opprobrious language I have transgrest the precepts of thy Gospell injoyning me to feed the hungry clothe the naked visit the sick I have been unjust in detaining the Dues of thy Church and in the dispensation of Ecclesiasticall goods in the contracts of Usury bargaining and sale over-reaching lying withholding what has been more or less righteous and just I have not attended upon thy publick and solemn Worship upon Sundays and Holidays devoted thereunto I have not behaved my self upon such days soberly righteously and godly I have approached and come into thy House without that reverence and godly fear which becometh that Sacred place and there I have demeaned my self unseemly sitting standing leaning lolling and staring about when the respective parts of thy Sacred Service required more humble and devout gestures and behaviour I have entertained vain idle wandering thoughts and intermingled unprofitable wanton worldly talk in the time of thy solemn Worship I have unhallowed many holy things many holy actions by using the same as common and unclean and with unclean hands and an impure conscience I have not joyned with a right understanding and devotion in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs publick Praiers and other the sacred acts of Religious Worship too often speaking with my lips cursorily and customarily whilst my heart hath been roving by evill imaginations and false suspicions judging rashly of what is sacred and holy when transcending my shallow capacity I have sinned by perverse reasonings against the Truth because either above my understanding or not agreeable with my will by consenting and not reproving the sinfull by not instructing the ignorant not reducing the erroneous not admonishing not exhorting such as have gone astray to entertain more sound and sober counsells I have not reverenced my Superiours I have both defamed and disobeyed my Governours Ecclesiasticall and Civil neither have I repayed to my friends and benefactours such gratefull acknowledgments and due obsequiousness as becometh I have entertained in my heart many loose and unchast thoughts and filthy lusts and have looked upon the carnal copulation and intermixture of beasts with an unclean delectation of mind I have been guilty of much superfluous and opprobrious language of lying and slandering of falsehoods and flatteries of railing and reviling of scurrilous and vain jangling of profane and irreligious speaking and customary swearing of taking unlawfull oaths of much filthy communication and of all the evills of an untamed tongue the instrument of a corrupt heart I have even renounced the Covenant of my God by not renouncing the Devil and all his works I have too often yielded to his suggestions to disobey the will of God and to transgress his Commandments in the breach of my Duty both towards God and Man And thus I have sinned both in my thoughts and desires in my words and actions by seeing hearing tasting touching smelling even all my Senses have been as so many windows to let in Sin to my Soul and Death by Sin And not onely thus but in all kinds of Vice whereunto humane frailty is liable or in whatever any dissolute and debauched person doth or can offend have I offended the Great Lord of Heaven and earth And I acknowledge my self above all the men in the world to be the greatest of Sinners Have mercy upon me Almighty and most mercifull Father for thy Son my Lord Jesus Christ his sake pardon and deliver me from all mine offences confirm and strengthen me in all goodness and bring me to everlasting life through Jesus Christ Psalm 6. O Lord rebuke me not in thine anger Psal 32. Blessed is he whose unrighteousness is forgiven Psal 38. Put me not to rebuke O Lord Psal 51. Have mercy upon me O God Psal 102. Hear my praier O Lord and let my crying Psal 130. Out of the deeps have I called unto Psal 143. Hear my praier O Lord and consider Our Father which art in Heaven Hallowed be thy Name the world to come through Jesus Christ III. O mercifull Lord to whom chiefly it appertaineth to forgive sins and by whom alone the Souls of true Penitents are absolved from all their offences wash me O wash my unclean Soul in the fountain of thine inexhaustible mercy through faith in the bloud of my dear Redeemer Jesus Christ IV. Look down from Heaven O Lord with the eye of pity and compassion upon thy humble servant confessing his wickedness and being sorry for his sins imploring withall thy pardon and trusting alone in thy mercics through the Merits and Mediation of Jesus Christ V. Be propitious O Lord we humbly beseech thee be propitious to the praiers and supplications of thy humble servants and grant that the remission of our sins being obtained we may evermore rejoyce in thy heavenly benediction through Jesus Christ CHAP. X. The Lord's Praier paraphrased Praefat. ad Orat. Domin ex Lit. Mozarab Ad te pervenire cupimus Domine per Christum qui apud te factus est Advocatus noster Orationem quam ipso Domino instruente didicimus ad te introire permittas proclamantes è terris PATER NOSTER QVIES IN COELIS OVR Father 1. The Preface as we have a Being with all things by Creation and Providence 2. as we are reasonable creatures with Men and Angels by Representation and Likeness 3. as we are Christians by Adoption and Grace Which art in Heaven by thy Majesty and great Glory in earth by thy Mercy and good Providence and in all things both in Heaven and earth by thy essential Presence Thou O Lord art more ready to hear then we are to pray and art wont to give more then we desire or deserve as being our Father and though daily provok'd by our sins yet still our Father and thou art able to doe exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think as being in Heaven And to Heaven vouchsafe to raise up our immortal Souls Let them not cleave to the dust of worldly vanities since we have a Father in Heaven Hallowed be thy Name Petition 1 O that all the Nations whom thou hast made would come and worship thee and glorifie thy Name which is great wonderful and holy but more especially may thy ever-blessed Name be magnified by me and by all people who have thy Name call'd upon us in all our thoughts words and deeds manifesting that reverence and godly fear that divine love and filial obedience we owe unto thee Our Father which art in Heaven Thy Kingdom come Petit. 2 Maiest thou rule and reign in all the affections of our hearts and over all the actions of our lives swaying thy Sceptre of Righteousness by thy Holy Word and Spirit to the destruction of the Kingdom of Sin and Satan And may we all live in obedience of thy most holy Laws and continue such loyal and faithful subjects of thy Kingdom of Grace in this life that we may become Saints in thy Kingdome of Glory in the life to come Thy
any hazard to defend the same as becomes a true souldier of Jesus Christ I have not set a watch over my mouth Lies and guarded the door of my lips but I have suffered my unruly licencious tongue to be the instrument of manifold Lies of all kinds and conditions officious lies bragging boasting lies scurrilous lies flattering lies professing more love to such and such then has been in my heart towards them I have offended by detracting Censures defaming censuring and condemning others being my self far more worthy to be condemned by others I have talk'd of the moat in my brother's eye to his disgrace but have been blind and would not see mine own sins and infinite misdemeanours Enter not into judgment with thy servant O Lord as I have entered into judgment with others O deal not with me after my sins neither reward me after mine iniquities but according to the multitude of thy mercies think upon me O God for thy goodness I have sinfully coveted to enjoy the wife or the maid Sins against the Tenth Commandment or the servant of such and such coveted such a man's lands and possessions such a man's offices preferments credit honour such a man's conveniencies and seeming contentments in the world maligning envying other mens wealth fair house great estate but too too much dissatisfied with my own estate and condition though far beyond my desert God be merciful to me a miserable sinner Having both food and raiment and all things necessary for my support in this life Covetousness I have not been therewith content but have been over-disquieted and solicitous in my mind for more more wealth more land more and higher preferments though founded and settled not in the loss onely but even in the death of others I have not accounted Godliness the chiefest gain Earthly-mindedness nor delighted my self in the Lord and in the ways of his service nor set my affections on things above but have roved in my wild desires after the exteriour enjoyments of the creature which being empty and unsatisfying have deprived me of true peace and contentment of mind Father I have sinned against Heaven and before thee and am not worthy to be called thy son but reject me not from amongst the number of thy servants though I be both an unprofitable and disobedient one And to my sins The sins of Repentance for sin I have been guilty of many sinful defects in my Repentance for my sins I have but too slightly not strictly and throughly examined my heart and my life to find out my sins which lurk in the dark to hurry my soul to blackness of darkness for ever those sins which I have known and found my self guilty of I have not bewailed with that godly sorrow as the greatness and grievousness thereof require With my lips have I often confessed my sins when my heart has not been truly humbled within me under the deep sense of their pollution stain and danger so as to loath and abhor my sins and my self too in dust and ashes I have too often made a mock of the Almighty in the Confession of my sins by returning back to the sins confessed as the dog to his vomit Thus have I sinned and I have done wickedly and I have committed iniquity and I have rebelled against thee by departing