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
never dye nor languish in our hearts but be kept alive in their vigour and force by the perpetual inspirations of the holy Ghost We wait upon thee for that promise of our Saviour to assist and promote our sincere indeavours to preserve our souls unblameable in the love of thee our God and of all mankind We heartily desire the prosperity and welfare of every one of them as well as our own O that they were all so wise and happy as to acknowledge and submit themselves to thee by obeying thy holy Laws Especially we desire that all Kings and Princes may become our Saviours Subjects and conforming themselves to his will may be rendred thereby most excellent examples to all other men Indue our Soveraign with abundance of the Spirit of counsel and judgement and the fear of our Lord. Make him happy in wise and faithful Ministers in loyal and peaceable Subjects and in the good success of all his enterprises for the honour of Religion and his peoples tranquillity We commend to thy mercies all our friends relations and benefactors desiring that all who have done us good may be requited an hundred fold here and obtain at last eternal life And all that have done evil to us as we heartily forgive them so we earnestly desire they may obtain thy gracious pardon Together with these we remember likewise all that are in affliction whatsoever it be either of soul or body to whom we wish ease and comfort and seasonable relief that they may rejoyce in the end for the days wherein they have seen adversity In these holy thoughts and desires we now are bold to commend our selves to thy protection this night who hast preserved and blessed us we most thankfully acknowledge all the day past We repose our selves in the belief of thy good providence with which we intrust our selves and all belonging to us We would lay down our selves to sleep with hearts full of love to thee and humble faith and hope in thee Desiring we may awake again in the same manner and find that we are still with thee Dispose us good Lord by the rest thou givest us always to serve thee more zealously with our renewed spirits that after the few days and nights we have to pass in this world we may come to thy eternal rest together with Christ Jesus In whose blessed name and words we still recommend our selves to thy mercies Our Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy Name Thy kingdom â—ome Thy will be done in earth as it â—s in heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our â—respasses as we forgive them that trespass against us And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from â—vil c. PRAYERS FOR FAMILIES FRIDAY MORNING O God most blessed for ever whose the world is and the fulness thereof who needest not any thing that we can give thee for thou givest us whatsoever we injoy We prostrate our selves before thee to make such poor expressions as we are able of the sense we have of thine infinite bounty to us It is but fit and meet that we should acknowledge and praise thee though we can thereby add nothing unto thee It is our happiness to have a grateful remembrance of thy goodness to us and to be knit unto thee in hearty love and dutiful affection all the days of our life We thank thee therefore O Lord of heaven and earth who hast loaded us continually with thy benefits They are great and many more than we can number both towards our bodies and towards our souls for the comfort of this life and our everlasting Salvation in the Life to come For ever adored be thy love in Christ Jesus who hath given us an undoubted testimony of thy fatherly care and providence over us and incouraged us though we have offended thee to address our selves to thee with good hope of thy gracious acceptance of us into friendship with thee again We love thee O Lord above all things We freely offer our spirits souls and bodies to thee with most sincere devotion and the heartiest affection to thy service There is nothing we desire and long for so much as to have a lively sense of thy marvailous love always possessing our hearts that may still constrain us to love thee to obey thee to trust in thee to be content with the portion thy love allots unto us and to rejoyce even in the midst of all the troubles of this life We cannot chuse O Lord when we seriously think of what thou hast done for us but absolutely commit our selves to thee intirely confide in thee for the time to come Since thou hast Rom. 8.32 not spared thy own Son but delivered him up for us all how shalt thou not with him also freely give us all things We depend upon thee especially for the grace of thy holy Spirit for the power of which in our hearts exciting these holy desires and godly resolutions we most humbly thank thy divine Majesty O that we may feel it perpetually bearing us up by the strength of our most holy faith and by the power of love and hope above all the temptations which at any time assault us That we may keep our selves unspotted from the world and no appetite of pleasure of glory or of riches may ever carry us from our duty but we may still cleave to thee in Righteousness Purity Humility Charity and all other divine vertues of which our Lord hath given us so great an example For his sake we hope for a favourable acceptance of these our praises acknowledgements and prayers For we must be still beholden to thine infinite goodness for the least regard to any thing that we can do who are but unprofitable servants And we wait upon the same goodness for thy blessing to accompany us all this day that we may do nothing but what we know is pleasing to thee and may be so prospered protected and assisted by thine Almighty power that we may return with our hearts full of love and thankfulness to thee in the evening again to praise and magnifie thy continued kindness to us Unto which we commend most heartily the rest of mankind desiring that they may all know thee the true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent whom to know is eternal life And O that all Christians would walk worthy of thy high and heavenly Calling that others seeing their good works may be invited thereby to acknowledge and glorifie thee our heavenly Father More particularly we desire the increase of wisdom and goodness to all Christian Kings and Princes and a plentiful portion of the Spirit of thy Grace to all Christian Bishops Priests and Deacons that they may be eminent instruments of thy honour and their peoples good by the authority of their Doctrine and godly Example Make our Soveraign and us all happy in each other by the faithful discharge of our several duties in the places wherein thy
place Attend unto my cry O Lord and give ear unto my Prayer that goeth not out of feigned lips Thou art my God and I will praise thee thou art my God and I will exalt thee And I will delight my self in thy Commandments which I have loved My hands also will I lift up to thy commandments which I have loved and I will meditate in thy statutes Let thy tender mercies come also unto me O Lord even thy Salvation according to thy Word Look upon me and be merciful unto me as thou usest to do to those that love thy Name Order my steps in thy Word and let not any iniquity have dominion over me Amen A longer Prayer in the Church when there is time for it before the begining of divine Service I Cast down my self O Lord in an holy fear and humble adoration of thine incomprehensible Majesty who fillest heaven and earth but delightest to make thy self more peculiarly present to those that acknowledge and praise thee and are desirous to be filled with a constant sense of thee and intire love to thee Blessed be thy infinite goodness which hath incouraged such wretches as I am by the declaration of thy good will to us in Christ Jesus by thy most gracious invitations and precious promises and by the long experience I have had of thy kindness to approach unto thee O Lord most High I accept most thankfully of this freedom and liberty of access with confidence by the faith of Jesus and am here to joyn with the rest of thy servants in extolling and magnifying thy eternal Power Wisdom and Goodness in giving thanks to thee for thy innumerable blessings in hearing thy most holy Word and making our humble supplications for the continuance of thy undeserved grace and favour towards us Compose mine and every one of our thoughts to the most silent admiration of thee Strike our Spirits with a reverend apprehension of the surpassing greatness and glory of thy Majesty Raise our affections to the highest pitch of love and gratitude to thee bow our wills to the most chearful submission to all thy holy commands and touch us with an unspeakable joy when we read and hear thy exceeding great and precious promises Vouchsafe most loving Father the power of thy holy Spirit to attend upon me to draw my mind from all other things and to give me such a lively taste of the pleasures of thy house as may make me ever delight to attend upon thee here and walk with thee in every other place with a perfect heart That so my own 1 Joh. 3.21,22 heart not condemning me I may have more and more confidence towards thee that whatsoever I ask I shall receive of thee because I keep thy commandments and do those things which are pleasing in thy sight Psal 62.1 O my God truly my soul waiteth upon thee from thee cometh my salvation 61.1 Hear my cry O God and attend unto my prayer for the honour of our Lord Jesus and the love thou bearest to him who hath bid us ask and we shall receive seek and we shall find knock and it shall be opened unto us Let it be to thy servant I most ardently beseech thee according to his Word Amen Another more large O Lord of heaven and earth who art infinite and incomprehensible in thy being eternal in thy duration and unchangeable in thy Nature who canst do what thou wilt and delightest in doing us good By thy Power I and all creatures were made by thy Wisdom we are govern'd by thy Goodness and Bounty we are provided for under thy Soveraign Dominion we live and unto thy Majesty we owe all reverence service and faithful obedience I adore and humbly worship thee I acknowledge my self bound by innumerable tyes to fear thee to love thee to praise thee and to serve thee with all my heart and soul and strength Blessed be thy Goodness that I have any hope thou wilt accept of such a worthless thing as my love Blessed be thy Goodness I admire at the riches of thy Grace that thou dost not reject all the service that I can tender thee Nay it is to be ascribed to this alone that I am alive to worship thee and have the doors of thy house stand open to me and that I have any heart to enter into it to offer up spiritual Sacrifices by Christ Jesus O God I offer thee here my whole self which is all due to thee because I received it all from thee beseeching thee most earnestly to make me feel that I am not mine own any longer but thine by taking off my thoughts and affections from all other things at this present and filling me with such a reverend apprehension of thee such hearty devotion to thee and heavenly joy in thee that I may every day offer up my self to thee more holy and more pure more meek and merciful more humble and thankful more chearfully disposed to every good work and better prepared to bear a part in the praises and services of the glorious company above Thou knowest the weakness of our nature how soon our thoughts are tyred and apt to start aside when we direct them towards heaven Vouchsafe me therefore the assistance of thy holy Spirit to compose my mind to the most serious the most earnest the most devout and chearful attention in all the parts of thy Divine Service That I may have the liveliest sense of thy glorious perfections when I praise thee and the most delightful remembrance of thy Mercies when I give thee thanks and the most thirsty desires to be conformed to thy Will and to feel more and more the influences of thy Grace when I hear thy holy Word and present my prayers and supplications before thee Accept O blessed God of this good will and sincere affection that I have to thy service though performed with broken and distracted thoughts and with too great listlessness and dulness of spirit And help me continually to out-grow this weakness and to present thee with an heart more quiet calm and fit to receive thee more perfect and intire in ardent love to thee and more setled and fixed in thee as its chiefest joy and happiness That so all the rest of the actions of my life may be a more constant and even performance of my duty according to the command and example of my blessed Lord and Master Christ Jesus In whose name it is that I am bold to approach into thy presence believing the Power and Authority thou hast given him over all to bless us and to do for us exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think By him be glory unto thee O Father Almighty in the Church throughout all ages world without end Amen At the conclusion of Divine Service after these words The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ c. Say Amen with the heartiest and most earnest affection And add some such words as these BLessed be thy name
