we look for pardon of our Trespasses against God Prayer helps you in the fulfilling of this condition too and though your hearts be as hard as Iron Prayer is of the nature of Fire and is able to soften that Iron and melt you into that compassion toward your enemies as to pray for them with the same earnestness as you do for your selves But then when our past sins are pardoned where shall we find a Remedy against future Temptations Our Saviour tells you where when he saith to his Disciples Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation If the fire of Lust begin to kindle in your hearts Prayer can extinguish that fire Or if a whole Sea of worldly Afflictions breaks in upon you Prayer can set a Bank to that Sea If you are compassed about with Enemies Temptations on all sides and are ready to be swallowed up by them remember that Moses's Prayer prevailed more against Amalek than Ioshuah's Arms. And then again in the close as Prayer hath the nature of a Charm to keep Temptations from you so when by Humane Weakness and the Arts of the Tempter you are led into them Prayer is as the thread to bring you out of this Labyrinth Or when you have unwarily taken in the poison of sin Prayer is the Antidote against the venom of it it doth not only remove the guilt but the evil of Punishment which is due to it whether it be in this Life or in the next And of this David was very sensible when he cryes out in a kind of Extasie of Thankfulness Blessed be God which hath not cast out my Prayer nor turned his Mercy from me Intimating by this as St. Austin understands the words that there is a kind of Contract or Bargain made between Prayer on Man's part and Mercy on God's That where Prayer led the way Mercy should always follow O Father of Mercies Give me that gift of Prayer by the means of which Thou dost use to dispense those Mercies suffer me never to be weary of praying lest that make Thee weary of forgiving For this I am sure of that if I cease not to pray Thou canst not cease to have mercy For because Thou art good Thou wilt always deliver me from evil Not for mine but for Thine own Goodness sake BY this which hath been said may be inferred the necessity of Prayer both in respect of your spiritual Life which it preserves And in regard of spiritual Enemies which otherwise would destroy you For as the Body without the Soul is dead loathsome and overspread with Worms so fares it with the Soul saith Chrysostome that doth not use to pray and consequently hath no spiritual Life in it For as soon as the Breath of Prayer fails the Soul putrifies and the Worm of Conscience gnaws upon it Daniel therefore chose rather to hazard his life than to omit his exercise of Prayer thrice a day as being willing that his Body should suffer rather than his Soul Would you know further how precious Prayer is devout Men will tell you That Prayer pierceth the Clouds reacheth the Heavens rejoyceth the Angels appeaseth God obtains whatsoever it sues for O Grace of Grace holy and heavenly FATHER what shall I say of thee either to express thy Excellency or the Necessity my Soul hath of thine help I am the Fountain of all Misery and thou art to me the Source and Spring of Mercy With thee I live without thee I die With thee I am able to do all things without thee I can do nothing O Divine Spirit whose Gift alone it is to know how to speak to Thee Give me the Spirit of Wisdom by which I may sanctifie Thy Name the Spirit of Understanding by whose Light I may see the secrets of Thy Kingdom the Spirit of Counsel which may guid me to do Thy Will on Earth as it is done in Heaven the Spirit of Knowledg to discover and to ask what is Necessary either for Body or for Soul the Spirit of Charity to move me to pardon my Enemies as I desire Thou shouldst pardon me the Spirit of Fear to avoid all Occasions and Approaches to sin and the Spirit of Might and Courage to overcome all Evil. Amen Of the Impediments and Enemies of Prayer HAving considered the glorious Fruits and admirable Efficacy of Prayer we are to look about and to discover what Enemies we are like to meet with to oppose and hinder us in the exercise of this Heavenly Duty For Prayer is in its own nature a kind of Wrestling and Striving for a Victory which presupposeth an opposition And rather than it shall be wanting God himself will enter into the Lists as he did with Iacob in that famous Wrestling when to shew the power of Prayer he that was invincible was content to be overcome by him who had no other weapons but Tears and Prayers When therefore you find your selves afflicted make use of our Saviour's Parable Arise though it be at Midnight repair speedily to the Gates of your true Friend God himself for you have no Friend like him though you find the doors shut and your Friend asleep begin your Battery and give not over knocking