Thanksgiving O merciful Father after all thy mecies to me in the whole course of my life my soul hath this day further seen and tasted how good the Lord is in many significations of mercie and loving kindness to me I bless thee O Lord for the great work of mercie in Iesus Christ For that I have a time to repent me of those sins for which I might even now have been suffering in an eternal punishment I praise thee that I am not roating in a torment languishing in a disease pining in a prison nor a poor vagrant nor a disconsolate captive But on the contrary O my Lord thou hast given me a residence a protâ—ction a plenty a sound mind an healthful body and liberty But most especially that thou hast offered me sweet testimonies of thy present grace and a blessed hope of future glory Now O my Lord for every of these and for all other the blessed evidences of thy love and goodness to me I do from my soul acknowledg thy mercie and bless praise and magnity thy great and glorious Name for ever and ever And O Lord keep me this night under the same protection and let the mercy of my God so preserve me that neither sin nor danger may make me miserable through the might of Iesus Christ my ever blessed Saviour Amen Vse the same intercession that is set for the Morning Service THE Largest Forme FOR Private Exercise Morning PRAYER When thou addressest thy self to thy morning service first frame thy mind to meditate of the glorious excellencies and presence of God and worship him in this or the like manner Our Father which art c. O Most glorious and incomprehensible Lord God of heaven and earth whose immense essence and infinite perfections no tongue can express nor heart conceive Before whose Dreadful Majesty the holy Angels vaile their faces and the glorified Spirits cast their crowns Thou O Lord art only worthy to receive Glory Honour and Power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created Therefore being sensible of my miserable nothing poverty and dependency and admiring thy absolute and infinite excellencies do throw my self my soul and body at the foot of thy Majesty and do adore and worship thy divine presence acknowledging that blessing honour and power is due unto thee for ever and ever Amen A Confession O Lord my God who art a God of purity and holiness and hatest the wayes of iniquity Though thou hast sentenced sin to a wages of death and an eternal punishment and hast declared a dislike of all wicked persons and their performances yet O Lord wretch that I am I have not ceased to do evill in thy sight and to depart from all thy holy wayes For I have yeelded my self too much to satisfy the vanity of my corrupt mind and my unholy lusts not considering their inconsistencie with the Kingdom of Christ I have inclined my affections desires and designes too much to present enjoyments and suffered my heart to be betrayed by them to a forgetfulness or thee and departure from thee O Lord I have either altogether omitted the duties of thy service and worship or performed them too loosely and subordinately or with too much hypocrisie or confidence in them I confesse I have every way lived unanswerably to the infinite mercies and strict commandments of the Gospel too much neglecting the great salvation and the excellencies of the peace of Christ O Lord my God when I consider the iniquities I have committed in my mind with evill thoughts in my tongue in sinfull words and how much all parts and faculties have concurred as instruments of sin how I have offended against the motions of thy Spirit and my own purposes against all thy lawes and all thy providences in all my actions and employments and in every part of my life my sins become an heavy burthen too heavy for me to bear Here open thy soul to God in particulars so that for them and all other my sins I have justly deserved thy wrath and indignation to afflict me in this life with signal punishments and in the life to come with eternall torments Petition for Pardon But O Lord my God give me a true and sincere repentance such as thou shalt please to accept in Christ O teach mine eyes to weep my heart to break my soul to mourn for all my sins O let my understanding alwayes perceive and be convinced of their filthinesse and deadliness even as when thou beholdest sinnes to punish them or as when thou requiredst the blood of my Saviour to satisfie thy justice for them Lord help me to purpose against them and truly to depart from them as if the shame and unprofitablenesse the curse and the hell of them were alwayes before me And O Lord I beseech thee for thy tender mercies and bowels of compassion sake who canst not delight in the death of a sinner to pitty my poor soul lying under the burthen of my sins O my dear Iesus let these wounds of my soul be healed by thy stripes and the divine justice that I have offended be satisfied by thy dear sufferings And since thou hast paid a price for my sins and still intercedest for the pardon of them O deliver me from the guilt and burthen of them an unpeaceable conscience and a miserable eternity the just wages of them Through the merits of my dear Iesus my Lord and Saviour Amen Petition for Grace O my most gracious God I being sensible of my spiritual poverty and inabilitie to understand desire or think of the things of my peace without thy assistance do beseech thee in thy tender mercies not to leave my soule to the guidance of my sinful nature nor to give me over to my own vile affections but rather grant me power through thy holy Spirit to crucify my lusts and to deny my self in all things that are inconsistent with thee O strengthen me to encounter with the temptations of the world and let not the seeming satisfactions of any outward enjoyment betray my soul to forget thee or to decline my obedience to thee Lord grant me the compleat armour of thy grace that I may alwayes prevent the wiles of the devil and overcome the powers and rulers of darkness in their temptations Give me a disposedness in all parts and faculties of soul and body to exercise their offices in obedience to Christ Enlighten my understanding to mind heavenly things draw my will after thee and command all my affections to thee Fill me O Lord with every grace of the Gospel whose exercise thou requirest of me as a disciple of Christ O make me able to live godly to thee in all parts of thy worship righteously to men by the strict rules of justice and soberly to my self in all temperance and chastity Lord make me humble sincere meek patient and peaceable and give me strength to obey the whole will of Christ in all his
