same I know O! Blessed Jesus that there is no name but thine whereby I can obtain Pardon And I trust only to the fulness of thy Merits and to the faithfulness of thy gracious Promises and to the abundance of my Heavenly Fathers Mercy and loving Kindness to me a great and miserable but an Humble Contrite Penitent Sinner Forgive them all O! Blessed Father Remembring not my Deservings but the pytyableness of my Weakness and thy Dear Sons infinite Merits and thine own boundless Mercyes and most precious Promises Let me here have thy Peace and be admitted hereafter to stand for ever in thy Presence for our Lord Jesus Christ Sake Amen 2. A shorter form of Confession and Repentance of the same O! Almighty and ever living God I thy sinful wretched Creature do here with shame and grief of Heart bewail and confess my manifold Sins which either this day or at any times heretofore I have been guilty of against thy Divine Majesty either in Thought Word or Deed by omitting what I ought to have done or by committing what I ought not to have done against thee my Neighbour or my Self Sinning in all these kinds against thy Mercies and thy Judgments thy Spirit and thy awakening Providences against my own Vows and Resolutions yea and oft times against the checks and calls of my own Conscience oft times without any pretence to palliate them to my self and always without any to excuse and justifie me at thy righteous Bar. And by these ways O! Great and Dreadful God am I who at best am nothing become far worse than nothing an object of thy most deserved Wrath and Eternal Damnation But thou O! Merciful Father hast sent thine'own only Son into the World to seek and save that which was lost and when once he returns back thou art ready not only to receive the Prodigal Son but to run out and meet him and Rejoyce over him Lord I repent of all my Sins from my very Heart and am ashamed of my self and grieved that ever I committed them I earnestly desire to do better for the time to come and firmly purpose by thy help to labour in the same And I most humbly and heartily implore thy Grace to keep me always in this Mind and never to suffer me wilfully to relapse into the ways of wickedness again I am heartily offended with my Self be thou no longer offended with me Cleanse away the Guilt of all my Sins O! Gracious God by thy dear Son's most precious Blood and slay the power and Dominion of them by his Spirit that being made whole I may sin no more nor return after I am washed as the Dog to his Vomit or the Sow to her wallowing in the Mire Grant this O! Merciful Father for thy dear Son and my only Saviour Jesus Christ's sake Amen 3. A particular Enumeration of Sins in a large Form of Confession and Repentance of the same I. O Lord Most Holy and Terrible who art most pure in all thy ways and a consuming fire â—o all unrelenting Sinners my manifold and great Transgressions make me both ashamed and afraid to appear before so holy and just a Majesty Lord How unlike am I to that Image of thine wherein at first thou madest Man and how far have all the powers of my Soul faln from what they should be My Mind is overspread with Blindness and Ignorance Folly and false Reasonings and spends it self upon vanity and unprofitable Thoughts It is loath to fix upon good things and very apt to forget them and to loose that tenderness and quick sense of Duty which should make thy Laws to reign in me My Heart is so averse to what is good and so stubborn and refractory that it is hardly brought to resolve upon those ways which my Conscience tells me are my Duty and so wavering and inconstant withall that when it doth resolve well it doth not stick to it with any certainty My Affections are forward and violent in pursuit of earthly things but very slow to be engaged in thy Service and when once ingaged therein soon weary of the same Lord be mercyful to me a miserably corrupt and depraved Creature II. AND besides this proneness of my Nature O! Righteous God to what is bad to make me still more lowly in my own Sight I have little Strength of Holy Inclination or obedient Dispositions which should restrain me from following and giving way to the same Oh! how little is there in my Heart of that Holy Fear which should withhold me from giving thee any offence of that Love which should make me imitate thy Glorious Excellencies of that Thankfulness which should make me return answerably for all thy Mercies or of that Joy in God which should turn Religion into a Delight and make me take all Opportunities of conversing in that place whilst I live where I desire to be when I come to die I am not duly provident to prevent Temptations nay alass I am too oft delighted in them and pleased to dwell with them and love the near approaches of Sin and to be put into Opportunities yea and sometimes almost the necessity of evil doing And when at any time thou hast thought fiâ— to cast me upon Tryals I have not been sufficiently watchful active and unwearied in withstanding them I am easier O! most Righteous Lord in hearkning to my own wicked Lusts than to the good motions of thy holy Spirit and to the Dictates of a pious Conscience and hereby have omitted many Duties and have been led into many sinful Thoughts and evil or indecent Speeches and unrighteous Actions which now I do with grief lament and am utterly ashamed of Lord be merciful to me a frail naked sinful Creature III. HOW seldom have I been O! Holy Father in devout Reflections How Irreverent Insincere and liveless in my Prayers How careless in observing thy manifold and great Mercies How hard sometimes to be reconciled to thy Will and to own the Wisdom and Goodness of thy Orderings How faint and languid in believing and relying on thy Promises when I have stood most in need thereof and Danger has threatned any Duties How fearfull to exposemy self in owning of thy Injured Name or cause and in shewing a concern and Zeal for thy Service Nay how faithless to my own Vows when I have promised to make up defects and to shew greater care and watchfulness in amending these or any other Offences Lord be merciful unto me an unbelieving indevout and ungodly Creature IV. AND besides all these Offences against thee my God how many ways have I trespassed against my Brethren also In bargaining and Acts of Justice how apt am I to lean to my own profit and to press upon my Neighbours In opportunities of Charity and good Offices how is my affection in doing good streightned by too quick an Eye to mine own ease and interest In Conversation how prone am I to take opportunities of instilling