with importunate Cries and Prayers till he open to you as Iacob would not let the Angel go till he had blessed him O Omnipotent and Invisible GOD who lettest thy Self down to my Weakness and givest me strength to wrestle with Thee for a Blessing strengthen my Prayer to that height that when Thou seemest most to set thy Self against me I may prevail with Thee as Jacob did For my overcoming Thee is but the effect of Thy overcoming thy Self in me so that the glory of the Victory which I get over Thee will be intirely Thine Wrestle on therefore O my Soul give not over thy hold take no answer that brings not a Blessing with it For it is Thy God who strengthens thee and through him thou shalt at last be more than Conqueror Amen AS Prayer therefore is a Wrestling with God we look not upon this opposition as an hindrance but as an advantage to Devotion The true Enemies of Prayer exercise a more dangerous Hostility where the Van is led by those damned Spirits who being fallen from Heaven themselves endeavour the more enviously to obstruct the ways that may lead us thither and because nothing conduceth more to this than Prayer they order all their Temptations to this end chiefly either to divert us from it or disturb us in it If they tempt us to excess in Meats and Drinks their aim is not only to make us guilty of Intemperance but by it to render us the more unfit for Prayer Or if they prompt us to Anger and Impatience their design terminates not in that sin but rather makes use of it to a further end that the mind being thus disquieted may not be able easily to compose and settle it self to Prayer For the effecting this they
the good name and reputation of another Or hast thou pleased thy self either in inventing or spreading rumors of that kind III. Dost thou willingly give ear to Slanderers and to such as go about with lies or dost thou abhor them both in thy self and others The Examination upon the tenth Commandment I. DOst thou rest contented in that condition or state of life wherein God hath placed thee or hast thou at any time inordinately lusted after that which belongs to others II. Hast thou entertained secret covetings in thy thoughts with any delight or complacency Or hast thou labour'd to restrain them and quench them in their first beginnings When you have consider'd seriously and answered your self in these particulars one by one sum up the Account you have made where you find your self innocent give the glory to God whose Grace hath kept you from falling into those sins but where you find your self guilty humble your self before God in Prayer confessing sadly the evil you have done and imploring mercy in these or such other words as the devotion of your heart shall suggest to you An humble Confession after Examination O The God of my Soul with all humble Reverence I appear this day before thee not as the proud Pharisee to justifie my self but as the poor Publican who striking his breast durst not lift up his eyes towards Heaven nor say any more than this Lord be merciful to me a sinner For I have sinned O Lord I have sinned Wo is me I cannot cast my searching eyes into any corner of thy Commandments but I find my self miserably guilty But in what manner soever I have offended thee O my merciful Lord whether in Thought Word or Deed whether secretly or openly I am now sorry for it from the very root and bottom of my heart beseeching thee to look compassionately upon the frailty and ignorance the wilfulness and presumption of my life and graciously to forgive all that I have done amiss For alas I am neither able to stand thine indignation nor present thee with any thing of mine own but tears and prayers to appease thine anger Be reconciled therefore to me O God in the blood of thy dear Son which was so freely offered up to thee as a full ransom for the sins of the whole World O require not that payment again of me a poor and bankrupt sinner but for his sake for his abundant Satisfactions sake cancel the hand-writings that are against me blot out all my sins past new and old and for the time to come let there be an everlasting tie between my Soul and thee that thou maist be my God and I may live and die thy servant Amen A Protestation to be made after Confession O My great and glorious God I who am less than the grain of dust that hangs upon the balance profess seriously and with the remorse of a wounded spirit that I am not only sorry but ashamed and confounded within my self that I have so many ways sinned against so good a God so gracious a Father But what is past I cannot recal though thy mercy may forgive But for the time to come I call all thy holy Angels to witness that I this day sacrifice my self wholly to thee resolving to break of from all sinful courses and fully purposing never to offend thee more But because thou knowest my