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
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
ceasing to do evil â—nd constantly doing well and we â—ay glorifie thee throughout our whole life in all our actions 1 Pet. 2.9 showâ—ng forth thy praises who â—ast called us out of darkness into thy marvailous light accordâ—ng to thy abundant mercy in Christ Jesus By whom thou hast given us a good hope in thee that thou wilt hear our prayers and do for us above all that we can ask or â—hink which we humbly beg in â—hose holy words which he hath â—aught us saying Our Father c. Another at Night O Most blessed for evermore the Father of Mercies and the God of all Comfort How precious are thy thoughts to us ward how great is the sum of them Thou renewest thy favours continually and art still pouring upon us innumerable benefits of which this is not the least that thou givest us leave to come into thy presence to call thee Father and to make known our requests to thee by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving We accept O Lord with all thankfulness this thy great grace and loving kindness to us and are here again prostrate before thee this evening to acknowledge thy goodness in making us such excellent creatures capable to know thee and acknowledge thee and love thee and by being made like thee to be eternally happy with thee Blessed be thy name that we are now alive and that we have lived so long in health and strength and peace and plenty of all good things whereas our eyes might have been consumed with grief our bones sore vexed and we might have mingled our drink with continual weeping We are bound unto thee for the free use of our understandâ—ngs for the good inclinations we find in our wills for any devout â—ffections which are stirring in our hearts for all the advantages we have had by our education good company and holy examples And more especially for the illuminations of the holy Ghost by thy blessed Gospel the breathings of it frequently into our spirits the importunities thou hast used to draw us to thee and the great and precious promises whereby thy love in Christ Jesus constrains us to resign our selves intirely to the obedience of thy Precepts We ought likewise to admire and praise thee for thy goodness to all thy creatures who live daily upon thy bounteous allowance Psal 145. The eyes of all wait on thee and thou givest them their food in due season Thou diffusest thy blessings in several streams to every one of them according to their needs 104.28 That thou givest them they gather thou openest thy hand they are filled with good We give thee the glory of the plentiful provision thou hast made for them and more particularly admire thy great liberality to the children of men under whose feet thou hast put in subjection all sheep and oxen yea and the beasts of the field the fowl of the air and the fish of the sea and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the waters O Lord we praise thee for thy goodness to those who praise thee not themselves Be thou adored and acknowledged in thy bounty which bestows so many blessings unasked and unsought and continues them notwithstanding abundance of provocations and most high offence that they have given to thy merciful kindness And let thy goodness to thy Church be never forgotten by us which thou hast in all ages protected and defended in a marvailous manner propagating the Gospel of our Saviour confounding its opposers and spreading it by the power of the holy Ghost over the face of the earth We thank thee for thy singular favour to these Countries wherein we live To whom these glad tydings of Salvation have reached and who have long enjoyed a more glorious light than many other places and been delivered from the darkness of Popish superstition and from sundry attemps that have heen made to bereave us of this happiness and are again settled after many confusions in a peaceable enjoyment of thy true Religion which thou hast also continued to us though we have not brought forth fruit worthy of the Gospel of thy Grace O that all thy undeserved goodness may have this effect upon us to make us heartily love thee and devoutly worship thee and zealously obey thee and steadfastly trust and hope in thee for ever That by a careful improvement of the knowledge of thee our God and our Lord Jesus Christ by whom thou hast given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness we may still enjoy this inestimable treasure and all thy love to us may at last be finished in those eternal joys which he hath promised to the faithful And as we have been taught exhorted and incouraged this day out of thy holy word and have likewise publickly acknowledged our obligations to thee and made profession of love and gratitude and dutifulness to thy Divine Majesty So help us all the week following openly to testifie the truth and honesty of our hearts in all this by a blameless conversation in all humility meekness temperance righteousness charity and peace with all them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart Bless our Soveraign the Defender of the Faith we profess and all imployed under him in their several offices that they may be instruments of continuing to us these holy opportunities with all other good things that may make these Kingdoms happy O that all our Friends may be thine and if we have any enemies Father forgive them Comfort and support the sick the needy and all other distressed persons with an immoveable belief of thy wise and good providence to which give them grace patiently and obediently to resign themselves And when all our senses this night shall be bound up with sleep be thou O Lord our keeper and after the refreshment of that repose and this holy rest from our labours raise us in the morning to return unto them with cheerful minds and ready wills praising still and magnifying thy multiplyed mercies to us in Christ Jesus by whom we present our selves and petitions to thee saying further as he hath taught us Our Father c. Another for the Afternoon or any other time of that day O Most Holy Glorious and Blessed Thy Name is excellent in all the earth and thou art for ever praised by all the host of heaven who are never weary of thy service We thy creatures sinful dust and ashes have many times professed it is our happiness to joyn with those heavenly inhabitants in admiring worshipping blessing and loving thee the great Lord of all with pure hearts in unity of spirit sincere friendship and brotherly accord one with another We have often spoken great things of thee and declared thy service to be the sweetest pleasure and one hour spent in holy meditations devout affections and cheerful thanksgivings to be far better than all the time we spend in other imployments How much then if we mean sincerely and according to our words should our
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
us especially those in the Lord Jesus in whom thy Grace hath so exceedingly abounded as to surpass not only our deserts but the largest of our desires Blessed blessed for ever blessed be thy fatherly goodness who hast sent him from heaven so unexpectedly to visit us vile wretches who dwell in houses of clay whose foundation is in the dust Lord what is man that thou art mindful of him or the son of man that thou didst thus visit him We thank thee according to our poor ability from the very bottom of our hearts for his manifestation in our flesh for the charitable testimonies he gave of his love to mankind in the course of his life for that astonishing grace in submitting himself to dye for us for his glorious Resurrection and Ascension to heaven for the Soveraign Power and Authority which thou hast given him at thy right hand for his compassionate intercession for us and the assurances we have received of his being the King of glory and of his continued kindness to us by the coming of the Holy Ghost We will never cease to bless thee for that great salvation Heb. 2.3,4 which was first preached by the Lord was confirmed by them that heard him and for the witness which thou barest to them both with signs and wonders and with divers miracles and gifts of the holy Ghost according to thy own will We rejoyce in the Light of thy holy Gospel that we see the way to be happy both by the Doctrine and example of thy Son Jesus that we have the incouragement of his precious promises and such good hope of remission of sin and eternal life in the day when he shall judge the world in righteousness O how much are we bound unto thee for that comfortable hope which thou hast given us of seeing our dear Saviour in all his glory and being there where he is and reigning with him for ever We again render thee our most hearty thanks for that everlasting consolation and good hope through grace which thou hast given us and for all those benefits likewise which thou art pleased to bestow upon us to make our stay here on earth the more convenient and delightful to us We are every way obliged to thee beyond all that we are able to express or conceive Thou feedest us and clothest us thou preservest our health and our strength thou hast delivered us from innumerable dangers and when thou hast chastised us it hath been in great mercy and clemency and not according to our deserving O that all the world would shew forth thy praise and devote themselves to the service of our Lord. Let all Kings of the earth submit themselves unto him and glory in the name of his obedient subjects High and low rich and poor let them praise the name of the Lord from this time forth and for evermore Accept most gracious God of these unfeigned desires of us thy servants who for our parts intirely dedicate our selves both souls and bodies unto thee Resolving in all things to walk worthy of thee who hast called us to thy Kingdom and Glory and blessed us also with many other good things which make this life to be a more easie passage to a better We will never forget how much we are indebted to thee but study to express our grateful remembrance of thy mercies by living Tit. 2.12,13 soberly righteously and godly in this present world looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Favour we pray thee these holy purposes with the constant assistance of thy good spirit that we may be able to accomplish what we have begun and to perfect holiness in thy fear Help us to 2 Pet. 1.5,6,7,8 add to our faith vertue and to vertue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity That these things being in us and abounding they may make us to be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ Preserve us this day especially that we swerve not presently from these pious resolutions But may give such a proof of their sincerity by our being steadfast and immoveable in all well doing notwithstanding any temptation to the contrary that we may have the better hope we shall persevere to the very end through thy continued grace in Christ Jesus in whose words we desire all that thou seest needful either for our souls or bodies saying Our Father c. At Night WE are here again prostrate before thee O Lord of heaven and earth to joyn our selves with all that holy company Revel 4.8,11 who rest not day and night saying Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created Blessed be thy divine goodness which hath made the children of men but little lower than the Angels and crowned us with such glory and honour that we are capable to accompany that heavenly host in giving continual thanks and praise unto thee Praised be thy name that we are now alive and that we have the use of our reason and understanding and enjoy so many of the comforts and conveniences of this present life and have attained a good hope through Christ Jesus of being immortally happy O how great was thy love which sent him into the world to direct us in the way to that happiness by his holy doctrine and life and to be a propitiation for our sins by his death and to Act. 26.23 be the first that should rise from the dead and should shew light unto the world We rejoyce in that light of life We most chearfully devote our selves to be the faithful Disciples of him the Prince of peace the Lord of life and glory It is our happiness as well as our duty to be governed by him and obey his commands We are sensible that they are all equal just and good and that thou hast done us an infinite kindness in teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world And therefore we here again most heartily surrender our wills to thine desiring that we may unchangeably cleave unto it with the greatest and most intire love and affection to all its commands O that there may abide for ever in us such a strong and powerful sense of thy mighty love towards us in Christ Jesus as may constrain us freely and willingly to please thee in the constant exercise of piety and devotion righteousness and mercy temperance and chastity meekness and patience truth and fidelity together with such an humble contented and peaceable spirit as may adorn the Religion of our Lord and Master O God that these holy desires and inclinations may
