Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A29251
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An appendix to the discourse upon the doctrine of our baptismal covenant being a method of family-religion / by Thomas Bray ...
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Bray, Thomas, 1658-1730.
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1699
(1699)
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Wing B4288; ESTC R34276
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17,835
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51
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58.10 If thou draw out thy Soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted Soul then shall thy Light rise in obscurity and thy Darkness shall be as the Noon-day Psalm 92.1 IT is a good thing to give thanks unto thee O Lord and to sing Praises unto thy Name O most High Ver. 2. To shew forth thy Loving-kindness in the Morning and thy Faithfulness every Night Psal 43.3 O send out thy Light and thy Trutâ— let them lead me let them bring me unto thy holy Hill and to thy Tabernacle Psal 119.105 Thy Word is a Lamp unto my Feet and a Light unto my Paths Psal 119 133. Order my Steps in thy Word and let not any Iniquity have dominion over me Psal 36.9 With thee is the Fountain of Life in thy Light shall we see Light Psal 13.3 Consider and hear me O Lord my God lighten mine Eyes that I sleep not in Death Psal 4.8 I will lay me down in Peace and Sleep for it is thou Lord only that makest me dwell in safety An Evening Prayer O Lord God the Father of Merâ—ies and the God of all Comfort how infinitely am I abash'd to appear before thee who cannot pass one Day without offending thee both by Sins of Omission and Commission both by leaving undone those things which I ought to have done and by doing those things which I ought not to have done And in both these kinds have I offended thee this Day and that both in Thought Word and in Deed particularly Here mention any Sin of either of the foregoing kinds you have been guilty of But I fly into the Arms of thy Fatherly Compassion Lord for thy Mercies sake forgive me cleanse me from my Wickedness and strengthen my Weakness that I may overcome all the Temptatioas which daily surround me and may henceforward continue stedfast in my Covenant with thee Accept of my humblest Praise and Thanksgiving O Lord for all the Goodness thou hast this Day shewed me for all the helps of preventing or restraining Grace thou hast vouchsafed me for whatever I have done this Day which is in any measure acceptable to thee for whatever progress I have made in my Study or Success thou hast given to my honest Labours as also for thy Preservation of me from all the Miseries and Dangers which frail Mortality is every Moment exposed to This if a Servant particularly for Hâ—re name any particular Blessing or Deliverance God has sent you And now O Lord God in whose Protection consists the safety of Man and of all Creatures I commit my self wholly to thy Protection thiâ— Night beseeching thee that thou wouldst graciously preserve me from the Power of the Prince of Darkness who to deceive Mankind can transform himself into an Angel of Light and that thou wouldst likewise preserve me from all Dangers both of Soul and Body And let me not be so overwhelm'd with slumber as wholly to forget thee but when my Body is overtaken with sleep let my Mind continually watch and be intent upon thee both Day and Night And when Rest shall have refresh'd both Body and Mind as much as shall suffice Nature let the Morning find me more apt and propense to serve thee to the Salvation of my own Soul the Good of my Neighbour and the Glory of thy most Holy Name And all this I beg for Jesus Christ his sake to whom with thee and the Holy Spirit be ascribed all Honour and Glory by me and by all Mankind throughout all Ages World without end Amen The three following Prayers are to be added to the foregoing Morning and Evening Prayer by the Persons respectively concern'd in them A Prayer for a Youth at School O God the Father of Lights and the Giver of every good and perfect Gift I do render thee all possible Praise and Thansgiving that thou hast put it into the Hearts of my Parents Guardians to deliver me up to be instructed in good Literature at an Age which is most flexible and apt to learn I do humbly intreat thee that I may not th ough sloth or negligence fail their expectations of me And because no Vigilance Industry nor Study will avail any thing without thy aid vouchsafe I beseech thee to enlighten my Mind with a Ray from above and inspire me with that desire and love of Learning Wisdom and Vertue with such a Readiness to apprehend and Memory to retain that which is good that I may become Learned and Pious and thereby serviceable to Church and State and to the Honour of thy most Holy Name These things O God I do most earnestly beg of thee for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord to whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be ascribed all Honour and Praise both now and for evermore Amen A Prayer to be used by Children under the Government of their Parents O Eternal