my countenance and my God Thou hast created me by thy power redeemed me by thy Christ sanctified me by thy Spirit and preserved me by thy watchful providence through the whole course of my life Lord I praise thee for the safety of my soul and body this day that thy grace hath kept me from grosse sins and thy protection from sad accidents O keep me this night by the covert of the same fatherly goodness through Jesus Christ my Lord Amen Let the intercession be the same that was used for the morning Service Now I commend this office as the fittest to be taught to servants in families and to be used by children before they come to mens and womens estate THE Third Form This third office I have here inserted for the benefit of those who usually accustoming themselves to the next and largest formes shall sometime be necessitated to shorten their service and may be ordinarily used by those who are not yet come up to so great designs of zeal for longer formes Morning PRAYER Our Father which art in c. Confession of sin O Lord God Almighty the God of all Glory Majesty and Power and the fountain of mercies I confesse I am unworthy to appear before thy holy presence having sinned against heaven and before thee and in thought word and deed continually rebelled against thee I have too much followed my lusts and desires and have not endeavoured to bring under my affections to the yoak of Christ I have loved the vanities of the world but too much undervalued thy Kingdom and promises I have not been so sincere and frequent in thy services so diligent in my calling so just and merciful in my carriage to others nor so sober and temperate in the use of my mind body and thy blessings as the strict holinesse of the Gospel hath required of me here make confession of particulars For which I stand here guilty of the breach of thy righteous commandments and lie lyable to the effects of thy wrath and displeasure Prayer for Pardon and Grace But O thou preserver of men for thine own compassion sake and for thy Iesus sake pity the troubles of a burthened soul and pardon all those sins I have committed against thee Let the blood of Christ satisfy thy justice and his intercession obtain thy mercy for a peace and reconciliation with thee that my sins may not separate from thy grace here nor thy glory hereafter And O Lord strenthen my weak soul with the graces of thy Spirit that I may hereafter overcome all the temptations of the devil the world and the flesh and may lead a new and holy life before thee Turn the stream of my affections to thee and take possession of my soul that all my thoughts words and actions may be subject to the law of Christ And having kept the faith and finished my conversation in holines I may at last through thy mercies in Christ obtain the crown of eternal glory Amen The Thanksgiving O merciful and Gracious Lord as I acknowledge my dependence upon thee for every part of my being so I desire to bless thy holy Name for all thy mercies to me especially for the redemption of my soul by the blood of thy Son and for the portion of thy grace that thou hast given me I praise thee O Lord for all temporall blessings as my health provision of food and rayment friends understanding senses and limbs and that I enjoy any thing that I have seen any others to want Blessed be thy Name for the safety of my soul and body this night past O keep me under the shadow of thy wings this day that I may fall into no sad accidents nor dangers and so defend me with thy grace that I may do nothing that may displease thee or that may occasion sin in others or give offence to the holy profession of Christ for his merits sake who is my blessed Jesus Amen Intercession Lord defend thy universall Church from all enemies persecutions and factions Preserve thy Churches in these nations restore them to their former peace and keep them from the dangers of their own divisions and enmities Grant that Magistrates and Ministers may concurre to the upholding thy truth and worship in this needful time Blesse my Parents children and all my near relationss with all spiritual blessings in Christ and all temporall comforts Relieve and comfort all that are in distresse all prisoners captives sick and poor persons distressed widowes and friendless children with every oppressed and sorrowful soul Convert the impenitent confirm the weak turn into the way of truth all that have erred and forgive and bless all mine enemies Lord hear these my prayers and grant me my requests for the mediation of Jesus Christ my Saviour to whom with thee and the holy Spirit be given all Glory Honour and Praise this day and for evermore Amen Evening PRAYER Our Father which c. O Most infinite Majesty and gracious Father in mercy thou hast added another day to my age O wretch that I am I have added many sins to my former score How often O Lord have I this day forgotten my obedience to thee How many vain thoughts hath my mind harboured How many vain and impertinent words hath