unto holiness that in the end we may attain eternal life Suffer not our spirits to sink too deep into the love of any the dearest good that we have in this world But rather by all these earthly things which thy goodness affords to us for our support ease and delight raise our minds and hearts to those Celestial enjoyments which will yield us eternal pleasure and satisfaction Set our affections principally on things above Make us so wise as to provide our selves friends that never dye and to be still preparing our selves by all divine qualities for their company and society that so they may Luk. 16.9 receivs us when we remove hence into their everlasting habitations Thus now we commend our selves this day to thy most gracious protection guidance and blessing hoping that the same good providence which preserved us and our habitations the last night from fire and innumerable other dangers for which we thank thee will guard us this day from all evil and mischief and bring us in safety of soul and body to praise thee in the Evening Help us thankfully to receive and soberly to use all thy mercies quietly to do our own business and bear our several burdens to be just in our dealings innocent and harmless â—n our conversation well pleased â—ith the prosperity of our neighâ—ours desirous of the good of all â—he world especially that they may all love and honour and joyn â—ogether in magnifying and praising â—hee our Lord and Governour whose name is excellent in all the earth More particularly we implore thy mercies towards these Kingdoms wherein we live Remember not against us our high provocations Spare us good Lord and have patience with us if perhaps we may bring forth better fruit becoming thy holy Gospel and all the care thou hast taken about us Indue our Soveraign with much Wisdom from above that he may always discern what is most profitable for us and earnestly pursue it to the utmost of his power Bless him in his Relations in his Councellors in his Judges and all other Officers in all the Nobility Clergy Gentry and Commonal y of the Realm that every one of them may uprightly and zealously do their duty to the maintenance of thy true Religion and the increase of Piety Honesty and Brotherly love among us Comfort and relieve all those that are in any distress trouble or anguish either of body or of mind And give us tender and pitiful hearts towards them ready to help and ease them according to our abilities That we following the example of our merciful and compassionate High-Priest Christ Jesus may have now the benefit of his intercession for us and at last be admitted into the high and holy place where he is In whose blessed Name and words we conclude our Prayers Our Father c. At Night WE fall down before thee O Lord of heaven and earth and worship thee in the deepest humility of our souls acknowledging â—hat we are thy creatures who stand infinitely bound unto thee by innumerable blessings and favours which thou hast conferred upon us out of thy mere bounty and goodness We owe our lives to that alone and all the comforts of them together with all the hopes we have hereafter either in this world or the other And blessed for ever blessed be thy merciful kindness for giving such glorious hopes by the Lord Jesus By his Death and Resurrection by his Ascension and being inthroned at thy right hand and by the coming of the Holy Ghost to be a witness of his Majesty and Glory We rejoyce O Lord in that great salvation which thou hast sent unto us and cannot but be still praising thee whose love hath so abounded towards us beyond all our thoughts and desires Pardon we most humbly beseech thee out of the same grace and mercy all our past neglects of thee our insensibleness of thy benefits our carelesness or inconstancy in our obedience and particularly whatsoever we have done or omitted this day contrary to those holy purposes and resolutions wherein we stand ingaged to thee And vouchsafe us the assistance of thy holy Spirit to inable us to perform those vows better which here we renew of greater gratitude and more chearful and steadfast obedience to thy divine Majesty for the time to come Awaken our minds to frequent and serious reflections upon thy undeserved and most bountiful mercies towards us Touch our hearts with such an ingenuous and dutiful sense of them that our wills may be overcome to yield themselves wholly and absolutely to thee And that we may feel them constantly provoked to love and good works help us ever to set our Lord and Master by whose name we are called before our eyes and to admire his unspotted purity his condescending humility his tender-hearted charity his meekness of wisdom his hearty trust in thee and resignation to thee his forgiveness of injuries his patience under reproaches and cruel torments his peaceable and contented spirit his acknowledging thee in all things and ever seeking thy Honour and Glory That being in love with all these and valuing them more than life it self we may never cease our indeavours till this Image of our dear Lord and Master be formed in our hearts O Lord Jesus favourably behold these holy desires wherewith our souls aspire towards thee Preserve and maintain them incourage and increase them make them restless and unwearied till they be accomplished in the injoyment of this great blessedness Thou who hast begun a good work in us finish and compleat it we most humbly and earnestly beseech
thee Give us thy grace continually for our seasonable relief and succour that we persevering in well doing may have a solid and lively hope in our death of coming to see thee in that high and holy place where thou livest and reignest for evermore As for all the things of this life we most heartily refer our selves to thy Fatherly Wisdom and Goodness O Lord God Almighty trusting thou wilt order for us that which is most convenient and bless our honest diligence with such a competent portion of them that we may have the more leisure to give continual praise honour blessing and thanksgiving to thee whose mercies endure for ever Accept we pray thee of our thankful acknowledgements at this time for those which this day hath added to the rest of thy benefits which thou hast been continually heaping upon us ever since we were born And let all the people of the earth praise the name of the Lord which is highly exalted above all blessing and praise O that all the Kingdoms of the World would become the Kingdoms of our Saviour Christ and that all they who acknowledge his authority would religiously obey his holy Laws that all wars oppression and cruelty may cease among Christian people and they may live together in brotherly love and unity Make our Soveraign and all his Realms happy by a great increase of true knowledge godliness and vertue every where Bless all our friends forgive our enemies requite all the kindness of our benefactors comfort every one of thy desolate and afflicted servants and turn their mourning and heaviness into joy and gladness at the last And now that we are going to repose our selves keep us we beseech thee and all belonging to us in safety Refresh our wearied spirits with comfortable rest and sleep and when we awaken again in the morning direct our thoughts immediately to thee our merciful preserver and help us to imploy all our renewed strength to thy honour and glory according to thy will declared by Christ Jesus in whose blessed Name and Words we commend our selves to thy infinite Mercies Our Father c. PRAYERS FOR FAMILIES WEDNESDAY MORNING O Most great and mighty Lord the Possessor of heaven and earth All the Angels worship and adore thy incomprehensible Majesty with the humblest reverence and rejoyce in rendring praise blessing and thanksgiving to thee the Father of spirits For thou hast created all things and in wisdom hast thou made them all and spread thy tender mercies over all thy works It is no less our happiness than our duty to joyn our hearts and voices with that heavenly host most gratefully to acknowledge thy bounty to us among the rest of thy creatures and thy particular grace and favour in our Lord Jesus Christ our most merciful Saviour and Redeemer We can never sufficiently admire that love which gave him to dye for us and hath made him the Lord of life and glory that he may be the Author of eternal Salvation to all those that obey him All the love we have is too little to give thee to whom all our services are due by a former title Our highest praises fall infinitely short of thy most excellent Majesty and we are ashamed of the most affectionate thanks we can render to thee for those inestimable benefits which thou hast conferred on us and so long continued to us How much greater reason then have we to be abashed at our shameful ingratitude and disobedience to thy divine Majesty for which we are heartily sorry and do now most earnestly repent our selves of it unfeignedly resolving and protesting to be more faithful to thee for the time to come Pardon us therefore Good Lord and receive us unto thy mercy Accept of our renewed vows to study and do our duties conscientiously towards thee and towards all men And as thou hast excited these holy desires and purposes in our hearts so inable us to perform them constantly in the whole course of our life Our blessed Saviour hath told us thou wilt as readily give thy holy Spirit to them that ask it as a Parent will give bread to his hungry children O Father of mercies let it be unto us according to his Word Cherish these little beginnings of goodness which thou seest in our souls and prosper all our endeavours to attain a greater measure of it And since at the best we are but unprofitable servants and can do no more than was our duty to do inable us to do every thing which thou hast commanded us heartily with good will and true love to thy service We know this is all that can in the least commend us to thy free grace and favour and therefore we most humbly again dovote our selves to do thy Will with a cordial affection to it We would ever approach unto thee with delight and pleasure and feel it the joy of our hearts to think of thee to praise thee to give thee thanks and to offer our selves with absolute resignation to thee O that Mercy may always please us as it pleaseth thee that we may be strictly just and righteous may chearfully pass by injuries freely deny all desires of sinful pleasures willingly submit to thy fatherly corrections and perform the duties of our several relations with singleness of heart Render us so mindful of the great love of our Lord and Master Christ that we may be zealously concerned for his glory and use our utmost diligence to do Him and his Religion some honour in the world delighting to commemorate his Death and Passion making a joyful sacrifice of our souls and bodies to him and desiring most earnestly that his kingdom may come and all mankind submit themselves to his Government Fulfil most merciful Lord all our petitions and as thou hast mightily protected us and our dwellings this last night from fire and thieves and whatsoever might disturb our repose blessed be thy goodness so accompany us all this day with thy blessing that we may please thee in body and soul and be safe under thy defence who art nigh to all those that call upon thee that call upon thee in truth And O that all those who are forgetful of their duty to thee may be awakened to a lively sense of all thy benefits and fill the whole world with thy praises Stir up especially the minds of all Christian people to inquire after and follow the Truth as it is in Jesus abandoning all vice and wickedness and exercising themselves to have consciences void of offence towards thee and towards all men And dispose the hearts of all their Kings and Princes to make themselves the greatest examples of Christian Piety to all others Bless these Kingdoms and indue our Soveraign with such excellent Wisdom and holy Zeal for thy honour and glory that we may see many good days under his Government O that true Religion Justice Mercy Brotherly kindness and all things else that are praise-worthy may so flourish among us that we