failings and my weakness is not hid from thee I beg of thee O my God to shew thy strength in my weakness and to confirm my infirm mind in this holy Resolution That so never repenting of this Repentance nor wavering in those Resolute Purposes which I have now by thy Grace fo deliberately made I may go on constantly in a pure and holy life till in the end of my days I come to everlasting joys which thou hast prepared for them that love thee through Jesus Christ my Lord Amen A Prayer before the receiving the holy Sacrament O My most blessed Saviour who in the bowels of thy Mercy towards Mankind didst not only offer thy self a Sacrifice for the sins of the whole world but didst institute this heavenly and holy Sacrament as the means to convey the Benefits of thy precious death to all such as with humility and repentance come unto thee Accept I beseech thee this my humble Address who here present my self a woful sinner I confess but such a one who am heartily sorry for my sins and penitent for my offences Direct me therefore O my God in this great action with such a reverent and awful fear that all the faculties of my soul may be attentive rightly to apprehend and joyfully to receive this wonderful Mystery of thy Body and Blood O my Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof let thy Holy Spirit therefore before thy coming prepare and dress up a Lodging for thee in my Soul cleansing it from the stains of sin and suffering nothing to abide in it that may keep thee out so that being wholly possest by thee all sinful thoughts and unclean suggestions may not only presently vanish but never find entrance more Grant this O my Jesu and so this day receive me into thy favour that I may with joy receive thee into my soul and being once united with thee thy Grace may never depart from me that so thou maist live in me and I in thee for ever Amen A Thanksgiving after the Receiving of the Sacrament O Lord the only Spring and everlasting Fountain of all good who hast this day revived and quickned my poor Soul by giving thy self unto me after a wonderful way in this Blessed Sacrament I praise and glorifie thy holy Name for this thine infinite mercy beseeching thee to crown what thou hast begun by a continual supply of thy heavenly grace that I may never forget whom or what I have received but being purified by thy Blood and strengthned by thy Body against all future Temptations I may constantly run through all the parts of an holy life to the possession of thy glorious Kingdom World without end Amen Amen Rules of Devotion to be observed toward the Evening or some time of the Afternoon I. THat you fail not unless some extraordinary or unavoidable accidents hinder you to allot some part of the Afternoon or toward the Evening for the advantage of your soul when freeing your self from business and company you may retire into your Closet or private Oratory and there direct your thoughts without disturbance upon God alone II. That being thus retired you constantly make it your business to read some part of the Holy Scripture especially in the Psalms which if all other Books of Devotion were lost are sufficient to supply us in that kind having begun there go on to the reading of some part of the New-Testament not carelesly or in haste as if you had a mind to have done but so attentively as to be able to give some account of what you have read or
in the very first motions and approaches of my Devotions and so order the beginnings of my Prayers as they may go on and never end till they are accepted of Thee Amen Of the Reverence and Adoration that is to be used in Prayer AMong all the Duties that relate to Prayer whether of Preparation to it or of Deportment in it there is none of more prime Concernment than to consider that when we pray we do place or set our selves in the immediate presence of God whose eyes though they are at all times over us yet then we must imagine them more particularly and earnestly fixed upon us And as from this Consideration flows all the care and solicitude of fitting our selves by the former preparatives so besides it suggests to us with what reverence we should present our selves before so infinite a Majesty not only because God expects it from us though this were enough to oblige For if I am your Father where is mine honour If I am your Master where is my fear The words of him that looks for Reverence but because our Prayers are then only effectual when they are presented with acts of Adoration For so saith Siracides The Prayer of him that humbleth himself goes through the Clouds and ceaseth not till it come near and will not depart till the most High have respect thereunto Nor doth the Son of God himself disdain to be a President to us in this whose prayers upon the Cross being offered with strong cries and tears were heard as St. Paul