my mouth uttered With how many passions have I been transported beyond the bounds of Religion How many sinful acts have I committed How many opportunities of doing good have I omitted wherein I might have glorified thy Name And whereas thou hast given it me as another day of grace to be getting oyle for my lamp and to be working out my salvation O unhappy Creature I have rather gone back upon the accounts of the Spirit Trifling away that precious time in my indulgencies to my carnal affections or pursuits of worldly advantages neglecting the great prize of Christ and treasures of eternity So that had I but the sins of this day to answer for at the barre of thy divine justice O Lord I might justly suffer thy wrath to all eternity O what hath my soul to plead for the sins of my whole life if the sins of this one day may confound me For Pardon and Grace And now Lord where is my hope truly my hope is even in thee who though thou art justly displeased with me for my sins yet hath thy Iesus fully satisfied thy justice for them and by the dear price of his blood purchased at thy hand forgiveness of them O my dear Lord I beseech thee therefore shut not up the bowels of thy compassion from me nor deny me the benefit of the death and passion of my Saviour Lord let his wounds heal me his blood cleanse me his death reconcile me to thy divine Majesty for ever And grant that in the residue of my dayes I may wholly conforme to the Kingdom of Christ that I may have peace of conscience here a comfortable death and a blessed eternitie through the merits of Iesus Christ my Saviour Amen
have made himself blessed even in this life What is the third Ans. That though the conditions be thus pleasant in their exercise approveable in their own nature and so successefull in their end yet such is naturally the infelicity of man that his whole frame being corrupted and depraved and having in all parts and faculties such a general ineptitude and aversenesse to his owne principall good and so proclive a disposition to all evill to love and pursue it that I say how excellent soever those conditions be yet he is altogether unable to perform them by any power in himself as to accomplish an impossibility Therefore in the third place Christ hath merited that there should be given to man a new principle of life that is by Gods grace an ability to perform those conditions acceptably to God having the mercy to receive of his fulnesse Grace for Grace To cure therefore the erringnesse of our nature the Holy Spirit is sent a Guide to direct into all truth When the darknesse of our depraved understanding impedes the work it is then a spirit of wisdome to enlighten When our infirmities render us unable for the duties of the Gospel then it is a Spirit of might to strengthen us with power in the inner man When our naturall aversenesse to good hinders our comming to Christ the work of mercy is to draw us in unto him And that which summes up all the comforts of this kind in one is this that these and all other spiritual assistances shall not be denied us in our wants when by prayer we seek for Grace to help in time of need especially when our addresses in such cases to God are made by Him who ceaseth not to make intercession for us Quest Is there now after all this a further necessity of another degree of Christs merits and mediation Ans. Yes For though as you even now said the Commandments are not grievous and the spiritual assistance powerful to enable the soule to performe them yet still such is the corruption of nature and the direct opposition of our carnal part to Christ and his government that no man can perform the conditions without innumerable and intolerable imperfections as was also even now intimated Therefore in the fourth place see the exceeding riches of Grace and persuancy of mercy he hath merited that though our obedience be defective yet if it be sincere upon our humiliation for those failings and endeavours to withstand them in future it should be accepted the sins pardoned and the soul delivered from the hell that was the due and proper wages of every one of those sins Quest Though the mercies you have already mentioned reach unto the clouds and by a just acknowledgement of their greatnesse have out stript wonder and silenced even hope it self yet because you mentioned a fifth effect of the merits and mediation of Christ where is the the necessity and blessednesse of that to be discovered Ans. That forasmuch as whatsoever degree of holinesse a soul by Gods grace may arrive unto and how acceptable soever the performancies of a sincere heart may be to that God who will not break the bruised reed nor quench the smoaking flax upon termes of mercy yet cannot that soul by any such holinesse or obedience deserve or merit the least of mercies for its future well-being Woe to the holiest person that ever served Christ if he should have no more comfort to come then what he himself hath merited or could challenge in justice at the hands of God In the last last place therefore Christ hath merited and mediated that so many as shall truly persevere in such faithful and sincere performance of all the conditions and continue their ingagement to him to obey him in all his commands unto their lives ends shall not only be delivered from hell and destruction but shall also O unsearchable treasures of Grace and stupendous love inherit a portion of the greatest felicity which is to see God as he is and to possesse a mansion of immutable rest of his own preparing that mansion to be a Kingdom and that a Kingdom of glory that glory of an exceeding weight where every subject having been here an heir and co-heir with Christ shall be a spirituall King his reign and honour immortal and crown eternall By this discourse I finde my self