most high and most willingly joyn our hearts and voices this Morning together with all the host of heaven and earth to laud and praise thy glorious Name and give thanks unto thee whose mercy endureth for ever We think our selves happy that we know thee and that we live under the care and providence of thine Almighty and most wise goodness and that we have a good hope not only of thy blessing and favour here but of life for evermore Blessed be thy Name for sending thy Son Jesus to give us these hopes by his Death and Resurrection and Ascension to heaven and the coming of the holy Ghost Blessed be thy Name who hast trained us up in his Religion and given us the means and opportunities to know that love of thine which passes knowledge We thank thee for all the blessed operations and motions of thy holy Spirit in our hearts and that thou hast so early inclined us to fear thee and love thee and place our contentment and satisfaction in thy love and favour which is better than life it self And that thou hast also added a number of other mercies for our comfortable subsistence in this world having granted us so long health peace and plenty a great many friends loving relations and acquaintance and continued the enjoyment of them to this day though we be so unworthy of the least of thy favours We thank thee O God that now thou hast graciously renewed thy kindness unto us in protecting us the last night from all the powers of darkness and every evil accident and raising us up this morning in health and safety to praise thy goodness More especially we praise thee for any sense we have of these thy mercies humbly waiting on thee for the increase of it and for thy gracious pardon of all our unthankfulness and undutiful behaviour towards thee which we most heartily bewail and desire and will endeavour to amend And for that end we implore the help of thy holy Spirit which our Lord hath incouraged us to ask of thee and told us thou wilt not deny to those that earnestly seek it and continue to knock importunately at the gate of Mercy for it We believe all his promises to be faithful and true and therefore humbly depend on thy mighty Power to strengthen and inable us to do our duty towards thee and towards all men with care and diligence and zeal and perseverance to the end Indue us good Lord with a spirit of true and servent devotion to thee our Creator and Redeemer with upright just and charitable hearts to all our Neighbours and with temperate contented and humble minds in every condition and state of life unto which thou shalt please to call us Help us to be meek and gentle in our conversation prudent and discreet in ordering all our affairs good and useful in every relation observant of thy fatherly providence in every thing that befals us grateful for thy benefits patient under thy chastisements and readily disposed to every good word and work Preserve in us a constant remembrance of thine all-seeing eye of the many promises and vows we have made of fidelity to thee of thine inestimable love in Christ Jesus whereof thou hast given us so many pledges and of the great account we must give to him the Judge of all at the day of his appearing That so we may continue steadfast and unmoveable and be abundant in the work of the Lord knowing that our labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. Deliver us we beseech thee from all inordinate cares and desires from vain hopes and causeless fears and so dispose our hearts that death it self may not be dreadful to us but we may welcome it with a chearful countenance when and howsoever it shall approach O that our hearts may be so firmly settled and established in the true Religion and our minds kept so free from all delusions that nothing may afright us or shake our constancie But we may rather chuse to dye than dishonour our Saviour who dyed for us We resign our selves to thy wisdom and goodness who knowest what is best for us hoping thou wilt 1 Corinth 10.13 never suffer us to be tempted above what we are able and wilt with the temptation also make a way to escape that we may be able to bear it We commend unto thee likewise all mankind especially thy Church and chosen people these Kingdoms more particularly of which we are members that we may be all faithful to our Lord Christ and zealous of good works Bless our Soveraign his Councellors his Ministers and all imployed in publick business whether Spiritual or Civil that they may be conscientiously industrious and whatsoever they do may prosper for the good of all those who are committed to their charge Be gracious to all our friends and those who are dear unto us Keep us all in thy fear and love and obedience while we live and make us willing to dye and to be with Christ which is best of all Guide us good Lord and govern us by the same spirit of wisdom and goodness that we may be so united to thee here as not to be eternally separated when thou art pleased to order our departure hence But that we all at last may have an happy meeting in the other and better world to dwell with thee in love and joy that shall never dye through Christ Jesus our blessed Lord and Saviour in whose words we still beseech thee to hear us Our Father c. At Night ALL honour and glory thanks and praise love and service be rendred by us and all other reasonable creatures to thy great and glorious Majesty O Lord who hast brought us into the world and preserved our life most tenderly to this moment and made it easie and comfortable to us by more mercies than we can number And to all the former hast added those of this day which we have passed in peace and health and safety blessed be thy never-ceasing goodness Above all we acknowledge thy unconceiveable love in Christ Jesus by whom thou hast made a gracious provision for our souls and their everlasting happiness in the other world Having sent him to us with the promises of eternal life and to be the Way and Director to it and given him to dye that he might seal his promises with his bloud and raised him again from the dead that our faith and hope might be in thee O God 1 Cor. 2.9 Eye had not seen nor ear heard neither did enter into the heart of man the things which thou hast prepared for them that love thee We love thee O Lord and give our selves both souls and bodies to thee most earnestly desiring to be inspired with such a sense of thy infinite goodness that we may love thee more and serve thee better with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our strength We confess we have not walked worthy of the great
who hath taught us when we pray to say Our Father c. Another short Prayer for the Morning O Blessed God be thou acknowledged praised and loved by us and all the children of men on whom thou pourest continually thy benefits They are great and many we know not the summe nor understand the value of them The Angels themselves admired thy love to us in Christ Jesus and are become ministring Spirits to them who are heirs of Salvation We enjoy the continual fruits of thy watchful providence by which we have been kept in peace and safety the last night and are raised this morning in health and strength both of body and mind beholding all things belonging to us just as we left them with thee when we went to sleep Accept we most humbly beseech thee of this poor tribute of praise and thanks together with the hearty oblation of our souls and bodies which we here dedicate again to thy service Vouchsafe us the continued assistance of the grace of thy holy Spirit to inable us to make good those vows that are upon us of obediently keeping thy holy will and commandments and walking in the same all the days of our life Pardon good Lord all our breaches of this Sacred Covenant Deal not with us according to our sins neither reward us after our iniquities But in the multitude of thy tender mercies pitty our errors and wandrings and help us against our infirmities Give us leave this day to put our selves into thy powerful protection and to depend on thee for thy merciful guidance and assistance that we may be more faithful to thee in the discharge of our duties and never swerve from the rules of Sobriety Righteousness Charity and Godliness So shall we return with joyful hearts to praise thee in the Evening and teach those who shall come after us to continue thy praises in the next generation Amen for thy mercies sake in Christ Jesus in whose words we present the earnest desires of our hearts for our selves and all our Brethren saying Our Father c. A short Prayer for the Evening when there is not time for the longer O God we thy creatures who have tasted liberally of thy bounty many ways and been blessed in our several imployments and mercifully preserved from several dangers this day are here met to joyn together in most hearty thanksgivings to thy divine Majesty which with one accord we offer up unto thee It is the greatest happiness of all we acknowledge that we have any sense of thee in our minds any love to thee in our hearts any remembrance of thy benefits any holy dispositions to obey thee and any hopes that thou wilt pardon our sins and make us partakers of eternal life All that we desire of thee O Lord is the continuance and increase of this happiness that we may be possessed with a stronger sense of thy Majesty thy Soveraign Power thy unsearchable Wisdom Goodness and Truth and be filled with a more ardent love to thee and to all righteousness and delight to do thy Will in every thing and rejoyce in hope of thy immortal Glory As for all the things of this life in a grateful remembrance of thy many past mercies we intirely trust thee for the time to come referring our selves to thy Wisdom and resolving to be content with that portion which thy good providence is pleased to assign us Help us but to be steadfast and unmoveable in the work of our Lord to bring forth all the fruits of the Spirit love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness and temperance and we shall think our selves rich enough and well provided for in every state and condition of life In these holy thoughts and desires we commend our selves to thy gracious protection this night hoping to find them fresh and lively in our souls when we awake in the Morning and desiring withal the happiness of the rest of the world that they may know thee and acknowledge thee and be guided unto and walk in the way that leads to everlasting life through Christ Jesus our blessed Redeemer In whose powerful name and comprehensive words we continue to pray as he hath taught us saying Our Father c. Another for the Evening IN an humble and thankful sense O Lord of heaven and earth of our intire dependence on thee and of the duty we owe thee and the many promises and vows wherein we stand ingaged to thee we fall down before thee this Evening and with all reverence worship thy divine Majesty Giving thee the glory that is due unto thy Name and acknowledging thy multiplied mercies to us particularly those of this day to the conclusion of which thou hast now safely brought us with new resolutions in our hearts to continue for ever in thy faith and fear and love and obedience It is but just and reasonable and we feel likewise by daily experience that it is our happiness to keep thy Commandments and to maintain chearful thoughts of thee and an hearty friendship with thee by complying in all things with thy holy Will O pardon our folly most gracious God in forsaking at any time that perfect Rule to follow our own unruly desires Pardon us we beseech thee for we know not how to pardon our selves such ingratitude to thee and cruelty to our selves It is the grief of our hearts that we have in the least offended thee and our most earnest unfeigned desire to be preserved hereafter in an exact conformity to our Rule in every thing Yea we would delight to do thy Will O God and take such a pleasure in all the acts of righteousness mercy meekness and gentleness to our Neighbours and in praising and acknowledging thee the God of all grace and in living in an humble sense of thy bounty and our own undeservings and in a temperate and thankful use of all thy blessings that we may have the continual feast of a good conscience and the constant comfort and satisfaction of having thee alway for our friend and our gracious Father in Christ Jesus O thou who art the Inspirer of such holy counsels desires and purposes keep them for ever in our hearts Incourage strengthen and increase them that after the refreshment of a quiet sleep this night we may feel them lively and powerful in the Morning and with renewed joy we may still devote our selves to thy faithful service O that our friends and all thy people in every place may partake of the same mercies we desire for our selves and howsoever we are severed one from another in this world grant us an happy meeting at the day of our Lord in whose words we pray thee to hear us Our Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy Name Thy kingdom come Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us And lead us not into temptation but
