of thy mercy I here prostrate my Self before thee begging leave of thee that I may once more worship and adore thee and be admitted into thy Service which is perfect Freedome It is the unfeigned desire of my soul now wholly to attend upon thee and to devote my self entirely to thy Service I am come into thy presence to call my self to an Account for my Sins with Sorrow to bewail them most earnestly to deprecate thy displeasure for them and to renew my Vows and Obligations to thee against them for the time to come to acknowledg my dependance on thee to praise thee for thy Mercies and to make an absolute surrender of my self all the daies of my Life unto thy Service But alas O Lord what am I and what can I do without thee I do not attempt this great Work trusting in any power or strength of my own but in the gracious assistance of thy most holy and blessed Spirit O Gracious God who hast promised to give thy Holy Spirit unto them that ask it send it now down into my Soul and let him bring into my remembrance and convince me of every Sin and every Evil way What I see not teach thou me Search me O God and know my heart O try me and know my thoughts and see what way of Wickedness there is in me and lead me in the way everlasting Make the 〈◊〉 remembrance of my former sins bitter unto my soul Work in me a compleat repentance for them a loathing and abhorrence of them stedfast purposes and resolutions of forsaking them for the time to come and of making an entire resignation of my Self to thy service that so I may obtain the pardon of them in and through Jesus Christ O let not O Lord any of my former great and crying Sins the breach of former vows and promises my impenitency or obduracy or want of suitable Affections for this holy Exercise or any other thing interpose between me and thee this day to stop the current of thy mercy or cause thee to hide thy Face from me in displeasure But gracious God scatter all my Sins which may be as a cloud to hinder my prayers from coming up towards thee and thy mercies from coming down upon me that so in the end of this my Duty I may have an assurance of thy favour which is better than life and all the comforts of it I may have peace with thee and peace in my own Conscience and joy in the Holy Ghost and receiving Power and Strength from thee may run with chearfulness the ways of thy Commandments and serve thee by 〈◊〉 sincere impartial uniform obedience all the days of my Life through Jesuâ— Christ Amen Those whose Piety may inlarge their Devotions may here also fitly use thâ— two Prayers of the Author of the wholâ— Duty of Man for Sincerity and Contrition which because all those perhapâ— into whose hands this Manual may fall may not have by them I shall anon insert towards the end of it Then betake your self to a Seriouâ— and Impartial Examination of your seâ—â— concerning your Sins and if you be a person who use your self to those periodical Returns every Week your inquisition need go no farther than the preceding Week unless it be before every Sacrament when it may be necessary to renew your Repentance for the Capital Sins of your whole Life you may begin with reflecting upon the spending every day of the week where you were in what Company and what your Business or the like which will be apt to afford you fresh remembrances of your Sins and then if you please you may first consider and examine what your thoughts have been wherein they have been exorbitant and sinful what the bent and inclinations of your heart have been and how you have endeavoured to suppress the evil and to cherish the good and when you have found them humbly confess them and lift up your Soul to God in this Ejaculation Lord be merciful to me a Sinner Consider next your Words Whether they have been Vain Idle Corrupt Lying Detracting Uncharitable Passionate or the like Whether they have been mix'd with that Grave Discretion tending to Reprehension and Edification c And then after Confession annex the former Ejaculation God be merciful c. Last of all Examine thy self strictly also concerning all thy Actions thy Violations of the First and Second Table thy Sins of Omission and Comission towards God thy Neighbour and thy Self Examine how thou hast spent thy time resisted Temptations or compli'd with them and what the circumstances of aggravation have been then humbly confess them Endeavour to Work your heart to a true Sorrow and Contrition for them Be angry with your self that you should be so basely led away by the corruptions of your Nature and the pleasures of Sin which are but for a Moment by Evil company or the like Temptations then lift up thy Soul in this manner Thus thus O Lord have I sinned against thee yea I know not O Lord how often I have offended many a times more I am sure I have which I have either forgot or not adverted to O clâ—anse cleanse thou me from my secret faults Here make serious Resolutions against