Christ came to visit us in great humility that in the last Day when he shall come again in his glorious Majesty to judge both the quick and the dead we may rise to the life immortal through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost now and ever Amen ALmighty and everlasting God which art alwayes more ready to hear than we to pray and art wont to give more than either we desire or deserve Pour down upon us the abundance of thy mercy forgiving us those things whereof our Conscience is afraid and giving unto us that that our Prayer dare not presume to ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. ALmighty and merciful God of thy bountiful goodnesse keep us from all things that may hurt us that we being ready both in body and soul may with free hearts accomplish those things that thou wouldst have done through Jesus Christ our Lord. O Eternal God Almighty Father of Men and Angels by whose mercy care and Providence I have been preserved blessed comforted and assisted I humbly beg of thee to pardon the sins and follies of this day the weaknesse of my service the strength of my passion the rashnesse of my words and the vanity and evil of my actions O just and dear God how long shall I confesse my sins and pray against them and yet fall under them O let it be so no more let me never return to the follies of which I am ashamed which bring Sorrow and Death and thy displeasure worse than death give me a command over my evil Inclinations and a perfect hatred of sin and a love to thee above all the desires of this world be pleased to bless and preserve me this night from all sin and all violence of Chance and the malice of the Spirits of darknesse watch over me in my sleep or wake and whether I sleep or awake let me be thy Servant be thou first and last in all my thoughts and the guid and continual assistance of all my actions preserve my Body pardon the sins of my Soul sanctifie my Spirit let me alwayes live holy justly and soberly and when I die receive my Soul into thy hands O holy and ever blessed Jesus that I may lye in thy Bosom and long for thy coming and hear thy blessed sentence at dooms-day and live in thy Kingdom singing praises to God for ever and ever Amen Save me Lord waking and keep me sleeping that I may watch with Christ and rest in peace Amen Preserve me as the Apple of thine Eye and protect me under the shadow of thy wings Vouchsafe O Lord to keep me this night without sin Have mercy on me O Lord have have mercy on me Thy mercy be upon me O Lord. As I have put my trust in thee O Lord hear my Prayer And let my Supplication come unto thee VIsit we beseech thee O Lord this Habitation this Countrey and Township wherein I live and repel far from it and them all the snares of the wicked Enemy of Mankind and let thy holy Angels dwell therein to preserve us in peace and thy Blessing be upon us and all that we have and all that belongs unto us both now and for ever through our Lord Jesus Christ Amen God the Father bless me Iesus Christ defend and keep me the vertue of the Holy Ghost illuminate and Sanctifie me this night and for ever Amen Concluding Into thy hands O Lord I commend my Spirit Lord Iesu receive my Soul When you are in your Bed and cannot sleep exercise your self in some Spiritual Meditation If thou chance to awake in the dead of the night forthwith imagine thy self present amidst the Quires of Saints and Angels and with sudden Acclamation cry out with them reciting that Himn which they incessantly sing both day and night saying Sanctus Sanctus Sanctus c. Holy holy holy Lord God of Sabboth Heaven and Earth are full of the Majesty of thy glory Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end Amen WHen I had ended these Devotions for the Morning and Evening for your private use I thought to have proceeded no further but when I considered the difference holy Church makes of Dayes some for holy Feasts and others for holy Fasts I thought it convenient to set you out some other Devotions for the great weekly Feast of the Church being the Lords day upon which he did rise from the Grave and that weekly Fast of the Church being Friday upon which he was Crucified besides the Publique I mean those appointed by the Church for those days and your other private Devotions For as those dayes are great in the esteem of the Church so they bring a greater duty with them DEVOTIONS For Sunday Mornings before the Church Prayers begin The fifth Psalm 1. POnder my words O Lord consider my Meditation 2. O hearken thou unto the voice of my calling my King and my God for unto thee will I make my Prayer 3. My voice shalt thou hear betimes O Lord early in the Morning will I direct my Prayer unto thee and will look up 4. For thou art the God that hast no pleasure in wickednesse neither shall any evil dwell with thee 5. Such as be foolish shall not stand in thy sight for thou hatest all them that work vanity 6. Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing the Lord will abhor both the blood-thirsty and deceitfull man 7. But as for me I will come into thine House even upon the multitude of thy mercy and in thy fear will I worship towards thy holy Temple 8. Lead me O Lord in thy righteousnesse because of mine Enemies make thy way plain before my face 9. For there is no faithfulnesse in his mouth their inward parts are very wickedness 10. Their throat is an open Sepulchre they flatter with their tongue 11. Destroy thou them O God let them perish through their own imaginations cast them out in the multitude of their ungodliness for they have rebelled against thee 12. And let all them that put their trust in thee rejoyce they shall ever be giving of thanks because thou defendest them they that love thy Name shall be joyful in thee 13. For thou Lord wilt give thy Blessing unto the righteous and with thy favourable kindness wilt thou defend him as with a shield Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. Then humbly kneeling upon your knees say In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen Blessed be the holy and undivided Trinity now and for ever Amen Our Father c. Lord have mercy upon us Christ have mercy upon us Lord have mercy upon us Jesu receive our Prayers Lord Jesu grant our Petitions BLessed Lord who hast caused all holy Scripture to be written for our learning grant that we may in such wise hear them read
a most perfect Example and finally thou didst consent upon that tree to die and by thy Death to Redeem us I humbly beseech thee for the incomparable patience thou shewedst in the whole course of thy Life and then especially when thy malicious Enemies so raged against thee when they mocked thee and spit upon thy Face when they hood-winked thine eyes and with their most impure hands buffeted thy Cheeks when they cruelly scourged thee fast bound to a Pillar when they did thrust upon thy sacred Head a Crown of Thornes and prest their sharp points into thy Temples when with Iron Nails they pierced thy blessed Hands stretched along upon the Cross when thy blessed Side was transfixt with a Spear when in thy great thirst and extreme Agony they offered thee a spunge full of vinegar and gall when with thy Head inclined down thou saidst It is Consummate when thou didst commend thy Spirit into the hands of God the Father and in the end gavest up thy last breath for the Redemption of Mankind For all these Pains and Passions O most gracious Lord Jesus Christ I poor and miserable sinner humbly beseech thy infinite Majesty not to forsake me nor suffer me to be Condemned in thy terrible Judgment but let thy dolorous Passion so help me that I may be brought to everlasting felicity let thy holy Angels alwayes be in my Company and specially at the hour of my death that they may protect defend and keep me so that the cruel â—nfernal Enemy may never have any power over me Amen O Jesu who for the Redemption of the World patiently enduredst so many Injuries Calamities and Afflictions and even Death it self We humbly beseech thee by all thy Sufferings and by the effusion of thy precious Blood deliver us from the dangers of this Life from the pains of Hell and from suddain and everlasting death Amen O Holy Jesus who for our sakes didst suffer Incomparable anguish and pains Commensurate to thy love and our miseries which were infinite that thou mightest purchase for us Blessings upon Earth and an Inheritance in Heaven dispose us by love thankfulnesse humility and obedience to receive all the benefit of thy Passion granting unto us and thy whole Church remission of all our sins integrity of mind health of body competent maintainance peace in our dayes a temperate air fruitfulnesse of the Earth unity and integrity of Faith extirpation of Heresies reconcilement of Schismes destruction of all wicked Counsels intended against us and bind the hands of Rapine and Sacriledge that they may not destroy the Vintage and root up the Vine it self Multiply thy Blessings upon us sweetest Jesus increase in us true Religion sincere and actual Devotion in our Prayers patience in troubles and whatsoever is necessary to our Souls health or conducing to thy glory Amen O Holy and eternal Jesus who didst for our sakes Fast forty dayes and forty nights and hast left to us thy Example and thy prediction that in the dayes of thy absence from us we thy Servants and Children of thy Bride-Chamber should Fast teach us to do this act of discipline so that it may become an Act of Religion Let us never be like Esau valuing a Dish of meat above a Blessing but let us deny our appetites of Meat and Drink and accustome our selves to the yoke and substract