my own Praise and of detracting from the praise of others How liable is my Heart to give way to Discontents To harbour uncharitable surmises yea sometimes of those who are the proper Objects of Charity and stand in need of my Relief or Assistance To grow impatient and angry upon any â—â—ovocation and in such Anger to utâ—â—â— some indecent bitter or reproachâ—â—â— words especially to my inferiours and to retain such resentment of their Offences as renders me either prone â—o return ill Offices or at least backward to shew kindness to them on any fit occasion afterwards I am still offending O! Almighty Lord either by uncharitable Provocations or sinful Complyances or by Negligence and Remissness in governing my Self or my Dependants or by Irreverence and undutifulness to my Superiours or by want of Affection Fidelity or due regard to my Relations or by proud Thoughts or vain glorious Speeches or harsh Censures or by Lust Anger Envy Peevishness sinful Fear mistrustful Care covetous Desire or some other inordinate or unlawful Passions or by being guilty of some Thoughts Words or Actions which are contrary to thy Laws and to that excellent pattern of all Virtue which my dearest Lord has set me to walk by Lord be merciful to me an unrighteous Selfish proud and impatient Creature V. THese O! Most great and jusâ— God and many others which I am not able to recount are mine Offences Which I have committed several of them ordinarily others frequently and all of them even those which most seldom yet alass too often either by the frailty and violence of my Passions or by my Ignorance Negligence or Wilfulness against all the endearments of thy Mercys and the Terror of thy Judgments and all the warnings of thy Providence and the Suggestions of thy Spirit and the Bonds of my own most solemn Vows and Promises and against all other Methods of thy preventing assisting and recovering Grace which should have kept me from them All these my Transgressions testifie against me and my own Conscience accuseth me and thou Holy Lord art an upright judge who wilt doe Justice and not justifie a Sinner in any Wickedness and whither then shall my guilty and fearful Soul flye But thine own Dearly Beloved on O Gracious God hath paid his Life a Ransome for my Sins and through the Merits of his Blood thou art most ready to embrace a Returning Penitent and to make thy Mercy glory over Judgment O! Lord I repent of all these my Sins from my very Heart and freely forgive all who have trespassed against me as I now desire that thou wouldest freely forgive me O! suffer me not to be swallowed up either in Death or Despair but in the multitude of thy Mercys do away all mine Offences and give me comfort and peace of Conscience that being cleansed from all my Sins I may serve thee with a quiet mind Consider my Weakness O! Father of Mercies and how frail my Nature is And that frail and sinful as I am I am still the work of thine own Hands and am called upon by thy Name And how I am heartily ashamed and sorry for what I have done and for Jesus Christ's sake the Son of thy Love do earnestly Implore thy Pardon And how the Saviour of the World dyed to save Sinners and how thou anâ— my Father and I thy Son in Christ Jesus Accept me therefore good Lord in thy beloved Forgive mè freely all that is past and keep up in me by thySpirit such vigour of holy Resolution and such watchfulness and circumspection for the time to come that I may never return to them again I know O Gracious Father the falseness of my own Heart and the instability of my Spirit But it is not in my self but in thee that I trust My Faith is in thine Almighty Aid which thou hast bountifully promised and which thy Son has dearly purchased for us with his most precious Blood Oh! Let that always be my Guard and then my Sins shall no more prevail over me but I shall finish my days in thy Righteousness and rest at last in thine Everlasting Peace through Jesus Christ my only Saviour and Redeemer Amen 4. Another particular Enumeration of Sins and Repentance of the same in a short Form I. O! Almighty Lord I thy poor Creature who am a vile and miserable Sinner do here in great Humility lament before thee and am most heartily ashamed and troubled for my having lived so long in the World as through thy Mercy I have done and yet having done so little good in it and being still so unfit to leave it and so little qualified for a better I am grieved O! Blessed God for having lived so long a stranger to thee and for my loving and obeying thee no better and having no greater Zeal for thee since by thy Grace I have been brought to know and fear thee For all my neglects of thy Service and for my insincerity and unaffectedness in performing it For all the Lightness and evil wandrings of my Thoughts in my Prayers and my great and daily unthankfulness forthy great and innumerable Mercys for my solicitude about wordly things and mydistrust of thy Paternal Care and sure Promises For all my negligence yea and averseness in studying and learning thy Holy Will and all my remissness and forgetfulness in doing it and for all the defects and difficulties which I have ever found in suffering and submitting to the same For all my corrupt averesness and shameful refusal to take up thy Cross and preferring World Ease and Interest before a good Conscience and for having chosen at any time rather to part with the way of thy Truth and Righteousness than to follow thee O! Holy Jesu in patient and faithful Suffering for the same For all my prophanations of thy Sacred Name by irreverent use thereof especially by careless and common swearing but most of all by the horrible wickedness of false or faithless Oaths For all which and all other my offences of this kind which either I can remember or have forgotten Lord be merciful to me a contrite Sinner II. I Am troubled O! Lord for all the discontentedness which I have ever shewn with my own Condition and for all the Envy and Evil Eye which I have cast upon the happier Lot of other Men. For all the pride of my Heart and all the sinful lightness of my Spirit and for all my immoderate Love of this World For all my unclean Thoughts and unchaste Carriage and for all the Unthankfulness or Uncharitableness or Intemperance which I have ever shewn in my use of outward enjoyments For all which and all my other like offences which either I can remember or have forgotten Lord be merciful to me a Contrite Sinner III. I Am heartily sorry O! Holy Father for all my deceitful and insincere Expressions and feigned or faithless promises for my having at any time divulged secrets which I ought to have concealed or