every Sin and especially those thou hast by Examination found thy self guilty of After this fall down up on thy knees or perhaps if the Sins be great and thy humility so too thou may'st think it more proper to prostrate thy self on the ground and Petition the Throne of Grace in this or the like Form following O God the Father of Heaven have Mercy upon me a miserable Sinner O God the Son Redeemer of the World have Mercy c. O God the Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son have Mercy c. O Holy Blessed and Glorious Trinity Three Persons and one God have Mercy c. The Prayer taken out of the Whole Duty of Man magna ex parte O Most holy holy holy Lord God who art of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity how shall I who am nothing but Iniquity dare to appear before thee Or take so Sacred a Name into my unhallowed lips but yet O Lord whom shall I invoke but thee whom I have offended Against thee thee only have I sinned and done these evils in thy sight I know that thou alone canst forgive sin and that we might not be discouraged to come unto thee thou hast publish'd thy self to be the Lord gracious and merciful slow to anger and of great goodness a God forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin yea thou hast promised That if we confess our Sins thou wilt be faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness Relying therefore on this thy gracious promise I am now emboldened to postrate my self before thee in all Humility of Soul and Body desiring to be ashamed and to blush when I lift up mine Eyes unto thee for my Iniquities are increased over
hath vouchsafed to thee in the whole course of thy Life whether Spiritual or Temporal And here seeing Gods Mercies are like himself infinite it will be impossible for me to set down any definite number of them and therefore I shall leave it to every particular person to make his own Collection and Observation But certainly the Spiritual Advantages will be very great to intermix the remembrance of Gods Mercies with the remembrance of his own Sins especially at such a time of Humiliation it will conduce much to the augmenting of his sorrow and contrition for sin for when the pious Soul shall thus reason with himself Lord I have daily provoked thee to displeasure by my sinful and wicked Life though thou hast followed me day by day with thy Mercies I have crucified my Blessed Saviour afresh and put him to an open shame though he thought it not too much to suffer such great things and at last to die for me to rescue me from everlasting Damnation I have grieved thy holy Spirit by my frequent Oppositions of his blessed Motions who would have led me to Repentance and hath often courted and invited me to it and when I have run wilfully into Sin O what earnest solicitations hath he made unto me to forbear Thus and thus O Lord hast thou done for me but yet what unworthy returns have I made for all this love of thine O my Soul canst thou think of this without remorse Canst thou forbear condemning thy self and justifying God And to say Thou O Lord art Righteous but I am Vile and Wicked thy ways are upright and equal but mine very crooked and unequal thou hast not dealt with me after my Sins nor rewarded me according to my Iniquities This was the Method that God himself took with David to work him to a true Compunction of Spirit after he had been guilty of Adultery and Murder 2 Sam. 12.7 8. where you have God reckoning up the Mercies he had confer'd on David I anointed thee King over Israel and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul and I gave thee thy Masters House and thy Masters Wives into thy Bosome and gave thee the House of Israel and of Judah and if that had been too little I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things which in the 13. v. made him with sorrow of heart confess that he had sinned So in Deut. 32.6 Is not he thy Father that hath bought thee hath not he made thee and established thee Do ye thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise Directions for Saturday THings of great moment are never so well performed as when there hath some preparation gone before to usher them in Hence it is that we read John 19.31 of the preparation of the Passover which was the day before it was to be celebrated and Mark 15.42 of the preparation of the Sabbath Moses taught the People over Night to remember the Sabbath Exodus 16.23 and our Saviour himself sends Peter and John before-hand to prepare the Passover Luke 22.8 Here is a memorandum annex'd to this Commandment which is not to any other as if God had said Remember before-hand to keep holy the Sabbath day A Man must not think he can step from his Shop-board or his Plough or his Recreations into the Church and perform a Sacrifice well pleasing to God Alass our hearts are so corrupt and our memories so tenacious of the vanities and things of this World