the fuel of our lusts and the incentives of all our unworthy desires that our bodies being free from the intemperances of nutriment and our Spirits from the load and pressure of Appetite we may have no desires but of thee that our outward Man daily decaying by the violence of time and mortified by the abatements of its too free and unnecessary support it may by degrees resign to the intire dominion of the Soul and may passe from vanity to piety from weakness to ghostly strength from darknesse and mixtures of impurity to great transparencies and charity in the society of a beautiful Soul reigning with thee in the glories of eternity O holy and eternal Iesu Amen O God the Authour of peace and lover of Charity give to our Enemies peace and true Charity grant them remission of all their sins and deliver us from all their deceipts through our Lord Iesus Christ Amen O Almighty everlasting God the eternal Salvation of them that believe hear us for thy Sick-Servants for whom we humbly crave the help of thy mercy that health being restored to them they may yield thanksgiving to thee in thy Church through our Lord Iesus Christ Amen O Almighty everlasting God the Consolation of the sorrowful and the strength of those that travel let the Prayers of all that call upon thee out of any tribulation distress or calamity whatsoever come to thy ears that they may rejoyce to find thy mercies present with them in their necessities through Iesus Christ our Lord Amen TUrn thou us O good Lord and so shall wee be turned be favourable O Lord be favourable to thy People who turn to thee in weeping fasting and praying For thou art a merciful God full of compassion long-suffering and of great pity Thou sparest when we deserve punishment and in thy wrath thinkest upon Mercy Spare thy People good Lord spare them and let not thine Heritage be brought to confusion Hear us O Lord for thy merty is great and after the multitude of thy mercies look upon us through the Merits and mediation of thy blessed Son Iesus Christ our Lord Amen O Lord hear our Prayers And let our Cry come unto thee O God whose nature and property is ever to have mercy and to forgive receive our humble Petitions and grant that the tender mercy of thy piety may mildly absolve us whom the chain of sin doth bind through thy sweet Son Iesus Christ our Lord Amen The grace of our Lord Iesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with us all evermore Amen Then devoutly rise from your knees and say The 143. Psalm 1. HEar my Prayer O Lord and consider my desire hearken unto me for thy truth and righteousness sake 2. And enter not into judgment with thy Servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified 3. For the enemy hath persecuted my Soul he hath smitten my life down to the ground he hath laid me in the darknesse as the men that have been long dead 4. Therefore is my Spirit vexed within me and my heart within me is desolate 5. Yet do I remember the time past I muse upon all thy works yea I exercise my self in the works of thy hands 6. I stretch forth my hands unto thee my Soul gaspeth unto thee as a thirsty land 7 Hear me O Lord and that soon for my Spirit waxeth faint hide not thy face from me lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit 8. O let me hear thy loving kindnesse betimes in the morning for in thee is my trust shew thou me the way
that I should walk in for I lift up my Soul unto thee 9. Deliver me O Lord from mine enemies for I flee unto thee to hide me 10. Teach me to do the thing that pleaseth thee for thou art my God let thy loving Spirit lead me forth into the land of righteousnesse 11. Quicken me O Lord for thy Names sake and for thy righteousnesse sake bring my Soul out of trouble 12. And of thy goodness slay mine enemies and destroy all them that vex my Soul for I am thy Servant Glory be to the Father c. As it was c. You are not to eate any thing upon Friday or other fasting dayes until the time of the Evening Service of the Church be past And if it should please God that at any time you shall be so unhappy as to fall into any Calamity affliction or trouble or lye under any oppression to all which as long as we are in this troublesom world we are subject as my own unhappy experience doth too much if it had pleas'd God it might have been otherwise manifest Therefore against that day of Calamity I thought fit to provide you a short Office fitted for your private use as followeth The 54. Psalm 1. SAve me O God for thy Names sake and avenge me in thy strength 2. Hear my Prayer O God and hearken unto the words of my mouth 3. For strangers are risen up against me and Tyrants which have not God before their eyes seek after my Soul 4. Behold God is my Helper the Lord is with them that uphold my Soul 5. He shall reward evil unto mine enemies