fully satisfied in all my scruples about the particulars contained in the questions and all my discouragements removed that might hinder the undertaking a life according to those strict rules of holinesse And now as I cannot but glorify God for a work of so infinite a mercy in his servants having made the promises rules and arguments to be religious and consequently blessed as evident as the light and as certain as a demonstration so I cannot but justify him in the condemnation of the wicked That he should make the Gospel to become a milstone to fall upon and grinde them to powder because they despised it and that the case of Sodom and Gomorrah should be more tolerable at the day of judgement then theirs For how shall they escape that have neglected so great salvation Let every evil man therefore that despiseth the grace of God offered in Christ and that chuseth rather to satisfy his vain lusts then to give up his soul to his dominion I say let every such person know that there is no true peace for him in this life nothing but horrour at his dying houre a curse at the great judgment and after that an hell to all eternity And all this justly because he despised so tender a love of a merciful God so dear a suffering of a gracious Jesus so importunate swasions of the holy Spirit and with all these rejected such sweet precepts upon promises of infinite rewards Satisfactions OF DOUBTS About the Visible Profession OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND And its MINISTERY Satisfactions of Doubts about the visible Profession of the Church of England and its MINISTERY FOrasmuch as there be many outward differing professions of Christianity in the world and as many if not more in this nation as in all the world besides so that many pious spirits may stand amazed and doubtfull which way to take in such various and inconsistent tracts and by that amazement are discouraged to adjoyn themselves to any and unconfident in that way they have assumed I have thought it necessary thou shouldst account some short directions proportionable to the businesse in hand that may best establish and quiet the revolutions and doubts of thy mind the more cheerfully to undertake a religious life and to confirme thee in the profession in which thou standest What therefore are such directions Ans. First to beware of such a Profession and Religion that hath no other ground but the pretence of the light and immediate gifts and
strengthen the argument it is observed that such divisions and subdivisions among those that fall from the Churches unity are significant marks of their falsity and that they are not of the true Spirit of God Irenaeus reports of the Valentinians that when they were very numerous scarce two or three agreed in the same opinions And S. Austin of the Donatists that in his time they were cut asunder and divided into very many small pieces factions and the same may be observed by almost all the ancient remarkable heresies And how much of this observation falls upon such as have departed from us I leave to the impartial Reader to judge Qu. But do you follow no directions of the Spirit in your profession Ans. Yes in these foure wayes or respects First I follow the guidance of the holy Scriptures as they were given by inspiration of the holy Spirit Secondly I follow the examples pattern and Doctrines of the first Churches which were planted by the Apostles and Apostolick men of the first age who were directed by the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit as of prophesying tongues and miraculous healing as was then expedient for the conviction of the world that they were from God Thirdly I follow that light of truth which the universall Church of Christ have kept and preserved as to all times and places which I beleeve to be the effect of Christs promise of sending his Spirit of truth to guide into all truth Fourthly I follow the direction of the holy Spirit whereby I am taught of God that is instructed and inabled by his preventing and assisting grace to lead a holy life and to have my judgement spiritualized that I may mind desire discern and design spiritual things Now whatsoever new light is pretended inconsistent with the holy Scriptures so interpreted by the common judgement of the first planters and the Churches nearest them or that shall destroy the All-truth of the Spirit in fundamentals maintained and confirmed by universal profession or that consists not with godlines and the Gospel-rules of a holy life mercy charity peaceablenesse justice and the like I dare not embrace any new light upon the grounds forementioned Quest What is your second direction or caveat Ans. To beware of such a profession that hath no other ground then a plea from Sripture upon private interpretation which ground though it hath not produced such monstrous effects of errour as the former yet hath been more dangerous and destructive to the Churches peace and unity Now the unsafetinesse of such a profession in the first place appeares because the most absurd hereticks of the ancient Church in bringing in their then novel errours as plainly and undeniably appeares by the practices and histories of the Manichees Arians Sabellians Pelagians Donatists and others when they would no otherwise accomplish their enviousnesse against the then present Church departed from its communion upon new principles of dangerous consequence and cried up Scripture for their cause A testimony or two I may instance in from the Ancients instead of many Tertullian speaking of hereticks saith That when they perswade of matters of faith but out of the writings of faith they pretend the Scriptures and by such boldnesse move many to them To the same purpose Athanasius Endure not those that perswade you to new things