and in regard to the Merits of his Death who by his dying on the Cross for our Sins purchased all this Mercy for all truly Penitent Believers 3. Are you truly sensible of his Exceeding Great Love therein and from the Bottom of your Heart are you Thankful to him for the same After which questions the Guide of Souls if he is the asker of them in visiting the Sick and Dispensing Absolution or the Penitent himself when he is his own Examiner may go on to this effect Now know therefore Brother or Sister that altho you are a Sinner yet Jesus Christ came into the World to save sinners Altho you have been a lost sinner yet he is come to save and seek after that which was lost Altho you have sind yet you do not cover your Sins or Justifie them but with grief of Heart confess them and condemn your self for the same And if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our Sins You confess them to him with a resolved aversion and turn away from the same having by the help of his Grace already forsaken some and studying and being resolved in Heart to forsake all And who so Confesseth and forsaketh his Sins shall find mercy If you have sinned against your Brethren you are ready to submit your self and seek to reconcile your self to them and to the utmost of your Power to make them any reasonable satisfaction And if a Man has first reconciled himself to his Brother he may come to God with a good heart and offer his gift If he hath Repented and given again what he hath Robbed his Sin shall not be mentioned Whilst with an Humble a Contrite and a returning Heart you are thus seeking to the Father of mercys to forgive you your trespasses you do from your heart forgive all other persons who have sinned against you their Trespasses And †if we forgive men their trespasses our Heavenly Father will also forgive us As you earnestly seek mercy â—ou are ready to show it and according to your ability to give Alms to the needy And blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy and mercy rejoyceth against judgment Upon such Faith and Repentance and Satisfaction for Injuries and shewing Mercy and forgiveness of others when they are sincere and right our most merciful God and Saviour will most graciously forgive us at the great Day of Judgment And he he has committed the Ministry of reconciliation to his Ministers that upon appearance of the same they may declare and deal it out for for the Comfort of such truly faithful and Penitent Persons here in this world And now upon this profession which you have here made of this Christian Faith and Repentance and reparation of injuries and of forgiveness of others and having charity towards all persons and of shewing mercy to the miserable all which you declare is unfeigned and from the Bottom of your Heart do you desire from the mouth of Christ's Minister to receive the benefit of Absolution Then may the Minister proceed as he sees fit to lead the Penitent on in this form of Confession taken out of the Office for the Communion ALLmighty God Father of our Lord Jesus Christ maker of of all things Judge of all Men we humbly acknowledge and bewail and especially this humble Penitent doth hereby acknowledge and bewail his manifold sins and wickedness which he from time to time most grieviously hath comitted by thought word and deed against thy Divine Majesty Provoking most justly thy wrath and indignation against him He doth earnestly repent and is heartily sorry for these his misdoings The remembrance of them is grievious unto him The burden of them is intolerable Have mercy upon him have mercy upon him most merciful Father For thy Son Lord Jesus Christ's sake forgive him all that is past and grant that he may ever hereafter serve and please thee in newness of life to honour and glory of thy name through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen And then Pronounce the Absolution following ALmighty God our heavenly Father who of his great mercy hath promised forgiveness of sins to all them that with hearty Repentance and true Faith turn unto him have mercy upon you Pardon and deliver you from all your sins confirm and strengthen you in all Goodness and bring you to everlasting Life through Jefus Christ our Lord Amen Or instead of this Form of Absolution if he think that fitter he may use the form in the Visitation of the Sick Our Lord Jesus Christ who hath left power to his Church to Absolve all Sinners who truely repent and believe in him of his great mercy forgive thee thine Offences And by his Authority committed to me I absolve thee from all thy sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen After which the Minister may go on with the Collect that follows the Absolution in the Office of the Visitation of the Sick O! most Mercyful God who according to the multitude of thy mercies dost so put away the sins of those who truly repent that thou rememberest them no more open thine Eye of Mercy upon this thy Servant who most earnestly desireth Pardon and Forgiveness Renew in him most loving Father whatsoever hath been decayed by the fraud and malice of the Devil or by his own carnal will and frailness Preseve and continue this Sick member in the Unity of the Church consider his Contrition accept his Tears asswage his Pain as shall seem to thee most expedient for him And for as much as he putteth his full trust in thy mercy impute not unto him his former sins but strengthen him with thy Blessed Spirit and when thou art pleased to take him hence take him unto thy Favour through the merits of thy most Dearly Beloved Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen And if the Penitent is visited as a sick Person he may then use the Psalm after it In thee O! Lord have I put my trust let me never be put to Confusion but rid me c. But else instead thereof he may use these Sentences and Prayers Sentences after the Absolution in the Communion Service Hear what comfortable words our Saviour Christ saith unto all that truly turn unto him Come unto me all that travel and are heavy laden and I will refresh you Mat. 11. 28. So God loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son to the end that all that believe on him should not perish but have everlasting life Jo. 3. 16. Hear also what St. Paul saith This a true saying and worthy of all men to be received that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners 1 Tim. 1. 15. Hear also what St. John saith If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous and he is the