deliver us from evil c. PRAYERS For particular PERSONS A Prayer for the Morning to be said by any Person alone O Most holy blessed and glorious Majesty of heaven and earth Who art before all things because they all received their being from thee and who art of thy self infinite in all perfections Before thee who art so great and incomprehensible I most humbly prostrate my self this Morning rejoycing in this happy liberty which thou vouchsafest me of retiring my thoughts a little from this world to look up unto thee the Father of my being I adore and praise thy eternal Power Wisdom and Goodness I heartily acknowledge the duty which I owe thee both as I am thy creature and as I am a Christian I bewail all my neglects of it my backwardness unto it or coldness in it I intreat thy gracious pardon and ingage my self for the time to come more heartily and firmly to thy obedience beseeching the grace of thy holy Spirit to inable me to perform all those ingagements which are upon me And blessed be thy Fatherly goodness which hath so often prevented me with that grace I owe to it all the good thoughts and inclinations that are in my heart all those motions that I feel in my soul towards thee as my chiefest good with all the effects and fruits of them in my life and actions which incourage me to hope in thee for the constant help of it to further me in well doing unto the end O thou who hast sent thy Son from heaven to dwell among us who hast not spared his life but given him up for us all who hast raised him from the dead and made him heir of all things who hast given him all power in heaven and earth that he may bless us and do us good deny not the desires of a soul that offers up it self intirely in sincere affection to thy service But assist me so mightily from above that I may make thee my constant acknowledgements likewise for the sensible fruits of his Life Death Resurrection and Exaltation produced in my heart growing more and more in all Wisdom Righteousness Purity Humility Goodness and every other divine Vertue For which end preserve me alway in such a serious temper of mind that the sense of my duty to thee may make me always ready and forward to it and the sense of my weakness may make me watchful and diligent and the sense of my former negligence make me fervent in spirit and the goodness of thy commands may render me more fruitful and abundant in the work of our Lord and the great danger I have escaped and the blessedness before me may make me persevere most patiently in all well doing with joy and thankfulness So that I may be like to Christ Jesus my gracious Lord and Master and do him honour here in this world and walk worthy of the great priviledges he hath bestowed on me and make grateful returns for all the vast receipts I have had from thy most bounteous mercy O that all my acknowledgements and pious affections may be turned into actions of holiness and piety and all my actions may be spirited with zeal and all my zeal be regulated with prudence and my prudence be void of all guile and joyned with perfect integrity of heart that adorning my most holy faith and profession by a religious upright charitable and discreet conversation whilst I am here I may receive approbation and praise at the day of the Lord Jesus and be numbered among thy Saints in glory everlasting This O Lord is the sum of all my desires Dispose me by every thing that befals me for eternal life and it sufficeth I wholly leave my concerns in this life to the wisdom of thy goodness that thou mayst order what thou judgest to be fittest for me I trust thee with my self and all I have hoping thou wilt preserve me from all things hurtful and lead me to all things profitable for my salvation The like I wish to all the world that unbelievers may be translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of thy dear Son and they who are called by the name of Christ may depart from all iniquity Inspire all Kings and Princes of the earth with great wisdom and charity and make them like to thee the Lord of all who art good unto all and pleased in mercy Indue all our Pastors and Guides with true knowledge piety and zeal and give me and all Christian people grace to receive their instructions with a meek humble and obedient heart Thou knowest the sorrows troubles and perplexities of all afflicted persons for whom I implore thy compassionate relief Support them with a lively faith and hope in thy precious promises dispose them thereby to a more strict observance of thy holy Commands and convert their present sufferings into endless joys when they have brought forth the peaceable fruit of righteousness And whilst thou art pleased to continue to me that ease plenty and prosperity which I enjoy fill me with such a sense of thy undeserved goodness that I may be the more ready to do good to those who are in misery and by a sober and moderate use of thy blessings be prepared to endure patiently whatsoever change thou shalt be pleased to order for me into a worse condition Preserve me all this day in innocence and in love to thee and to all men And since in all my ways I acknowledge thee do thou direct my paths and teach me to guide my affairs with discretion Prov. 3.6 Psal 112.5 Thou art my hope and my confidence my satisfaction and my peace my glory and my joy therefore never leave me not forsake me but conduct me safely by thy counsel through all the businesses and enjoyments through all the temptations and troubles of this life to that blessed place where our Lord Jesus liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the same spirit world without end Amen Our Father c. A Prayer for the Evening O Lord the Creator of the world and the Redeemer of mankind Who knowest all things and canst do what thou pleasest and wilt do that which is best for thy children and hast done us a world of good already and promised to do more for us if we be obedient than we can ask or think and hast given us the greatest assurance of the truth of those promises by thy Son Jesus who dyed for us and whom thou hast raised from the dead and given him the promise of the holy Ghost which he hath poured forth abundantly to shed abroad thy love in our hearts I fall down before thee in the lowliest manner to express my fear and reverence of thy Almighty Power my admiration of and submission to thy unsearchable wisdom my hearty love and thankful acknowledgement of thy wondrous goodness my trust and confidence in thy faithful Promises with my readiness and sincere purposes to perform all obedience
O God for the good hope which thy infinite charity hath given us by thy great grace in Christ Jesus and the plentiful communication of the holy Ghost O let thy mercy be upon me according as I hope in thee Preserve me alway in thy love through that abundant grace in thy Son Christ and the powerful presence of thy holy Spirit working in me mightily this day and ever Or after The peace of God which passeth all understanding c. you may say as the Apostle St. Paul 2 Thess 3.16 and the Psalmist 115.12,13,18 NOw the Lord of peace himself give me peace always by all means The Lord be with us all The Lord hath been mindful of us he will bless us He will bless them that fear him both small and great And we will bless the Lord from this time forth and for evermore Amen A short Prayer for the Lords-day or any other to be used at home before Morning Service O Lord the Almighty Creator of the world and the merciful Saviour of mankind who art above all our thoughts and excellest the praises of the highest Angels Thou art greatly to be feared in the assembly of thy Saints and to be had in reverence of all those that are about thee I most humbly desire leave to joyn my self with all those holy ones to worship thy most glorious Majesty to express the due sense I have of all thy benefits by paying thee my most thankful acknowledgements for them to make thee the best oblation I am able and devote my self intirely to thy obedience Since thou hast graciously inclined me to go into thy house and there to set forth thy praise to declare thy loving kindness to resign my self to thy Will to recommend my self to thy Wisdom to submit to thy Government to approve the justice and goodness of all thy Laws to profess that I am thy servant to renounce all thy enemies and to testifie my continued purpose to follow thee against all the temptations of the world the flesh and the Devil be pleased good Lord to pardon all my former failings and at this present to accept my holy intentions and to inspire me from above that I may chearfully perform all these acts of devotion to thy Divine Majesty And vouchsafe more fully to inform me in my duty to correct and amend what is amiss in me to incourage and strengthen my good resolutions and to assist me in all well doing Fill me with a great love to thee and to my blessed Saviour to thy holy Word and to all holy duties to Christian people every where and to all mankind Perfect me in Wisdom in Holiness and in Goodness By all thy instructions by all thy mercies by all thy chastisements and by all my prayers praises and thanksgivings to thee the Father of mercies make me such as thou canst love and delight in and reward at the great day of the Lord Jesus Amen A short Prayer at home after we are come from Church before Dinner I Adore thee again O Lord of Life and glory I acknowledge my dependence on thee I thank thee for thy mercies which thou never ceasest to heap upon me Accept I beseech thee of that dedication I have made of soul and body with praises and thanksgivings unto thee in the publick Congregation Be merciful to all my sins and indue me with the grace of thy holy Spirit to inable me to present my self when I appear again before thee a more holy and devout Sacrifice unto thee steadfastly resolved and chearfully disposed in every thing to be ordered by thy Will For which end be pleased to settle and root in my heart a stronger belief of thy holy Gospel and to fix my thoughts and affections upon that unseen happiness and bliss where our Saviour is That nothing here below may either allure or affright me from my duty nor ever make me remiss or negligent in it but I may be zealous of good works fervent in spirit serving my Lord from whom I expect the reward of an immortal inheritance Preserve in me always a Religious sense of thee And make me now so thankful and sober a partaker of the refreshments of my body that they may not damp the devotion of my soul But I may rather return to worship thee with greater chearfulness and gladness of heart after thou hast added the good things of this world to those of the other according to thy abundant love in Christ Jesus Amen A Prayer in private before the Evening Service O God who art rich in mercy to all that call upon thee and hast bid us 1 Thess 5. pray without ceasing and rejoyce evermore In obedience to thy command and incouraged by the goodness of thy Nature thy gracious invitations thy most precious promises and the long experience that I and others have had of thy bounty I am bold again to approach into thy presence to renew my requests unto thee to bless thy holy name to make profession of my love to thee and readiness in all things to obey thee Quicken my thoughts and affections O Lord to a free and joyful attendance on thee in all holy duties that no dulness nor weariness may seize upon my spirit but such a fervent love to thee may possess my heart as may render all the imployments of Religion my delight and the doing thy Will both now and alway my greatest pleasure And pass by I most humbly beseech thee all my unwilling indispositions Accept of such service as I am able to render thee And dispose me by all my addresses to thee to be more circumspect and watchful more diligent and industrious more forward and zealous in the performance of every part of my duty That being led by thy Counsel governed by thy Spirit and preserved by thy gracious Providence I may at last be admitted into the company of the blessed there to perfect my praises and acknowledgements and to receive the reward of patient continuance in well doing through Christ Jesus Whose grace be with my spirit Amen Another after the Evening Service is done as soon as there is opportunity to retire alone I Acknowledge thy manifold blessings O Lord which are renewed upon me every moment I owe my life continually to thee with all the comforts of it If I had no more to thank thee for but the mercies of this day they are so many so great that I could never thank thee enough for them Thou takest care of my body and of my soul Thou feedest me at thy house and at my own Thou lettest me taste the bread of Life which came down from Heaven besides the many supports and refreshments which thou affordest for this natural life Several of thy creatures lose their lives to preserve mine and thy dear Son hath not thought it too much to lay down his precious Life for my sake Thou speakest to me and givest me leave to speak to thee Thou instructest me in my duty and
hast made those things my duty which are really my happiness Thou ingagest me to do my self good here by promising a greater good hereafter I praise thee I thank thee and will be ever speaking good of thee And it is a new favour that I may thus praise and bless thee both in the assemblies of thy people and in my own retirements O give me an heart to delight in it and in all other duties of a Christian life That obeying thy holy Gospel in all things and being never weary in well doing I may find thy unwearied goodness extending it self to immortal life and bliss through Christ Jesus O blessed Jesus that thy holy Laws may be more deeply ingraven on my heart O that every truth I have learnt this day may be so faithfully preserved and kept in mind as to become the rule of my life or the ground of my hope and a powerful motive to universal and uniform obedience to the end of my days O that the remainder of my days may be the better for this day and the holy rest we observe here on earth may be a beginning of the eternal rest which we wait for at thy second coming Amen Come Lord Jesus A Prayer upon any Festival in remembrance of our blessed Lord and Saviour O Most glorious God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of lights Jem 1.17 from whom cometh every good and every perfect gift with whom there is no variableness nor shadow of change Thou always wast and ever wilt be happy without us or any of the praises that we or any other creatures are able to render unto thee But it is our duty our perfection and high â—riviledge constantly to acknowâ—edge thee with joy and exultation â—f spirit in remembrance of thy inâ—nite bounty to us and to all world Every day tells us how good thou art â—nd every one of thy creatures calls â—pon us to magnifie thee and love â—hee and serve thee who hast made â—o many of them to serve us But â—his day gives us occasion to remember thy more special and extraordinary kindness to us the children of men which calls for our highest and most exalted praises to be joyned with those of the blessed company above who are never weary of giving honour glory blessing and thanksgiving to thee not only in their own behalf but even for thy goodness to us thy unworthy creatures O how great was that love which an Angel came to give notice of and which a multitude of an heavenly host celebrated with songs of praise when thou sentest thy