contrary to the faith received although they anthorize them from the holy Scriptures In the next place I shall further adde as a reason to suspect the unsafetinesse of such a profession the fatall infelicities and irreconcileable differencies that have alwayes befallen the Church but especially in these last ages upon the presumption of private interpretation whereby every man as he hath been indulgent to his own opinion which either education prejudice advantage or ignorance hath inclined his spirit to so hath he decided and determined the controversies of the Church or made new ones worse then the former And I am confident were there a thousand cells and so many of our private Interpreters in them obliged to passe their judgements to determine the controverted doctrines to make a confession of faith to marshall a Church-government to form a service and worship of God from the Scriptures by their private interpretations and they all supposed to lay aside those few principles which they have continued from the received doctrines and practices of the Church and no singling of principles one to another we should soon and certainly find a progeny of a thousand several religions and professions Now the main reason is this though the holy Scriptures be in themselves most perspicuous and plain as to the direction of life and manners for which cause David calls them a light to his feet and lanthorn to his paths yet as to the deep mysteries of faith and the determination of many considerable emergent controversies of doctrine and government God hath pleased to deliver his truths in so dark and abstruse a manner that they that want humility to hear the common judgement of the Churches of Christ and their received interpretations may easily be delivered over by God to find arguments enough in Scripture to captivate and satisfy a private and prejudicate spirit in any errour of religion wresting the Scripture to their own destruction Quest In what manner do you hold the direction of the Scriptures and their interpretation as to your profession Ans. First I acknowledge the Blessed Scriptures to be the rule of faith the end and decision of all controversies and where they are clear and evident I submit my soul to them as to the final end of all my enquâ—ries and doubts Secondly in the things that God hath pleased should be doubtfully delivered which is occasioned either from some difficulty in the Idiome or from seeming difference with other places requiring curious distinctions or when the expressions are clad and darkened with tropes and figures which are frequent in Scriptures or Lastly when the Scriptures are occasionall and a due consideration of the time when and the persons to whom they were spoken or written is necessary to the understanding of them I say in things so doubtfully delivered as to doctrine or government I submit my private reason and opinion to the grand interpretation and common consent of the first Churches for these reasons First because they were uninterested in our present controversies so without danger of being byassed by passion and they ordinarily lying under persecutions were not likely to gratify an errour for any private or worldly regards Secondly because they had most reason to know what were the practices of the Apostles and Apostolical men most certain guides to follow in controverted and doubtful points of Government and the circumstantial parts of religion Their footsteps which had so lately planted the Churches of Christ could not be so soon worn out but that they left discernable tracts for their immedate successors to walk in Thirdly they
commaudments That having run the race that is set before me I may obtain through thy undeserved mercie in Christ the perfect peace of thy presence for evermore Amen The Thanksgiving O Lord of Glory and Power whose eye of providence runneth through the world to guide govern and provide for all things in whom alone I live move and have my being and from whom I have received whatsoever comfort I enjoy O Lord my soul acknowledgeth thou hast done gracious things for me and hast given me a large portion of thy fatherly mercies every way I blesse thee that when thou formedst me in my mothers womb I received no signal defect in body or mind and that thou hast since kept them both from all fearful changes and deformities And that when the sentence of death was upon me in the common fall of Mankinde Lord thou gavest me thy dear Son to redeem my soul to a possibility of life I thank thee for every grace and good work that may evidence thy Spirit in me and for that I have not committed every grosse wickednesse to which nature and temptation have made me subject I praise thy Name O Lord for all the comforts I enjoy that concern this life my health peace liberty friends and livelihood and for the safety of my soul and body this night under the protection of thy sweet providence Keep me this day by the same fatherly goodnesse secure me from all sad accidents that attend upon my frail estate and most especially keep me from all offences to thy divine Majesty O let no temptation prevaile upon me nor let my soul give way to any occasion of evill Give me grace to perform to thee all that thou hast commanded me and all the good thou hast put in my power O let me so live this day as if this night following were to be my last sleep and to morrow the last judgement Through the might of Jesus Christ my Saviour Amen The intercâ—ssions are put after the evening prayer being to be used both after morning and evening exercises Evening PRAYER The addresse to God by way of worship in the morning Prayer the supplicant if he please may now use also Our Father which art in heaven c. The Confession MOst glorious Lord God that inhabitest eternity and