from all thy most holy Laws and Judgments To thee O Lord God belongeth mercy and forgiveness but to me shame and confusion of face for I have rebelled against thee God be merciful I have been guilty of many secular and sensual ends in the performance of holy actions The Sins of Religious actions minding more my own advantage and the pleasing my own fancy then the advancement of thy service loving more the praise of men then the praise of God I have entertained many vain wandering worldly and sometimes wicked imaginations in the times of thy Service have been dull inconsiderate and indevout in my Praiers very much defective in Fasting and too vain-glorious in the little good I have done to others I have secretly applauded my own fancy wit wisedom elocution and dextrous management of Religious discourses even the best and most holy of all my Religious performances are not without their manifold sinful defects and deformities Who can tell how oft he offendeth O cleanse thou me from these and from all my secret faults My secret sins are innumerable Secret Sins sins secret through ignorance through forgetfulness through negligence and a negligent Self-examination through wilful misperswasion sins which a watchful and diligent spirit might have prevented but I would not sins secret to the world committed before thee onely and under the witness of mine own Conscience I am confounded with the multitude of them and the horrour of their remembrance the remembrance of them is grievous unto me the burthen of them is intolerable Have mercy upon me have mercy upon me most merciful Father for thy Son my Lord Jesus Christ's sake forgive me all that is past and grant that ever hereafter I may serve thee in newness of life to the honour and glory of thy name and the eternal Salvation of my Soul through Jesus Christ Grant merciful Lord I beseech thee not to me onely but to all thy faithful people pardon and peace that they may be cleansed from all their sins and serve thee with a quiet mind through Jesus Christ CHAP. IX An ancient Form of Confession extant Biblioth Patrum tom 8. p. 409. I Confess unto thee O Lord the Father of Heaven and earth and to thee O sweet and benign Jesu with the Holy and Blessed Spirit before all thy holy Angels and Saints before thy Altar and thy Priest standing there I was conceived and born in Sin and since my Baptism wherein I was washed from Sin originall I have been conversant in actual Sins all the days of my life untill this very hour I confess I have sinned in Pride and Vain-glory in the vanity of my Apparell in the lifting up of mine eyes and the swelling of my heart and Pride hath stained all my actions I have been in Envy Hatred Malice and immoderate Anger in Ignorance and Negligence in Slothfulness and Sullenness in the greedy Covetousness both of worldly wealth and of the praise of men I have sinned in the Greediness of the belly even to Gluttony and Drunkenness and Sodomiticall Luxury in wanton kisses unchast embraces in Fornication and Adultery and every kind of shamefull Uncleanness I have sinned in Theft and Couzenage in Rapine and Sacrilege in Lying and idle tales in Swearing and forswearing in the loss sickness disgrace and death of others which I have too often desired and wherewith I have been too well pleased I have sinned in the defects of Faith Hope and Charity in the unworthy participation of the Body and Bloud of Christ in the neglect of Hospitality and Alms-giving frequently denying to relieve and often exasperating the poor by
and throughly transacted except your Prayers be joyned with Fasting That great day of expiation commanded by God for the putting away of Sin was a Fasting-day and for this corporall mortification Lev. 16.29 30. Isa 58 3 5. Joel 2.12 Matt. 17.21 Luk. 2.37 as well as for the spiritual compunction 't was called a day wherein to afflict the Soul The many admonitions and examples of Fasting both in the Old and New Testament and its frequent conjunction with Praier may sufficiently convince us of the necessity of this Duty when we implore the pardon of our Sins as also of other acts of Mortification for the taming and subduing of the flesh 1 Cor. 9.27 Gal. 5.17 which hath so shamefully rebelled against the spirit as in the through Confession of Sins is acknowledged 13. That you may be both humbled for your Sins and yet not despair of mercy and forgiveness meditate upon the bitter Sorrows and Sufferings of our Blessed Redeemer Behold him with the eye of Faith and devout Meditation expanded on the Cross as on a Tormenting-rack see him naked and racked and wounded and bleeding for thy Sins no part of his Body untormented no power of his Soul unsacrific'd no drop of his Bloud unshed for thine offences His tender Skin and delicate Flesh was torn and rent and razed by cruell lashes with forked whips his Head crowned with thorns the curse of the earth his Sinews crackt his Veins burst his Joynts disparted and all his Bones started aside whilst in the midst of these torments he offered up his Soul a Sacrifice for thy Sins And 't is this precious Bloud thus shed and applied to thy heart if any thing will mollify its hardness and melt thee into tears of Compunction for thy Sins the cause of thy Saviour's Sufferings into tears of Compassion with thy Redeemer in his Passion for thee into tears of Devotion in the dedication of thy whole self unto the service of his Majesty who gave himself wholly to redeem and save thee And because Meditations upon this subject are of all others most effectuall to excite Compunction and Devotion in the heart and to obtain mercy I have therefore annexed some short Meditations on the severall Mysteries of our Redemption and our Saviour's Passion wherein every one may enlarge himself as his Devotion shall suggest 14. In the Confession of your Sins as in every of your set solemn constant Praiers unto God 't will be very imprudent and too presumptuous to trust to your own extempore expressions and boldly say onely what at present comes into your mind for this is to be as one of them that tempt the Lord. Ecclus. 18.23 Eccles. 5.1 2. And by such rash inconsiderate addresses you offer to the All-wise God the sacrifice of fools There 's no Malefactour that petitions his Judge for the pardon of his crime but will pen his Petition and study to doe it in such words as are pertinent and not superfluous that he offend not by any tedious prolix or unnecessary expressions And we cannot surely be less considerate and carefull when we petition the Great Judge of the world for the pardon of our Sins which would otherwise sink our Souls to eternall honour For the right performance therefore of a Duty of so high concernment Dan. 9.4 c. Hos 14.2 3. Baruc. 1.15 c. Luke 15.18 21. we have many Forms of Confession upon record in the Book of God and other books of practicall Devotion both ancient and modern But because such generalls reach not punctually to the particulars of Self-examination proposed I have hereunto added for the greater ease of the Reader a Form of Confession whereunto every man may adde or diminish as his Conscience tells him he is guilty or not guilty also as he finds himself more or less guilty remembring to enlarge upon every general head of Confession the enumeration of all such particular Sins as relate thereunto And because there be few devout orthodox good Christians but are affected with what is ancient and primitive more then with the modes of new and modern Devotion I have therefore added one Form of Confession out of the Bibliotheca Patrum for its antiquity and the generall extent thereof 15. After the Confession of your Sins the most effectuall Praiers you can use for the Pardon of them are next to the Lord's Praier the Penitentiall Psalmes the praying whereof with understanding and devotion is truly and indeed to pray by the Holy Spirit of God Eph. 5.18 19. for such are undeniably the dictates of God's Holy Spirit I have therefore added the said Psalms with the Lord's Praier paraphrased that in the devout use thereof you may pray by the Spirit 1 Cor. 14.15 and pray with understanding also CHAP. VIII A Form of Confession of Sin fitted to the Rules of Self-examination whereunto every one may adde or substract as he finds himself guilty or not guilty In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen BUT I am unworthy O Lord to take thy Holy Name in my mouth ashamed to lift up mine eyes to Heaven for I have sinned against Heaven and before thee in that I have daily broken my Vow and Promise made unto the God of Heaven Sins against the Baptismal Vow in general To renounce the Devil and all his works I am unworthy to be called thy Son having obeyed the suggestions and done the works of the Devil and I do therefore justly deserve as a child of the Devil to have my portion with him and his Angels for with those Apostate spirits I have not kept to my first estate of Regeneration in Baptism but have transgressed all the particulars of that Covenant which I made with my God therein God be merciful unto me a miserable sinner I have suffered my foolish heart to be deceived with the Pomps and Vanities of this transitory life The Pomps and Vanities of this wicked World and have been more enamour'd with the empty gaudy flattering felicities of this present World then with those never-fading joys and unspeakable glories of the World to come God be merciful unto me a miserable sinner The Pride of life hath ensnared me more to affect the praise of men then the praise of God and the Lust of the eyes hath bewitched me to prefer the love and service of Mammon before the love and fear and service of my Maker God be mercifull to me a sinner I have more readily obeyed the sinful lusts of the flesh And all the sinful Lusts of the Flesh then the godly motions of the Spirit and carnal Concupiscence hath reigned in my heart and prevailed in the actions of my life against the dictates both of right Reason and holy Religion Have mercy upon me O God after thy great goodness and according to the multitude of thy mercies do away mine offences through Jesus Christ Amen I have not been so careful as