saith Propter Reverentiam importing as Aquinas observes not so much the Reverence due to his own Person but rather the Reverence which he did in his own Person to God the Father But because the Reverence which was done there was only the act of his Mind for his Body being then nail'd unto the Cross was not in a Capacity of performing outward Adoration he gave us before that pattern in the Garden where St. Luke saith that he kneeled St. Matthew that he fell on his face when he prayed Having shewn this of the Son of God Incarnate of whom it is said Let all the Angels of God Worship him It were much to descend to tell you of the four Beasts or the twenty four Elders that fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever But then if this lowly Reverence was done by them who were in such a nearness to God when they offered up to him the Prayers of the Saints what posture can be low enough for us miserable men whose Prayers those are and who in comparison of those heavenly Spirits are viler than the Worms we tread upon That Adoration therefore is necessary none will deny that either know the Excellency of God or their own baseness But because this may be done either by the mind alone or by the Body alone or by both conjoyned which makes the compleat Adoration let us inform our selves first what the inward act of it is For as our Saviour taught the Woman of Samaria God who is himself a Spirit must be worshipped in Spirit for the most profound outward Reverence if not accompanied with this is but a Body without a Soul a Pharisaical Ceremony or an Adoration of Complement of which God sadly complains when he saith of his people That they drew near to him with their lips but their heart was far from him The inward Adoration therefore is the humbling of our spirit to God in regard of the excellency that is in him submitting our very Soul with all the powers and faculties of it to his Divine Disposal as being the necessary Homage of the Creature due to the Greatness and Majesty of the Creator The exercise of this Adoration consists in several acts partly of the Understanding partly of the Will For first there is an act of Reverence required before you begin your Devotions in an humble Recognition of your unworthiness of which the Patriarch Abraham hath left you so excellent a pattern when being about to beseech God that he would spare Sodom he doth not only acknowledg himself to be dust and ashes but upon every return of speaking to God in that Cause he doth it with that fear and reverence as to ask leave and to deprecate his anger before he spake O let not the Lord be angry and I will speak I Confess O Lord it is an excess of holdness in me that I so poor a Worm so vile so contemptible a Creature should presume to speak to Thee Yet be not angry with me for this for it is not because I value my self more than Abraham did for if he were but dust and ashes what am I but because I dare not under value Thy Mercy that I make my humble approaches to Thee Behold I am nothing in mine own eyes O let me be something in Thine and disdâ—in me not when I speak unto Thee for Christ his sake Amen THis humble Recognition being made of your own vileness there is a second way of spiritual Adoration when the Soul humbled by this Reflex upon it self changeth the Object and raiseth a further Reverence by the consideration of the Excellencies and several perfections that are in God sometimes crying out in such Ejaculations as these O most excellent God I adore Thee for Thine Infinite Wisdom I reverence Thee for Thine Incomprehensible Goodness I glorifie Thee for Thine Immense Charity Sometimes again by a profound silence making a tacite acknowledgment that all that can be said by thee is nothing For not only the tongues of men but of Angels must fail in the expression of his Glory Besides there is a Reverence to be used to God in the Stile or Titles which you give to him and these you may vary according to the variety of the matter of your petitions wherein the Psalms of David are admirable and afford you no less than forty several ways of Compellation of him some relating to his Power as when he calls him by the names of The King of Heaven the King of Glory The God of my Strength The God that doth Wonders the very stile striking a kind of fear and reverence into the Soul Others again relating to his Goodness My Saviour My God My Might My Hope My Refuge in the time of trouble Which though they run in a stile of Confidence yet are not without reverence too But then as Gerson observes the stile that is best fitted for all persons on all occasions to use is the compellation of Father which our Saviour first taught his Disciples to make use of in that excellent Prayer never to be disus'd nor laid aside by us Before the time of Grace published to the World we do not find this Title in the prayers of Holy Men either Patriarchs or Prophets But after the Son of God by taking our Nature upon him became our Brother then was the boldness given to call God our Father given even