dear Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and in the form of a servant to minister to our necessities to relieve our misery and to be the way to everlasting life O the riches of thy grace that after mankind had forfeited all the rights of thy creatures and had contemned and despitefully used many of thy messengers thou wouldst in much mercy create us again unto good works and for that end appear thy self most gloriously among us in the person of Jesus Christ I thank thee O Lord that thou hast assumed our Nature unto such a nearness to thee as we are not able to understand I thank thee for the glad tydings which Jesus hath brought us from heaven that thou wilt be reconciled unto us and admit us again into thy favour and that he hath fulfilled all righteousness and shown us in our likeness what thou art and what thou wouldest have us to be I thank thee for the redemption which he hath wrought for us by his bloud And I rejoyce in the victory which he hath got over hell and the grave by his Resurrection from the dead and in his glorious triumph when he ascended up on high and led captivity captive and in his royal Power wherewith he was invested when he sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high and in those gifts which he received for men even for the rebellious also that the Lord God might dwell among them Blessed be thy eternal goodness which hath made him a most merciful and compassionate High-priest and given us so great assurance that he is become the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him Blessed be thy goodness which hath sent the holy Ghost and continued to us a succession of Pastors and Teachers to be the Guides of our Souls and to minister to us those pledges of thy love which our Saviour hath left us in the Communion of his Body and Bloud O God that my heart could ascend up to heaven in these devout meditations and in ardent love to thee who hast loved us in such a marvellous manner O that it might never come down again to this world but with desires left in it aspiring towards heaven Touch my soul so powerfully with a sense of these things that with an hearty and zealous affection it may ever look towards thee and towards my dear Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus O â—ix mine eyes on him as he was here on earth that I may learn of him his humble and meek obedience to thy commands and as he is now in heaven that I may trust him for the performance of his precious promises and patiently wait till he carry me to that glorious place where he is inthroned Since he appeared among us to destroy the works of the Devil and died to redeem us from all sin and rose again that he might bless us in turning every one of us from our iniquities and is made Lord of all that he may govern us by his Laws and reward and punish us according to our works preserve in my mind I beseech thee a constant and lively sense of this great end of his whole undertaking for us That he may see the fruit of the travail of his soul in me and my whole life may be a serious study and endeavour to imitate him by purifying my self as he is pure O that thy fear and love and an holy joy in thee may preserve me this day from abusing any of the good things which thou allowest me for the refreshment of my body Give me such a savour and relish of thy Divine Truths revealed to us in the Gospel that I way not glut my self with any fleshly injoyments as if I knew no pleasure more excellent But raise up my mind by them to better delights that I may injoy them with thanksgiving to thee with bowels of mercy to those who are in need with a taste of spiritual and heavenly joys and with hunger and thirst after the fulness and perfection of those joys when our Lord Jesus shall come to show us his glory and entertain us with eternal satisfaction in his incomprehensible love Amen A PRAYER ON GOOD FRIDAY In the MORNING O Most holy and eternally blessed the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom I am incouraged to come unto thee And how shall I come O Lord but in the
be â—eared Psal 130.4 Thou hast sworn â—hat thou desirest not â—he death of a sinner Ezek. 18.32 â—ut rather that he should return and â—ve And hast sent thy Son Jesus â—ith the most indearing arguments â—f the greatest love to perswade us â—o return unto our duty Behold O Lord I return with grief and â—ffliction of spirit that I have offendâ—d thee detesting the thoughts of â—oing the like again and resolving â—o be more careful and diligent and â—rcumspect for the time to come â— let me live to the praise of thy â—mnipotent Grace inabling me to â—erform these resolutions in a more â—rict and exact obedience to thy hoâ— commands the rest of my days â—ercy mercy I most earnestly beg â— Father of mercies for the sake of him that dyed for me not meerly for the pardon of my sins but for a Divine Power to enable me to subdue them I desire not thy infinite goodness to bear me out in rebellion against thy righteousness purity and truth but that by thy goodness I may be partaker of them that my repentance may be accepted and that it may be hearty and stedfast never to be repented of I desire no peace quiet and ease in my heart but in a constant and resolute opposition of all the temptation of the world the flesh and the devil and in the hope I have thaâ— through thy gracious assistance iâ— shall be victorious O settle me I beseech thee in thiâ— holy disposition that I may preservâ— an intire friendship with thee hereâ— after by an happy agreement witâ— thy will and pleasure in every thing And for that end makâ— me strong in the Lord Ephes 6.10 anâ— in the power of his might That bâ—ing sensible of my own great weakness I may more earnestly depend upon thy aid from above by an humble and vigorous faith in thy Almighty goodness Maintain such a clear light in my mind that may keep me from being deceived with the vain shadows and empty appearances of satisfactory pleasure in any thing of this world Fortifie my will with the power of thy Divine love that may overcome all sensual affections that arise in me at any time against thy sacred commands And possess me with such a lively hope of those good things which Christ hath promised in the other life that may make me active â—nd zealous stedfast and unmoveable â—lways abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that my labour shall â—ot be in vain in the Lord. Thou knowest the secrets of all â—earts let thy mercy O Lord be â—pon me according as I deliberately and sincerely chuse to cleave unto thee with purpose of heart Act. 11.23 Psal 51.9,10,11 O cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy holy Spirit from me But hide thy face from my sins Psal 119.80 and blot out all mine iniquities Psal 19.13,14 Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a constant spirit in me Make my heart to be sound in thy Statutes that I may never be ashamed Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins let them not have dominion over me Then shall I be upright and I shall be innocent from the great transgression The words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart shall be accepted in thy sight O Lord my strength and my Redeemer Amen Amen A THANKSGIVING To the DIVINE GOODNESS For any hope of a PARDON After such RELAPSE O Eternally most blessed God the Fountain of all good from whence all creatures derive whatsoever they injoy They are all poor and indigent things full of necessities and wants which are continually supplied out of thy fulness But the wants of our souls are the most lamentable because besides the poverty of creatures we have made a great many needs to our selves by our wilful departure from thee in whom we live and move and have our being We stand in need of thy Pardon of thy converting grace and the greater supplies of thy holy Spirit which we know not how with any confidence to expect but that all these wants are not too big for thy infinite goodness to relieve and that thou hast been pleased most compassionately to consider our miserable condition in sending Christ Jesus into the world and filling him with all the treasures of thy grace and mercy that he might dispense them to us according to our several necessities O how excellent is thy loving kindness O God! How surpassing is thy love that will pass by the insolent offences of thy creatures against thy high authority and Soveraign goodness and not let them eternally perish without a remedy in that forlorn condition into which they have brought themselves â— Blessed for ever blessed be thy sparing Mercy which hath delivered Christ Jesus for our offences and testified thy acceptance of his Sacrifice of himself by raising him again for our justification Blessed by thy name for the gracious declaration which thou hast made that if any man sin we have an advocate with thee 1 Joh. 2.1,2 Christ Jesus the righteous who is the propitiation for our sins I most thankfully receive these glad tidings which are worthy of all acceptation 1 Tim. 1.15 that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners Thanks be to thy tender mercy which hath restored us to a possibility of recovering thy grace and favour The smallest hope of it I acknowledge is more valuable than the greatest abundance of all the injoyments and pleasures of this present life What praise therefore what love what obedience am I bound to render unto thee who hast given me such a good hope of peace and reconciliation with thee and thereby delivered me from the horror of my own guilty mind remembring that I have adventured to oppose my will to thine I ought for ever with the most zealous devotion of a grateful and obedient heart to admire and stand amazed at thy inconceiveable Grace which will not strictly mark what is done amiss but accept of our repentance and amendment in stead of an intire and constant performance of our duty to thee O the heighth the depth the length and the breadth of thy love in Christ Jesus which is the satisfaction of our heart and the joy of our lives which would otherwise be intolerably grievous and burdensome to us whilst we remember that we are sinners Fill me O Lord with a most ardent love to thee now that I here offer up my self in truth and sincerity of heart to be wholly disposed by thee Behold O Lord my will lies at thy feet I would have no will of my own but desire only that thy will may be done And fill me with an holy fear of thee that thy indulgent mercy may not make me remiss and negligent and presumptous again to offend thee But a perpetual sense of my new obligations to thee in reviving my hopes which I had forfeited in thee may render me more watchful more
angels charge over me to keep me in all my ways 91.11 When he walks abroad and beholds all things round about him he may say as it is Psal 104.24 O Lord how manifold are thy works in wisdom hast thou made them all the earth is full of thy riches c. At Meals O taste and see that the Lord is good He filleth our hearts with food and gladness Psal 24.8 Act. 14.17 Blessed be the Lord who daily loadeth us with his benefits Psal 68.19 At Candle-light Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us Psal 4.6 Or God be merciful unto us and bless us and cause his face to shine upon us 67.1 When he goes to bed I will both lay me down in peace and sleep for thou Lord only makest me dwell in safety Psal 4.8 He that keepeth me doth not slumber The Lord is my keeper the Lord is my defence who neither slumbers nor sleeps Psal 121.4,5 In the Night season O happy souls that rest not day nor night saying Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which was which is and is to come Rev. 4.8 O great God! the darkness hideth not from thee but the night shineth as the day the darkness and the light are both alike to thee Psal 139.12 My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips when I remember thee upon my bed and meditate on thee in the night watches Because thou hast been my help therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoyce Psal 63.5,6,7 On a sick-bed or in other affliction It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good 1 Sam. 3.18 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord Lam. 3.26 Blessed be the Lord for my long continued health and all his other benefits Let the remembrance of thy former mercies refresh my soul and incourage my hope and strengthen my patience with quiet resignation of my self to thy good pleasure At the point of Death I have waited for thy salvation O Lord Gen. 49.18 Into thy hand O Father I commend my self who breathedst into me the breath of Life Lord Jesus receive my spirit which thou hast redeemed by thy precious bloud and sanctified by the holy Ghost When he hears a Passing-bell Verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity Psal 39.5 O teach me so to number my days that I may apply my heart unto wisdom 90.12 In a time of Plague O Lord correct us but with judgement not in thine anger lest thou bring us to nothing Jer. 10.24 In a time of War O Lord arise help us and deliver us for thy names sake From our enemies defend us O Christ Graciously look upon our affliction King Asa cryed unto God in this manner when he was going to give battle to a million of enemies Lord it is nothing with thee to help whether with many or with them that have no power Help us O Lord our God for we rest on thee and in thy name go against this multitude 2 Chron. 