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
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
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
present contentment and satisfaction of it hath a great recompence of reward O preserve in my mind a constant remembrance how dearly I am bought by the precious bloud of thy Son Christ how early I was dedicated to thy service how often I have since found abundant cause to determine I would be thine how I have condemned my self for the breach of those holy purposes and what great satisfaction of mind I have had in the keeping of thy Commandments That so I may never wilfully offend against so many forcible reasons obliging me to my duty but be swayed by them notwithstanding all the temptations of the world the flesh or the devil to persevere in a resolved obedience to thee for ever And by the power of thy holy Spirit I beseech thee to make them clearer stronger and more effectual that I may have the same thoughts passions inclinations and purposes now which I shall be apt to have when I come to dye For which end help me often to place my self before thy Judgement Seat and to consider that I must give an account for all that I have received for thy holy Gospel for thy divine inspirations for the counsels and exhortations of thy Ministers for all the means and helps of growing better and for all the incouragements I have even from the good things of this life which thy bounty bestows upon me That by a careful preparation for such a reckoning I may be kept close and stedfast to my duty in hope of that exceeding glorious reward which our Lord will bestow upon all his faithful servants at the day of his appearing Amen Another to the same effect O Most great and glorious Majesty of heaven and earth who art of unspotted purity and in whom there is not the least shadow of change I know that all the resolutions of thy Wisdom are most just and equal and I cannot chuse when I am in my right mind to be guided by any thing else but thy holy Will who designest I see in all the revelations thou hast made of thy self to us to make us like to thy own most blessed Nature I do here own and acknowledge most heartily the righteousness and goodness of all thy Laws I admire the loveliness of thy Image in wisdom righteousness and true holiness I loath my own deformity whilst I am unlike to thee I implore thy renewing grace as the greatest blessing I can receive from thee and I bind my self to the faithful improvement of it as the weightiest imployment of my life I am abundantly satisfied in the declaration thou hast made of thy gracious purposes towards us I renounce all thoughts and desires that are contrary thereunto and resolve that holiness and eternal life shall be my design and study I expect no pardon O my God but in ways of sobriety righteousness and godliness I hope for a blessed immortality only by patient continuance in well doing I consent to every part of thy holy Gospel and add my testimony to the truth of its words that none of thy commandments are grievous but thy yoke is easie and thy burden light I hope O Lord by thy grace I shall never contradict my self by disowning in my practice these free and serious professions But that I shall every day so call to mind my own protestations and resolutions as to continue with an unwearied diligence in stedfast obedience to thy commands and to grow still stronger in the grace of the Lord Jesus O that every such address as this unto thy Divine Majesty may leave a greater sense of thee and of my duty and of my happiness and of my manifold obligations and repeated promises upon my heart That I may always go out of thy presence with my mind more towards heaven with lower thoughts of all the injoyments of this life with a greater relish of piety and holiness and more passionate desires to become every way such as thou canst approve and love and delight in for ever And assist me I humbly beseech thee so constantly from above that whatsoever good thoughts are at any time in my mind they may grow to fixed principles and all heavenly affections may become a new nature and the constant temper of my spirit and all my purposes and resolutions may advance into a serious practice and exercise of godliness and all the actions of an holy life may grow more free chearful vigorous and full of delight till they be compleated in everlasting bliss through Christ Jesus Amen A PRAYER After RELAPSE Into any SIN I Cast down my self before thee O most holy Lord of heaven and earth with an humble sorrowful and penitent heart adoring thy infinite grace which suffers such a vile and miserable sinner to approach into thy presence I am thine indeed dedicated long ago to thy service which I have since chosen as the most perfect freedom But so much the greater reason I have to be abashed before thee and to be astonished at thy forbearing mercy which prolongs the life of such an one as I am who have been so false to thee and to my own resolutions I remember in the bitterness of my soul how many obligations thou hast laid upon me to observe and obey thee how often I have acknowledged the justice and goodness of thy Precepts and how frequently I have promised and vowed to conform my self unto them and what great and precious promises thou hast made to me of invaluable blessings And yet wretch that I am I have been drawn aside from thy ways by easie and slight temptations and for a small and momentary pleasure or gain * Here mention the particular sin have ventured the loss of thy favour which is better than life it self O God that thou shouldst have patience with so perfidious so ungrateful so senseless a creature as I am That thou shouldst permit me to see the light of the Sun and hast not condemned me to utter darkness in weeping wailing and gnashing of teeth But that thou givest me leave to look towards heaven and that I have any heart to speak unto thee and still may call thee Father saying Father I have sinned against thee and am no more worthy to be called thy son O the riches O the unsearchable riches of thy grace I can never sufficiently admire thy exceeding great long-suffering towards me in Christ Jesus Nor sufficiently abhorr and loath my self for my foul revolt from thee who art so kind gracious especially if I should still continue to abuse such tender mercy and compassion towards me Tribulation and anguish indignation and wrath I acknowledge is the due portion of those that do evil and if thou shouldst abandon me and cast me out of thy sight I must confess that thou art righteous and that I reap but the fruit of my own ways and suffer the deserved punishment of my late iniquity But thou O God delightest in mercy and there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayst
diligent more earnest and solicitous more humble and distrustful of my self and more fervent to implore the powerful succours of thy divine Grace O that it may be as natural to me to pray to thee as it is to breath And thou who fillest the hungry with good things pour into me life and strength and vigor in a constant dependance on thee and an hearty indeavour to do thy will Ephes 3.16 Strengthen me with might by thy spirit in the â—inner man That notwithstanding the strongest temptations wherewith I may be assaulted and notwithstanding the weakness and feebleness of my own spirit to resist them I may persevere couragiously in well doing unto the end and finish my course with joy and lay my self down to rest in an holy hope that I shall enter into a state of safety and security from all danger and remain for ever in the joy of our Lord. Amen A Prayer for the Divine Grace O Most blessed God the high and mighty One who inhabitest eternity and art what thou always wast and ever wilt be the mosâ— perfect power wisdom goodnesâ— and truth the fountain of all thâ— perfections that are in us We oughâ— to address our selves to thee in the greatest humility of spirit having nothing to present thee withal which we can call our own being unable by all our righteousness to profit thee who standest in need of none of thy creatures But alas O Lord we have robbed thee of that which we have received from thee and are so far from giving thee any thing of ours that we have not returned to thee that which is thine O the miserable condition therefore into which we have brought our selves who are not so much as fit to receive any more from thy divine bounty and which is worse have been too unwilling to partake of thy favours O thy infinite love in Christ Jesus which hath bestowed the richest grace upon us whether we would or â—o Thou hast honoured our naâ—ure with thy divine presence dwelâ—ing in it Thou hast delivered him â—o dye for our sins Thou hast given us 〈◊〉 blessed hope in thee by his Resurâ—ection from the dead Thou hast â—nt him to bless us in turning every one of us from our iniquities Act. 3.26 And given him all power in heaven and earth that he may succour and strengthen us when we are tempted and enable us to overcome I thank thee with all my soul for this abundant grace so freely and undesired conferred upon us Which incourages me to hope in thee now that thou inclinest my heart towards thee and hast given me a thankful sense of thy love and some will to obey thee and holy resolutions to cleave unto thee in well doing that thou wilt not deny me the constant assistance of that good Spirit which our Saviour hath bid us ask of thee to strengthen confirm and settle what thou hast begun to do for me in a perfect love and stedfast obedience to all thy holy commands O God of all grace and might the root of our life and power and strength without whom all good desires and purposes wither and die withdraw not the sweet influences of thy holy Spirit from thy unworthy servant who intirely confides in thee and hath no hope but in thy infinite Mercies Remember not against me former iniquities let not my late back-sliding and return to folly cut me off from the communication of thy grace which is wont to press into those souls that open themselves to receive it and seriously thirst after it My soul thirsteth for thee O God that I may be more firmly united to thee and be made more exactly like thee in unchangeable righteousness purity and goodness Cherish and increase the most faint but sincere motions which thou seest in me towards a more compleat participation of thee And especially preserve in me a full confidence in thy Almighty Love as ready to accomplish the desires and indeavours of all those who yield up themselves unto it in hearty willingness to be governed by it That being born up by this strong hope in thee my helper and exceeding great reward no temptation may be able to prevail over me but I may walk stedfastly and evenly with thee in all conditions and circumstances of life Make me feel so much of the comfort of this faith and love and hope and obedience reviving me to a delightful sense of a blessed immortality that whatsoever allurements or discouragements I meet withal in this world they may only provoke me to give a greater proof of all these in a constant adherence to my duty and occasion the increase of my unspeakable joy and satisfaction And inlarge my heart thereby to such a measure of Christian piety that I may not only be innocent and harmless but forward also to do good and not only be contented with my portion but rejoyce in our Lord alway and rejoyce not only to do thy will but to suffer also for righteousness sake knowing that great shall be my reward in heaven Bless my indeavours to add to faith vertue and to vertue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience 2 Pet. 1.5,6,7,10,11 and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity That doing these things I may never fall But an entrance may be ministred to me abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Amen A short Prayer when any man's occasions call him to a place where he fears danger O Almighty God who art every where and more especially present to those souls that look up unto thee with an high esteem of thy favour and grace and with hearty desires to continue in thy love by patient continuance in well doing In this humble faith in thy Divine goodness and with a due fear and reverence of thy glorious Majesty I prostrate my soul and body before thee to put my self into thy most gracious protection and to beg the powerful assistance of thy holy Spirit to preserve me wheresoever I am in a dutiful observance of all thy holy commands I am sensible O Lord that we live in a world of temptations and that our nature is weak and ready to yield to them and that our affections are apt to wander after vanity and that sudden passions oftentimes transport us from our duty But I know withal that a sense of thy all-seeing eye and of the life to come and of the rewards and punishments which thou wilt render according to our works will certainly overawe all sinful motions in me and break the force of the strongest temptations that assault me And therefore the greater the danger is the more earnestly I sue unto thee to be possessed with a piercing sense and lively remembrance of these things which may abide with me alway and especially this day in every place and company into which I shall come O that I may not be so forgetful