be cleansed from all our Sins and serve thee with a quiet mind through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen Prayers for Particular Graces 1. Prayers for a sense of Sins without Despair of Mercy to Pardon them or of Grace to cure them I. O! Almighty Lord make me truly and deeply humble for my sins and fully sensible of my own Vileness Never suffer me so far to loose my fears as to grow conceited of my self or Careless of my Duty nor so far to presume upon thy Mercy and Pardon when I truly repent of the same as to cast off a true Dread and Terror of thy Justice if I should revolt and return to them again But deliver me O! my God from all such abjectness as instead of setting me further off from my Sins is fit only to keep me a surer Prisoner under them And whilst I retain so much fear and lowlyness as will keep up holy care and watchfulness grant that I may retain so much hope too as will encourage and strengthen Holy Endeavours and afford Peace And therefore O! my Dear Lord when I think the worst of my self let me not proceed to a Beleif that I am past all bounds of being pardoned by thy Mercy or of being made better by thy Grace Let me not once imagine when I am fallen either that it is in vain for me to endeavour to rise again or if by thy help I should rise that there is no hope of my being forgiven But when I am most jealous of my self let me be confident of thee And together with an humble sense and fear of my Sins enable me to keep up a sure hope of thy Promises and a strict care of my own Repentance and a Comfortable Persuasion of thy Gracious acceptance thereof for our Lord Jesus Christs sake Amen II. KEEP me always sensible O! God that as thou art most justly angred at my Sins so thou art most easy to be appeased and reconciled by my true Repentance And that thou art not more offended with me whilst I lye down in my folly than thou wilt be delighted with me when with the Penitent Prodigal I shall have come to my self and returned to my Duty Let me never forget that there is joy in Heaven over every Sinner that Repenteth and that whensoever a Sinner turneth away from his iniquity he shall be sure to find mercy with thee through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ our Lord Amen 2. A Prayer for Hopes of Mercy and of Grace to encourage Repentance MY Heart O! almighty Lord is full of trouble and ought to be so whilst it is fond of sin But let not my sorrow settle into a neglect of cure nor my fear grow up into Despair When I think ill of my self let me not fall O! most Gracious Father to think ill of thee and after I have grievously affronted thy Majesty as I have alass thro all the course of my life let me not come now at last to affront and exclude thy Mercy My Sins O! Lord are many and great But my sweet Saviours Merits and thy Mercys are infinitely greater And the Guilt thereof is not too great for thy Mercy to Pardon nor my proneness to repeat the same too great for thy Grace to overcome And therefore O! Dear God tho by my former evil life I have thrown off my Innocence give me not up therewith to throw away the thoughts of my own Repentance nor the hopes of thy Gracious acceptance Let me not shut that Gate of Mercy upon my self by Despair which thou hast set open for every truly contrite Sinner nor neglect by true Repentance to enter in at the same There is mercy with thee O God! that thou mayest be appeased And therefore there shall be Repentance with me and in hopes of thy mercy thou shalt be feared Tho I have falen yet by thy Grace I will not rest under my fall nor despair of thy Mercy when I am risen nor of strength by thy Grace to rise up again But setting my heart to fear thee I desire to rest my Soul on the sure hopes of thy Spirit to perfect my sincere Endeavours and on the sure Hopes of thy Mercy to Pardon mine Offences for the merits of thy dear Son and my only Saviour and Redeemer Jesus Christ Amen 3 A Prayer setting forth the Grounds of Hope thereof O! Father of Mercys be thou my support and stay under all this heavyness and Dejection of my Spirit And let not thy Mercy or my Faith fail me when all things else do Tho at present thou art angry with me yet O Lord thou retainest not anger for ever because thou delightest in Mercy Oh! resâ—ine thy beloved property towards me and laying aside thy fierce wrath shew Pity on me Tho I am a wicked and a wretched Creature yet thou art a Mercyful God Thou art a God forgiving Iniquity forgive that which lyes so heavy upon me †Thou art the Saviour of Sinners save me who am a most Greivous Sinner and let me not Perish in my Sins Thy Mercyes O! Gracious Father have been wonderful towards the greatest offenders such as thy servant David who was guilty of Adultery and Murther and Peter who forsware himself and denyed his â— after and Saul who Persecuted and made havock of the Church yea and even those wicked Jews who murdered and Crucyfied the Son of God himself and they were never shut against any Sinners who turned to thee with true Repentance Oh! then let not me despair of that Pardon which was never yet deny'd to any truly contrite heart in my condition Let not me imagine that thou who art insinite in mercys hast less mercy in store when I need than thou hadst for the needs of others Or that thou who art a tender Father towards all and Judgest without respect of persons wilt deny that mercy to my true repentance which according to thy gracious Promises thou didst extend to theirs I know O! God that I have deserved the severest Punishments But thy mercy dealeth not with us according to our Deserts And as my sins have deserved Punishment So thou O! Blessed Jesus hast deserved my Pardon of the same Thou art the Propitiation for our sins And thy Blood cleanseth us from all sin Oh! let me not mistrust the sufficiency of thy Sacrifice to atone for all mine Offences which expiates the Sins of the whole World If any Man sin thou art his Advocate with the Father And let not me imagine that thou canst ever move in vain or that whilst thou art ready yea sure to intercede in the cause of every other contrite Sinner thou wilt be silent and sit still in mine Holy Father have mercy on me Sweet Jesu cleanse and save me Wash away the stain of my Sins and speak peace to my affrighted conscience and revive and comfort up my broken Heart that I may live a monument of thy mercy and a