that it is no easie matter to give them a dismission and I fear when we have done our utmost even our best preparations are very mank and imperfect and certainly I cannot easily be induced to be lieve that he designs to sanctifie the Sabbath who without some manifest and necessary hindrance doth not make some preparation for it before it comes You may therefore in order to it make use of this following Method The Forenoon and till Three in the Afternoon which if I mistake not was the beginning of the preparation of the Sabbath among the Jews you may spend as you do other days only it may be your care so prudnetly to dispose of your common Affairs that they may be about that time at an end The remaining part of the day and till you betake your self â—o rest which should be earlier than on â—â—her days that you and your Family may rise the earlier the next Morning â—ou cannot do better than spend in priâ—ate Prayer for Devotion Sincerity â—aith Thankfulness and other Graces which are fit for the Actions of the following day or that you find your self â—o stand in need of or in publick Prayâ—rs in the Church if there be any as 〈◊〉 is great pity there should not in reading the Scripture or some other good Book in Meditation and the like holy Exercises In the close of your Evening Devotions desire God to fit and prepare you for the great business of the ensuing day that he will banish all vain and and worldly Thoughts Desires and Cares that he will fill thy Soul with Affections suitable to thy Duty that so lying down in his fear and being awak'ned to the Comforts of the succeeding day thy Soul may be affected with the Majesty of it and thy Mouth filled with his praise that he will abstract thy thoughts from all the Vanities and Concerns of this World and sublime them to a higher degree of Purity that so beginning his day in his fear thou may'st wholly spend it in his Service and end it in his favour to the Glory of his great Name the discharge of thy Duty the comfort of thy Soul here and everlasting Happiness hereafter in and through Jesus Christ Having thus prepared thy self thou may'st not fear to want the Assistance of Gods Spirit in the Duties of the following day which though thou art not so strictly able to perform as God requires yet thou mayst do it so as he will be pleased to accept in and through Jesus Christ Directions for the Lords Day AS soon as you are awaked in the Morning lift up your Soul to God by some Devout Ejaculations or short Prayer and say This is the day which the Lord hath made I will be glad and rejoyce in it Psal 118.24 Grant That as Christ was raised up from the dead by the Glory of the Father even so I also may walk in newness of Life Rom. 6.4 Because thou livest I shall live also Joh. 14.19 Thanks be to God who hath not appointed us to Wrath but to obtain Salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us that whether we wake or sleep we should live with him 1 Thess 5. â— 10. Knowing that he which raised up â—he Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus 2 Cor. 4.14 and shall present us faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy Jude 24. Glory be to God on high on Earth peace good will towards Men Luk. 2.14 Thou art my God and I will
Counsel and afterwards receive them to thy self in Glory Extend thy Compassions towards all that are in any Want Trouble Sorrow Sickness or other Adversity either of Soul or Body O visit and relieve them according to thine own Mercies Reward those that have done us any good and pardon those that have done or wish'd us any Evil. And now O Lord we desire to mingle praises with our Prayers and to bless and magnifie thy glorious Name for all thy Mercies and Favours from time to time vouchsafed unto us but more especially for the Fountain of all our Mercies Jesus Christ for the means of Grace and the hopes of Glory for all those Temporal Mercies which thou hast given us richly to enjoy For the Mercies of the day past to our Souls and Bodies to our selves and others Blessed be the Lord God which daily loadeth us with his benefits even the God of our Salvation and blessed be the Name of his Majesty for ever and ever Finally we recommend unto thee our good God our Souls and our Bodies all that we have and all that are near and dear unto unto us most humbly beseeching thee to receive us this Night into thine Almighty protection and whensoever it shall please thee that our Souls depart our Bodies receive them O Lord receive them into the Arms of thine Everlasting Mercy in whose presence is fulness of joy and at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore Grant us quiet and comfortable Refreshment by sleep and awaken us again the next Morning with hearts full of the sense and with mouths full of the acknowledgments of thy Mercies that we may all of us return with more cheerfulness to serve thee in the respective places of our calling