art cloathed with Majesty and power I that am but dust and ashes and thy poor creature desire to fall low at the footstool of thy Glories magnifying thine excellencies and acknowledging my unworthiness to lift up mine eyes to heaven against which I have sinned or to appeal to those mercies which I have so much neglected and abused For Lord when I consider my self I am nothing but a masse of corruption and sin to which I have made all the faculties of my soul and members of my body which were created for good works and thy glory to become instrumental And all those excellent lawes which thou hast set before me to be the rule of my obedience I have both lightly regarded and wilfully transgressed in the whole course of my life Such O Lord as concern thy self and thy immediate worship I have either altogether omitted or carelesly perform'd in my dealings with men I have not so strictly as I should observed that rule of Christ to do to all men as I would they should do unto me neither have I been so carefull to observe the holy lawes of Christ concerning my self as I should in a temperate chaste and sober conversation And as I have contracted a heavie burthen upon my soul by the sinfulnesse of my whole life so have I this day in particular added much to my former wretched account For I have not restrained my thoughts from vain imaginations nor set a strict watch before the door of my lips to prevent sinful and impertinent discourses Lord I have been too dull remiss in thy service too negligent in the duties of my calling too carelesse of the opportunities of doing good to others And though thou hast given me this day as another day of grace yet I have made in it little ot no progress in the way of my salvation that shouldest thou deal with me according to the carriage of my soul this day before thee thou mightest justly deny me another day of mercie and leave me to my selfe and to the said wages of my sins for evermore For Pardon But O Lord my God whose mercies are over all thy works and hast graciously promised to forgive and to accept a poor penitent soul returning to thee in sorrow and true repentance have mercie upon me have mercie upon me O hide not thy face from me nor cast thy servant away in thy displeasure Remember not my sins and offences but think thou upon me according to thy great goodnesse And though I come to thee with a weak faith and an imperfect sorrow even with such a repentance as ought to be repented of yet Lord accept of me for I come in the plea of my Saviours blood that satisfied thy justice for all my sins Deny me not therefore O Lord the benefits of his blessed death and passion let my soul have a portion in the rich price of that blood by which I may have peace and reconciliation with thee my God for evermore Amen For Grace O merciful Father in the humble sense of my own insufficiencie not only not to do but not to think of any thing in concernment to my salvation without thy grace I do humbly beseech thee in thy tender compassions to help me with thy divine assistance that I may be able to live conformably to the example of Christ and the strict holinesse of the Gospel O convince my judgement that there is no peace nor profit in the wayes of sin and incline my will and ingage all my affections to the pursuit of spirituall things as the chiefest good Let not O Lord my carnal lusts and affections nor any thing that is desirable in the vaine world nor the policie of the devil deceive my soul to neglect my dutie to Christ or the things of my eternal peace Lord make me sincere and exemplarie in thy worship and service diligent in my calling and just in all my actions make me charitable to my power to all that want me and strictly sober chaste and temperate in my self and in the use of all thy creatures Lord help me to be such as I may please thee in all thy wayes and as I may comfortably appeare before thee when I come to death or judgement Through the might of Iesus Christ my blessed Saviour Amen Thanksgiving O Glorious Lord who art my good God and gracious Father thou hast from time to time given me large expressions of thy love and goodnesse even when for my rebellions against thee and forgetfulnes of thee I might before this time have been cast off from thy protection and made a spectacle of thy justice to others in some signal punishments O Lord how great
Let my bodily distemper cure my soules infirmities and that I may learn thereby to hate sin and fear thee to see the vanity of worldly dependencies and to flie unto thee as the only refuge Lord let not the vanities of my health and prosperity be now laid to my charge but accept of my repentance and sorrow for them and grant me a peace and reconciliation with thee through the blood of Christ In my straits let me look up to thee with comfort as to a gracious Father O do not appear to me in terrour as a dreadful Iudge Lord I am thy servant do with me as it pleaseth thee yet for thy mercies sake lay no more upon me then what thou seest necessarily to conduce to the salvation of my soul If it pleaseth thee that I survive this affliction O let me live answerably to thy gracious intention in chastising me and to all those my holy purposes and promises made unto thee in this my visitation that these light afflictions may be advantages to me to the obtaining the exceeding weight of Glory Through my dear Saviour and Mediatour Iesus Christ Amen If the sicknesse appear dangerous then adde this Prayer O Lord my God in whom alone is the power of life and death and who precisely knowest the number of my daies be pleased to go along with me in mercie to my last hour And if it be thy pleasure to order this sickness to end in my death Lord make that the entrance to a blessed life Help me in all my natural and spiritual