comfort to poor Penitents and Broken Spirits who shall hereafter he upheld thereby and hope for like mercy in their Dejection as thou shalt have graciously shewed to me in mine for my Blessed Saviour and Redeemer Jesus Christs sake Amen 4 Prayers for Mercy and favourable allowances in trying our Services I. BE not extream O Lord in marking what I have done amiss nor deal Strictly and Rigorously with me but Judge of all my ways with mercy Thou knowest our frame and considerest how weak and frail it is Oh! make gracious allowances for all the Pityable frailtyes and forgetfullness thereof In pleading my Cause O Blessed Jesu shew thy self a mercyfull High Priest who canst bear in reason with our Ignorance and Errors and canst be touch'd with the secling of our insâ—â—mitys Stand not upon Rigours in discussing my poor Services nor reject any good beginnings of thy Grace in my returning Heart Quench not the smoaking Flax but by the gentle breathings of thy Holy Spirit quicken it into a pure flame Nor break the bruised Reed but in tender care and pity bind it up Examine all my ways and weaknesses Oh! my God with the indulgent and compassionate abatements of a Father Judge me O! Lord with the mercy and gentleness of a Saviour Try me with the favour of one that dyed for me and seeks at any rate if it may be done justly and reasonably to save not to condemn me Be such a Judge O! blessed Jesu as will not strain things to my prejudice but that seeks as far as it may be done with any fairness to make the best of my Cause A Judge that is ready to make the most of my well meant and sincere Services and to supply their wants and imperfections by a gracious acceptance And to make the least of my Errors and Miscarriages admitting and makeing the uttermost of any thing which can with truth and reason be offered in abatement or excuse thereof Judge me O! merciful God with such condescentions of Love and Mercy and with such mixtures of favour and equity as may give poor Sinners who know they labour under manifold defects and frailties cause to hope in thee and comfort to appear before thee With such as may make them look up to thee with Peace and Joy and long for thy coming and support them under all the Trvals and Sorrows of this troublesome World with a comfortable confidence of being received at last into thine everlasting Kingdom through the Merits and Mediation of Jesus Christ our Lord Amen II. LORD tho I am still offending thee yet I dearly love thee I can never take pleasure in my self but when I think I have pleased thee Nay I hate my self for it as often as I find that I have offended thee And I bear thee a Child 's obedient Regard and Reverence tho alass with too much of the alloy and mixture of a Childs folly and forgetfullness Look upon mine offences therefore I humbly intreat thee O! Father as the offences of one who loves thee above all things Look upon them as the slips of one whose Heart nevertheless is bent upon thy fear and devoted to thy Service But who pays thee this Service under a load of Humane Infirmitys and much frailty of the flesh Who at one time is drowsie at another unwary who is forgetful in many things and hasty and inconsiderate in more who naturally grows weary and remiss when tryals return often or continue long and whose unconstant Temper is too often dull and listless when it needs to be most active and vigorous and supine and inadvertent when it should be most circumspect and stand most strictly upon its Guard But through all this Cloud of mine infirmities be thou pleased O! Gracious Lord to look to my Love and Devotedness to thy Laws and mercifully accept my Love and pity my weaknesses Oh! thou who madest me Consider and Pity my frailty Oh! thou who hast bore our infirmities tho without sin in thy self have compassion on them in me Bear with them O! Lord as with the failures and forgetfulnesses of a sincerely affectionate and devoted tho of a very frail and heedless Servant Bear with them O! Father as with the Errors and Oversights of a loving and dutiful tho of a very weak and frail and simple Child And let me have thy Grace to help and guard me against them as well as thy mercy to pity and pardon them for my dearest Lord and Saviour Jesus Christs sake Amen 5. A Prayer for a Clear and settled Judgement of our Selves and of what may establish us in Peace O! God the giver of all wise thoughts and the light of those that sit in darkness send forth the light of thy Spirit into my Heart and scatter those Clouds of Fears and Ignorance which have been gathering and settling themselves upon it Rid me of all confusedness of thoughts and clear up my mind with just and due apprehensions both of thee and of my self And fix and stablish me O! Lord in right Judgements that when by thy Grace I am once well resolved in things belonging to my peace I may not be soon shaken in mind or easily removed from the same by any returns of ill grounded and distempered fears and melancholly suggestions Remove from me if it may please thee O! Merciful Father any disorders of a distempered Body that make me unstable in those just persuasions of thy Grace and Mercy which should do me good or that do any otherways cast a Mist before my troubled Spirit Suffer not my fears for my sins to encrease so far as instead of being a help to carry me out of them to prove a snare to detain me in them and to hinder me from putting forth my self to do my duty by holding me under an unprofitable sorrow and tempting me to despair of mercy Lord fill me plenteously with all those Graces of thy holy Spirit which must recommend my Soul to thee and with such comforts of the same as may sweeten Religion to me and carry me instead of spending my self in fruitless complaints to put forth real endeavours of doing thee Honour and Service and to lay out my self in ways of thy Glory and of mine own everlasting peace through Jesus Christ my Lord Amen 6. A Prayer for Recommendation of our Humble fears to Gods merciful acceptance BUT tho I am afraid yet O! my God I trust in thee My fears and mistrusts are only of my self and of the worthlessness and unacceptableness of mine own Services or of the insufficiency or insincerity of my own Repentance but are not at all a mistrust of thy Promises or of the certainty of thy mercy towards all true Penitent Sinners And let not this lowliness in mine own Eyes O! Merciful Lord hinder me from being acceptable in thine Look graciously upon me as thou didst upon the poor Publican tho I stand afar off and dare only call for mercy at