14.11 In any other publick Calamity Spare thy people O Lord and give not thy heritage to reproach Joel 2.17 A great Offender may often say with the Prodigal Father I have sinned against thee and am no more worthy to be called thy son And with the Publican God be merciful to me a sinner After any mercy received What shall I render unto the Lord for all the benefits that he hath done unto me Psal 116.12 Every day will I give thanks unto thee and praise thy name for ever and ever 145.1 I shall mention no more because I would not invite the Reader to make this sort of Prayer too common For by that means it will be in danger to grow cold and lose its force and efficacie by growing fashionable To that purpose I remember a devout Prelate of our own Bishop Hall somewhere delivers his judgement about this matter But if any one find that he can with profit turn his thoughts this way upon all occasions he may easily invent more Ejaculations The measure of them is as that forenamed person speaks to preserve our hearts in a constant tender and godly disposition which shall be further actuated upon all opportunites by the exercise of our more inlarged and fixed devotions A Prayer for Submission to God in case of any great loss in a mans Estate Relations or Friends O Most Holy holy holy the Supreme Lord and Governour of the world who are unsearchable in thy Wisdom unspotâ—ed in thy Justice and irresistable in â—hy Power whose goodness hath no â—ounds but what thy wise and holy Will gives unto it and art immuâ—able in these and all other perfections the great God most blessed for ever It is most reasonable and agreeable to our nature most profitable and convenient to our interest most satisfactory and suitable to our wisest choice by an absolute and â—uiet submission in all things to thy â—overaign Wisdom Justice and Goodness to declare our fear and reverence of thee our unfeigned love to thee and desires to please thee our trust and confidence in thee and ready disposition to obey thee Thou art too great I know to delight in grieving us thy poor creatures and hast other ways of procuring thy own pleasure than by our misery pain and torment And therefore in a full perswasion of thy unerring providence over us and infinite Charity towards us I here most humbly and freely resign all my thoughts and desires unto thee submitting my self intirely to thy Orders and resolving by thy gracious assistance to rest contented with whatsoever thou appointest The Lord gave Job 1.21 and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the Name of the Lord. Blessed bâ— thy name who hast continued to me so long the enjoyment of so many good things Blessed be thy nameâ— that I had any thing to part withal whereby I may testifie my faith in thee and affection to thee Blessed be thy name that I have any of the comforts of this life still remaining and that they are not all taken away from me I have nothing too great or too dear to be resigned to thee from whose bounty I received all I have and who art my best and my eternal friend O that no repining thoughts may arise in my heart to disorder and discompose my duty towards thee or towards my neighbour But help me rather to think wherein I have offended thee and carefully to amend it to place my affections more stedfastly on those unmoveable things which are above to lay up my treasure and hope in heaven and to prepare my self by perfecting my purity and thankfulness and paâ—ience and all other vertues to be translated thither where our life is â—id in thee with Christ Jesus I â—hank thee O Father of Mercies that thou hast given us such everlasting consolation through thy Grace in him Every day will I bless thee
graciously accept such holy resolutions and certainly further and succeed them as the effect of thine own inspirations Suffer not his spirit to be oppressed under the sense of his great weakness or discouraged though he fall short of his present holy desires purposes and endeavours But bear him up in a strong perswasion that by sincere constant and unwearied diligence in well doing he shall at last obtain the victory through the power of thy holy Spirit assisting of him Make him see how reasonable it is most gratefully to acknowledge thy infinite Mercies if after much pains many conflicts and long patience he may recover a state of friendship with thee That so he may not spend his time in dejected complaints nor ever faint in his mind or despond in the Christian course but still pursue the compleat mastery over himself in assured hope that thou wilt be with him and never leave him or forsake him We bless thee for that instance of thy exceeding grace to the chiefest of sinners which thou gavest in thy holy Apostle of us Gentiles Who was a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious 1 Tim. 1.13,16 but for this cause obtained mercy that in him Christ Jesus might show forth all long-suffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting Above all we bless thee for our Lord Jesus himself whom thou sentest in our flesh that he might save sinners We bless thee for all the miraculous cures which he wrought on miserable creatures whereby he demonstrated his great charity towards us For the gracious proclamation he hath made of thy pardoning mercy and for the Universal invitation which he hath given to every one Rev. 22.17 that is a thirst to come and take the waters of life freely 1 Joh. 2.2 We thank thee for his death upon the Cross Luk. 23.34 that he might make a propitiation for the sins of the whole world Act. 5.31 2 Cor. 5.18 for his great love in praying then for his bitterest enemies Matth. 26.28 Heb. 7.25 that they might be forgiven 2.17 4.15 for his resurrection and exaltation at thy right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance and forgiveness of sins And that he hath given to his Apostles the Ministry of reconciliation and admitted us into a Covenant of mercy and forgiveness by Baptism into his Name and hatâ— left us the cup of blessing whicâ— is the New Covenant in his blouâ— for the remission of sins and given power and authority to his Mâ—nisters to absolve all those who heartily repent and unfeignedly believâ— his holy Gospel We thank thee O Lord for the assurance we havâ— that he lives for ever to make interceâ—sion for us and is able to save to thâ— uttermost all those that come to thâ— by him and that he is a merciful and faithful High-priest to make reconciliation for the sins of the people being touched with a feeling of all our miseries We cannot doubt O blessed God of thy gracious intentions and desires to pardon us and to make us better when we seriously meditate on all these testimonies of thy Divine love and on that easie and gentle yoke which thou layest on us to love thee with all our heart and our neighbour as our selves and on the promised assistance which we have hopes of from above to inspire inliven and strengthen us to all well doing and patient suffering O that this languishing soul may likewise feel the comfortable influence of all these heavenly Truths reviving and chearing his spirit into a good hope in thee that thou wilt mercifully accept the oblation which he is willing to make of himself to thee and also constantly inable him to offer himself with greater affection and more pure devotion to thy service Scatter all the clouds that darken his mind and lift upon him the light of thy countenance O give him the comfort of thy help again Psal 51.12 and stablish him with thy free spirit 143.11 Quicken him 4.7 O Lord for thy names sake 85.6 for thy righteousness sake bring his soul out of trouble 2 Thess 1.11 Put gladness into his heart 1 Tim. 1.14 and revive him again that he and we may rejoyce in thee Amen Amen O God of all grace fulfill in him all the good pleasure of thy goodness and the work of faith with power that the name of our Lord may be glorified in him according to that grace which was exceeding ahundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus To whom be glory and praise for ever and ever Amen WHen sickness arrests any person it is time for him presently in the very beginning of it to search and try his ways sorrowfully to confess the sins of which he finds himself guilty with a full purpose of amendment to advise with his Spiritual Guide and before his spirit be feeble and broken to recommend himself heartily to our blessed Saviour by receiving the Communion of his body and bloud thereing making a commemoration of his wonderful love and devoting himself again to his service And having set his house in order as thâ— Prophet said to Hezekiah Isa 38.1 and setled his estate to acknowledge Gods great goodness to him hitherto and to submit himself wholly to his good pleasure in such manner as followeth A Prayer in the beginning of a Sickness O Lord the Soveraign of the world who doest what thou pleasest in heaven and in earth Psal 135.6 and delightest most in acts of bounty as all thy works every where declare and art full of compassion and mercy Ecclus 2.11 long-suffering and very pittiful and forgivest sins and savest in time of affliction I acknowledge my self among the rest of thy creatures to be most deeply indebted to thee whose life thou hast prolonged to this time in much health plenty and peace together with the enjoyment of spiritual blessings in the Lord Jesus I thank thee and praise thee all that is within me blesses thy holy name to whose wise and good Providence I wholly refer my self for the time to come placing my intire trust and confidence in thy almighty Goodness Faithfulness and Truth which endures for ever I ought to receive with all thankfulness whatsoever comes from thy hand and believe that to be good for me which thy infinite wisdom and kindness orders and allots for my portion Accordingly I accept with all humble and dutiful affection this thy Fatherly chastisement I acknowledge thy care of me and submit to what thou wilt be pleased to lay upon me If thou thinkest good to exercise me with a longer sickness and to let the present indisposition of my body proceed to a greater disorder not my will but thine O heavenly Father be done I only wait on thee for the comfortable presence of thy holy Spirit to support my soul by faith and hope and patience under all the
him duly in our vocation with thanksgiving Help us so to employ our time in our health prosperity and pleasure that we may have nothing to trouble us in the time of sickness affliction and sorrow But we may quietly and chearfully bear what thou layest upon us looking unto Jesus who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and is set down at thy right hand O blessed Lord deny us not the constant assistance of the holy Ghost to cherish confirm and strengthen our holy resolution to succeed our pious endeavours to give us a quick sense of all thy mercies and a lively remembrance of all thy fatherly chastisements whereby we may be more and more excited to diligence watchfulness and zeal in thy service Preserve us from a slothful and negligent spirit and awaken in us such a sense of thee and of our duty to thee that we may search after thy Will diligently and believe it heartily and practise it carefully and watch against all temptations heedfully and pray fervently and frequently and ponder seriously and thoroughly all the instructions we have received from thee and our many and great obligations to thee O that it may be our choice to attend on thee and that our hearts may be still with thee when our necessities require our attendance to other things That so we may not be too deeply ingaged in the affairs of this life to the prejudice of the eternal life of our souls but we may go on to make it our great business to be truly godly according to the pattern which our Lord hath left us till we be fit to be lifted up to that high and holy place where we believe he is and see the glory which thou hast given him Now to him that holdeth our soul in life and suffereth not our feet to be moved Psal 66.9 to the God of our salvation 68.20 to whom belong the issues from death 30.11 Jude 25. who hath turned our heaviness into joy and put off our mourning and girded us with gladness to him that doth wondrous things the only wise God our Saviour be glory and majesty dominion and power both now and ever Amen A Parents Prayer for a Sick Child O Lord by whose infinite goodness I was brought into this world and by whose indulgent care I have been continued here unto this time in the enjoyment of a great many blessings of the least of which I am unworthy I thank thee that to all other comforts of this life thou hast added the gift of this child whom thou hast preserved in its birth and ever since by a marvellous providence I am sensible that all I have is thine and that I am but intrusted with this as with all other good things which I must return to thee whensoever thou pleasest Lord assist me with the grace of thy holy Spirit which I know thou art more ready to give than any other blessing that I may resign this child to thee if thou art pleased now to call for it with an humble contented patient and thankful mind believing thou knowest what is better for me than I do my self and wilt certainly recompence such meek and quiet submission to thee with as good or better enjoyments than those thou takest away But if thou thinkest good still to prolong its days and continue it with me Behold O Lord the unfeigned purpose of my heart faithfully to discharge my trust and to bring it up in the fear and nurture of our Lord. Endue me with principles of true wisdom and prudence that I may educate it aright Help me to give it a good example and to use all