of thee and of my own good as for the small and momentany pleasures of this world to hazard the loss of those great and eternal joys which we expect in the other life But enable me O most gracious God so to behave my self that when I have passed through all the imployments and occasions of this day I may bring my self back again into thy presence so pure and undefiled that I may begin those joys which are to come in chearful praises of thee and in a comfortable sense that thou dwellest in me and art leading me by thy holy Spirit to immortal happiness through Christ Jesus Amen A Prayer for serious and effectual Consideration the better to establish all good resolutions O Most glorious Majesty of heaven and earth who art above the highest of all our thoughts and much more beyond all our words But that thou art great and mighty we know by thy works of wonder which we behold And the admirable disposure and government of all things tell us that thou art infinitely wise and knowest all things We see how good thou art by the large provision which thou hast made for all thy creatures every where Thy Precepts teach us how just and holy thou art and by thy Promises we know that thou art gracious and bountiful and by thy Threatnings that thou hatest iniquity and by thy executing of both that thou art faithful and true and wilt save the godly and punish evil doers When we consider all this we may justly wonder at our selves that we should not fear thee and reverence thee and love thee and seek thy love and favour above all things by studying to please thee in universal obedience to thy blessed will which designs to imploy thy Almighty Power to make us so great so happy and so glorious And there is no other reason I see why we are no better affected towards thee but because our thoughts are exceeding short and light and vain and we so seldom consider and deeply ponder what we confess thou art and in what relation we stand to thy Divine Majesty Vouchsafe therefore O God of all grace to awaken my mind to a more lively and stedfast remembrance of thee my Creator my Redeemer my daily Benefactor and my most loving and tender-hearted Father in Christ Jesus O that no day may pass without some serious and considerate thoughts of those things which so nearly concern my everlasting welfare And by thy powerful presence with me inlighten my mind to a clearer sense of them Quicken and inliven that sense I humbly beseech thee and make it so strong and moving that it may press upon my heart and affections till it overcome me to surrender soul and body absolutely unto thee Pardon all my former neglects of thee and let them not hinder the influences of thy holy Spirit upon me by which I may be changed into thy image and likeness Sanctifie my understanding that I may rightly conceive thy holy Truths and fully apprehend them Sanctifie my memory that I may keep in mind all that I know of thee and of thy blessed will revealed to us in Christ Jesus Sanctifie my will that I may chearfully imbrace and intirely consent to thine in all things And sanctifie all my affections that I may love thee with all my heart and soul and strength and delight in thee more than in all the contentments of this life and hope more for thy glory than all worldly preferments and fear thee more than the greatest potentate upon earth and take more care for my soul and eternal things than for this body and all its momentany pleasures and hate all sin more than my greatest enemies yea help me to love mine enemies to do good to them that do evil to me to bless them that curse me and pray for them that despightfully use me For which end sanctifie all my Passions that I may be angry at nothing so much as that I have displeased thee and in an holy indignation at my self and in revenge of my former negligence and disobedience may be more strict and severe in the performance of all my duty for the time to come Sanctifie me throughout in body as well as spirit that I may possess it in holiness and honour and all my senses may administer occasions to my mind to remember thee to praise thee and to bless thee who every way so liberally providest for me Sanctifie all my conversation with others and all the imployments of this life that I may still be heavenly minded and have a respect to my last end and everlasting good Sanctifie all the blessings of health and strength and peace and plenty and friends yea and all the crosses and afflictions of this life that they may make me more serious and considerate and help more perfectly to purifie my spirit and dispose me for the happiness of the other world Raise me O Lord to such an exceeding great delight in these holy thoughts and meditations and entertain me with such a blissful sense of thee when I address my self unto thee that I may rather be unwilling to depart from thy presence than weary of conversing with thee And when I return to my other imployments again O that my mind may be often looking back towards thee my God my exceeding joy desirous to be always with thee and longing to enjoy thee in unchangeable love and perfect likeness to thee Unto which I most humbly beseech thee to bring me for thy mercies sake declared in Christ Jesus who lives for ever to make intercession for us Amen THe better to preserve a constant sense of God in the mind and pious dispositions in the heart Here follow certain short Ejaculations as we are wont to call them in which upon several occasions any man may lift up his soul to God And if he do it fervently may find it of great effect EJACVLATIONS When he awakes in the morning he may say I Laid me down and slept I awaked for the Lord sustained me Psal 3.5 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me O God how great is the sum of them If I would count them they are more in number than the sand when I awake I am still with thee Psal 139.17,18 When he is dressing himself O how bountiful is the ornament of a pure humble meek patient and charitable spirit Help me O God to put on the Lord Jesus in these and all other vertues When he goes into the Church or his Closet My heart is fixed O God my heart is fixed I will sing and give praise Psal 57.7 When he begins any business My help cometh from the Lord which â—ade heaven and earth Psal 121.2 The Lord Jesus Christ be with my spirit 2. Tim. 4.22 When he goes forth of his doors Hold thou up my goings in thy paths that my foot-steps slip not Psal 17.5 Order my steps in thy word and let not any iniquity have dominion over me 119.133 Give thy
and I will praise thy name for ever and ever for those exceeding great and precious promises which thou hast given us to support and comfort us in all the troubles of this life Increase my faith strengthen and confirm my hope lift up my spirit continually to that blessed place where Jesus is that I may rejoyce in hope of that immortal life when all tears shall be wiped from our eyes and there shall be no sighing nor sorrow any more but we * This clause to be used only in the loss of Friends or Relations who are now parted asunder shall meet together to acknowledge with eternal praises thy wise and merciful providence which by ways most contrary to our desires hath brought us to endless and undisturbed bliss Thou knowest O Lord the weakness and frailty of our nature and therefore vouchsafe me the constant assistance of thy good Spirit for which I depend upon thee to inable me to continue in this humble quiet and dutiful submission to thee waiting for that peaceable and joyful repose in the eternal rest which thou hast prepared for thy people through thy mercies in Christ Jesus By whom all glory honour love and obedience be rendred to thee by me and all mankind both now and for ever Amen A Prayer which a pious soul may use that is full of doubts and much troubled in mind O Lord 2 Cor. 1.3 the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort I acknowledge and adore thy eternal Power Wisdom and Goodness I render thee my most hearty thanks for all the benefits thou hast freely bestowed on me from my first coming into the world until this time Many O Lord my God are thy wonderful works which thou hast done and thy thoughts which are to us ward they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee Psal 40.5 if I would declare and speak of them they are more than can be numbred Above all I bless thee for that great demonstration of thy love and good will to mankind by Christ Jesus whom thou hast sent into the world to save sinners and for bringing me to the clear knowledge of him faith in him and some love I hope towards him and unfeigned affection to thy holy will declared to us in his blessed Gospel O God thou hast taught me from my youth up and hitherto been marvailously gracious to me Hide not I beseech thee thy face now from me and put not thy servant away in displeasure Thou hast been my help leave me not neither forsake me O God of my salvation But for Jesus Christ his sake I humbly intreat thee to pardon and pass by all my neglects of thee and unthankfulness to thee and offences against thee And as I here sincerely devote and dedicate my whole self soul and body to thy service so help me O my God and further me in the performance of my duty by the grace of thy holy Spirit To thee all hearts are open and from thee no secrets are hid deal with me according to the earnest desire and full purpose of my soul to conform my self in all things to thy holy Will Settle in me an unmoveable faith in thy infinite Mercies a constant love and chearful affection to my duty and a readiness of heart to obey thee and to submit to thy wise appointments in every condition The whole earth is full of thy Mercy thou openest thy hand and satisfiest the desire of every living thing O refuse not the humble desires of my poor soul which gaspeth after thee even as the thirsty land Thou who givest to the Beasts their food and to the young Ravens when they cry O satisfie me early with thy Mercies that I may rejoyce and be glad all my days Compose my broken and disturbed thoughts quiet my troubled and disordered spirit and appease all the ragings and tumults there by a sweet sense of thy most tender mercies which have been ever of old and endure continually Banish from me all causless fears and jealousies deliver me from all unprofitable sadness and dejection of spirit keep me from rash judging of my self and much more from charging thee foolishly Bestow upon me a chearful spirit by an humble hope in thee and by referring my self wholly to thee Endue me with such wisdom and uprightness that I may neither neglect my duty nor suspect thy gracious acceptance of me Give me an hearty zeal to do the best that I am able and a setled perswasion that thou requirest no more of me Defend me O my gracious God from dishonouring thee and my Religion by distrusting thy goodness and calling thy loving kindness in question towards those that are sincerely bent to please thee Remove all troublesome imaginations from me and give me a clear understanding of thee and of my self Or when I am in darkness and confusion of thoughts grant me so much light and judgement as not to conclude my self forsaken by thee but to reflect upon thy long continued favours to me and many deliverances of me that so I may resolve still to hope in thee to bear my present trouble patiently and to resign my will absolutely to thy good pleasure And good Lord enable me to look beyond these clouds to that blessed state whither my Saviour is gone in which there is no darkness at all and in an humble hope of coming to the same place where he is to content my self with any condition whilst I am here so far remote from that Region of light and glory Hear me most loving and merciful Father I most humbly beseech thee Pitty my great dulness and deadness of heart Strengthen my weak and feeble endeavours Support my fainting spirit and cause it humbly to hope in thee for ever Confirm and establish every good thought desire and purpose which thou hast wrought in me Perfect that which thou hast begun Make me to grow in wisdom faith love and willing obedience Conduct me hereafter so evenly and steadily so peaceably and quietly so chearfully and securely in thy ways that I may glorifie thee whilst I live by incouraging others to accompany me in thy service And when I come to dye may resign my soul unto thee with an undisturbed mind and in an holy hope also of a joyful resurrection of the body at the great day of the Lord Jesus to whom be glory and dominion for ever Amen A Prayer to be said by others for one that is troubled in mind O God the only Hope the Refuge the Comfort and satisfaction of our souls Of whose Goodness and tender mercy all the world hath so many testimonies and we our selves have had such long experience that we are incouraged thereby though most unworthy to make this humble address to thy Divine Majesty Thou seest we know and pittiest the misery and torment of this afflicted spirit none of his * Or her sighs or groanings are hid from thee But to express also our charity and compassionate