service of thy great Name And though thus and more ways then thus in more respects then I can possibly conceive or remember I have profaned thy Holy Name yet is thy Name called upon me and I do daily call upon thy Name I do therefore humbly beg For thy Name 's sake O Lord be merciful unto my sin for it is great Many of those Days and hours Sins against the Fourth Commandment times and seasons dedicated to thy Divine Worship publick and private have I profan'd and unhallowed making no difference either by my words or works betwixt Daies separate to the sacred Service of God and such as are left in common for the service of our selves I have too often absented my self from thy solemn publick Worship without sufficient cause and have too carelesly irreverently and indevoutly demeaned my self therein I have mis-spent much of the time assigned for holy Exercises in following my own private business satisfying my sensful lusts pursuing the pleasures and interests of this present world spending upon such daies in luxury riot and excess what might better have been laid out in Alms and Charitable uses The whole course of my life which thou grantedst me to be spent in thy service here that I might advance my hopes of Heaven hereafter I have foolishly thrown away upon my lusts and vanities continually grieving thy good Spirit quenching those sacred flames he hath enkindled in my breast never ceasing from the works of sin but daily labouring to destroy my hopes to keep a perpetual Sabbath in Heaven O God I am ashamed and blush to lift up my eyes to Heaven for mine iniquities are increased over mine head and my trespass is gone up unto the Heavens Sins against the Second Table of the Law O Most just and dear God Sins against the Fifth Commandment I humbly confess my self not onely to have broken the bonds of that love fear and service I owe unto thee but I have also transgrest my duty in all my Relations unto others I have been disobedient to my Parents Against Parents stubborn and disrespective in my carriage towards them I have sometimes secretly despised them in my heart and openly reviled them I have slighted their admonitions thinking my self too good to own them too wise to obey their commands I have not to the best of my power comforted and relieved them in their wants and weaknesses sorrows and sicknesses and I have too often wished for their death that I might enjoy their estate and follow the sway of my own corrupt humour and inclinations God be merciful to me a sinner I have not been careful Against Children either my self to instruct my Children or to see they were by others instructed in the Principles of holy and true Religion I have been more careful for their temporal then spiritual estate for the health of their Bodies then for the Salvation of their Souls not wisely admonishing discreetly correcting and seasonably reproving them and by my good example teaching them the ways of Truth and Holiness God be merciful unto me a miserable sinner Against the King I have been too disobedient to my Prince too censorious and malapert in traducing his Person and Conversation his Government and the Governours under his Majesty I have murmured to pay him Toll and Tribute and refused to obey many of his Laws and lawful Commands I had too deep a hand in the Rebellion against the late King of blessed memory by my many personal sins provoking the wrath of God by entertaining false opinions by believing and spreading lies and infamous stories God be merciful unto me a miserable sinner I have not made conscience to obey the Laws and Orders of thy Church Against the Church whether universal or particular not acknowledging or not submitting to the authority of either and am justly to be therefore rankt amongst Publicans and Sinners My Ghostly Fathers and the Ministers thereof in the several Orders of Bishop Priest and Deacon I have disbelieved disrespected disobeyed despised them in their Persons in their Callings in their Admonitions for my Soul's health And I have also detained diminished defrauded and grudingly paid the Dues of the Church God be merciful unto me a miserable sinner Amongst the Ministers of the Gospel I have had respect of persons being better pleased with a stranger then with my own lawful Pastour better pleased with the Factious and Schismatical then with the Orthodox and Regular Clergy better pleased with Preachers that tickle the itching ear then with such as feed the Soul with sound and wholsom Doctrine I have hated him that reproveth in the gate I have hardened my heart and refused when admonished to return from the Errours of my ways God be merciful unto me a miserable sinner Towards all my Superiours I have been too haughty and disrespectful Against all men in their relations and conditions both in my carriage towards them and speeches of them I have not honoured the aged and admonished the younger and less experienc'd Towards all men my deportment has been too churlish and ungentle not so meek and lowly not so courteous and affable as becomes the spirit of a true Christian I have been proud and vain-glorious stubborn and disobedient slighting contemning deriding others giving rash judgment but have been impatient my self of scorn or of a just reproof not enduring to be slighted and yet extremely deserving it God be merciful unto me a miserable sinner I have not ordered aright the members of my Family or my Servant Sins of Masters of Fandlies or Servants been too remiss in my care for their instruction and for their daily attendance upon the publick Worship of God preferring their attendance upon me and their service in my worldly concerns before the great concernment and interest of their own Souls Salvation in the service of thy Sacred Majesty I have detained or curtail'd their wages murmuring to give them their due provoked their spirits exacted too hard duty from them and too superciliously lorded it over them God be merciful unto me a miserable sinner I have oftentimes disobeyed And of Servants and murmured to obey my Master's commands I have not been so lowly and submissive in my demeanour towards him so just and honest in the management of his affairs as becomes a good and faithful Servant Have mercy upon me O God after thy great goodness and according to the multitude of thy mercies do away mine offences through Jesus Christ I have been hainously and frequently guilty of immoderate Anger Sins against the Sixth Commandment Immoderate Anger in the heart in word and deed been peevish and disquieted at trifles at slight miscarriages of others and inconsiderable accidents about me My Anger hath often swelled into wrath and fury broken out into bitter railing and cursing opprobrious speeches to such and such mindful of wrongs forgetful of benefits going to law with such and such
will will be done in earth as it is in heaven May all we Petit. 3 whose immortal Souls do dwell in earthly Tabernacles as readily zealously constantly obey thy will and as chearfully submit to thy good pleasure as do thy blessed Angels and Saints in their blissful mansions of Heaven above Give us this day our daily bread Petit. 4 Even all things necessary both for our Souls and bodies both the bread of Heaven and earthly bread And grant that what we do enjoy upon earth may be rightly ours not to any other belonging and neither acquired by injustice nor uncharitably detained by us and our daily bread according to our daily necessities administred to us who daily wait upon thee O Lord who givest unto all their meâ—t in due season And that our daily abuse of thy gifts may not rob us of them Petit. 5 Forgive us our trespasses even all our transgressions of thy most holy Laws pardon good Lord whose nature and property it is alway to have mercy and to forgive But this we presume not to ask but upon thine own terms As we forgive those that trespass against us The trespasses of others and our sufferings from them are but few and trifling in respect of our sins and trespasses against thee for they be many and hainous but as sin hath abounded in us so doth grace and mercy abound also with thee but we are men of hard corrupt uncircumcised hearts Have mercy upon us O Lord and forgive us both our sins against thee and our uncharitableness unto our neighbours soften our hard hearts to be kindly affectioned one towards another forbearing and forgiving one another as we hope and humbly beg to be forgiven by thee through Jesus Christ our Lord. Lead us not into temptation Petit. 6 Suffer us not any more to fall into fins and trespasses against thee When we are led away with our lusts and tempted O leave us not then to our selves who are weak and frail and too prone to all that is evil but assist and enable us by thy Divine grace to overcome all the affaults of our ghostly enemies and to continue thy faithful servants and souldiers to our lives ends Deliver us from evil Petit. 