destroy thou them in thy truth 6. An Offering of a free heart will I give thee and praise thy Name O Lord because it is so comfortable 7. For he hath delivered me out of all my trouble and mine eye hath seen his desire upon mine enemies Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. Lord have mercy upon us Christ have mercy upon us Lord have mercy upon us Jesu receive our Prayers Lord Iesu grant our Petitions Our Father c. IN the midst of life we are in death of whom may we seek for succour but of thee O Lord who for our sins art justly displeased yet O Lord God most Holy O Lord most Mighty O holy and most merciful Saviour deliver us not into the bitter pains of eternal Death Thou knowest Lord the secrets of our hearts shut not thy merciful ears to our Prayers but spare us O Lord most Holy O God most Mighty O holy and merciful Saviour thou most worthy Iudge eternal suffer us not at our last hour for any pains of death to fall from thee Amen O Most powerful and glorious Lord God at whose Command the Winds blow and lift up the Waves of the Sea and who stillest the rage thereof we thy Creatures but miserable sinners do in this our great distress cry unto thee for help save Lord or else we perish We confesse when we have been safe and seen all things quiet about us we have forgot thee our God and refused to hearken to the still voice of thy Word and to obey thy Commandments But now we see how terrible thou art in all thy works of Wonder the great God to be feared above all and therefore we adore thy divine Majesty acknowledging thy Power and imploring thy goodnesse Help Lord and save us for thy mercies sake in Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord Amen Lord be merciful to us sinners and save us for thy mercies sake Thou art the great God that hast made and rulest all things deliver us for thy Names sake Thou art a great God to be feared above all O save us that we may praise thee O Lord arise help us and deliver us for thy Names sake O Lord arise help us and deliver us for thine honour Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. From our enemies defend us O Christ Graciously look upon our Afflictions Pitifully behold the sorrows of our hearts Mercifully forgive the sins of thy People Favourably with mercy hear our Prayers O Son of David have mercy upon us Both now and ever vouchsafe to hear us O Christ Graciously hear us O Christ Graciously hear us O Lord Christ God the Father God the Son God the Holy Ghost have mercy upon us Save us now and evermore Amen Our Father c. O Lord hear our Prayers And let our Cry come unto thee ALmighty God who hast promised to hear the Petitions of them that ask in thy Sons Name we beseech thee mercifully to incline thine ears to us that have made now our Prayers and Supplications unto thee and grant that those things which we have faithfully asked according to thy Will may effectually be obtained to the relief of our necessity and to the setting forth of thy glory through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with us all evermore The 70. Psalm 1. HAst thee O God to deliver me make hast to help me O Lord. 2. Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my Soul Let them be turned backward and put to confusion that wish me evil 3. Let them for their reward be soon brought to shame that cry over me There there 4. But let all those that seek thee be joyful and glad in thee and let all such as delight in thy Salvation say alway The Lord be praised 5. As for me I am poor and in misery hast thee unto me O God 6. Thou art my helper and my Redeemer O Lord make no long tarrying Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. HAving now finished these private Instructions for your use you must remember that I do not deliver this with any Intention that by your using of these private Offices you should in the least kind neglect the glorious Service of your Mother the holy Church but be very conversant in your attendance at the Altar for there you may receive greater satisfaction than is possible to be had elsewhere It is true there is amongst those who are enemies to the Peace of the Church or else are ignorant and do not understand the Reasons of her several Offices who usually say What shall they go to Church to hear Common-Prayer they may read that at home A very absurd objection and not worth the answering but the advantages you may receive there are many but especially when you come to that holy place there you meet with the People of God in holy Worship there if you truly Confess your sins you receive Absolution from the Priest there the Priest is ready to give you such Benedictions as the Church directs which holy Communion and the power of the Priest observe the Learned Dr. Taylor in his great Exemplar in his Prayer after his Meditation