concernment for him we are bold to recommend him to thy favour as a great object of the bowels of thy mercy which are in Christ Jesus We ought indeed above all things to admire thy most wise goodness which hath set forth him to be a propitiation Rom. 3.25 through faith in his bloud and invited even the greatest sinners to return unto thee and live Blessed eternally blessed be thy great and glorious grace which hath sent us such glad tidings of peace and reconciliation and assured hope that if we obediently believe thy holy Gospel thou wilt be merciful to our sins and remember our iniquities no more Heb. 8.12 O Father of mercies who openest the eyes of the blind Psal 146.8 and raisest them that are bowed down open the eyes of this thy servant that he may see thy marvailous love revealed in Christ Jesus Touch his spirit with such a powerful sense of it that he may both heartily and absolutely consent to be governed by thy Laws and likewise be revived with a comfortable belief of the truth of all thy precious promises Free him from all confusion of thoughts and bestow on him a clear and distinct apprehension of all things belonging to his peace And as thou hast wrought in him a fear of thy Divine Majesty and many holy desires after thee and perswaded him we hope to be willing in all things to live godlily So possess him with an humble belief that thou wilt always inable him to do accordingly and never fail to strengthen him against all the power of the enemy till he hath got the victory and triumphs in hope of thy salvation Raise up his spirit most mighty Lord by the power of a most strong faith in thine Omnipotent Goodness which delights to cherish the least gaspings and pantings in us after true righteousness Bear him up by this above all the clouds wherein he is incompassed into a clear heaven of light and joy Quiet and appease all his tumultuous passions that he may silently listen to thy voice in thy holy Gospel saying Come unto me all ye that labour Matth. 11.28 and are heavy laden and I wilâ— give you rest Thou who searchesâ— the hearts knowest that he unfeignedly submits himself to the yoke oâ— thy Laws It is the present grieâ— and affliction of his soul that he is noâ— more perfectly subject to it O refresh him with the belief that thoâ— art more desirous than he that therâ— should be a perfect reconciliation oâ— his very nature and disposition tâ— thee and that therefore thou wilt nâ— deny him the assistance of thy mightâ— grace to help him to fulfil thy whole good will and pleasure O that he may take courage from this hope to begin to do thy will and continuing in well doing and growing more and more in strength and power to perform his duty he may be delivered from all slavish fears and jealousies and distrust of thy divine goodness Especially keep him from despair of thy mercy as the greatest dishonour to thee and to thy abundant grace in the Lord Jesus O thou who didst invite even those great sinners who by wicked hands took and crucified thy dear Son Act. 2.23,38 to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins Lift up this dejected soul to an humble confidence in thee that thou wilt not deny him the same mercy And as thou hast sworn that thou hast no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that he should turn from his evil way and live so be pleased blessed God to make him sensibly feel his soul is turning to thee since he can find no comfort and satisfaction but only in thy love and favour which he esteems better than life it self And that he may obtain thy pardon help him from his heart to forgive every one that hath trespassed against him Matth. 18.35 And if he have taken any thing from any man wrongfully Luk. 19.8 grant him grace to restore it to him 11.41 To give alms likewise of such thing as he hath Dan. 4.27 Job 33.26 and to break off his sins by righteousness his iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor that thou who art rich in mercy mayst be favourable unto him and he may see thy face with joy Hear us good Lord and give every one of us grace to walk exactly and to keep pure consciences void of offence towards thee and towards all men that so we may live and die in peace looking for thy mercy in Christ Jesus unto eternal life Amen Another for a person in the same condition O Lord the Father of spirits the Lover of our souls who â—rt pleased best in our love and hearty affection to thee and wouldst have us delight our selves in the â—houghts of thee and rejoyce conâ—inually in thy holy name Give us â—eave to render our humble thanks â—o thy divine Majesty for this knowâ—edge which thou hast given us of â—hy blessed Nature and in imitation â—f it to recommend with most ferâ—ent charity this desolate and afâ—…icted soul to thy tender Mercies â—…e is filled with trembling thoughts â—…d frightful apprehensions of thee â—he dread and terror of thy displeasure hath overwhelmed his spirit He is troubled Psal 38.6 and bowed down greatly he goeth mourning all the day long O that thou wouldst be pleased so to represent thy self unto him that he may be possessed with the same sense which thou hast wrought in our minds that thou art Love and desirest to be loved and chearfully served by all that worship thee Thou hast graciously wrought in him already a sense of his duty towards thee Great sorrow overflowes his soul for his neglects of thee and offences against thee And out of this depth he sighs and groans and crys unto thee with earnest desires and purposes to live more holily for the time to come Awaken his mind good Lord to very sensible and thankful reflections upon this grace which thou hast begun to show him Bless all the pious counsels instructions which thou likewise vouchsafesâ— unto him to the encouraging of his hope in thee that thou who hast begun a good work in him wilt perfect it even until the day of Jesus Christ Philip. 1.6 Remember him that as thy Majesty is Ecclus 2.18 so is thy mercy and that thy power delights to show it self in doing good unto thy creatures especially to the humble the thankful and the willing persons who are ready to submit themselves to thy blessed Will O that this divine faith may banish all those fears that drive him from thee and that he may rather fear lest he should offend thy Divine Majesty by not confiding in those promises of mercy which thou hast made in thy holy Gospel to all returning sinners O that all his thoughts and care hereafter may only be to make his purpose of pleasing thee in all things serious hearty and unfeigned believing that thou wilt
pains I may endure Lay no more upon me O Father of mercies than I shall be able to bear and lay upon me what thou pleasest Free me for the present from all murmuring and repining thoughts and for the future make the sickness and anguish of my body a blessed instrument to purge my spirit more perfectly from all pride and vanity from all covetousness and worldly-mindedness and from all inordinate love of any of the pleasures of this life I believe O blessed Jesus that thou livest for ever who sufferedst and dyedst for us and that thou hast a great compassion towards those who would gladly follow thee though it be through sufferings Behold Lord I commend my self to thy mighty Love desiring above all things to be made conformable to thee in meekness in humility in patience in intire resignation to Gods holy will and pleasure and in perfect satisfaction in his Fatherly love and kindness whatsoever my condition be I am sensible O God that I have not employed my time to the utmost advantage of my soul and to thy honour glory but have wasted many precious hours and several ways neglected my duty towards thee * Here reckon up the sins you may have committed and been but an unprofitable part of this world so that I am not worthy to continue any longer in it But I hope thou wilt vouchsafe me thy gracious pardon and receive me to mercy if thou callest me hence for into thy hands O Father I commend my spirit who hast redeemed me by the precious bloud of Jesus Christ And that if thou prolongest my days on earth I shall serve thee with greater diligence and strictness and zeal and chearfulness to the end of my life I desire not to live but that I may perfect holiness in thy fear and secure to my self by doing more good an happy entertainment into the society of the blessed in the other world I see already the emptiness and insufficiency of all enjoyments upon earth All flesh is grass and all the goodliness of it as the flower of the field The grass withereth Isa 40.7 the flower fadeth Psal 119.50,81 But thy word standeth fast for ever In thy word therefore O Lord and gracious promises is my hope This is my comfort in my affliction And my perfect contentment I see lyes always in thy love and favour alone which is better than life it self O settle me in a certain and unmoveable possession of it by what means thou pleasest Do but love me and preserve me in a lively sense of thy good will towards me and dispose of me as thou thinkest good In the multitude of my thoughts within me Psal 94.19 thy comforts shall delight my soul Rom. 5.2 8.28 I will rejoyce even in the midst of tribulations Psal 23.3 30.10 and glory in thy holy name who makest all things work together for good to them that love thee Though I walk through the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me thy power and tender care they shall comfort me Accept Good Lord of these my desires and resolutions Hear me O God and have mercy upon me Lord be thou my helper for Christ Jesus his sake my ever blessed Redeemer Amen IT will be seasonable here to put the Devout Reader in mind that when he is in distress and desires Mercy of God it ought to excite his charity to others that are in misery and dispose him to shew mercy to them For though that be not Canonical Scripture which we read Tob. 12.9 Alms doth deliver from death yet this is With the merciful God will shew himself merciful Psal 18.25 Blessed is he that considereth the poor the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble 41.1,2,3 If he do not preserve him and keep him alive yet the Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing he will make all his bed in his sickness Therefore as thou recommendest thy self to God and desirest others to pray with thee so remember that Prayer is good with fasting and alms and righteousness Tob. 12.8 A Prayer to be said by the Family with the Sick person O Lord the Father of our spirits who givest to us and all creatures life and breath and all things We sinful dust and ashes blush to lift up our eyes unto heaven when we consider our vast distance from thee and reflect upon thy unspotted holiness and our impurity thy infinite wisdom and our wretched folly thy power and our weakness thy Eternity of life and our short continuance We are but of yesterday and know nothing Job 8.9 because our days upon earth are a shadow Psal 39.11 When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity Job 25.6 thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth Surely every man is vanity But so great is thy condescending grace that thou hast assured us thou wilt not despise such worms as we are Nay thou hast incouraged us blessed be thy goodness to approach unto thee with some confidence that thou wilt mercifully receive us though we have highly offended thy Divine Majesty Having sent thy dear Son into the world to save sinners to purifie our natures to indue us with a divine understanding to strengthen our weakness and to comfort us with the hope of an immortal life Behold O Lord the oblation which we make to thee of most thankful hearts devoted to thy service whose love and tender mercies have so exceedingly abounded towards us We will praise thee and glorifie thee as long as we have any being for this great salvation which Christ Jesus hath brought to light by his resurrection from the dead to an eternal Kingdom in the heavens We are humbly bold to hope in thee that thou who hast not spared thy own Son Rom. 8.32 but delivered him up for us all wilt with him also freely give us all things O thou Father of mercies and God of all comfort who hast not thought a Crown of everlasting life and glory too much to promise us we believe that thou wilt not deny us what is needful and fit for us both for our souls and our bodies in our passage through this world to that honour glory and immortality In this confidence we more particularly recommend this thy sick servant to thy infinite and most compassionate mercy Settle in his * Or her soul a stedfast faith that thou dost not willingly grieve the children of men but intendest good to him by this affliction And now that other pleasures and enjoyments fail him represent thy self effectually unto him as his true happiness and satisfaction Wherein soever he hath neglected thee or committed any offence against thee make him deeply sensible of and heartily sorrwful for his folly And as he earnestly desires pardon and forgiveness of thee so work in him a serious resolution to live more circumspectly and exactly in time to come Assist him graciously