a distance and not lift up so much as my Eyes to Heaven Look upon me who have a contrite Heart and despise it not who am Poor and Tremble at thy word and according to thy Promise dwelâ— with me and receive my Spirit Lord I humble my self before thee do thou take me up I humble my self justly but do thou take me up in mercy And all my comforts will I ever most thankfully ascribe to the praise of thy free bounty and Grace through the merits of my blessed Saviour and Redeemer Jesus Christ Amen 7. Prayers for Peace and Hope and Joyn in God I. O! Blessed Lord grant that I may both do thy holy will and take delight in doing it and have the Comfort as well as the Guidance of thy Grace Grant me even now to taste the pleasures as well as hereafter to reap the Profits of thy Service that I may both go on therein more cheerfully my self and may also recommend the same unto others by shewing a comfortable and joyful spirit in Performance thereof O! that no hard or unjust thoughts of thee may embitter Religion to me O! that no mistrusts of thy merciful acceptance may either discourage the course of my sincere obedience or deprive me of the comforts of the same Whilst I am labouring sincerely to serve thee give me the comfort of hope that thou dost accept me and let me find the ways of of righteousness to be ways of Peace both now and in the end through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen II. Lord let thy Holy spirit work in me Joy and Peace together with Faith and Righteousness and other of its blessed fruits Set up thy Kingdom in my heart as in righteousness so in Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost Teach me to joyce in the Lord Yea to rejoyce in him always Let perfect love when it increaseth Obedience and chearful Reverence cast out all tormenting fears and let the Peace of God which passeth all understanding keep my heart and mind Yea keep it so sure that doubtfullness or dispair may never be able to possess themselves thereof any more Make my heart to hope in God yea to abound in hope through the Rower of the Holy Ghost To give diligence to the full assurance of hope and that even to the end O! that I may have this comfortable hope of thy mercies as an anchor of the Soul both sure and steadfast and may never be driven from the same by any Storms or troubles of this World Yea grant O! Lord that I may rejoyce in hope and be filled with all joy and peace in believing That I may look for thy glorious appearance and love it and with desire haste it on And that in all my Tryals here I may bear up my self with the comfortable expectation of the same till at length thou shalt mercifully accomplish my Hope and turn it into a blessed and everlasting fruition and enjoyment for my dearest Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ's sake Amen The Person in trouble may likewise use the Prayers in the Office for Penitents intituled A Profession of the fruits of Repentance and the conditions of forgiveness p. 29 for the quieting of his mind And the two Prayers following for Pardon of Sins and for Peace of mind and comfort upon the same as he sees cause 8. A Prayer against perplexing Doubts and Scruples O! Merciful Lord keep me under such an Holy Fear as will make me careful not to trust in false ways nor to swerve from my Duty when I know it But remove from me perplexing doubts and unresolvedness about the same which will either hinder me from doing it at all or make me do it heavily and with a troubled mind Let not me indulge them as true tenderness of spirit and fruits of thy Grace but labour against them as my spiritual diseases or as Satans Temptations Lord let not me be still disputing what thy holy will is when I should be doing it or endlesly doubtful and disturbed to find thy ways when I should be walking in them and ever irresolute and still scrupulously deliberating when I am called out to action Let me not want knowledge of my duty so as to disobey thee blindly and securely Nor true tenderness of Conscience so as to venture on some things which really offend thee without remorse because they seem little to my carnal and corrupt thoughts or are little accounted of by others But after once I have been duely instructed therein and am tenderly sensible of the same cause me to be fixed and firmly settled in what I know and to give up my selfe afterwards chearfully to perform it not scrupulously to debate a new and endlesly examine on every occasion whether I may safely and acceptably do it or no. O! My God let faith and knowledge direct my steps and let Joy and Peace accompany them Whatever else thou leavest me ignorant of let me be clear and well resolved about thy ways and careful with all uprightness to walk therein Let me not miss here of finding and doing my duty nor at last of thy eternal mercy through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen 9. A Prayer against Prophane mistrust of Divine Truths and Blasphemous Thoughts O! Most gracious God who by the Power of thy Spirit art only able to cure the sickness and to overcome the unruliness of mine Protect me I humbly and earnestly intreat thee against all Prophane Doubts and Mistrusts of thy truths and against all Blasphemous Thoughts and suggestions about Divine things which either mine own melancholly fancy or the busie and wicked adversary are ready to represent and suggest to me Never suffer them O! God to stagger or weaken my Faith nor to hinder or clog my Practice nor if thou pleasest by their wearisom conflicts to be a pain and burden to my Life Preserve me not only from the sin but if it may seem good to thy Fatherly Wisdom from the temptation too and from the trouble and sorrow of them But if it be thy blessed will to continue these prophane and terrifying thoughts for my Tryal and Humiliation Lord make me sensible and comfort my disturbed Heart with the sense thereof that it will not be imputed as a sin to me to be tempted therewith but to yield to the Temptation And that in thy sight I am not guilty of the same whilst I neither believe them nor give place to them not altering or abateing either my Faith or my Practice thereupon And that they are the enemies sin who to try and tempt me studiously and wickedly suggests them not mine who instead of hearkning thereto and complying therewith immediately resist them as soon as I perceive them and cast them out with horror and indignation And Oh! that during this tryal I may learn to depend intirely upon thee without whom I can do nothing That as often as these prophane thoughts are thrown into my mind I may find