God and Heavenly Father thou that art the kind Author of my Being be thou the Gracious Guide of my Life My Age is simple and unexperienc'd and be thou pleas'd to inspire me with truth from above I am come into a World of Snares and Temptations O do thou fill me with the Knowledge and Love of thy Truth that it may keep me from the Path of the Destroyer O possess my Heart with the fear of thee and dependance upon thee that I may walk before thee the Almighty God and be perfect that I knowing that thou art my exceeding great Reward may neither be discontented in my present State nor distrustful of a Provision for the future Possess also my Heart O my God with that natural tenderness for my Parents and with that Christian sense of my Duty towards 'em that my Language may be respectful my Actions dutiful and my whole Behaviour such that I may not encrease the Burden and Care of their Life but prove a Comfort and Support to ' em O my God possess me lastly with a Spirit of Meekness Justice Truth and Industry that by Reverence to my Betters by Courteousness Truth and Faithfulness towards all and by Diligence in whatsoever I am employ'd I may grow like a Tree planted by the Rivers of Water my Leaf may not wither whatsoever I do may prosper and I may bring forth my Fruit in due season increasing daily in Wisdom and Stature and in favour with God and Man Hear O hear the Voice of my Petition for in thee only is my trust through Jâ—sus Christ our Lord. Amen A Prayer for a Servant O Holy and Just God I know that without Holiness it is impossible for me to please thee here or to enjoy thee hereafter I beseech thee therefore that my Vnderstanding may be so enlightened my Conscience convinc'd and my whole Heart enflamed with the love of Holiness that I may be Holy in all manner of Conversation Beget in me a most tender and lively Sense of the great Duties of Obedience Justice and Charity which I owe to my Master that I governing my self by these in all my Actions I may in my Station advance the Honour of God the Contentment and Interest of my Master the Peace and Vertue of the Family and my own both Temporal and Eternal Happiness I know O Lord that no Acts of Injustice or Vnfaithfulness between Man and Man shall go unpunished I know that for these things sake the Wrath of God is reveal'd from Heaven O what then must be my Punishment if I heap upon the guilt of Injustice and Vncharitableness many others namely the Guilt of Ingratitude Vnfaithfulness Lying Perjury O preserve me therefore O my God from all falshood and wrong suffer me not to forfeit thy Favour and destroy my Soul for the sake of those things which perish O let me be fully convinc'd that the ways of Righteousness are ways of Pleasantness and that all her Paths are Prosperity and Peace that so I may delight my self in the Law of my God and may find Comfort and a Blessing in the discharge of my Duty Teach me O Lord Humility and Obedience Faith and Truth Care and Industry Charity and Meekness that I may adorn the Doctrine of God my Saviour win others over to a Love of Vertue and after an humble and contented though laborious Life here may enter into Rest and Glory hereafter through Jesus Christ our Saviour Amen Our Father c. A Grace before Meat BLess O Lord these thy Creatures to our Vse and us unto thy Service through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen A Grace after Meat WE give thee Thanks O Lord for these and all other thy Benefits Good God preserve the Church and save the King and all the Royal Family And bless us with Vnity Truth and Peace through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen FINIS
this both Ordinary and Extraordinary Ordinarily and at every time the Family are call'd together to Prayers it were well if a Chapter were read either according to the order of our Kalendar by which means the most material parts of Holy Scripture might be read over the Old Testament once the New thrice a-year Or if time will not serve to have four Chapters read every day then the New Testament may be read over in order And it would tend singularly to the improvement of the Youth of the Family both Children and Servants to have them read the Chapters by turns Extraordinarily I would recommend it to all Families that on Sunday-Evenings the Master or Mistress having call'd together their whole Family would besides the Chapter cause to be read some Discourse out of some Practical Treatise And I shall here recommend what Books they may read with profit and in what order And in the first â—â—ace since in the Doctrine of our Baptismal Covenant is contain'd all that is essentially necessary to Salvation and nothing is to be accounted such which is no part nor Article of the Covenant of Grace and since according as we have perform'd or not perform'd our part of this Covenant we shall be justify'd or condemn'd at the last day I am therefore persuaded that the Knowledge of the Nature Terms and Conditions of this Covenant by whose Mediation we obtained such Gracious Terms of Salvation and what vast Obligations do lie upon us to discharge the same I am therefore I say persuaded that a through understanding of this Covenant is