in the time of my sickness O that this world may ever appear unto me as it was then represented to my mind That I may never set my heart too much upon these perishing enjoyments and short satisfactions nor ever neglect thee whose favour and grace I then sought so earnestly as my chiefest good But remembring how little comfort I could find in any thing here what a joy it was to have any hope in thee the eternal God and how that in my best estate I am but altogether vanity I may most seriously apply my self to work out my salvation with fear and trembling and give all diligence to settle a stedfast hope in thee that never may be shaken Make me often to remember that my days are but like a shadow that declineth Psal 102.11,12,27 and that I wither like the grass But thou O Lord shalt endure for ever for thou art the same and thy years shall have no end That so I may neither seek my happiness in this dying life but in thy endless love and favour nor be slothful in business Rom. 12.11 but fervent in spirit serving the Lord. Blessed be thy goodness that I feel these holy thoughts and desires still remaining in me Excite me I humbly beseech thee continually to renew them that no day may pass without serious reflections upon thy patient and long-suffering kindness towards me upon the shortness oâ— this life the uncertainty of all earthly comforts and the happiness of having a good hope in thee by stedfast continuance in well doing And let these thoughts be so deeply imprinted in my heart that my affections may be weaned thereby from all things here below and set on things above where Christ is at thy right hand O that I may desire and covet those heavenly things for my portion more than I do to eat and drink or enjoy any other pleasure of this life Make me to rejoyce in them more than in a whole world of other comforts and to stand in greater fear of losing them than I do to dye or endure any misery Preserve in me good Lord such a sober and considerate disposition of mind that I may never be proud who am I see but dust and ashes nor confident of my own strength and power which is but weakness and vanity nor distrustful of thee who art so gracious and merciful as well as mighty to save Suffer me not to sink under any discouragements who have the everlasting arms under me the wisdom of heaven to direct and guide me and the infinite treasures of goodness to supply all my necessities And more particularly I beseech thee to give me grace by my late confinement weakness dulness want of appetite and rest to learn to value very highly the benefits of liberty strength and quickness of all my senses and to bless thee more than ever I have done for the constant refreshments of my food in the day and of undisturbed sleep in the night together with the rest of the pleasures of life to which thou hast restored me with my health Make me perfectly contented in any state and condition whilst I enjoy so great a blessing as that which comprehends so many others in it And when thou art pleased to take it again away from me O that I may be able to be contented then also in a remembrace of all thy past kindnesses to me and of a well-spent life and careful improvement of this renewed health and in hope of thy continued mercies to me in Christ Jesus even to eternal life To which I humbly beseech thee to bring me by an unchangeable love and obedience to thee in all the changes and alterations of this mortal life for his sake who loved me and gave himself for me To whom with thy self in the Unity of the same spirit be glory everlasting Amen A Thanksgiving to be said by the Family O Most holy great and glorious God the Almighty Creator â—f heaven and earth who upholdest â—ll things by the word of thy powâ—r and governest the whole world with admirable wisdom justice and mercy Thou deservest the highest acknowledgements of all thy creatures The Praises of Angels are not worthy of thee nor any of their thoughts equal to thy infinite Majestie What can we vile creatures then speak of thee or what thoughts shall we frame of thy perfections Especially of thy transcendent love which hath moved thee in much compassion to consider our weaknesses and help our infirmities Thou hast taught us by our Lord Jesus what we should think of thee having vouchsafed to dwell among us and make thy self visible unto us not only as the most Wise and Mightie but as the most Holy Righteous Gracious and Merciful Lord who designest the greatest blessings to us But now that we see thee we have the greatest reason to abhorr our selves in dust and ashes when we consider how unlike we are unto thee in those excellent qualities wherein thou hast made thy self known unto us and how unthankful we have been unto thy divine goodness which hath so strangely condescended unto us who are unworthy of the least regard from thee And yet such is thy tender mercy and pitty towards us that thou hast declared thy self willing to entertain even the greatest sinners into thy favour by making them better We our selves have received innumerable tokens of thy great clemency patience and forbearance And now â—ately thou hast been pleased to give us a new instance of thy loving kindness and of thy desire to win our hearts unto thee in rescuing one of as from going down into the grave and restoring him to health and strength again The living the living O Lord â—hall praise thee as we do â—his day Yea Isa 38.19 we will â—less thy name as long as â—e live Psal 104.33 and sing praises unto thee Psal 86.12,13 as long as we have any being We will praise thee O Lord our God with all our heart 118.14,15 and glorifie thy name for evermore For great is thy mercy towards us and thou hast delivered the soul of thy servant from the lowest hell The Lord is our strength and our song and is become our salvation The voice of joy and health is in our dwellings the right hand of the Lord bringeth mighty things to pass O that there were such an heart in every one of us as to studie seriously to know thee better to meditate continually on thy benefits both to our souls and bodies to love thee intirely and to indeavour to be like unto thee which is the design of thy goodness towards us Empty our hearts of all other things and make room for thy self to dwell there in wisdom righteousness and true holiness Dispose every one of us to follow Jesus Christ our Master in lowliness patience and charity and to be ordered by the governance of his holy Spirit Common Prayer-Book in the Commination seeking always his glory and serving
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
contented and in every condition to give thanks unto thee and rejoyce in thy holy Name and in the hope of eternal life through Christ Jesus my most blessed Lord and Saviour Amen A Prayer when the time of heâ— Travel draweth near O God the helper and delâ—verer of all those that trust iâ— thee by whose power I was formed in my Mothers Womb by whoâ— care I was brought from thence anâ— by whose merciful kindness I havâ— been preserved in many dangers since I praise and magnifie thy great and glorious Name and am encouraged by the remembrance of thy mercies which have been ever of old to implore thy compassionate help in the approaching time of my need pain and danger Thou art present to all thy creatures and hearest the cryes of the beasts of the earth which all wait upon thee O be not far from me when trouble is near but hearken unto me and save me when I call upon thee Shorten my pains or lengthen my patience which thou pleasest Bear up my spirit in submission to thy will and in some humble hope that I shall forget my anguish for joy that a man is born into the world Joh. 16.21 Psal 138.8 22.4,5 Forsake not the work of thy own hand but in due time perfect it and bring forth that which thou hast wrought in secret into the light that we may all see the wonders of thy wisdom and praise thy goodness and thy power My parents trusted in thee they trusted and thou didst deliver them They cryed unto thee and were delivered they cryed unto thee and were not confounded In thee likewise do I humbly put my trust and confidence which nothing disheartens but my own great unworthiness by reason of my forgetfulness of thy benefits and unthankful returns for former mercies bestowed upon me But thou hast taken care that this should not discourage me neither by proclaiming a gracious pardon by him that was born of woman and dyed for us unto contrite and reforming sinners Accept I beseech thee of my sincere resolutions to preserve hereafter a more affectionate remembrance of thy love to me and to dedicate my self and all I have to thy service 1 Tim. 2.15 in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety Or if thou art pleased oâ—herwise to dispose of me I resign â—y self heartily unto thee Lord â—eceive me to a better life where all â—ghing and sorrow shall be done away and eternal joy intirely posâ—ess our hearts Amen for Christ Jeâ—us his sake Amen 〈◊〉 Prayer to the same purpose to be said by her Relations O Most mighty Lord who hast already given us innumerable â—ledges of thy love and many arâ—uments to trust in thee for ever â—nd to expect with quiet and patient â—inds the issue of thy wise and good â—rovidence Thou hast respect to all â—e works of thy hands especially 〈◊〉 the sons of men and to those aâ—ove the rest who seek thy favour â—d give thee the glory of all thy â—ercies and are resolved to devote â—emselves and their children and all they have to do thee honour in the world We most humbly commend thy servant drawing near the time of her Travel to thy care and blessing beseeching thee to give her a gracious deliverance and to ease her of the burden wherewith she labours We our selves are monuments oâ— that mercy which we beg of thee Thou broughtest us into this world and didst unloose the bands wherewith we were swadled in our mothers womb We have had long experience also of thy readiness to succour us and to do us good eveâ— since many times beyond our desires and hopes and always beyond our deservings We dare not buâ— commit our selves and every thing belonging unto us most heartily into thy hands remembring that thou hast the same power and goodnesâ— still by which we came into thâ— light of the living and that thou still exercisest them as thy wisdom thinks most meet We cannot desire to be better provided for than as thy infinite understanding and counsel judges most convenient for us Unto that we refer our selves beseeching thee if it be thy good pleasure that her deliverance may be as speedy as her cryes unto thee or her patience as great and long as her pains Thou who ripenest the fruits of the earth and then givest us to gather them to our comfort blast not our humble hopes of the fruit of the womb But after thou hast brought it to maturity deliver it into our hands as a new pledge of thy goodness to us for which we will ever thankfully acknowledge and praise thy Name Or if thou hast otherwise determined Lord give us grace to submit to thy holy will and to rest satisfied in thy wise appointments and never to distrust thy goodness and care over us Yea help us still to bless thee and to speak good of thy Name saying The Lord gave and tâ—e Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord from henceforth and for ever Amen A Thanksgiving to be used by those present after her safe Deliverance WE thank thee O Father Lord of heaven and earth for thy long continued goodness to us thy creatures who are unworthy of the least of thy favours In thee we live and move and have our being And it is only of thy mercy that we have not lived in perpetual pain and torment spending our days in sighs and lamentations but have enjoyed much health and ease and had innumerable occasions to praise thee and to rejoyce in thee who loadest us daily with thy benefits Blessed be thy Name O Lord who forgivest all our iniquities and healest all our diseases Who redeemest our life from destruction and crownest us with loving kindness and tender mercies More particularly we thank thee that thou hast heard the humble supplications of this thy servant to whom thou hast now granted a gracious deliverance and turned her sorrow and heaviness into joy and gladness We thank thee that thou hast sent her seasonable helpers and blessed their endeavours for the preservation of her and of the fruit of her womb And that thou likewise vouchsafest her all needful things for her refreshment in this weak condition wherein she lies waiting upon thee for the perfecting of thy mercies towards her Accept we beseech thee of our hearty acknowledgements of thy powerful and good providence over her and over any person here present in the like necessity which we now thankfully call to mind and desire may never be forgotten O that a lively remembrance of this and all other thy mercies may so mightily affect our hearts that we may be moved thereby to fear thee all our days and to love thee and to put our trust in thee and with quiet and resigned minds to cast all our burdens and cares on thee in a constant and chearful obedience to all thy holy commands And since thou hast begun to be so gracious to this thy hand-maid grant