distresses let neither my paines nor my sins make me impatient or unconfident Lord let not my faith in Christ nor hope of thy mercie faile in the bitter hour O let the light of thy countenance break through the terrours of death to comfort me and let thy Spirit assist me when my strength faileth me Grant O Lord that my death be neither very tormenting nor uncomelie and when my soul shall depart O receive me into the resting place of thy glorie for Iesus sake my only Saviour and Redeemer When thou hearest any of thy neighbours to be very weak in sickness Pray for him in this manner O blessed Lord and fountain of mercies I humbly beseech thee to look with thy tender compassions upon thy servant A. B. Give him faith to depend upon thee patience to submit unto thee and thy Spirit to comfort him in whatsoever afflictions thou shalt lay upon him Accept of his repentance and final preparation for the peace of his soul in Christ accept of his addresses to the throne of Grace hear and help when he calls upon thee Make his bed in the time of his sickness and provide for him all things needful in his distress both for soul and body If it be thy will raise him up to his former health but with an ingagement upon his Spirit to live answerable to thy mercies and deliverances and if it be thy will to take him out of this life O assist his Spirit in the terrours of a dying hour and receive his soul into the armes of thy mercy through Iesus Christ my blessed Saviour Amen A Prayer to be used by a woman great with child O Lord God who hast blest my womb with conception for which I praise thy providence and with that conception hast made me a partaker of the sorrow common to my sex for the sin of my first mother grant me a part in the promised seed of a woman my Lord Iesus who came to bruise the head of the Serpent And though he hath not delivered me from the trouble and miseries of my body yet O Lord give me deliverance by him from the sin of my soul Lord keep me from sad accidents and from an untimely birth Give my childe a perfect shape and fitted for right senses and a good understanding Grant it a naturall birth and me patience for the pain and a prepared soul for the perill of it when it shall be borne grant me a safe recovery my childe a timely Baptisme that it may afterward make profession of the faith of Christ and through thy grace may lead an holy life Through the same Iesus Christ my blessed Saviour and Redeemer Amen A Prayer to be used before and in a journey Almighty and merciful Father who with thine eye of Providence that runneth through the world beholdest me wheresoever I am in all my wayes and actions who leddest thy people through the wildernesse by a marvelous guidance and didst direct with safety the Wise men by a Starre to our blessed Saviour Defend me in this my journey from all kinds of dangers from all temptations to sin and forgetfulness of thee from the hands of evill men and all sad accidents whatsoever Blesse my design and all my relations that I have left behinde me grant that I may go in safety and return in peace through the might and mediation of Christ my Saviour Amen A short Prayer to be used by all at their entrance into the Congregation And I desire it may be taught to children as a means to oblige them to a mindfulnesse of Gods service MOst dreadful Majesty who hast promised thy presence with them that are most met in thy Name give me grace to serve thee reverently as in thy presence and to perform my duty in thy worship acceptably to thy Glory Through Jesus Christ Amen An Exercise of Humiliation to assist humble penitents upon days of their private fasting and for a due examination of themselves before the receiving of the blessed SACRAMENT A PSALM O Lord rebuke me not in thine indignation neither chasten me in thy displeasure For thou art a God that hast no pleasure in wickedness neither shall any evill dwell with thee Such as be foolish shall not stand in thy sight for thou hatest all them that work vanity Have mercy upon me O God after thy great goodnesse according to the multitude of thy mercies do away mine offences Wash me throughly from my wickedness and cleanse me from my sins For I acknowledg my faults and my sin is ever before me Against thee only have I sinned and done this evill in thy sight that thou mightest be justified in thy saying and clear when thou judgest My misdeeds prevail against me O be thou merciful unto my sinnes I will therefore confess my wickedness and be sorry for my sinne Turn thy face away from my sins and put out all my misdeeds For thy Names sake O Lord be merciful to my sin for it is great For my wickednesses are gone over my head and are like a fore burthen too heavy for me to bear Withdraw not thou thy mercie from me let thy loving kindness and thy truth alwayes preserve me O Lord let it be thy pleasure to deliver me make haste O Lord to help me Haste thee to help me O Lord God of my salvation The confession of sins I. O Lord God Judge of all men and actions I am a miserable