you desire to die in it 4. Has it been your Sincere Case and Study in the Course of your Life to order your Actions so and to be so affected with things as might shew you were real in this Belief and were Ruled and Acted by a firm perswasion of the aforesaid Points II. 2. Of your Holy Obedience whether you have led the Life or paid the Duty and new Obedience of a Christian. If thou wilt enter into Life keep the Commandements Math. 19. 17. To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for Glory Eternal Life But to them who obey not the Truth but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath upon every Soul that doeth Evil. Rom. 2. 7 8 9. A Brief Recital of the Holy Laws and Duties which we are to obey 1. Duties toward God THis holy Obedience you are to pay in a due and devout Attendance on Prayers both Publick and Private and on Sacraments In thankfully owning Gods free Bounty and praising his Goodness for all the good things which you receive by any ways In submitting patiently to his Holy Will under any Afflictions and not grudging at them Non growing impatient for ease before his Time because they are of his ordering In trusting to him and to his Providence for supplying you in all your Wants And for preserving you from any Dangers or for delivering you ouâ— of them And so trusting to him for them as never to make use of any Sin for compassing the same nor to betaken your self to any wickedness be it what it will when you have aâ—tempting opportunity thereby to supply or deliver your self In reverencing his Holy Name not using it but with Honour and Respect not as a light by-word Nor ever in common Oaths And least of all in false or faithless Oaths In reverencing also his word and his Worship and any things or Persons devoted to him or Commissioned by him 2. Duties towards our Selves YOU are to pay it moreover in Humility or by preserving a just sence of your own Faults Defects and weaknesses And not priding your self on account of any outward things Nor being pussed up by any undue conceits of your self or with contempt of others In chastity both of the Heart not suffering the Fancy to fix upon forden objects or to please it self in being desirous of or in contriving for any unlawfull Delights And also of the Hand and Tongue and Ear and Eye and of all the outward Actions which are all to be kept clean of all forbidden and impure Injoyments In Temperance about Meats and Drinks In Self-Denial and Mortification to this World and in a readâ—ness to part with any of the ease the Interests or Conveniencies thereof rather than with the ways of Truth and Righteousness 3. Duties towards our Neighbours YOU are to pay it likewise in being just in all your Dealings In being content with what is your own and not coveting or taking away your Neighbours Right from him either by Force or Fraud Nor by detaining it when it is unjustly taken or hindering him of the same And by this Neighbour you are to understand every Man whether Country-man or Foreigner of high or low condition In being Faithful to all your Promises In being true in all your Speeches deceiving none with false Expressions And slandering none with false Aspersions Nor detracting from any Persons real Virtues and good Actions In all the ways of Charity towards others especially the Necessitous giving Alms as you are able or other Charitable Assistance for their Relief In candor or fair Interpretation of other Men's Words or Actions In not delighting unnecessarily to publish other Persons Faults by evil speaking but seeking rather to cover or excuse them as we desire may be done by our own In Meekness and Patience under Injuries not bursting out into Passion and Opprobrious words upon them In forgiveness of the same and ing Good for Ill. In living peaceably your self And in studying to preserve Peace among others not begetting or cherishing any mis-understandings between Neighbours and endeavouring to remove them when you find them In Love and Reverence and Duty to your Parents And if Need be in succouring and maintaining them In constant Loyalty and Obedience to your Rightful Princes be they good or bad be they oâ— true or false Religions and be they Protectors of God's true Worship or Persecutors thereof And in not casting off your Allegiance to them or levying Waâ— against them on any Pretences oâ— Provocations In reverent Submission and adherence to Rightful and Faithful Bishops and Pastors of Christ's Church In keeping the Bond of Peace by adhereing to their Communion and flying Schism And in keeping to them at the Head of God's necessary Truths and in the Ministration of a pure and holy Worship against others who fall to minister by polluted and corrupt Offices or set up for Heretical Depravers of the Truth And in a faithful discharge of your Duties in any other Relations â—s of Husband and Wife Master or Servant or the like wherein by the providence of God you stand placed with others and mutually undebted Questions concerning our Obedience of these Laws 1. HAS it been the Study and endeavour of your Life by God's help to perform these forcited and such like Duties though with the infirmities of a forgetful and frail Nature 2. Have you bethought your self according as your Time and Memory will serve you and call'd to mind your manifold Transgressions and Breaches of any of them 3. After all the Discoveries which you have made thereof no doubt but many of your Breaches of the same are still secret for who can tell how of t'he hath offended And are you truly sorry in the General for all the rest of those Breaches which by your Recollection you cannot recover or call to mind in particular 4. Where you find that in any of these or the like Duties you have hearkned more to wicked and worldly Lusts than to a good Conscience and have yielded to Transgress are you now ashamed of your Self for having done the same Especially for having done so against both the Majesty and the Mercy of the ever Blessed God thâ— made you and of an ever Blesses Saviour who redeemed you from everlasting Death with his own Blood and has prepared Joys both endless and unspeakable for you iâ— another World and of the Holy Spirit of God who is grieved therewith and whose infinite Love had instill'd better things into you would you have hearkened to his good Motions And against the Senfe and Convictions of your own Mind which knows you ought not to have done so And against your own many â—ost solemn and repeated Promies to the contrary 5. Are you now offended with â—our Self and sorrowful from the â—ottom of your Heart that ever â—ou yielded to commit them And â—o you wish with all your Soul that â—hey never had been done 6. Do you earnestly desire that â—ou may never yield