7 From the evil of sin by thy grace and from the evil of punishment by thy mercy and from the authour of all evils the Devil From the temporal evils and miseries of this life and from the evils of a sad eternity in the life to come from thy wrath and from everlasting damnation Good Lord deliver us Liberati à malo confirmati semper in bono tibi servire mereamur Deo ac Domino nostro Pone Domine sine peccatis nostris da gaudium trdâ—ulâ—stis praebe redemptionem captivis fanitatem infirmis reâ—â—tiémque defunctis concede paâ—em securitatem in omnibus drebus â—â—stris france audaciam omnium inâ—micorum â—â—strorum exaudi Deus orationes omnium servorum cuorum fidelium Christianorum in hâ—â— die in omni tempore per Dominum nostrum Jesum Lit. Mozarab For thine is the Kingdom Conclusion Thou rulest and reignest over all and thy Dominion is absolute and independent the power whereof cannot be broken nor its glory eclipsed like the frail and fading Kingdoms of this world But thine is the Power and the Glory for ever and ever Thy Dominion is an everlasting Dominion such as shall not pass away and thy Kingdom such as cannot be destroyed but shall stand fast in power and eminent in glory for ever O give us hearts yielding a willing obedience to the Laws of thy Kingdom full of reverence and awful fear of thy Power studious to advance thy Glory upon earth that we may in the end arrive at thy Kingdom in Heaven where thou livest and reignest Blessed Father Son and Holy Ghost One God world without end Amen CHAP. XI The Seven Penitentiall Psalms paraphrased THE Psalms of David being by all Christians of what perswasion soever acknowledged to be the immediate dictates of God's Holy Spirit it must necessarily be acknowledged also that he who understandingly and devoutly prays in the very words of the Psalms prays by the Holy and true Spirit of God The truth whereof which by many blind Zelots is too much slighted and neglected we have both confirmed and the practice commanded Eph. 5.18 19. Be ye filled with the Spirit Speaking to your selves or among your selves which is done by answering each other in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs i. e. such as are the dictates of the Holy Spirit compared with Col. 3.16 Thus prayed our Lord upon the Cross in the very words of the Psalmist Psal 22.1 and 31.5 And so hath ever prayed the Church of Christ Psalmus totius Ecclesiae vox Aug. Prolog in Ps Chrys de Poen Hom. 6. Ambr. de Virg. l. 5. in all the Ages thereof Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs are and ever were the constant regular standing parts of God's Worship both under the Law and under the Gospel And he must needs be a desperate Fanatick who will not acknowledge the words of God's own Spirit to be more wise pithy pertinent and effectually prevailing with God in our Prayers then any words of man's devising how seemingly-zealous and taking soever 'T is a strange but not a true Spirit of holy Prayer then those persons pretend unto who slight the devout use of the Psalms which are the treasury of all sound Devotion and trust to their own extempore or studied expressions in Prayer preferring the dictates of their own Spirit before those of the Spirit of God himself The Penitential Psalms are so called because commended by the Church of Christ and by the constant practice of orthodox devout Christians to the Religious use of all true Penitents in their Prayers to be used upon all days of Humiliation and Fasting and in the time of sickness or any disness So prayed S. Aug. upon his Death-bed he wept and bewailed his sins in the devout use of the Penitential Psalms And those are also the most effectual Prayers we can use in the practice of Repentance by way of preparation to the holy Communion Psalm VI. Vers 1. O Lord the Judge of all men rebuke me not in thine indignation which I have deservedly incurr'd neither chasten me for mine offences in thy hot displeasure flaming to consume me 2. Have mercy upon me O Lord whose nature and property is ever to have mercy and to forgive for I am weak both through original corruption and manifold actual transgressions O Lord heal me pour the wine and oyl of thy grace and mercy into the wounds of my sinful soul for my bones are vexed that interiour strength which supports my Soul is troubled and sore shaken by many falls and failings 3. My soul also being conscious of her guilt and distemper'd condition is sore troubled being terrified at the apprehension of thy strict Justice and her own deserts but thou O Lord who desirest
not the death of a sinner how long wilt thou delay to hear help and heal my Soul 4. Return O Lord from the rigour of Justice to the sweetness of Mercy deliver my soul from the bands and fetters of her sins and from under the power of Satan and save me from thy wrath and from everlasting damnation good Lord deliver me for thy mercie 's sake wherein is my onely trust through the merits of my Saviour 5. For in death whether spiritual in sin or corporal for sin there is no remembrance of thee either by confessing our sins unto thee or imploring mercy from thee and who will give thee thanks in the pit None sure do praise thy Name in the grave of death which is the dwelling-place of silence and oblivion much less in the pit of hell where thy great Name is not praised but blasphemed rather 6. I am weary of my groanings having long laboured under the heavy burthen of my sins every night wash I my bed both in the night when I should sleep and in the day Or in the night and obscurity of my sins I wash with the tears of compunction the bed of my Conscience Tho. Aquin. when I go to rest I water my couch with my tears Even all the places of my ease rest and refreshment are bedewed with tears of compunction and godly sorrow 7. Mine eye wherein my exteriour beauty chiefly consists is consumed with grief the inward sorrow of my Soul thereby emptying it self and worn away because of all mine enemies because my ghostly enemies daily prevail against me by my consent to their suggestions and temptations unto wickedness But being resolved to avoid all occasions of such temptations therefore 8. Depart from me all ye workers of iniquity For the future I must leave the society of all such as do not onely work wickedness but also tempt others to sin with them for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping He hath put my tears into his bottle and it concerns me therefore to separate my self from the company and counsel of the ungodly O how audible and effectual is the voice of weeping for therefore 9. The Lord hath heard my petition graciously accepted and answered my desires in the pardon of mine offences and the Lord will receive my prayer when I thus humble my self under his mighty hand And then 9. All my enemies shall be confounded they shall be frustrated in their designs and enterprises against my Soul and soar vexed when all their contrivances fail them they shall be turned back from their farther assaults of my innocence and put to shame suddenly Even before their intentions be put in execution their plots shall be blasted when the Lord vouchsafes to hear the voice of my weeping And O that I could so weep and bewail my sins that the Lord may hear in Heaven and be merciful unto me and heal my Soul to glorifie his Name Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be Amen Psalm XXXII Verse 1. BLessed is he whose unrighteousness is forgiven as to the guilt contracted and whose sin is covered that it appear not to his punishment Or whose original pollution is washed away in the Laver of Baptism and his actual transgressions covered with the robes of Christ's merits 2. Blessed is the man He is blessed in Hope though not in Fruition to whom the Lord imputeth not his iniquity to his eternal separation from the presence of God But of such an one it is required that he be sincere in his Repentance and in whose spirit there is no guile no hypocrisie or deceit in his Repentance but he turneth unto the Lord with all his heart and this too from all the errours of his ways 3. Whilst I kept silence covering and not confessing my sins or Whilst I filently considered with my self the multitude and hainousness of my transgressions my bones consumed away the strength and support of my Soul failed me through my daily complaining not as I ought to complain in the confession of my sins for therein I have kept silence but through the secret murmurs of my troubled conscience and fear of the just judgments of God 4. Day and night thy hand is heavy upon me My daily practice and continuance in my sins makes every day more heavy the hand of Divine justice for the fear whereof my moisture is like the drought in summer The sap of grace and vigour of the Spirit languisheth and the verdure of my Devotion is dried up even as the fruits of the earth are parched by the Sun 's hot beams in the height of Summer And now being sensible of this my sad condition 5. I will acknowledge my sin unto thee both my sins of Omission and mine iniquity my sins of Commission have I not hid but laid them all open before thee purging my Conscience from the venom of them by Confession And this I firmly resolved with my self to doe 6. I said I will confess my sins unto the Lord accusing my self that thou O Lord mayst excuse me condemning my self that thou mayst acquit me discovering my nakedness and shame that thou maist cover me with the robes of thy mercy through the merits of my Saviour and so thou forgavest the wickedness of my sin being confessed bewailed and forsaken 7. For this thy great mercy in pardoning offences sincerely repented shall every one that is godly pray unto thee that he may be cleansed from his sins for there is no man so godly that sinneth not but therefore godly because thou art gracious both in forgiving the wickedness of his sins and strengthning him with grace to abjure them And he that is thus godly will not neglect those blessed opportunitles of Prayer in the time when thou maist be found ready and propense to hear and forgive and that 's the time of this present life wherein there are great water-flouds of temptations and troubles but they shall not come nigh him The Prayer of the godly is a strong Bulwark and thus he prayeth in the time of trouble 8. Thou art my biding-place Under the sacred wings of thy merciful protection is my refuge in the midst of the greatest tribulation thou shalt preserve me from trouble like Noah and his family in the Ark when the rest of the world perished by water thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance Being on all sides delivered and preserved from the flouds of many waters I will sing praises unto thy great Name for the same The answer of God to a true Peititent 9. I will inform thee and teach thee outwardly by my Word and inwardly by my Spirit the way of true wisedom which is both to know God and know thy self wherein thou shalt go what good is to be done and what evil to be left undone and I will guide thee with mine eye have a constant eye upon