to sinners conditionally that they use it with that reverence as the converted Prodigal did who though he had the confidence to call him Father yet he had the humility withal to confess that he was not worthy to be called his Son and therefore his Petition reached no higher than to be made one of his hired Servants O Most Great God what shall I say in Thy presence when I come to pray to Thee By what Title shall I call thee or how shall I sufficiently adore Thee If I stile Thee a Iudge I adore thy Iustice If a Master I know my Obedience if I call Thee my Saviour I acknowledge Thy Mercy Whatsoever name I use I find cause enough of Reverence And since therefore I now appear before Thee to pay the Tribute of Adoration by a Thousand Titles due to the Thee let thy Truth direct me and Thy Spirit guide me that I may so adore Thee in Spirit and Truth as Thou requirest And that all the inward Faculties of my Soul may be as so many fiery Tongues to set forth thy praise for evermore Amen BUT as in a Watch though there must be Wheels within yet there must be a hand without too or else the inward Motion of the Wheels is useless so though the principal of all spiritual Motion is within yet the Virtue of it must have a time to work outward too or else our Adoration is not compleat For as the Nature of Man is not comprised singly either in Soul or Body but in both conjoyned so the Adoration due to God who made both is to flow from both And if the Soul be God's inward Chancel the Body must be the Temple that includes it For know you not saith St. Paul that your body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost that is in you Your own it is not For you are brought with a price therefore glorifie God in your Body as well as Spirit for both are his We are not therefore to think the Reverence of the Body to be an useless or an unprofitable Ceremony For besides this Argument of St. Pauls for the necessity of it St. Austin observes that this outward Adoration of the Body is a notable help to the more inward acts of the Spirit and adds much to the earnestness and fervour of it For the stretching forth of the hands the bowing of the knees the beating of the breasts the prostrating and casting down the Body with the like Gestures of Humiliation are not therefore used to discover to God what is within the heart or to move him the more but to move thy self and by these exterior acts as by a vigorous blowing to continue and increase that invisible fire of Devotion that burns within But then as these outward acts are not always absolutely necessary for you may many times be inwardly moved to pray when outward gesture cannot either easily or conveniently be used as Manasses praying in his Fetters Ezekiel in his Bed Susanna in a Throng of People so neither can I say that any one particular gesture of the Body in Prayer is so prescribed in Scripture either by way of Precept or Example as to oblige to that gesture only For in the exercise of Prayer we find several postures of Holy Men. Before the Law Abraham is said to have fallen on his face under the Law Moses did the like Among the Prophets Elias fell on the earth bowing his face between his knees Solomon stood before the Altar with his hands spread forth toward Heaven Saint Stephen kneel'd when he pray'd for his Enemies Saint Peter when he raised Doroas our Saviour himself in his Agony in the Garden not only kneel'd but prostrated himself as hath already been mentioned The acts of outward Adoration being of this diversity St. Austin's Rule is that in private Prayer for in publick we are to conform our selves to the Commands and Customs of the Church wherein we live rather than to the bent and inclination of our own Wills we are so to compose and order the outward man as may be of most advantage to the raising and continuing of the inward Devotion of the mind Of all these outward Gestures Prostration is the lowest act of bodily Reverence that can be used when the Supplicant casting himself upon the earth acknowledges by that act that he doth but cast dust to dust that he is more vile than the least grain of that earth he lies upon and this posture best becomes us in times of great Affliction and ever to be then lowest when our necessities are at the highest But though this casting of the body upon the ground hath been the practice of many Devout Men especially of those in the first Ages of Christianity who after a more strict way worshipping God in Desarts and solitary places yet because they found by experience as Cassian tells us that the continuance of their posture long might incline to ease and provoke to