Confession O Lord our God who art infinite in thy glories and perfections incomprehensible in thy power and Majesty before the brightnesse of whose holy presence the Angels vail their faces and at the foot of whose Majesty the gloâ—ified Spirits cast their crownes How much more unworthy are we poor sinful dust and ashes to appear in the presence of so holy a God whom we have so heinously offended in thought word and deed through the whole course of our lives For O Lord we confess that though thou hast declared how displeasing all sin is in thy sight and hast manifested thy displeasure by the fearful punishments of wicked men yet miserable wretches that we are what little regard have we had to fulfill thy will or to depart from the ways of sin We have still suffered our base lusts too much to prevail upon us and the pleasures profits of the world to surprize and carry away our hearts And when we have found our selves industrious and exact in the pursuit of worldly things how faint and imperfect have we been in doing the work of Christ So that shouldest thou O Lord condemn us for these our sins and for the breach of all thy holy laws in our loose and vain thoughts in our sinful words uttered in passions merriments and other impertinent discourses and in all our actions against piety justice charity and sobriety how justly mightest thou execute thy displeasure against us and make this day a day of vengeance to us to deprive us of all present comforts and to scal us up to everlasting torments Petition for pardon of sins and grace But O must gracious preserver of men who hast not appointed us for wrath nor wouldest that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance Create in us O Lord by thy holy Spirit a true and sincere repentance speedily and faithfully to turn from all our evill wayes And do thou fully forgive us the sins we have committed even for thy fatherly mercies sake even for thy Jesus sake who hath satisfied thy justice for them O Lord we beseech thee to deliver us from the burthen and guilt of them from thy vengeance and the sad effects of them in temporal and eternal punishments And now O Lord we humbly acknowledge that we are unable to do any thing of our selves that may please thee without the assistance of thy grace and thy Christ strengthening us O blessed Lord give us thy grace O dear Jesus afford us thy strength that we may be able to perform to thee all our duties as thy disciples and yeeld obedience to all thy Commandments Raise up our thoughts desires and designes unto thee secure our affections to heavenly things and let our souls stand alwayes ingaged to do the will of Christ Lord help us to watch over our selves that neither the lust of the flesh the love of the world nor the temptation of the devil may take us off from our love to thee desire of thee nor faithful obedience to thee and that we may ever hereafter live a podly righteous and sober life to the Glory of thy Name the present and eternal peace of our soules through the precious merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour Here I desire that the Master of the family or who is concerned in the performance of the service for the family would here interpose some of Davids Psalmes and if he think fit a Chapter also in a judicious order And after either or both let the whole company joyn in one profession of the faith sayng I beleeve in God the Father Almighty c. After which let this short Petition be used as was taught in the former private Form O Lord preserve our soules in this faith let us not depart from it through any temptations Give us grace constantly to continue in the profession of it all the days of our life Through Jesus Christ our Saviour Amen But when the employments of the Family be such as there is not time for these interpositions then go on directly to the Thanksgiving O Blessed Lord God the giver of all goodnesse and the fountain of Comfort who art pleased to engage a particular providence to the governing and disposing of every creature we humbly acknowledge our necessary dependence upon thee and that every comfort we enjoy is but what we have received from thee O what shall we render unto the Lord for those innumerable mercies we have received in all parts of our lives We blesse thee for the summe of all metcies the redemption of our soules by the blood of Christ and for the particular work of thy grace upon us We praise thee for all thy temporal blessings our health plenty peace that thou hast kept us this night past from all troubles and sad accidents and that we are here together in a condition to blesse thee in an universal safety this morning when justly for out sins we might have set down in ashes bewayling some great infelicity And since O Lord thou hast put our soules and bodies and all that we have in thine own hand to dispose of as it pleaseth thee O keep them gracious God according to thy tender mercies from every evil to which sin and a miserable nature have exposed them every moment O keep our soules that we may not be surprised nor overpowered by any temptation to sin against thee this day Lord give us wisdom to balance every action by its concernment to us at our dying hour and enable us to be doing something that may make out account comfortable at the great day of Christ Draw our affections nearer to heavenly things and increase in us a greater care diligence and earnestnesse in doing the will of Christ that we may this day live acceptably to thee and after a constant perseverance in well-doing to our lives end we may obtain a portion in thy eternall glories through thy free grace and undeserved mercy in Iesus Christ Amen The intercession O most merciful Father thou hast tyed us by the charity of the Gospel to pray for all men O be merciful to the Nations that sit in darkness and to thy ancient people the Iewes let the Sun of righteousness with healing in his wings rise upon them that they may see acknowledge the things of their peace in Christ Preserve thy universal Church from all the enemies of the faith of Christ and from the sad effects of its own differencies and distractions Protect these Churches from their present dangers and great distempers every where Bless O Lord our Parents children friendr and relations Comfort all in affliction and trouble Bring them into the way of truth that are in errour forgive and bless all our enemies Gather us altogether to the resting place of thy Glory through the merits of Iesus Christ our Saviour 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