rather to be as a cast-away given up to a reprobate sense yet take not thy holy Spirit from me though I have often quench'd his sacred fires by my extravagant lusts yet leave me not forsake me not utterly But 13. Give me the comfort of thy help again or Restore unto me the joy of thy Salvation which by my sins I have forfeited and lost and stablish me with thy free spirit Free me by thy holy Spirit of liberty from the law of sin and of death 14. Then shall I teach both by word and example thy waies of mercy and truth unto the wicked who follow the ways of their own hearts and sinners shall be converted unto thee by the example of my sincere conversion and seasonable admonitions 15. Deliver me from bloud-guiltiness O God from all the kinds and degrees of bloud-guiltiness such are immoderate anger hatred malice envy and from all mortal or soul-killing sins thou that art the God of my health the health both of my body and Soul both temporal and eternal Salvation is from thee and therefore my tongue shall sing of thy righteousness extolling thy truth in making good thy promised mercies to the truly penitent 16. O Lord open my lips which my sins have closed up and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise which becometh not the lips of sinners but thou art a God forgiving offences and even out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast perfected praise 17. For thou O Lord desirest no sacrifice of slain beasts for the expiation of sin else would I give it thee were it thy pleasure to accept the same but thou delightest not in burnt-offerings 'T is not the outward carnal offerings though commanded by thee that thou respectest as the principal means to pacifie thy displeasure but the inward devotion and compunction of the person offering 18. The sacrifices of God those he chiefly respecteth and accepteth are a troubled spirit wounded and groaning under the sad sense of his sins a broken and contrite heart the fallow-ground whereof is broken up by a strict Self-examination contrite by Compunction weeded by Confession watered with the tears of godly Sorrow such a Sacrifice O God thou wilt not despise but accept through his merits who with a torn body and broken heart offered up himself a sacrifice for the sins of the world 19. O be favourable and gracious unto Sion Let thy blessing plentifully descend upon our holy Mother the Church both universal and this particular Church whereof I am a Member build thou the walls of Jerusalem Repair the breaches both in true doctrine and discipline which through licenciousness in opinion and conversation are greatly decayed that the Souls of the righteous may enjoy the vision of peace 20. Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifice of righteousness with those sacred acts and offices of true Repentance whereby through Faith in the bloud of Christ the sinner is justified with burnt-offerings not of beasts without spot or defect but of holy innocent persons enfir'd with godly zeal and devotion to thy Service and whole burnt-offerings even the whole man devoted to a whole entire obedience through the whole course of life then shall they offer young bullocks upon thine altar themselves shall they offer upon the Altar of a pure heart a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God through Jesus Christ Glory be to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. Psalm CII Verse 1. HEar my praier O Lord as to the saving effects thereof and let my crying come unto thee be accepted by thee since my loud voice manifests the inward zeal and devotion of my heart 2. Hide not thy face from me under the thick cloud of my transgressions in the time of my trouble when burthened with the weight of sin or violence of temptation inclâ—ne thine ears to me when I call being penitent and humbled under thy mighty hand O hear me and that right soon there being danger in delay 3. For my days are consumed away like smoak spent in airy light vain unprofitable and black sinful works and my bones the strength and support of my Soul are burnt up as it were a firebrand scorched and withered through the exorbitant heat of carnal concupiscence which renders me liable to the fire of thy wrath 4. My heart is smitten down and withered like grass As when the grass is mowed down and withered by the Sun 's hot beams so my Soul being smitten down by the violence of temptation is dried up and withered in her devotion so that I forget to eat my bread neglecting the sweet refreshments of thy Holy Word and Sacraments where the Soul is nourished with the bread of life 5. For the voice of my groaning under the heavy burthen of my sins my bones will scarce cleave to my flesh being macerated by the strict rigour of penitential severities 6. I am become like a pelican in the wilderness flying even the sight and society of men through shame and confusion of face and like an owl that is in the desart that takes up her lodging in ruinous houses and not inhabited 7. I have watched in the serious consideration of my sinful and sad condition and am even as it were a sparrow flying the company of sinners that sitteth alone upon the house top solitary serious and studious how to escape the snares of sin below and mount up my Soul to Heaven above 8. Mine enemies revile me all the day long Such as hate to be reformed and are enemies to a serious and settled course of Religion continually deride and revile me and they that are mad upon me with rage and fury are sworn together against me have conspired my ruine 9. For I have eaten ashes as it were bread My meat was as unpleasant to me as if I had eaten ashes and mingled my drink with weeping All my wonted corporal refreshments were sowred with spiritual sorrow for my sins Or a August in loc I have exercised the penitential rigours of ashes and weeping sack-cloath and ashes being the armour and cloathing of penitents 10. And that because of thine indignation and wrath That 's the chief ingredient in my sorrow that I have deservedly incurred thy wrath for thou hast lift me up and cast me down Thou seemest as it were to raise me up that I may fall with the greater weight and violence or Thou hast raised me to great honour to be stampt after thine own image but for want of understanding I have faln down as low as the beasts that perish 11. My days are gone like a shadow they are not onely vain empty and unprofitable but also darksom and gloomy because I have declined from the Sun of righteousness and I am withered like grass for want of the celestial dew of Divine grace 12. But thou O Lord shalt endure for ever Whilst all other things pass away thou changest not being immutable as in mercy to raise up so
infinite 4. For there is mercy with thee to forgive the sins of the penitent and to raise up them that are faln therefore shalt thou be feared or worshipped with reverence and godly fear thy mercy engaging and sweetly working upon our hearts to fear thy Name 5. I look for the Lord even for his saving mercy my soul doth wait for him to heal her soars and satisfie her longing desires with the oil and wine of mercy and consolation in his word is my trust for therein he hath promised to pardon the penitent to heal the broken-hearted And I doubt not but he will be as good as his word and therefore 6. My soul fleeth unto the Lord upon the spiritual wings of ardent desires strong hopes fervent prayers before the morning-watch very early in the morning of the day or in the morning of my life the time of my youth I say before the morning-watch or more carnestly then such who are appointed watch-men for the night do wait for the morning to be discharged from their watch and have liberty to repose themselves 7. O Israel Ye that are of the number of God's people members of his Church if you be wise trust not in your selves nor in others but trust in the Lord who never faileth to help them that put their trust in him and be doing good for with the Lord there is mercy There is there was and ever will be mercy with him to justifie sinners that truly repent and believe in him for his mercy endureth for ever and with him there is plenteous redemption His precious bloud whereby we are redeemed is plentifully sufficient to satisfie for our sins and not for ours onely but for the sins of the whole world 8. And he shall redeem Israel No doubt but he will more especially above all others redeem his own inheritance from all his sins Be they never so many mortal and venial if truly repented through Faith in the bloud of Christ they shall be pardoned And therefore we have great reason to give Glory to the Father c. As it was in the beginning c. Psalm CXLIII Verse 1. HEar my prayer O Lord for the obtaining of what is good and consider my desire for the avoiding of what is evil hearken unto me in both respects for thy truth of thy promises made to hear the prayers of the humble and for thy righteousness sake in performing all such promises to those who trust not in their own but in thy righteousness condemning themselves that they may be absolved by thee 2. And enter not into judgment without any intermixture of mercy with thy servant O Lord I dare not say thy son but confess with the Prodigal that I have sinned against Heaven but reject me not from among the number of thy servants for in thy sight who art a God of purer eyes then to behold iniquity shall no man living in this frail mortal flesh be justified by his own merits but by the mercy of God through the merits of Christ 3. For the enemy the Devil hath persecuted my soul and doth incessantly undermine its innocence by his temptations and snares he hath smitten my life down to the ground so that my Soul grovels in the dust of earthly desires he hath laid me in the darkness involv'd in the night of secular