instruction Prov. 5.12,13 and my heart despised reproof And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers nor inclined mine ear to them that admonished me How swift have my feet been to run into evil and how backward and averse have I been to any thing that is good O the injuries which I have done my Neighbours the abuse of my self and of thy good creatures The prophane contempt or neglect of thee and the duties of thy worship and service * Here let him reckon up the blasphemy debauchery and violence that he hath been guilty of The remembrance of all this is dreadful the burden of it is intolerable How shall I appear before thee at whose rebuke the Mountains quake since I cannot think of appearing before an earthly Judge without shame and affrightment of spirit O Lord work in me a greater dread of thee with a greater shame and confusion of face now that I am in thy presence For which end be pleased to represent unto me effectually the wickedness the baseness and vileness of all my evil doings as well as the guilt and just desert of them O that I could hate and abhorr them more than that death * Or punishment when the crime is less which I expect shortly to suffer for them Bestow on me that ingenuous and godly sorrow which worketh repentance and unfeigned purposes of amendment of life They come too late indeed I may justly think to find acceptance with thee and therefore not without fear and trembling and a great sense of my undeservings I look up unto thee acknowledging thy infinite goodness if thou wilt vouchsafe but the smallest hope of mercy Mercy mercy good Lord cast me not quite out of thy sight for Jesus Christs his sake who gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity It is the beginning of some mercy and an earnest I hope of more that thon hast made me sensible of mine offences and that thou hast wrought in me a resolution to forsake them and some love to a godly sober and righteous life Help me to manifest the sincerity and uprightness of my soul in these resolutions as much as I am able by giving thee hearty thanks that the hand of justice hath over-taken and laid hold upon me and put a stop to the further mischief which I might have committed and by making a free and open confession of my crimes and taking the shame which belongs to me before others and by acknowledging that I am unworthy to live and by earnest admonishments to all to be warned by my example and to cease betimes to do evil and learn to do well O God that I could glorifie thee a little in my latter end after this manner And till I come to receive my deserved punishment help me to spend my time in bewailing my sins in humbling my self before thee for them in setting my heart against them in studying and admiring with the greatest affection the holy life of the Lord Jesus in calling other offenders to repentance and exhorting them thereby to give thee glory Deny me not the grace I beseech thee to enable me thus to imploy my self that I may have some taste of thy mercy and the fear of death may be abated by some hope that when my soul shall be parted from the body thou O blessed Jesus wilt receive it though so unworthy into some of the heavenly mansions Amen Amen A Souldier's Prayer that fights for his Country O Most mighty Lord the Fountain of life and strength and courage whom all the host of heaven continually obeys I prostrate my self before thee in a religious sense that the fear of thy divine Majesty a pure conscience and a strong hope and confidence in thy Omnipotent goodness will give the most assured resolution valour and boldness to our spirits in all dangers Most humbly beseeching thee to purge my heart from the love of every thing that is offensive to thee to pardon all my former sins negligences and ignorances and to indue me with the grace of thy holy Spirit strictly to amend and reform my life according to thy holy Word Many temptations I am sensible will continually assault me in this state of life wherein I am ingaged But I as earnestly beseech thee to defend me from the power of them as I desire to be defended from death and to be covered by thee in the day of battle O that no covetous desires or greediness of spoil no ambition or vain-glory no hatred or malice may push me forward in any enterprize But give me the victory over these and all other vile affections and passions before I meet with any other enemy And graciously bless and prosper our arms for the defence of our Country and the preservation of our Religion Government Laws and Liberties And whilst we fight for the preservation of good Order Lord give us all grace to be examples of it our selves That abhorring all blasphemy and prophaneness all riot and lasciviousness Luk. 3.14 and doing violence to no man accusing no man falsly and being content with our wages we may adorn both our Cause and our Religion and whatsoever the issue be we may have peace in our own hearts and living or dying may be accepted with thee through Christ Jesus the Prince of peace To whom c. Amen A Prayer for the use of one that is Aged I Adore thee O Lord of life and glory who art from everlasting to everlasting and changest not beseeching thee to look graciously upon thy unworthy servant whose hope is only in thine infinite mercy by which my life hath been prolonged to old age and which is able to make me eternally blessed I thank thee for thy inconceiveable love in the Lord Jesus who hath given me such a solid and stedfast ground of hope to suppport and strengthen my heart when all the comforts of this life fail me and likewise praise and magnifie thy bounteous goodness for those innumerable blessings which time after time thou hast bestowed upon me from the beginning of my life till this present * Let them be reckoned up as particularly as you can O my God help me always to solace my self now that the days are come wherein I have no pleasure with a perpetual remembrance of all thy past loving kindnesses to me and with those hopes which I have of thy endless love in the other world And the more my outward senses decay vouchsafe me the quicker and more lively sense in my heart of those good things which thou hast laid up there for those that fear thee Preserve me from all discontented thoughts and peevish passions Make me an example unto others of Holiness discretion temperance gravity Tit. 2.2,3 peaceableness and patience Prov. 20.29 that so I may with the more authority be a teacher of good things Ecclus. 25.4 and my hoary head may be a crown of glory being found in the ways of righteousness
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
them and to be led by them which is sufficient to humble and lay us low in our own eyes With what dejection of spirit then ought I to mention all those offences whereby I or others have justified that first rebellion and still taken part with the Devil and his Angels against thee and the motions of thy holy Spirit in our hearts Thy mercy indeed is so much the more miraculous which hath bestowed such great benefits as I have acknowledged upon such vile such sinful such unthankful wretches and at the best such unprofitable creatures whose understandings are so shallow to comprehend and admire thy love whose affections are so heavy so listless and so unapt to lay it to heart and who when they have done all that they can have done no more than was their duty to do But the greater reason there is that I should be confounded at the remembrance of my disobedience to thee notwithstanding such unexpected as well as undeserved demonstrations of thy love and grace towards mankind It becomes me to bow my self lower than my knees before thee and to debase my self as much as I am able in thy presence since I am but sinful dust and ashes that deserves to be cast down even into the pit of destruction The very multitude of my offences is enough to amaze and perplex my thoughts the weight of them did I always feel it may well depress and sink my spirit into the greatest horror and affrightment but the baseness and ingratitude of them to so gracious a Father O how VI. I am not able to express O Lord the shame the consternation and the trouble of my spirit at the thought of that ingratitude I loath and abhor my self as unworthy to live and breath upon the face of the earth I am astonished at thy wonderful patience and long-suffering which not only endures such a wretch as I am but permits me to speak unto thee and to cry for mercy to that love which I have so much abused O that I were sensibly affected with something of thee That at least thy sparing and forbearing mercy did mightily move and everlastingly possess my heart with admiration of it That so I may with the more ingenuous sorrow and grief bewail mine offences against such tender bowels of compassion towards me Jer. 9.1 O that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears that I might weep bitterly for my unkind requitals of the infinite bounty of thee my Creator and of the inconceiveable love of my blessed Saviour and of the unwearied grace of thy holy Spirit which I hope I still feel working in my heart Fill me O God with the saddest remembrance of all my follies and possess my reason so much against them that I may have an utter hatred and detestation of them as the greatest offences to me as well as to thy divine Majesty It is easier I know to make large confessions than to be truly contrite and broken in heart and we are more inclin'd to sigh and groan under the sense of thy displeasure than to abhorr that which is evil and to cleave to that which is good Rom. 12.9 Be thou therefore pleased Psal 42.8 O Lord the Father of our spirits to wound my soul with a lively sense of the vileness of my behaviour towards thee Dan. 5.23 the God of my life in whose hand my breath is and whose are all my ways Estrange me from every thing that will not let me love thee with all my heart and soul and strength by whom it is that I have power to love any thing at all Set my heart in such a perfect enmity to all things contrary to thy blessed will that I may never be reconciled to them any more And dispose me to such an entire affection to all thy commands that none of them may be grievous to me but I may account thy yoke to be easie and thy burden to be light And then be merciful unto me good Lord according to thy loving kindness Psal 51.1 according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions 25.7 38.18 Be merciful unto me for Jesus his sake 32.5 who came into the world and dyed to save sinners 143.2 O remember not the sins of my youth 130.3,4 nor the transgressions of my riper years 86.5,6 25.11 according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness sake O Lord. For I confess mine iniquity and am sorry for my sin I acknowledge my sin unto thee and mine iniquity have I not hid Enter not therefore into judgement with thy servant for if thou Lord shouldest mark iniquities O Lord who shall stand But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayst be feared Thou art good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee Give ear therefore unto my prayer and attend to the voice of my supplications And for thy name sake pardon mine iniquity for it is great VII Great are thy tender mercies O Lord who hast not yet cast me away from thy presence nor dealt with me after my sins nor rewarded me according to mine iniquities Adored be thine infinite goodness that I am so far from being cast into the place of weeping wailing and gnashing of teeth that I do not yet suffer here the pains and the anguish and misery which mine offences have deserved I might have been lamenting them in those doleful complaints of thy ancient servant saying thine arrows stick fast in me and thy hand presseth me sore There is no soundness in my flesh Psal 38.2.3.6 c. because of thine anger 88.16,18 neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin I am troubled I am bowed down greatly I go mourning all the day long For my loyns are filled with a loathsome disease and there is no soundness in my flesh I am feeble and sore broken I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart But thanks be to thy most long-suffering goodness thy fierce anger goeth not over me thy terror hath not cut me off Lovers and friends hast thou not put far from me nor mine acquaintance into darkness Yea thou declarest thy self willing to accept me again into friendship with thy self And hast in the most loving manner invited me to come unto thee and bid me hope for a pardon through thy mercy in Christ Jesus O how sweet are those gracious words Come unto me all ye that labour Matth. 11.26 and are heaven laden Heb. 8.10,12 and I will give you rest How precious are thy promises Act. 26.18 that thou wilt put thy laws into our mind and write them in our hearts And be merciful to our unrighteousness and remember our sins and iniquities no more Marvellous was thy mercy O Lord Jesus who sent thine Apostles to open mens eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and