fundamentally necessary And since the general Doctrine thereof gives a view of the whole Scheme of the Christian Religion I humbly conceive it ought to be the first thing taught and understood in Christianity to which end give me leave to recommend every Sunday the reading of a Lecture in the foregoing Short Discourse till it be gone through And then after that for a more particular Information in the several conditions of this Covenant I would be glad if some Treatise upon the Articles of our Christian Faith such as Kettlewel's Practical Believer and next to that some Discourse upon the several Christian Duties such as the Whole Duty of Man were by degrees read over And then if next after this a Discourse upon the Sacrament such as Kettlewell's Help and Exhortation to worthy Communicating were also read there wou'd be nothing wanting to give all the Memâ—â—rs of a Family both a general and particular Knowledge in the whole Christian Religion and to guide them to Heaven These three last mentioned Books are what I would wish were in every Family for the compleat Instruction of the Members of it But in regard they may be thought too dear a Purchase and too tedious for some instead thereof the Guide of a Christian and the Christian Monitor may serve excellently for the purpose of Family Instructions And if with the latter of these be bound up Wake upon Death between these three there will be an admirable Rule provided for Holy Living and dying And both together will make up an Excellent poor Man's Family-Book The purchase of the two latter will not arise to above one Shilling and six Pence and of all together to not above eight Shillings And it were happy for this Church and the Souls of Men if so many of our Common People did not lay out much more as they generally do to the loading of their Shelves in Books of an Antinomian Spirit such as Bunyan's Books to the Poysoning of many thousand Persons both in their Faith and Practice Thirdly And now after the Psalm and Chapter and the other reading on Sundays In the Close it is proper that Prayer should succeed for which by this time we may suppose all the Members of the Family to be very well prepared and to be put in a good frame of Spirit And there are indeed great variety of excellent Devotions in the foregoing Books especially if to them there shall be added Patrick's Devout Christian However to render this as generally useful as may be for all the purposes of Family-Religion I shall add a Prayer for the Morning and Evening made for the most part out of the words of our Liturgy the best Treasury of Devotions doubtless in the World of any Humane Composure and particularly out of the words of our Catechism the Praying over of which will have these advantages in my Opinion of all other Forms that first the things thereby prayed for will be the same we have Covenanted with God to perform And secondly every single Expression being pregnant of abundance of Matter so as to be the Subject of Expositions in every Petition the Mind will be taken up with great variety of things whereas in most other Composures in much variety of Expression there is but little Matter included And by the by this being the Nature of our Forms in the Liturgy especially of those Supplications following the several Commandments the Injury which is done to our Church Service is intolerarable when it is hurry'd over and read precipitately so as the Worshipper cannot have due space to reflect upon the copious Matter he prays for under those comprehensive Expressions PRAYERS O Most blessed Lord God whose glorious Name is exalted above all Blessing and Praises yet it is our Duty and our Happiness to Glorify thee And to this end we a small handful of thy depending Creatures are here met to join our Hearts and Voices in the Celebration of thy Praises And therefore with Angels and Archangels and all the glorious Company of Heaven we laud and magnify thy holy Name for all thy Mercies vouchsafed unto us and to all Mankind Our Creation was an admirable Instance of thy Goodness communicating Life and Being and a competent measure of Happiness to all thy Creatures And as the Morning-Stars or Angels did thereupon sing for Joy so do we this Day celebrate the Glorious Power then appearing But the Redemption of us by the Mediation of thy Son Jesus Christ reconciling us to thee when we had basely revolted from thee and took part with thine Enemy was an astonishing Work of Mercy which the Angels themselves cannot fathom but desire to look into O how did Mercy and Truth here meet together How did Righteousness and Peace here kiss each other We are in some measure sensible of it and we do most devoutly adore thy Goodness that thou hast called us into the Family of thy Church to partake of the Benefits of such Redemption And now O God as at our Admission into this holy Society we did List our selves under Christ's Banner manfully to Fight against the World the Flesh and the Devil so do thou enable us to Renounce the Devil and all his Works the Pomps and Vanity of this wicked World and all the sinful Lusts of the Flesh As we have been Baptiz'd into the Belief and Profession of thee the only true God Father Son