lusts as the men that have been long dead in their trespasses and sins having no sense or feeling of their desperate condition 4. Therefore is my spirit vexed within me My Conscience within me being defiled and my Soul which would aspire to Heaven-ward depressed with the weight of her sins and the corruption of her flesh is a great corrosive and vexation of my spirit and my heart within me is desolate destitute of all consolation 5. Yet do I remember the time past wherein thy people have been exercised and tried both by adversity and prosperity both by temptations and deliverances and for my consolation and strengthning my hopes of deliverance I muse upon all thy works wherein I observe as thy great power and wisedom so thy mercy allaying the rigour of thy justice yea I enâ—â—ise my self in the works of thy hands wherein I find thy mercy to be over thy works and that I though an unprofitable work of thy hands may obtain mercy also 6. I stretch forth my hands unto thee both praying with my lips and working with my hands to obtain may petitions and my soul pours forth her self in the expansion of my hands which being in her self dry and barren of consolation gaspeth unto thee the fountain of living waters and well-spring of Divine graces even as a thirsty land gapeth to be fill'd and satisfied with rain from Heaven 7. Hear me O Lord watering my thirsty Soul with the celestial dew of thy Divine grace and that soon delay not to satisfie the thirst of my soul which is great for my spirit waxeth faint hath lost its wonted fersour of devotion being oppressed with the burthen of her sins and destitute of the sweet refreshments and influences of thy Holy Spirit hide not thy face from me as one turns away his face from his enemie or one with whom he is justly offended lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit If thou look not in mercy upon me I shall be in the same condition with them that are involved in the pit both of sin and of death 8. O let me hear be made sensible of thy loving kindness betimes in the morning early and betimes in this life and after the night of this life is ended in the morning of that day which never shall have end for in thee is my trust not in my self nor in any help of man for it is but vain and so will prove my trust in thee also except I obey thy will and walk in thy ways the which that I may do I humbly beg shew thou me the way of thy laws and the paths of thy Commandments wherein I should walk as leading to my native home of Heaven where my immortal Soul was first framed by the hands of the Almighty for unto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul which being made after thine Image aspires to become perfect in the beatifical vision and fruition of thy sacred Majesty In which way being soar let and hindred it implores thy assistence saying 9. Deliver me from mine enemies O God both visible and invisible ghostly and bodily adversaries for I flee unto thee when assaulted by them to hide me under the covert of thy protection from all the storms of temptations which daily arise in the tumultuous sea of this life 10. Teach me who am naturally blind and careless of my duty to doe the thing that pleaseth thee not onely to know but to doe thy will not to follow mine own pleasure but what is pleasing and acceptable unto thee for thou art my God who hast created and redeemed me and that I may be
throughly sanctified let thy loving Spirit the Spirit of love and verity lead me forth in the straight direct way that leads into the land of righteousness That 's the promised Land the celestial Canaan where alone is perfect everlasting righteousness in the blissful presence of the God of righteousness 11. Quicken me O Lord who am dull and dead-hearted and faint in the way towards the land of the living for thy name's sake which I invoke and adore and for thy righteousness sake not for mine which is little and good for little bring my soul out of trouble delivering me from whatever disturbs the peace of my Soul and hinders her progress in the way to Heaven 12. And of thy goodness slay mine enemies Mortifie in me all unruly lusts and passions that rebell against Reason and Religion and destroy all them that vex my soul by exciting and fomenting the flesh against the spirit the sensual against her rational faculties that the whole may be obedient unto thee for I am thy servant Created Redeemed not to serve my own lusts and exorbitant passions but to be Sanctified or devoted wholly to serve thee in holiness and righteousness before thee all the days of my life And so shall my Soul praise thee with joyfull lips and say Glory be to the Father As it was in the beginning I. O most just and merciful God who being by Sin offended art by true Repentance appeased be propitious to the Prayers of thy faithful people and in great mercy turn away from us those scourges of thy wrath which our sins have justly deserved through Jesus Christ our Lord. II. Remember not Lord our offences nor the offences of our fore-fathers neither take thou vengeance of our sins but spare us good Lord spare thy people whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious bloud and be not angry with us for ever III. O God whose nature and property it is ever to have mercy and to forgive receive our humble Petitions and though we be tied and bound with the chain of our sins yet let the pitifulness of thy great mercy loose us for the honour of Jesus Christ our Mediatour and Advocate Amen CHAP. XII Meditations and Prayers to be partakers of the Merits of what our Blessed Redeemer hath done and suffered for us O Most Holy and ever-Blessed Jesus The Incarnation of the Son of God who vouchsafedst for the redemption of mankind to be made Man by the blessed merits of thy mysterious Incarnation grant me to become one Spirit with thee who becamest one flesh with me Thou Blessed Lord Nativity wert miraculously born of a pure immaculate Virgin by the power of the Holy Ghost overshadowing her grant me by the same power of the most High to possess a pure virgin Soul in a pure and chast body and to be fruitful in all good works Holy Jesus Circumcision who vouchsafedst to be circumcised the eighth day and made obedient to the Law for man grant unto me I humbly beg the true circumcision of the Spirit that my heart and all my members may be mortified from all carnal and worldly lusts and whatever hinders my regular obedience to thy most holy Laws By the merits and mysteries of thy Baptism in the river Jordan Baptism wash me throughly from my wickedness and cleanse me from my sins whereby I have unhallowed those sacred and saving waters of my Baptism and perjuriously broken my Vow and Promise made therein Holy Jesus Fasting who didst fast forty days and forty nights forgive me the manifold acts of Gluttony and Drunkenness Riot and Excess whereof I have been guilty and by the virtue and power of thy miraculous Fast grant me the mastery over my rebellious appetite to live soberly that I may also live righteously and godly in this present world Holy Jesus Temptation who being fasting wast tempted of the Devil and overcamest him grant me by the influences of thy Blessed Spirit so devoutly to intend the holy duties of Fasting and Prayer that by the power of thy victory over the Devil I may have strength and power to triumph over the Devil the world and the flesh and to continue thy faithful servant and souldier to my life's end Holy Jesus Doctrine and Example who being inaugurated in thy Prophetical office by Baptism and confirmed by the vanquishment of the Devil wentest about preaching the Gospel doing good healing all manner of sickness and all manner of diseases amongst the people being by thy doctrine and example the Way and the Truth that leads unto Life grant me to believe aright all thy Revelations to obey all thy Commands to walk in thy steps and so to follow thee the Light of the world that I walk not in darkness but may have the light of life Holy Jesus He is conspir'd against and betrayed who didst condescend to have thy precious life conspired against by the Jews and to be betrayed and sold by one of thine own Disciples for a vile price deliver me from the conspiracies of all mine enemies ghostly and bodily and specially from the treachery and corruption of mine own deceitful heart and from the rebellion of my flesh which for vile things and of no value daily betray my Soul into the hands and under the power and bondage of Sin and Satan the great enemies of my life in Grace and Glory Holy Jesus His Agonie in the Garden who didst begin thy last and bitter passion in a Garden where thy innocent Soul was sorrowful even unto death sanctifie I beseech thee all my natural infirmities and passions comfort me in all my troubles and disquietudes of mind and make me sensible with godly sorrow of that heavy wrath and curse for Sin which thou sufferedst and I deserved Holy Jesus Bloudy swear who didst prostrate thy self upon the cold earth sweating drops of bloud under the pressure of our sins and out of a sad apprehension of thy ensuing sufferings offering up strong â—â—ies with tears unto him that is able to save O that my heart might inwardly bleed tears of compassion and of compunction and vent it self by such fervent and effectuall prayers with tears of devotion as to be heard in Heaven and healed of all my sinfull infirmities Holy Jesus Submission to the will of God who with all sweetness of patience and submission didst give up thy self wholly to the will of thy Heavenly Father endue me with the same spirit of lowliness and meckness patience and contentedness in all conditions submitting to the good will of my God both in prosperity and adversity health and sickness life and death Holy Jesus Apprehension who didst yield thy self to be apprehended when thou mightest escape and to be bound as a Malefactour being clearer then an Angel of light O let not my Soul be feised by any infernal Fiends to eternal horrour in the other world But out of the sangs and clutches of all the