Hear us O most merciful Father and graciously answer us in these our Requests and not only in these but in whatever else thou knowest more needful and requisite for us Accept we humbly pray thee both of our persons and our Prayers at this time pardon the many frailties and imperfections of our holy things and deal with us not according to their weakness or our demerits but according to the Richness of thy Mercy in and through Jesus Christ for whom we bless thee and in whose Name and Words we farther pray Our Father which art in Heaven c. Thy Grace O Lord Jesus Christ thy Love O heavenly Father thy sweet and comfortable Fellowship O holy and blessed Spirit of Grace be with us remain with us guide defend and comfort us this Night and for evermore Amen A Prayer for Sunday Morning in the Family which with very little variation may be used by any single person in his Closet Hear our Prayer O Lord give Ear to our Supplications In thy faithfulness answer us and in thy righteousness O Thou high and lofty One that inhabitest Eternity Thy Name is great wonderful and holy and thou dwellest in the high and holy place with them also that are of a contrite and humble Spirit howshall we then sinful Dust and Ashes who dwell in Houses of Clay and are very far from that Humility and Contrition which should render us fit for thy Co-habitation dare to appear before thee or approach the place where thine honour dwelleth But though thou art high yet hast thou respect unto the lowly and art pleas'd to humble thy self to behold the things that are done by us poor wretched Mortals here on Earth Thou art pleased not only to permit but to invite and command us miserable and needy Creatures to make known our Requests unto thee and it is our interest as well as our duty so to do In obedience therefore unto thy Commands in a sense of our Duâ—y and in a sense of our own Necessities which can no where else be supplied but from the riches of thy Bounty we are now emboldened at this time to present our Petitions unto thee And because thou hast said that if we confess our sins thou wilt be faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness relying an thy Mercies and gracious Promises we desire in the first place most humbly to confess before thee that we were not only conceived in Sin and brought forth in Iniquity but as if that had been but a small matter we have proceeded on to the commission of many actual Transgressions To Sins of omission we have daily added sins of commission To sins of weakness and surprize sins of wiljulness and obstinacy To sins of ignorance sins of presumption Yea O Lord if we reflect upon the actions of our lives past and seriously consider how we have behaved our selves even from the first use of our Reason to this very moment we can scarcely find that sin which we have not committed that Commandment of thine which we have not often broken although to the keeping of it thou hast annexed a great reward Thou hast not been wanting unto us in any thing that might invite or incourage us to promote the welfare of our precious and immortal Souls Thou hast given us the knowledg of our duty and instructed us in it and followed it with the inward work of thy Grace whereby we might be enabled to perform it and to conquer our sinful Lusts and Desires But O Lord we still retain a darkness in our Vnderstandings an unruliness in our Affections and a crookedness in our Wills bending down towards the carnal part and great proneness to gratifie it Thou hast deterred us also by thy menaces and denunciation of Judgments saying Thou wilt by no means clear the guilty Tribulation and Anguish Indignation and Wrath upon every Soul that sinneth and yet neither have thy Mercies allured us nor thy Threats affrighted us from following the dictates of our own sinful Inclinations but we have gone on in a continual Rebellion against thee as if we meant speedily to fill up the measure of our Iniquity and to hasten our own destruction And now O Lord what can we say for our selves But that we have deserved the severest of thy wrath and displeasure and that it is purely of the Lords Mercy that we are not consumed And now Lord what is our hope Truly our hope is even in thee Thou hast revealed thy self to be a God gracious and merciful slow to Anger and of great kindness repenting thee of the evil We Appeal therefore from the Bar of thy Justice to the Throne of thy Mercy humbly beseeching thee not to deal with us after our sins nor to reward us according to our Iniquities but for thy Names sake for thy Mercies sake yea for thy dear Son Jesus Christ his sake in whom thou hast said thou art well plsased blot out the multitude of our Transgressions pardon all our sins and receive us graciously yet once more into thy favour And as we destre thee to free us from the guilt and punishment of our sins so we pray thee also to free us from the power of them too