drousiness they us'd it rather upon some short Ejaculatory Prayers than in their larger and more continued Devotions casting themselves often down with some short and vehement breathings of the Soul but rising again so suddenly that some of them have been observed to have prostrated themselves in this manner an hundred times in the day and as often in the night But this we must leave to be imitated by those whose Devotion is of an higher strain than ordinary and which these latter times are hardly capable of But the more ordinary and more convenient for all persons is Genuflection Though we may have some excuse not to cast our whole body down shall we not cast our knees down at least Hath God said That every knee shall bow to him and shall any of us think to be dispenc'd with Our Saviour kneeled who knew no sin and is the posture too low for us that are nothing else but sin Whether Elephants have no joints in their knees and therefore cannot bend them I will not enquire But sure the Christian that hath not this excuse is a stranger Creature to be wondered at if he become once so sparing of his trouble or so over-familiar with his God as not to bend his knees in solemn Prayer unto him But then you will say Where is there Command for this No Gesture of the body can be other than a Ceremony which being in its own Nature a thing indifferent may either be used or laid aside But first Though it be a Ceremony every Ceremony is not of that indifferency especially such which the very Law of Nature dictates to all Nations in all Ages to fall down and kneel in the Veneration of their God whether true or false But then lest this inward Principle should apply and cast it self upon a wrong Object God hath expresly given his Precept too For every knee saith he shall bow to me And what terms can there be of higher command than these But yet because
which are then most acceptable to Thee when they flow from an undivided and untroubled Mind Of Preparation to Prayer and the Helps that conduce to it THough Prayer may well be reckoned amongst those gifts which are not of Earthly race but rather immediate Emanations from the Father of Lights yet this doth not exclude the preparing and disposing our selves for the receiving this Gift from Heaven according to that Counsel of the Son of Sirach Before thou prayest prepare thy self and be not as one that tempts the Lord For what is it to tempt God but to come into his presence with less regard than you would into the presence of some earthly Prince What is it to tempt him but to try experiments with him whether he will hear you upon any terms though you neither prepare your self nor order the manner nor dispose the matter which you petition for But be not deceived Heaven is not gained at so cheap a rate Qualem ie paraveris Deo saith St. Bernard talis apparebit tibi Deus If you slight God so far as to come carelesly into his presence without consideration of what you come about be sure he will slight you as much and regard your Prayers as little David who was a great Master in this heavenly Art of Prayer tells us that God hears the desires of the humble he hearkens to the preparation of the heart he hears your desires before they are molded and formed into Prayers and he listens to the very preparations of those desires he cherisheth them he goes along with them he leaves them not till you can say as that Divine Prophet did My heart is ready O God my heart is ready For as the Knife must be sharpened before you cut with it and the Lute tuned before you begin the Musick so there is something to be done some tuning of the heart required before your Prayers can yield that Musick which God listens after It is an excellent Rule which Eusebius Emissenus gives Quantum Tu apposueris ad diligentiam tantum Deus addit ad Gratiam The more care you take in fitting your self to your Devotions the more Grace he gives Elias was to prepare the Sacrifice though the Fire was to come from Heaven which did consume it To come therefore unprepared before him is an Argument say the Fathers that we do not esteem God we do not set such a Rate upon him as we ought to do For if the Virgins before they were brought into the presence of Ahasuerus were to be purified first with sweet Oyls and Odours what an impudence were it for a foul unwashed Soul to press into the presence of God himself But then if you would know more punctually wherein this Preparation consists your spiritual Guide will tell you There are some Rules more remote some more immediate of the remote the main is a watchfulness over the whole course of your life For if the Devil order his Temptations with a design in chief to blast and corrupt your Prayers your care must be the greater to countermine him in this design and to live so as far as humane frailty will give way as not to be at