to commit â—hem any more nor consent hereafter to repeat the same 7. Are you resolved by the Grace of God to endeavour so to do for the time to come if it please â—im to try you still longer and to â—aise you up again 8. Do you believe those precious promises which God has made us in his Holy Gospel to assist and help â—n such obedient endeavours with his Almighty Spirit and Grace And are you fully purposed to â—ut forth these obedient endeavours â—n hopes thereof 9. Are you heartily sorry that those endeavours have not been more â—erfect in you hitherto And do you truly desire that they may still grow more and more 10. Will you be careful to remember these Holy purposes â—â— you shall need the same if by God's Blessing you shall recover from this Sickness And will you take it kindly and be heartily thankful to any who shall put you in Mind thereof 11. Is there any particular Sin amongst all these which lies heavy above the Rest upon your Conscience and for which you yet need and desire more particular Direction Comfort and Absolution 12. Besides this Repentance for all your willful or allowed Breaches of any of these Commandments are you likewise humbled and heartily troubled for any Breaches thereof by surprize Or for any hasty and unconsidered stirrings and first Motions of sinful Lusts Or for rash Words or Censures or Wandrings in Prayer and the like Though you did not indulge or antecedently give way to these Breaches yet are you humbled and heartily troubled for the same after once you observe your self â—o have fallen into them Do you earnestly beg God's pardon thereof And are you purposed by his Grace to watch still against them the best you can for the time to come III. 3. YOU will be called to give an Account of your Charity and Forgiveness of others If you forgive Men their Trespasses your Heavenly Father will also forgive you But if you forgive not Men their Trespasses neither will your Father forgive you your Trespasses Matth. 6. 14 15. Questions about this Forgiveness 1. DO you from your Heart forgive those who have injured or offended you as you expect Forgiveness of your Offences at God's Hands 2. Do you lay aside all ill Will and all Desires and Purposes of Revenge towards them And are you ready and resolved by God Grace not to shew the same when it shall lie in your way either to profit or hurt them 3. Do you heartily pray that God would forgive them And would you be glad to see them made sensible of their Offences and taking the right way to have God's Pardon of them rather than to see them suffering for the same 4. Do you remember any Person in particular to whom you would have so much told or signified in your Name If so do you intend by God's leave to have the same signified to them Or who shall do it And when IV. 4. Of your Reconciliation to your Brethren and making Restitution after any wrongs which you have done to them If thou bring thy gift to the Altar and there remembrest that thy Brother hath â—ought against thee Leave there thy Gift before the Altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy Brother and then come and offer thy Gift Agree with thine Adversary quickly whilst thou art in the way with him â—est he deliver thee to the Judge and â—he Judge to the Executioner and thou â—e cast into Prison Verily thou shalt by no means come â—ut thence till thou hast paid the utter most Farthing Mat. 5. 23 24 25 26. If the wicked restore the Pledge and give again what he hath Robbed none of his Sins shall be mentioned to him â—e shall surely live and not dye Exek 33. â—5 16. Questions about this Reconciliation and Restitution or making just Amends after injuries 1. DO you desire that all persons whom you have any ways offended would forgive you 2. If you know of any who have had just cause either in the way of Conversation or of Business to be offended with you and take thinks ill of you are you ready where that is wanting to appease or remove their uneasie remembrance of the same by having a signification of your love carryed to them and of your desire of their Pardon 3. Do you call to mind any by name to whom this should have been done but hitherto has not been done â—â— to whom you would have iâ— done If so who shall do it and when 4. Doe you Remember any Reparation or Restitution which you need to make to any persons for any wrong which you have ever done to then or theirs either in their Lives their Beds their Goods or their Good-name or by tempting them to sin and if so are you prepared if that has not been done already to make them all just and reasonable amends Or would you have any thing more done than has been done in any of these cases where it may be done with more convenience and may tend to your further comfort and peace 5. If you have injured any by tempting and drawing them into Sin or dangerous Errors do you truly desire if that is still needfull to be done that they may be made sensible of their sins or errors as you are and so put into the way of pardon thereof 6. Or if as brethren in Iniquity and companions in Sin you have hardned one another by sitting at it together do you desire the same for them and where you have not done it before will you endeavour to make them sensible thereof and seek their Recovery the best you can 7. Would you have any thing sent to them in your Name to make them sensible thereof And if so when and by whom 8 Are you ready to shew mercy as you have the extreamest need to ask it that Mercy may rejoyce in your behalf against Judgment 9. And will you break off your Sins by Alms-Deeds according as God has enabled you and your iniquities by giveing to the Poor If you have been more wanting in it in time past will you be more carefull and Liberal therein for the time to come And will you still Remember that you are but Gods Steward of all your worldly Estate and must give an account what you have done out of it for him as well as what you have done for your self And will you prepare to give a good account thereof Questions upon the whole 1. DO you believe that Almighty God is ready Graciously to Pardon all such Believers of the foresaid Articles of the Christian Faith as truly repent them in this manner of all their Sins and forgive others and are ready to seek Reconciliation and satisfie for all injuries which they have done and to shew mercy and are in Peace and Charity with all their Neighbours 2. Do you believe that he is ready to do this only for the sake of our Blessed Saviour and Redeemer Jesus Christ