spirits and powers of darkness good Lord deliver me from the bonds and chains of my sins and from that dismall sentence Take him and bind him hand and foot and cast him into utter darkness good Lord deliver me Holy Jesus who being felsed by rude hands Arraignment and Condemnation wast led as an innocent Lamb to the slaughter hooted at rated reviled reproached falsely accused and unjustly condemned by unjust Judges here upon earth being thy self the most just Judge of Heaven and earth O be not a severe and angry Judge when I shall stand before thy Tribunal but vouchsafe to be then my Mediatour and answer for me who am not able to answer thee one of a thousand if thou shouldest be strict to mark what I have done amiss But in thee have I put my trust thou shalt answer for me O Lord my God From all the accusations of the Devil and his Angels from the accusations of all men and of all women with whom I have been guilty or who have been conscious of my many sinful pollutions and from the accusations of my own Conscience in the day of Judgment good Lord deliver me Blessed be that infinite mercy and humility of thine Holy Jesus He is spitted upon whereby thou sufferedst thy face faiter then the children of men to be polluted by filthy ignominious spittings O turn thy face away from my sins whereby I have polluted my Soul and profaned thy holy Name which is called upon me Turn not thy face away from me but turn thy face away from my sins who for my sins didst not turn thy face from shame and spitting Holy Jesus Buffeted who didst expose thy blessed cheeks to the rude cuffs and buffets of hard injurious fists grant that though I may feel yet not be fell'd and overthrown by the buffets of Satan Holy Jesus Forsaken of his friends and followers who wast content to be forsaken of all thy friends and dearest Disciples and to be left alone in the hands of cruel men who like ravening wolves thirsted after a draught of thy dearest bloud O leave me not destitute of thy assisting presence when assaulted by my ghostly Adversaries though I have deserved to be for ever desolate and forsaken for my manifold treacherous backslidings from thee Blessed be that infinite goodness and meekness of thine Denied by Peter who looking back upon S. Peter when he denied and forswore thee didst by that gracious chiding look call him back both to himself and to thee by tree Repentance O look thus upon all backsliders from thee for their correction and sincere conversion and look upon me also and be merciful unto me as thou usest to doe unto those that love thy name And now behold O my Soul Scourged with the eye of devout meditation such a portion of thy Saviour's sufferings as is the wonder and astonishment both of Heaven and earth See with what profound humility and patience the great Lord of all the world condescends to be whipped by a merciless crue of souldiers see with what a sweet silence this innocent Lamb yields to have his fleece torn off his body stript naked and strictly bound to a whipping-post see him all alone naked and helpless where there was no eye to pity him no heart to have compassion on him whilst those merciless Caitiffs with their sharp and forked whips rip up and tear his delicate skin and tender flesh so that his blessed back and breasts by the violence of their cruel lathes doubled and redoubled are all gore bloud which from the gastly wounds stream'd down his innocent sides Now when I think hereupon I pour out my heart by my self even to weeping and wonder wondering that the eternal Son of God the glory of Angels and beauty of men should suffer such a cruel and shameful punishment and weep that my sins should both deserve and cause such sufferings and weeping wonder that the Son of God should suffer what I deserved But since thou disdainedst not O merciful Lord to be wounded for my transgressions and bruised for mine iniquities O let thy chastisement procure my peace with offended Heaven and grant that by thy stripes my soul may be healed Holy Jesus Crowned with thorns whose venerable head was crowned with Thorns the curse of the earth and those thorns beaten into thy Temples with a Reed and with much rage pardon Lord all those sins which by the instrumental mediation of all the senses of my head I have committed break not the bruised reed my broken heart with the sad pressure of thy heavy wrath let thy thorns the fruits of the curse which we contracted and thou sustainedst deliver me from the curse due for my sins and stop the jaws of death that the pit shut not her mouth upon me Thou art the King of glory Renouncing the Pomps and Vanities of this world O Christ yet wast content with a Cross for thy Throne with a wreath of Thorns for thy Crown with a Reed for thy Regal Sceptre with Gall and Vinegar for thy Cates and for thy Robes of Majesty onely a little Linen to cover thy nakedness O that I were so wise as from thy example to despise all the gilded glories empty consolations nicknam'd pleasures and profits of this present life chusing with Moses rather to suffer affliction with the people of God then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season having an eye to the recompence of reward Blessed Jesus Bearing his Cross who with an invincible patience wentest forth bearing thy Cross till it sunk thy tender virginal body to the earth O let me not sink under thy Cross nor shrink from it but chearfully take up my Cross whatever it be and carefully undergo all the sacred acts and offices of true Repentance which is the Cross of Sinners and follow thee my immortal Savior who didst suffer for us leaving us an example that we should follow thy steps Holy Jesus Crucified who wast lifted up upon the Cross to draw all men unto thee and didst hang on a cursed Tree to abolish the Curse contracted by eating the fruit of the forbidden Tree and wast numbred with the transgressours crucified amongst thieves O draw my hard and stony heart unto thee deliver me from the curse by my sins contracted and rank me not among the cursed Goats on thy left hand but amongst thy blessed Sheep on thy right hand in the great Day of Judgment O most Holy crucified Jesus All the parts of his body tormented all the parts and members of whose Body were expanded on the Cross as on a tormenting rack thy blessed Arms and Legs were with such violence diftended that the Joints were disparted the Veins burst the Sinews crackt the Skin rent the Flesh torn and all the Bones started aside And in this height of distension thy innocent Hands and Feet were nailed for the sinful works of our hands nailed where the nerves those
conveyances of sense are the thickest to the unspeakable torment of thine innocent body The sorrows and sufferings of thy Soul were far greater The sufferings of his Soul being like melting wax molten in the fiery furnace of God's wrath for the sins of the world till the fulness of thy sufferings being accomplished thou commendedst thy spirit into the hands of God All this Sorrow and Suffering Grief and Torment of thine I believe verily was for me and for my sins there being nothing in thee the spotless Son of a spotless Virgin to grieve or sorrow or suffer for O sweetest Saviour save and deliver me from all my sins whether of knowledge or ignorance of wilfulness or negligence of omission or commission of thought desire word or deed confessed or not confessed before thee wash them all away in thy precious bloud shed for me nail them to thy Cross which were the cause of thy Crucifixion hide them in thy wounds who wast wounded for my transgressions and write those wounds of thine in my heart not with ink but with the bloud which was shed forme that in and by those characters of bloud I may reade and learn to die unto sin and live onely unto thee who diedst for me cleaving stedfastly unto thee whose whole self wast so fast nailed to the Cross for me By thy Cross and Passion both in Soul and Body cleanse me from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit crucifie this corruptible flesh of mine with all the inordinate affections and unruly lusts thereof that being conformed to thy Death I may be partaker of thy Resurrection that suffering with thee here I may reign with thee hereafter where thou livest THE SECOND PART OF THE PRACTICAL Christian Being Considerations Meditations and Prayers in order to the worthy Receiving the HOLY COMMUNION of the Body and Bloud of CHRIST The Second Edition revised and augmented Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing Luk. 12.43 LONDON Printed for R. Royston 1677. A TABLE of the Chapters CHAP. I. Of the two general Christian Duties required in order to the Holy Communion of the Body and Bloud of Christ CHAP. II. Meditations and Praiers preparatory to the Holy Communion the Week before CHAP. III. Meditations and Praiers for the Friday especially before the Communion CHAP. IV. Saint Augustine 's Recommendation of the Passion of Christ unto God the Father CHAP. V. Saint Ambrose 's Commemâ—ration of our Saviour's Passion CHAP. VI. Saint Gregory 's Praiers upon the Passion of Christ CHAP. VII The Form of Praier used by our Lord upon the Cross viz. the XXII Psalm paraphrased CHAP. VIII Meditations and Praiers preparatory to the Blessed Sacrament on Saturday-night or Sunday-morning before CHAP. IX Meditations upon your going to Church with some short Directions for your demeanour in the House and in the Service of God CHAP. X. Meditations and Praiers at the Blessed Sacrament CHAP. XI Psalms of praise and thanksgiving after the Holy Communion THE PRACTICAL Christian PART II. CHAP. I. Of the two general Christian Duties required in order to the Holy Communion of the Body and Bloud of CHRIST 1. THE Blessed Eucharist or Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is of all the Mysteries of godliness the most comprehensive and applicatory to the Soul 's eternall Happiness 'T is amongst all Christian Duties of highest dignity and greatest concern 'T is both the Food and the Medicine the Life and the Health the Strength and Defence the Peace Joy and Delight of the truly Religious Soul 'T is the most effectual means of the nearest Union and Communion with Christ in this life attainable 'T is expresly so called the Communion of the Body of Christ and the Communion of the Bloud of Christ a 1 Cor. 10.16 which Doctrine we are taught as one of the Principles of our Religion The Body and Bloud of Christ is verily and indeed taken and received of the faithfull in the Lord's Supper b Church Catech. 