any time unqualified or unfit to pray To compass this there will be a need first of temperance in Diet for the body once heavy with Excess and Surfeits hangs plummets on the nobler part and weighs the Soul down with it This being done there will be use of setting a guard upon your Senses and stopping the Avenues so far as nothing may from without be admitted to divert you as Elias is observ'd to have wrap'd his Face in a Mantle when he prepared himself to speak with God To this must be added the frequent reading of Books especially the Book of Psalms where the Spirit of Devotion breaths with such a vigor as is able to kindle a fire in the coldest breast to stir up and excite the drousiest Soul which being thus awaked and heated may be more easily prepared to break forth in fervent Prayer But then if we come to the more immediate Dispositions and Qualifications of Prayer we shall be pointed to them by our Saviour who gives this main Rule of private Prayer When thou prayest enter into thy Closet and when thou hast shut the door pray to the Father which is in secret Wherein you are not only directed to the place of Prayer you are to chuse a place private and retired but further as the Fathers observe you are put in mind of a more inner Retirement the Closet of your breast for there you must enter too and shut that door by some setled Resolution to admit no thoughts that may disturb you for otherwise there may be noise and tumult in that inward Closet when there is Quiet and Silence in the other But then this is not all but as the place must be secret the door shut so the room must be furnished For as our Saviour would not eat the Passover in an unfurnished room but sent Peter and Iohn first to prepare it so there is a Furniture necessary for this little Chappel of ours the Heart There must be Faith to prepare the Materials and there must be Love to kindle the Sacrifice But then after all this Remember that there is no Preparative more effectual to Prayer than Prayer it self For as the Sun in its approaches to us is ushered in by its own beams and begins the dawning so in our approaches to God Prayer must make way for Prayer For though the severe Judges of the Areopage would admit of no Civilities of Preface to be used by them that pleaded before them yet God deals not so harshly with us when we plead before him but is content to let himself down to be wrought upon by the Rhetorick of a devout Soul This David knew well who so frequently makes use of it Sometimes with all lowliness suing for admittance O let my Prayer enter into Thy presence Let it be set forth in Thy sight as the Incense Let the lifting up of mine hands be as an evening Sacrifice Hear the voice of my humble Petitions when I cry unto Thee when I hold up my hands towards the Mercy-Seat of Thy Holy Temple Sometimes after a more passionate way How long wilt thou forget me O Lord For ever How long wilt Thou hide Thy face from me How long shall I seek counsel in my Soul and so vexed in my heart Hear me O God make haste to hear me Think no scorn of me for if Thou makest as if Thou hearest not I shall become like them that go down into the Pit With these or such as these the devout Soul summons God to a Parley pleads for Admittance opens the Windows of Heaven qualifies her self to receive Grace and works God to a readiness in giving it O Most gracious God who hearkenest to the preparations of the heart that prays to Thee assist me
to single at least some one passage or more out of it to be laid up in your Memory and to be made use of in the practice of an holy life III. That in this time of retirement you lay all things aside that may divert you from Holy and Heavenly thoughts considering that you set your self in the presence of God that you are to give him an account of what you are doing w ch that you may the better do you may begin with this Prayer A Prayer upon the Entrance into your Closet O My great and gracious God whose infinite mercy it is that I have this minute of my life left me I here appear in thy presence lamenting sadly that so much of my time is already lost either in doing ill or doing nothing or in doing that which hath been unprofitable and vain O grant that I may redeem the hours that are past dispose of those that are to come in serving thee hereafter with a devout heart earnest and passionate affections draw me off more and more from the pleasures and vanities of this life that I may the better settle my wavering and divided Soul upon thee alone and since at this time I have here retired my self that I might the more freely commune with my own heart and meditate on thine only Word let thy Blessed Spirit assist me that I may not only barely remember what I read but digest it into the practice of an holy Life to the comforts of my soul and the Glory of thy Name