even for these things O how vile then and odious are all those sins of injustice or unmercifulness of which I may have been guilty IV. Be merciful unto me O Lord be merciful unto me through the blood of that spotless Lamb which was shed for the sins of the world Remember not against me the vanity of my thoughts the errors and mistakes of my judgement the pride of my spirit the greediness of my sensual desires the violence and disorder of any of my passions the unruliness of my tongue the inconstancy of my purposes or the baseness and unworthiness of any of my ends and intentions O holy God and merciful Father enter not into judgement with me for the mispense of my precious time for letting slip any good opportunites or for my ill husbanding the many Talents which thou hast intrusted me withal Let not the abuse of any of thy creatures the ill example that I have given to any of my Neighbours my unthankfulness for a world of mercies my inobservance or forgetfulness of thy fatherly providences and my insensibleness of others miseries be charged upon me at the day of our Lord or incense thy severe displeasure against me in this present life O remember not my immoderate sorrow for worldly losses my excessive pleasure in the abundance of any worldly enjoyments the deadness of my grief and the scarcity of my tears for my own sins and the sins of others and the heartlesness of my joys in thee and in thy Son Christ and for all the good thou hast done to me and to my Brethren or which they do for thy honour and the comfort of thy people Let not any discontent with my condition provoke thee to make it worse nor my want of love to thee deprive me of the love of others nor the breach of any of my resolutions be punished with an indifferency and carelesness of spirit nor the abuse of any of thy blessings or unthankfulness for them move thine offended goodness to strip me naked of them V. But gracious Lord so pardon me as to give me the grace of thy holy Spirit to change and renew me throughout in spirit soul and body and to enable me daily to amend my life according to thy holy word That 's the hearty desire and purpose of my soul which longs for nothing more than a power from above to possess me with more steady and affectionate thoughts of thee and to fill me with a more inflamed love to thee and to all my Brethren and to dispose my will to resign it self in all things to thee and chearfully to comply with thy providence and zealously to imploy all holy opportunities of doing or receiving good O God deny me not this great grace though unworthy of the least but strengthen me with might by thy Spirit in the inner man Let it teach and direct me in the right way let it assist me to walk in it let it constantly incourage my progress chearing and refreshing me when I am ready to faint upholding me when I am ready to fall recovering me when I slip enabling me with fervent desires to implore thy mercy and with resolved watchfulness to strengthen my self against all temptations for the time to come VI. Preserve in me such a serious and deep sense of the worth of my soul of the weight of all eternity of the certainty and greatness of the glory which shall be revealed that they may prevail more with me than all the honours and riches and pleasures of this life Prepossess me with a clear understanding of the Gospel of our Saviour with a strong saith a fervent charity and a lively hope against all other things that press upon me and sollicite my affections that so nothing may find admittance into my heart but what shall submit to thy laws and live under the government and discipline of our Lord Jesus Instruct me how to make all my pleasures discreet moderate and useful to me that they may never take up the best of my time nor devour the strength of my mind Teach me to use the riches of this world aright and to do good to my self and others with them Dispose me to look upon greatness or honours but as greater opportunities to do thee more honour and the world more service Moderate all my passions and subdue them perfectly to the obedience of Reason and Religion O that all my conversation with others may be innocent and profitable and my private retirements more devout and heavenly and all my imployments without inordinate cares and fears or any distrust of thy good providence Help me to look upon long life as desireable only that I may have more time to root out perfectly all evil habits and dispositions to implant and increase all Divine Vertues to do the more good that I may be better sitted for an happy life world without end Amen The same prayer may be used in time of any publick calamity and some of these following prayers added as there shall be occasion A Prayer in time of Plague GReat and many O Lord are the sins whereby we have provoked thee in these Kingdoms to send all thy sore judgements upon us the sword the famine and the pestilence to cut off from them man and beast It is only of thine infinite mercies that we are not utterly consumed and because thy compassions fail not Blessed be thy goodness that we are not yet delivered into the hand of those that hate us but only corrected by thy own hand who art the Father of mercies To them we flee now in our great distress and beseech thee that thou wilt not shut up the bowels of thy tender mercy and compassion towards us in displeasure But punish us that thou maist pardon us and amend us and make us a more devout sober righteous and charitable people zealous of good works Say to thy destroying Angel Hold thy hand it is enough Or if thou art pleased to have it still stretched out against us give grace to us who are yet in health to spend our time in examining our hearts and lives in bewailing our offences in setling our purposes of repentance and new obedience in inuring our selves to delight in Prayer and holy Meditation in giving thanks to thee for thy merciful preservation of us in preparing our selves for whatsoever change thou art pleased to make in our condition and in doing good with compassionate hearts to those poor people that lye under thy heavy visitation And graciously vouchsafe to bestow upon them intire patience and submission to thy Will and enable them with unfeigned repentance and humble hope in thy mercy to resign themselves and theirs into thy hands that howsoever thou shalt dispose of any of us living or dying we may be the Lords Lord have mercy upon us all for Jesus Christ his sake Amen In time of War O God who hast justly punished our carnal security and abuse of that peace and quietness
to live among us to dye for us and to give us an assured hope of immortal life I love thee O Lord. I renew the oblation which I have often made of my soul and body to thee I wait upon thee still for what thou seest good for both I hope in thy everlasting mercies that thou wilt pardon all my forgetfulness of thee and ingratitude unto thee And I most earnestly implore the grace of thy holy Spirit to preserve in my mind a powerful sense of thee an ardent love to thee and an holy care to please and obey thee in all things That the very same mind and spirit may be in me which was in Christ Jesus our Lord the Spirit of wisdom and understanding and the fear of thee the spirit of meekness humility purity and charity and that I may do thy will with such chearfulness zeal constancy patience and perseverance as he did I thank thee O Lord for all helps and assistances of that good Spirit which thou hast already favoured me withal That thou hast so frequently made good motions to my soul inspired me with holy thoughts and devout affections and inclined and disposed my will many ways to the choice of that which is good I thank thee for the many seasonable admonitions which thou hast given me for the happy opportunities which have been afforded me for wisdom and vertue for a good education pious examples faithful friends and all other furtherances in the way of salvation I remember likewise with my most grateful acknowledgements what abundance of good things thou hast bestowed on me from time to time for my better accommodation in this present life Blessed be thy name for my continued health and food and raiment Blessed be thy name that my bones are not broken that I am not groaning under the sorest pains that I dwell in safety night and day and that I still see my friends and acquaintance and many other comforts round about me I thank thee O Lord for these and all blessings whatsoever that thou hast conveyed to me by the Ministry of thy holy Angels unto whom thou hast given the charge of me O bless the Lord together with me ye his angels which excel in strength that do his commandments hearkening to the voice of his word And enable me every day I most humbly beseech thee O Father of mercies to bless thee better with a purer heart and a more lively sense of all thy love and a greater delight in thy divine Service and a forwardness to every good work And as thou hast preserved me hitherto this day so bless me the remaining part of it That indeavouring sincerely in all my designs words desires and actions to approve my self to thee as thy good and faithful servant I may with a good conscience present my self before thee in the conclusion of it and with the greater confidence of thy gracious acceptance renew my praises and acknowledgements and commend my self to thy blessing and hope for the continued protection of thy holy Angels through Christ Jesus To whom be glory for ever Amen A shorter to the same purpose I Prostrate my self before thee O Lord of heaven earth in all humility of soul and body I acknowledge my dependance upon thee and thy constant care and providence over me ever since I was born particularly this day in keeping me hitherto from many dangers and providing for me many good things as well for the comfort and pleasure as for the necessary support of this present life Especially I thank thee for thy exceeding great love in the Lord Jesus through whom thou hast given me good hope of better enjoyments in the life to come by following that blessed example which he hath set us of all well doing and contented suffering It is all reason O Lord that I should love thee and intirely trust in thee and most willingly serve and obey thee Accordingly I here again dedicate my self both soul and body to thee I vow my self ever to thy service I hope still in thy great mercies which have been so tender and so abundant towards me I depend upon thee for what thou seest to be profitable for me I refer my self absolutely to thy wise Will resolving to rest contented and satisfied in that condition wherein thou placest me I believe thou orderest all things in heaven and in earth and takest the greatest care of those that wait upon thee and commit themselves unto thee as I now do in confidence of thy goodness and submission to thy pleasure Especially I rely upon thee for thy holy Spirit to preserve in me these holy purposes and inspire me continually with good thoughts and stir up in me heavenly affections and increase and strengthen my faith and hope in thee and assist my indeavours to do according to my pious resolutions Blessed be thy great goodness for what I have felt already I thank thee for thy many illuminations from above for thy grace so early preventing me for the assistance and furtherance thou hast given me and the happy opportunities I have met withal of improving my self in true wisdom and goodness It is the earnest desire of my soul to grow more in both and to be made perfectly like to my blessed Lord and Saviour By whom all honour and glory be given to thee O Father Almighty world without end Amen A Grace before meat WE acknowledge thy goodness O Lord in making this plentiful provision for us Pardon our ingratitude for thy former mercies And bless us with such a discreet and thankful use of these thy good creatures that they may not hinder us in our duty but better dispose us to do thee all faithful service in our several places through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Amen Or this WE look up unto thee O Lord who givest us life and breath and all things beseeching thee to forgive us all our sins and to make us such thankful partakers of these thy good creatures that by a moderate use of them our bodies may be refreshed and made more fit to accompany our souls in hearty endeavours to do thee all faithful service through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Or this WE renew our thankful acknowledgements unto thee O Lord for making again this merciful provision for us who are unworthy of the least of thy favours Add thy gracious pardon likewise and bless the sober use of these thy creatures to the strengthning of our frail bodies And endue our souls with the grace of thy holy Spirit that we may return back unto thee the strength we receive from them in well doing and it may be as delightful as our meat and drink to do the will of thee our heavenly Father through Jesus Christ c. Amen After Meat WE return unto thee O Lord our hearty thanks for these and all other the like mercies bestowed upon us ever since we had a being especially for the promises thou hast given us of eternal