diligence that it may serve its generation according to thy will and at last be returned back to thee wise and pure and just and good fit for the company of the blessed in endless life Unto thee O Lord I most heartily recommend both it and my self whose wisdom knows where it is best to place thy creatures whether in this or in the other world and whose goodness designs to make us happy in both To thee the only wise and good God be all Praise Honour Glory and Thanksgiving with Fear and Reverence Love and chearful Obedience both now and eternally Amen HEre follow Prayers and Thanksgivings on sundry other occasions which we may meet withal in the course of our life In which it will be fit particularly to acknowledge God and implore his mercy towards us And let it be remembred as I said before that it is a part of Christian Piety to take care that alms and acts of Charity to others accompany our addresses to God They are then certainly most seasonable when we desire special favours from him or return thanks for them And hereby as old Tobias said 4.9,11 We lay up a good treasure for our selves against the day of necessity For alms is a good gift unto all them that give it in the sight of the most High A Prayer to be used by one that is going a long Iourney O God who art alike present unto all places who preservest man and beast for thou art good to all Psal 36.6 and thy tender mercies are over all thy works 145.9,10 All thy works shall praise thee O Lord and thy Saints shall bless thee They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom and declare thy power Blessed be thy name for the knowledge thou hast given me of thy wise and merciful providence incompassing all creatures And more particularly I rejoyce in the revelation which thou hast made of thy Fatherly love and care over us the children of men in Christ Jesus Who makes his Angels Ministring Spirits for them Heb. 1. ult that are heirs of Salvation Psal 18.30 In an hearty belief of thy holy Gospel and a sincere resolution to be obedient unto it in hope of that eternal life I commit both my soul and body to thy most gracious protection who art the defender of all them that put their trust in thee I trust thee O Lord with my self and all belonging to me I intirely depend on thy goodness to be with me and prosper me in the way that I go Give thy good Angels charge of me And especially accompany me with the presence of thy holy Spirit to preserve my soul in safety from all evil thoughts desires or passions that may any way betray me in word or deed to offend thy Divine Majesty Deliver me from the danger of any evil company into which I may fall that I may not frame my self to the humours of profane persons but by a pious and discreet behaviour rather reprove them And give me grace thankfully to embrace the company of those who are good if I be blessed with it that I may rejoyce in their society and improve it to my increase in wisdom or pious affections towards thee Bless this habitation also which I leave and all remaining in
will O Lord be done I commend both my body and my spirit into thy hands who art able to make the Sea give up her dead by thine Almighty Word Help me always to hold fast that hope of eternal life as an anchor of my soul both sure and stedfast Heb. 6.19,20 which may preserve me in unshaken comfort and joy at the hour of death it self And looking up to that quiet place whither Jesus our fore-runner is entred for us I may begin those Praises and Thanksgivings which I hope shall have no end but be continued for ever in the company of the blessed in the other world Unto which I beseech thee of thine infinite mercies to bring me through Christ Jesus who is made an high priest for ever Amen A Thanksgiving after it is finished and the party returned home again O Blessed Lord Thou art great and greatly to be praised for by thy word the heavens were made Psal 48.1 33.6,7 and all the host of them by the breath of thy mouth 135.6 107.24 c. Thou didst gather the waters of the Sea together as an heap and laidst them up in the store-houses of the deeps They are all at thy command and whatsoever thou pleasest that dost thou in heaven and in earth in the Seas and all deep places I have seen thy works O Lord and thy wonders in the deep For thou spakest the word and the stormy wind arose which lifted up the waves thereof And again when we cryed unto thee thou madest the storm a calm so that the waves thereof were still Blessed be thy Almighty Goodness which carried me safe through such great and dreadful dangers Blessed be thy goodness that the deep hath not swallowed me up and that I am not gone down into silence Blessed be thy goodness that neither my body nor my goods became a prey to unreasonable men but that thou broughtest me to the haven where I would be and hast now returned me home in safety O God that I may never forget the vows which I was forward to make when I was in trouble Preserve in me for ever an awful sense and apprehension of thy great power who bringest the wind out of thy treasuries Psal 135.7 89.9 and rulest the raging of the Sea Jer. 5.22 and stillest the noise of its waves Psal 120.11 Who would not fear thee O Lord who would not tremble at thy presence who hast placed the sand for the bound of the Sea by a perpetual decree that it cannot pass it and though the waves thereof toss themselves yet can they not prevail though they roar yet can they not pass over it O possess my heart with a greater reverence of thy divine Majesty that I may ever serve thee with fear and rejoyce before thee with trembling Especially make me fearful of offending thee who art so great and powerful and hast done such great things for me and canst do greater and wilt do them as thou hast promised by Christ Jesus Philip. 3.20 who hath power to subdue all things to himself Heb. 2.3 Blessed be thy infinite grace which hath wrought such a marvellous redemption for us by him How shall I escape if I neglect so great salvation How miserable shall I be if after all the dangers from which I have now been rescued I should for my ingratitude and disobedience be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone O God that all thy mercies and deliverances here may by a thankful remembrance and careful improvement of them only prepare me for that glorious deliverance at the day of the Lord Jesus And as by thy good providence thou hast saved me from the violence of storms and tempests and other hazards so by thy grace deliver me from the power and violence of all temptations and enable me stedfastly to persist in well doing and patient suffering unto the end Endue me with such a right sense of my Religion as may make it to be my delight that so I may be out of all danger of being prevailed withal to forsake that which is so sweet and pleasant to my soul O that it may be my guide in prosperity and my comfort in adversity the rule of my life and my great satisfaction in death Sanctifie every condition unto me that sickness or health poverty or riches honour or disgrace may prove real blessings to me and make me profit in piety and vertue And let a great sense of thee and of Religion intermix it self with all my employments Teach me so to behave my self that I may be acceptable in thy sight not only when I make such addresses as these unto thee But whether I eat or drink or whatsoever I do else I may abide in thy love and be approved by thee for a good and faithful servant All which I most humbly beg of thee and whatsoever thou seest good for me in the name of the Lord Jesus by whom and with whom in the unity of the holy Ghost all honour and glory be unto thee O Father Almighty world without end Amen A Prayer to be used by a woman with Child O God the Author of our being the Fountain of life and all other good who hast begun an excellent work in me which no eye but thine sees and no hand but thy Almighty power can finish I adore thy great and glorious Majesty in this and in all other thy works of wonder Thou dost great things without number but art more particularly to be acknowledged in the formation of mankind who are fearfully and wonderfully made after thy own image and likeness Be pleased O Lord in thy infinite goodness to perfect and compleat that which thou hast begun Preserve the smallest degree of life which thou hast inspired Bestow upon it intireness of all its parts and prepare a convenient habitation for an understanding spirit capable of the best wisdom and inclinable to vertue and goodness Prevent good Lord the miscarriage of my hopes and ripen them to a good issue And the nearer they come to their full growth strengthen the more my humble trust in thee and submission to thee and hearty desires to encrease the number of thy faithful people together with my own Family That ought to be the chiefest desire of my soul to be formed my self in all things according to the mind and will of thee my God that so I may be an instrument of doing good to others O thou who hast wrought many holy purposes and resolutions in my heart preserve and confirm them that they may not prove abortive but bring forth continually the fruit of good living Perfect me in Knowledge in Faith in Love and in Obedience Enable me so discreetly and carefully to discharge the duties of all the Relations wherein I at present or shall hereafter stand that I may be a comfort to them and a credit to Religion And howsoever thou disposest of me or them Lord make me well
unto her and her relations further favour Tob. 8.16 and finish their life in health with joy and mercy Renew her strength daily and as that increaseth so make her thankfulness and pious affections towards thee and serious resolutions to obey thee faithfully grow up together therewith Refresh her spirit while she lyeth on this bed of weakness with many heavenly thoughts and delightful meditations of all thy mercies towards her and towards mankind especially with a sense of thy wonderful love in Christ Jesus who was pleased to be born of a woman and to become like one of us that we might be assured of thy care over us in every condition and be made thy children and at last be heirs of everlasting life And when she hath recovered her former strength make her to feel this love still more powerful in her heart exciting her to serve thee carefully in all righteousness sobriety modesty devotion and readiness to assist others especially the poor and needy in the same distress wherein she hath been her self We commend likewise this little one which thou hast blessed her withal unto thy tender care and fatherly love beseeching thee that it may live to be dedicated unto thee and to be instructed in the knowledge of thee and to praise thee as we now do for bringing it into the world and for making it partakeâ—… likewise of thy grace in Christ Jesus Or if it shall seem good to thee to let either of them fall into any further danger enable her to endure iâ— with patient submission to thee trusting even in death it self in thy good providence and in thy precious promises who never failest those that faithfully seek thee Hear us O Father of mercies and pardon our offences pitty our infirmities make us more thankful for what we have received and more fit for thy future mercies either in this life or in the next through thy infinite love declared to us in Christ Jesus in whose holy words we conclude our prayers saying as he hath taught us Our Father c. A Thanksgiving to be used by the person her self when she is able UNto thee O God do I give thanks unto thee do I give thanks for that thou art near thy wondrous works declare Psal 75.1 In my distress I called upon thee and my cry came unto thee 18.6 34.4 I sought thee O Lord 138.3 and thou heardest me 30.3 and deliveredst me from all my fears 66.20 56.12 In the day when I cryed 104.33,34 thou answeredst me and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul Thou hast brought up my soul from the grave thou hast kept me alive that I should not go down to the pit Blessed be God which hath not turned away my prayer nor his mercy from me Blessed be God who hath preserved the fruit of my womb and made me the joyful mother of a child Thy vows are upon me O God I will render praise unto thee I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live I will sing praises unto my God while I have my being My meditation of him shall be sweet I will be glad in the Lord. Accept O most merciful Father of these thankful acknowledgements Psal 17.2 57.2 which go not forth out of fained lips And be pleased graciously to preserve such a lasting and fresh remembrance of thy great mercies in my heart that I may always be joyful in thee and speak good of thy name and trust in thee at all times and still cry unto thee O God most high who performest all things for me Make me studious likewise and forward to bring forth all the fruits of righteousness throughout the whole course oâ— my life which may witness the truth and sincerity of my thankfulness to thee O that I may never be less earnest and fervent in the return of obedience than I have been in desires and prayers to receive thy blessings Dispose me to have a kind and tender care of this infant which thou hast committed to my charge Make me willing to undergo to the utmost of my power the pains that accompany its education Let not the love of ease and pleasure breed in me an aversness to any duty to which both Nature and Religion incline me or give me grace by sober thoughts and a thankful remembrance of the late pain from which thou hast delivered me