through Jesus Christ Amen Prayers towards Bed time I. LET my Prayer O Lord be set forth in thy sight as the Incense and let the lifâ—ing up of my hands be as an Evening Sacrifice For thou O Lord hast granted me thy loving kindness in the day-time and therefore in the night-season I will think on thee and make my prayer to the God of my life O thou that saidest Let therebe light and there was light open mine eyes that I sleep not in death Make me to commune with my own heart upon my bed and to search out all my ways That I may lament my sins as thy servant David did and cry unto thee for mercy Consider and hear me O God and hide me under the shadow of thy wings and let my soul rest in thee Amen II. Blessed art thou O God who makest the out-goings of the Morning and Evening to praise thee Who hast not cut off my life this day nor shut me up in the grave where all things are forgotten I will not suffer therefore my eyes to sleep nor my eye-lids to slumber till I have prepared my heart for my God to rest in For thou art my God from my youth thou hast numbred out my days and nights that I might serve thee thou givest thy beloved sleep and makest them that fear thee to rest in safety Thou deliverest me from the terrors of the night and from the evil that walketh in darkness Return then unto thy rest O my soul for God taketh care for thee Amen III. Lord let me make my Prayer unto thee in an acceptable time Teach me to remember thee in my bed and to think of thee when I am waking O thou Watchman of Isreal that neither slumberest nor sleepest watch over me this night Give thy Angels charge over me that the spirits of darkness may not come near me That no evil thoughts may betray me nor any sad or sinful dreams disturb my quiet For into thy hands O Lord I commend my spirit for thou hast redeemed me O keep then what thou hast redeemed and let not thy servant for whom thou hast died perish for ever Amen A short Prayer O GOD my everlasting keeper blessed be thy Name for evermore for thou madest me when I was nothing thou redeemedst me when I was worse than nothing thou hast so multiplied thy mercies on me through all the minutes of my life that the Sun hath never yet rose or set upon me without new Blessings from thee And as thou hast done so much for me already for which I pour out my very Soul in thankfulness so in the same degree of lowest humility I humbly beseech thee to continue thy care of me this night and so to shadow me under the Wings of thy Protection that neither visible nor invisible Enemies neither sin nor danger may approach to hurt me That so when the joyful Light of the day shall return again I may rise in safety with an unspotted Soul and a Body fitted to be the Temple of the Holy Ghost even so Lord Jesu Amen Amen Is any afflicted let him pray The Complaint of an afflicted Soul I. BEhold O Lord I am as a bruised reed before thee O break it not I am as smoaking flax O Lord quench it not Send down from on high and visit me Save me out of many waters that are come into my Soul For I have been left unto thee ever since I was born Thou hast been my God even from my Mothers womb O go not then far from me for trouble is near at hand and there is none to help me The sorrows of my heart are enlarged O bring thou me out of all my troubles Thou hast formerly been my succour leave me not now neither forsake me O God of my salvation For from the ends of the Earth will I call unto thee when my heart is in heaviness O forgive all the offences of thy servant which have justly brought these bitter things upon me Take away at last all thy displeasure and turn away from thy wrathful Indignation Arise and help me and deliver me for thy Mercies sake O God make speed to save me O Lord make hast to help me II. IN the time of my trouble I will call upon thee O God in my heaviness I will cry unto thee and unto thee alone For whom have I in Heaven but thee or whom shall I desire on earth in comparison of thee My flesh and my heart fails me but thou art the strength of my heart and my portion for ever But how long wilt thou forget me Lord for ever How long wilt thou hide away thy face from me How long shall I seek counsel in my soul and my spirit be thus troubled within me In my Prosperity I said I shall never be moved But as soon as thou didst hide away thy face from me I was troubled But will the Lord absent himself for ever Will he be no more intreated Hath God forgotten to be gracious or will he shut up his loving kindness in displeasure Alas innumerable troubles are come upon me They have laid such hold upon me that I am not able to look up There is no strength left in me O my God neither know I what to do but mine eyes are towards thee I am troubled above measure help me O God or else I shall sink under the burthen O consider what thou hast laid upon me forsake