to overcome it Especially indue me with the greatest love to its precious and immortal soul And help me so to grow and encrease in Christian wisdom and goodness that I may be able to instruct it when it is capable in the fear of our Lord and by meek and gentle admonitions together with a good example in all things to win it to the love of true godliness Or if thou art pleased to take it from me who deserve not the least of thy mercies Lord so moderate my affections and bring them in subjection to thee that I may not undutifully repine at thy providence but in an humble adoration of thy unsearchable wisdom and a stedfast confidence of thy good will towards me resign it unto thee from whom I received it And I also beseech thy Divine goodness when thou shalt restore me to the publick assemblies of thy people again to give me grace to receive that mercy with exceeding joy Prepare my heart with enlarged affection to offer unto thee not only the sacrifice of praise giving thanks unto thy name but all other oblations which ought to accompany such addresses to thy glorious Majesty That they may be but an earnest of my future diligence and zeal in thy Divine Service and oâ— my readiness to do good and communicate unto others whereby I may lay up in store for my self a good foundation against the time to come 1 Tim. 6.19 that I may lay hold on eternal life through Christ Jesus Amen A Prayer for good success in some extraordinary business ALmighty and most merciful father the supreme Governour of the whole world who disposest and orderest all things in heaven and earth with admirable judgement and canst not possibly err in what thou doest nor fail of what thou designest I adore in the humblest reverence of my soul thy most glorious Majesty thy eternal Power Holiness Goodness and Truth which are all beyond my comprehension And more particularly I adore thy unspotted Justice and all-seeing Wisdom which penetrates into the deepest secrets and spies out all the ways of the sons of men and renders to every one of them according to their doings Jer. 10.23 I know O Lord that the way of man is not in himself Prov. 16.9 19.21 it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps Tob. 4.19 The success of all our counsels and actions depends on thy pleasure and when we have devised the way we intend to go thou givest it what issue seems good in thine eyes There are many devices in a mans heart
none besides thee Thou art righteous in all thy ways Job 11.7 and holy in all thy works Thou lovest righteousness and hatest iniquity and art excellent in power and in judgement and in plenty of justice The earth is thine and the fulness thereof the world and they that dwell therein The heavens declare the glory of God the firmament sheweth his handy-work The sun moon and stars praise the name of the Lord for he commanded and they were created He hath also established them for ever and ever He hath made a decree which shall not pass I know O Lord that thou canst do every thing and that no thought of thine can be hindred Whatsoever the Lord pleases that doth he in heaven and in earth in the seas and in all deep places For he is great and of great power his understanding is infinite Praised be thy Soveraign goodness and tender mercy which spreads it self over all thy works O Lord how manifold are thy works in wisdom hast thou made them all And they all wait on thee that thou mayst give them their meat in due season That thou givest them they gather thou openest thy hand they are filled with good The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever the Lord shall rejoyce in his works Thou always wast and ever wilt be the most holy powerful wise and good Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations One generation shall â—raise thy works to another and shall deâ—lare thy mighty acts They all pass away like a shadow but thou art the same and thy years shall have no end For ever O Lord thy word is setled in heaven Thy faithfulness is unto all generations While I live there fore will I praise the Lord I wilâ— sing praises to my God while I have any being I will praise thee O Lord with my whole heart whose name iâ— exalted above all blessing and praise For we cannot know the Almighty to perfection His wisdom is unsearchable and his ways past finding out His name alone is excellent his glory is above the earth and heaven II. O what high dignity is this thaâ— I am admitted into thy presence tâ— speak unto thee the blessed and only Potentate 1 Tim. 6.15 the King oâ— kings and Lord of Lords who only hast immortality O how happy ought I to think my self thaâ— I may draw thus nigh to thee whâ— dwellest in light unapproachable who art so happy in thy own most blessed Nature and who if thou dost but open thy self to any soul and fillest it with a great sense of thee and affection to thee thou lettest heavenly joys into it and makest it happy beyond expression For heaven cannot be separated from thee but wheresoever thou art there is peace and satisfaction joy and gladness and unspeakable bliss Adored be thy divine goodness which hath made me so happy this day as to feel some sense of thee begin to shine in my soul Adored be thy goodness which incourages me still to look up unto thee that I may feel more of thee yea hath ingaged me by innumerable Mercies to continue these addresses to thy divine Majesty O how excellent is thy loving kindness Psal 36.7 O God! 139.17 How precious are thy thoughts unto me how great is the sum of them Psal 46.5 Many O Lord my God 22.9,10 are thy wonderful works which thou hast done and thy thoughts which are to me-ward they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee if I would declare and speak of them they are more than can be numbred By thee I was fearfully and wonderfully made in secret Thou art he that took me out of my mothers womb and didst make me hope upon her breasts I have been cast upon thee ever since and thou hast been my gracious God unto this moment My infancy and childhood was attended with a very careful providence And thou hast blessed my riper years with a continued health and strength of body and mind and abundance of good things to support and refresh me in my pilgrimage through this world to a better life I never have wanted my daily bread even when I was not able to ask it of thee And thou hast bestowed on me many friends and kind benefactors And prevented me likewise by a timely grace and sent me many instructors that I might remember thee my Creator and Jesus Christ my Saviour Into whose family blessed be thy Name I was early adopted and assured of thy fatherly love and tender mercy towards me O how deeply do I stand indebted to thee for all those by whose Counsels or Sermons or Writings or religious Society or godly Examples or charitable Prayers I have been helped forward in my way to heaven Blessed be thy Name for all the means whereby I have been led to the knowledge of thy great love in the Lord Jesus which passeth knowledge For ever blessed be thy Name for sending him into the world born of a woman to be a teacher of righteousness to go before us and leave us a pattern of a most holy life to dye for our sins and to rise again for our justification and then to ascend into the heavens to prepare a place for us where thou hast advanced him above all principalities and powers Phil. 3.10,11 and given him a name above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should how and every tongue confess him to be the Lord to the glory of thee O God the Father Almighty I glorifie thee O heavenly Father with all my heart and soul for inspiring thy holy Apostles and Prophets 2 Cor. 4.6 and shining into their hearts to give the light of the knowledge of thy glory in the face of Jesus Christ I thank thee for calling me to faith in thee for making such great and precious promises to incourage our hope and for disposing me in any measure to be an inheritour of them I thank thee for granting such power to our blessed Lord to fulfil his word for making him a royal high-Priest and appointing him to bless us here and eternally Glory be to thee O Lord most high who hast so often favoured me with the gracious visitations of thy holy Spirit inlightning my mind drawing my will towards thee exciting in me holy desires working many pious purposes and resolutions in my heart giving me a taste how gracious thou art setting before me the hope of eternal life and perswading me by innumerable arguments to entertain those blessings which I should have been forward of my self to have desired Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord Psal 106.2 who can show forth all his praise How often hast thou spared me when I deserved to be punished How many dangers have I escaped From how many assaults of the enemy have I been guarded And how many of his designs have been defeated by an invisible and unobserved goodness which ought for
ever to be acknowledged * Mention all the particular mercies you can remember and then proceed still to admire his loving kindness in all those you took no notice of or have forgotten III. O my God with what awe and reverence ought I to make mention of thy name who dwellest in eternity whose throne is inestimable whose glory cannot be comprehended 2 Esd 8.20,21 before whom the hosts of angels stand with trembling With what humility of soul ought I to acknowledge thy Divine Grace that thou who art so great and highly exalted wilt humble thy self to take notice of such poor things as we are Thou art to be admired with our highest thoughts thou art to be loved with all our heart and soul and strength We ought to render thee most chearful service and confess that we never serve our selves more than when we even lose all thought of our selves and forget all things here in admiring loving praising and giving thanks to thee All that is within me ought to bless thy holy Name O how great ought my joy to be in thy love and in thy Salvation who art worthy to be praised with all pure and holy praise Tob. 8.16 Therefore let thy Saints praise thee 12.6 with all thy creatures And let all thine angels and thine elect praise thee for ever It is good to praise God and exalt his Name and with honour to shew forth all his works therefore be not slack to praise him Yea to thee O Lord I ought to resign my self with the greatest willingness of heart to trust and hope in thee at all times to excite all others to shew forth thy praise and to study to glorifie thee more and more not only by my words but with my body and soul in all the actions of a sober righteous and godly life I can desire no greater honour in this world than that I may live to the praise of the glory of thy grace in Christ Jesus walking worthy of thee who hast called me to thy Kingdom and Glory and behaving my self in all things as becomes one that hath received such pledges of thy love already and looks for thy mercy unto eternal life All thy Laws I know are just and good Thy ways are ways of pleasantness Prov. 3.17 and all thy paths are peace Psal 19.10,11 More to be desired are thy commandments than gold yea than much fine gold 119.165 sweeter also than hony 84.11,12 and the honey comb By them doth thy servant shine gloriously Ecclus. 4.12 and in keeping of them there is great reward He that loveth them loveth life he that holdeth them fast shall inherit glory and wheresoever they enter the Lord will bless Great peace have they that love thy Law and nothing shall offend them The Lord God is a sun and shield the Lord will give grace and glory no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly O Lord of host blessed is the man that trusteth in thee IV. But the more O Lord I speak in thy praise the more I am sensible I reproach my self who have not given thee that honour and glory that fear and love that hearty service and chearful obedience which is due unto thee so many ways I stand condemned out of my own mouth of most fearful ingratitude to thee from whom I have received so many and such inestimable benefits How seldom have I thought of them Or how little have they affected my heart How loth have I often been to dispose my self to commemorate the greatest love of my dearest Saviour And how soon am I weary even of the most delightful imployment of praising and blessing thee With whom I profess that I desire and hope to live for ever and praise thy Name O the vanity of my mind the looseness of my thoughts the inordinateness of my desires and unruliness of my passions the discontent of my spirit the unstedfastness of my resolutions the breach of my promises the coldness of my prayers and the dulness of my meditations the loss of my precious time and neglect of good opportunities my eagerness after these worldly enjoyments and feeble indeavours after heaven I am astonished to think that ever I should distrust thy providence who hast been so tenderly careful of me or be unthankful for thy benefits which are every moment poured forth so plentifully upon me or be uncharitable to my Neighbours when I stand in so great need of mercy my self and live continually upon thy bounty or abuse any of those blessings which thou canst so easily deprive me of or wholly spoil the comfort of them And yet alas how prone have I been to deceive my self with shadows of Religion and Devotion towards thee and to content my self with the praises of those divine perfections which I have not so zealously studied to imitate O how unlike am I to the humble the meek the pittiful and the patient Jesus Yea how insensible am I of his incomparable love which made him to lay down his life for me How many ways have I injured my Neighbours or neglected to do them good I am conscious to my self of sundry offences not only against the rules of righteousness and mercy but of sobriety and godliness * Here mention the particular acts of intemperance uncharitableness or any else you have been guilty of And thou to whom all things past are present who searchest the hearts and tryest the reins knowest a great deal more My secret sins are no more hid from thee than those which are most open and manifest And they are all the more grievous because a petty temptation hath too oft prevailed to make me neglect my duty towards thee O how shameful is it that a small gain or a momentany pleasure or the good word of men whose breath is in their nostrils should be preferred before that honour which I owe to thee and those infinite treasures of thy grace in Christ Jesus and that immortal life and glory which he hath promised to the faithfull And all this against the clear understanding which thou hast given me of thy will against many holy purposes resolutions and vows of absolute obedience to it in all things and against the tastes I have had how gracious thou art and how good it is to keep thy commandments V. I blush O Lord to lift up mine eyes towards heaven To me belongs nothing but shame and confusion of face in which I ought to lye down before thee if I reflected only upon the baseness and vileness of my descent being the off-spring of disloyal parents who were rebels and traytors against thy divine Majesty This is a just reproach and disgrace to the best of us We were tainted in our first Father who hath left a foul blot and stain upon our Nature and we feel that weakness in our reason that strength and violence in our passions and that forwardness in our wills to follow
waves and the tumult of the people The Lord giveth strength to his people the Lord blesseth his people with peace When Plenty is restored say Psal 65.9,12 132.15 147.14 Joel 2.23 Thou hast visited the earth and blessed it thou hast made it very plenteous Thou hast crowned the year with thy goodness and thy clouds have dropt fatness Thou hast blessed our provision abundantly and satisfied our poor again with bread Blessed be the Lord who hath caused the former and latter rain to come down for us in their season and filled us with the finest of the wheat We eat in plenty and are satisfied Praised be the name of the Lord our God that hath dealt wondrously with us But above all thy great and glorious name is to be praised for thine incomprehensible mercy in thy Son Christ whom thou hast sent unto us with better blessings to be the Mediator of our peace with thee to heal all the diseases of our sinful natures and to deliver us from the power of Satan and of Hell and Death and to restore us to an immortal life Thanks be to thine infinite goodness which hath taught us by him the way of truth and righteousness and made him an offering for our sins and raised him from the dead to the Throne of Glory in the heavens and sent from thence the holy Spirit to enlighten our minds with the whole knowledge of thy will and to shed abroad thy great love in our hearts and to be the earnest of an heavenly inheritance together with our blessed Lord who is heir of all things having the hosts of Angels subject unto him whom he hath appointed blessed be thy Name for the guard and defence the succour and help of all his faithful servants I thank thee O Lord that thou hast pardoned so many offences so graciously importuned me to return to my duty and afforded so long time and space of repentance and waited so patiently for my amendment and continued to me constantly as I must again confess so many blessings which I have abused or restored them to me after a short correction of my faults I cannot wish for any further happiness but only for an heart gratefully to resent thy love and to delight to meditate continually on thy tender mercies that so I may love thee more and thank and serve thee better the rest of my days and live in good hope to pass from all this happiness here to eternal bliss And this grace thou hast likewise promised to bestow upon me yea I feel the motions of thy holy Spirit in my heart exciting in me a sense of thy goodness and provoking me to love and to good works O my soul never forget the loving kindness of the Lord. Let his name be daily blessed and praised with a joyful heart for his goodness endureth continually Psal 52.1 To him I ought to live and not unto my self for he is my Creator and Saviour and Comforter who daily loadeth me with his benefits Therefore I ought to glorifie him both with my body and with my spirit which are his Accept good Lord of the unfeigned desires and purposes which thou seest in my heart in all things to be conformed to thy Will And accordingly assist me always with the renewed influences of thy heavenly grace that I may grow in spiritual wisdom and knowledge of my duty and that I may heartily love it and faithfully remember it and give all diligence to perform it notwithstanding any difficulties that I meet withal to oppose it In able me to maintain a constant sense of thy divine presence to reverence thy holy Name and Word and to walk before thee in all humility thankfulness patience heavenly mindedness and contentedness of spirit And help me likewise to exercise all justice charity meekness and forgiveness towards all men and to live in a sober chaste and moderate use of all the good things of this world Let thy fear always curb the disorders of my passions and thy love be a spur to my indeavours and the example of the Lord Jesus and all the Saints provoke me to zeal and fervency of spirit and the hope of eternal bliss strengthen incourage and make me constant in all the troubles and hardships of this life that persevering in well doing I may finish my course with joy and win the Crown of Righteousness which he hath promised to all the faithful Amen Amen Assist me mercifully O Lord in these my Supplications and Prayers and dispose the way of thy servant towards the attainment of everlasting salvation that among all the changes and chances of this mortal life I may ever be defended by thy most gracious and ready help through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen A short Prayer for a Student I Look up unto thee O Lord from whom cometh every good and perfect gift beseeching thee to direct assist and bless all the labours of my mind Illuminate my understanding O Father of lights and lead me unto right apprehensions in all things In due me with that humility and soberness of mind which thou delightest to reward with more of thy gifts and graces Bestow upon me a discerning spirit a sound judgement and an honest and good heart sincerely disposed to imploy all the Talents which thou hast or shalt intrust me withal to thy honour and glory and to the good of mankind For which end I beseech thee to excite my thirst after useful rather than much knowledge And especially inrich me with the treasures of that inspired wisdom contained in thy holy Scriptures which are able to make me wise unto salvation That growing in understanding and goodness as I grow in years my profiting may be apparent unto all men and I may give a comfortable account of my time to thee my God at the day of the Lord Jesus Amen A Prayer that may be used any time of the day when a person hath leisure to retire O Lord the great Creator and Governor of all things I prostrate my self before thee in the humblest adoration of thy incomprehensible Majesty acknowledging that I depend intirely upon thee praising and magnifying thy most glorious Power Wisdom and Goodness which are conspicuous every where and rendring unto thee my most hearty thanks for all the benefits which thou hast so freely and undeservedly conferred on me Thou art bountiful to the whole world All thy Works praise thee and we the children of men ought more particularly to bless thee and speak good of thy Name who have received singular marks and tokens of thy favour grace above all the rest of our fellow creatures Thou hast made us after thine own Image and indued us with reasonable and immortal spirits and given us a capacity to reflect on thee the author of our being and to be like unto thee in wisdom holiness goodness and truth But above all I ought to remember continually that great demonstration of thy love in sending thy dear Son
life by thy Son Christ Enable us we beseech thee to continue so patiently in all good works that at last we may attain it And bless thine Vniversal Church these Realms the King the Queen and all the Royal Family and grant us thy grace mercy and peace through Christ Jesus Amen Or this BLessed be thy name O Lord for our continued health and food and raiment and friends and all other good things whereby thou maintainest the comfort of this present life Above all we thank thee for thy love in Christ Jesus and the hope thou hast given us by him of better things in another world Vnto which we beseech thee to bring us by hearty obedience to thee all our days Save thine Vniversal Church c. Or this WE thank thee O Lord that we are alive and that we live in health and peace and the enjoyments of all good things that are needful for the support of this present life and for the attainment of a better Continue them we pray thee unto us and continue in us such a thankful sense of thy love that we may live unto thee by whom we live Save thy Vniversal Church c. THE TABLE Prayers for Families ON the Lords day Morning Page 1. At Night 11. A shorter form for the Morning 21. Another at Night 27. A Prayer for Afternoon 34. Another 39. On a Communion day Morning 44. At Night 49. On Munday Morning 57. At Night 62. Tuesday Morning 69. At Night 75. Wednesday Morning 81. At Night 87. Thursday Morning 95. At Night 101. Friday Morning 109. At Night 115. Saturday Morning 123. At Night 130. A shorter form for any Morning 137. Another 140. A short Prayer for the Evening 143. Another 145. Morning Prayer for a particular person 149. For the Evening 156. A shorter for the Morning 163. For the Evening 166. Prayers in the Church A Short Prayer before Divine Service begin 171. Another 172. A longer for that purpose 174. Another more large 177. After Divine Service 182. Prayers at home before Morning Service 183. After it is done 186. Before Evening Service 188. After it is done 190. On any Festival in remembrance of our Saviour 192. On Good Friday Morning 199. In the Evening 206. On any Saints day 215. On ones Birth-day 222. For Resolution in well doing 229. After Relapse into sin 238. A Thanksgiving for hope of Pardon 245. A Prayer for Divine Grace 250. Especially in dangerous temptations 255. For serious consideration 258. Ejaculations on several occasions unto 264 272. For Submission to God in case of any loss 273. In trouble of Mind 277. A Prayer to be used by others for such Persons 283. Another to the same use 289. A Prayer in the beginning of a Sickness 298. A Prayer to be said by others with the sick Person 305. Another at the point of Death 312. A Thanksgiving after Recovery 315. Another to be said by the whole Family 321. A Prayer for a sick Child 327. A Prayer before a Journey 331 In it or at the end of it 334. In case of any hurt received in it 336. For a friend in a Journey 339. A Thanksgiving after a safe return 342. A Prayer for one going to Sea 347. Thanksgiving when he is arrived or return'd safely 351. For a woman with Child 356. When her Travel is near 358. Another to be said by her Relations for her 361. A Thanksgiving by the Company present after safe Deliverance 364. Another by her self alone 369. A Prayer for good success in extraordinary business 373. For one that intends a single life 377. For one that deliberates about Marriage 386. For one that is entring into it 390. Parents Prayer for their Children 395. A Childs Prayer 399. A shorter 401. An Orphan's Prayer 402. A Widows 403. A Servant 's 406. A Prisoner's for debt 410. A Malefactor's 414. A Souldier's Prayer 419. An Aged persons Prayer 421. A large form of Praise Thanksgiving and Prayer when any one would spend a day or part of it in Devotion 425. In twelve Parts First part 431. Second part 434. Third 440. Fourth 443. Fifth 446. Sixth 449. Seventh 453. Eighth 455. Ninth 457. Tenth 459. Eleventh 463. Twelfth 465. The same Devotion continued after the same form 472. In five Parts First 473. Second 475. Third 476. Fourth 478. Fifth 480. A Prayer in Lent or upon any publick Fast In six Parts First 482. Second 483. Third 485. Fourth 486. Fifth 489. Sixth 490. A Prayer in time of Plague 492. In time of War 494. In time of Scarcity 498. A Thanksgiving for any publick or private Mercies 500. Particularly for Health 502. For Peace Ibid. For Plenty 503. A Students Prayer 508. A Prayer at any time of the day 510. A shorter to the same purpose 514. Graces before Meat 517. Graces after Meat 519. Some new Books Printed for Richard Royston THe Christian Sacrifice a Treatise shewing the necessity and manner of Receiving the Holy Communion together with suitable Prayers and Meditations for every Month in the Year and the Principal Festivals in memory of our Blessed Saviour in 12. By the same Author A Friendly Debate between a Conformist and a Non-conformist in 8º the first and second Part. Toleration disapproved and condemn'd 4º By William Ashton of Brazen Nose College War and Peace reconcil'd Or a Discourse of Constancy in unconstant times in 8. The End