2. In the right and reverent Administration with the devout and worthy Participation of this Sacramental Body of Christ we are incorporated into his holy Mystical Body So saith our Lord himself He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud dwelleth in me and I in him c Joh. 6.56 And such is also the Doctrine of the Church of Christ If with a true penitent heart and lively faith we receive the Holy Sacrament we spiritually eat the flesh of Christ and drink his bloud we dwell in Christ and Christ in us we be one with Christ and Christ with us we obtain remission of our Sins and all other the Benfits of his Passion d Comm. office 3. Hence then it follows that whoever owns the name of a Christian and understands aright what it is to be truly so and not in vain so called must acknowledge these two general Duties to be incumbent upon him 1. Not to neglect any opportunity of Receiving this Blessed Sacrament 2. To use all possible means with his utmost endeavours to receive the same worthily I. As to the First whoso slights or neglects to come being invited to the Holy Communion either 1. He rightly understands not the Holy Religion he professeth or 2. His Religion is no other but a bare Profession something that perhaps employs his Tongue and strikes upon his Ears to hear and talk about it but never entred the deep of his Heart truly to believe and practise it * Matt. 15.8 There be too many such persons God wot that talk much of Religion yea many that talk loudly of Communion with Christ and are seemingly zealous in the external performance of several Christian Duties especially in the frequency of long and loud Praiers but if the many wild extravagancies of such performances did not lay them open yet their general neglect of this Sacrament which is the life and quintessence of all Christian offices and the infallible witness of true Christianity discovers the hypocrisy of such seeming Zelots that with the old Pharisees they draw nigh unto God with their mouth and honour him with their lips but their heart is not whole with him neither are they stedfast in his covenant f Isa 29.13 Psal 78.36 37. Which is farther evident in that 3. Such persons make no conscience of Sin which is the transgression of the Law of Christ He commands saying Take eat Drink ye all of this Doe this in remembrance of me Shew forth the Lord's death till he come Come unto me all ye that are weary Ho every one that thirsteth come g Matt. 26.27 28. Luk. 22.19 1 Cor. 11.24 25 26. Matt. 11.28 Isa 55.1 Not to come to that Blessed Sacrament being invited is to disobey all these and several more positive commands of God which being also frequently read heard preached and pressed upon the consciences of men by their consciencious Ministers and yet still slighted and disobeyed will undoubtedly incur if not prevented
year as a day of Fasting and Abstinence and it was ever observed as such since our Lord died upon the Friday through all the Ages of the Church untill these last and worst of days wherein the evil spirit of contradiction against the Religious practices of Christ's Church doth so rage as amongst many others to cry down all Times and Days devoted to the Service of God except what they call the Sabbath-day the which under the Gospel is neither properly so called nor rightly observed by such as truly understand not the IV. Commandment but misinterpret the sound meaning of the Spirit by the killing Letter of the Law 3. All orthodox and understanding good Christians in stead of a Jewish Sabbath observe as festival and holy the Christian Sunday because the Sun of Righteousness arose upon that day from death to life and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel in which respect 't is frequently in Holy Scripture called the Lord's day 4. And there is the like reason for the observance of Friday as fasting in commemoration of Christ's Passion as there is for Sunday as festival in commemoration of his Resurrection Nor is this obscurely but plainly enough commanded by our Lord himself But the days will come when the Bridegroom shall be taken away from them and then shall they fast in those days a Luk. 5.35 These words are both 1. a positive command to all the Disciples of Christ they shall fast and also 2. the days whereon they shall fast are prescribed in those days whereon the Bridegroom was taken away from them which are the Fridays of the year whereon our Lord the Bridegroom and Head of his Church was taken off by a bitter death upon the Cross It is therefore but meet and just that all true Members of this Head should fast and pray and be humbled for their Sins on that day especially whereon the Son of God so sadly suffered and sorrowed for the Sins of the world Friday Meditations I. Part of LXIX Psalm paraphrased Verse 13. LORD I make my praier unto thee in an acceptable time Now is the acceptable time now is the day of Salvation even the day whereon for us men and for our Salvation the Blessed Son of God was crucified unto death 14. Hear me O God in the multitude of thy mercies against the multitude of my Sins which require a multitude of mercies to pardon them even in the truth of thy Salvation which on this day was so dearly purchased with the precious Bloud of the Son of God as a Lamb without spot 15. Take me out of the mire of all my sinfull pollutions and of all exorbitant lusts both secular and sensual that I sink not under the weight and pressure of them O let mâ— be delivered from them that hate me meaning chiefly the Devil and his angels and all the enemies of my Soul and out of the deep waters the rising waves of my unruly Passions and the waters of Trouble and Affliction which issue thence 16. Let not the water-floud of iniquity which overflows the face of the earth drown me with the rest of evill-doers neither let the deep swallow me up the deep abyss of Death the wages of Sin and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me so as that I arise not out of the gulph of Sin and Death to the life of Grace and Glory 17. Hear me O Lord for thy loâ—â—â— kindness is comfortable T is the 〈◊〉 and fountain life and soul of 〈◊〉 consolation at all times and in 〈◊〉 conditions both prosperous and adverse turn thee unto me not for any worth that is in me to attract thy loving-kindness but according to the multitude of thy mercies which are ever manifested to all them who truly turn unto thee 18. Hide not thy face from thy servant as angry and displeased for the alienations of my heart from thee and negligence in thy service for I am in trouble troubled for my Sins and frequent back-slidings and the sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit a broken and contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise O haste thee and hear me For if thou make as though thou hearest not I shall be like them that goe down into the pit 19. Draw nigh unto my Soal and save it who for the Salvation of my Soul didst this day humble thy self unto death even the cursed death of the Cross by the Merits and efficacy of which Cross and Passion O deliver me from all mine offences because of mine enemies that they triumph not in my confusion II. Meditations out of the Prophet Isaiah Chap. LIII Verse 4. SVrely he hath born our griefs and carried our serrows yet we did esteem him stricken smitten of God and afflicted 5. But he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed 6. All we like sheep have gone astray and God hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all In the Sufferings of thy Saviour O my Soul thou maiest see as in a glass thine own Deformities and Sins The Great Lord over all Blessed for ever to be reproached reviled scorned contemned and numbred amongst the transgressours discovers thy false and uncharitable Judging Censuring Condemning Evil-speaking Lying and Slandering Railing and Reviling of others The blessed Face of Jesus besmeared with Spittle doth remember thee of all thy unclean Lusts and of all the filthy Communication that has proceeded out of thy mouth His blessed Mouth embittered with Gall and Vinegar doth mind thee of thy Effeminacy and Luxury Drunkenness and Gluttony and his Whipping of thy Stubbornness and Disobedience to the Laws of Heaven The King of Glory to wear a Crown of Thorns and for his Robes of Majesty onely a little Linen to cover his nakedness declares the iniquity of thy Pride and Vain-glory the folly of Gay cloathing and all thy vain and foolish affectation of the Pomps and Vanities of this sinfull World That Crown of Thorns beaten into his Temples with a Reed and much rage discovers the offensive nature of immoderate Cares of the world with the sharp and piercing Vexations issuing thence which eat up the Consolation of the heart and all true sincere Devotion of the spirit O sweetest Jesu let all my Sins be done away through thy Sufferings which did both represent and satisfy for them Let thy Wounds be a Salve for my Sin-wounded Soul and by thy Stripes let her be healed of all her Distempers Let thy Bonds discharge that Bond of malediction and woe wherein my Sins have enwrapt my Soul and let my Obligation to punishment be cancelled by thy Cross Let thy Pains deliver me from the Pains of Hell and thy Labours procure my Rest with the Saints in Heaven Let thy Sorrows purchase the Joys and thy Griefs the Pleasures of thy right hand Let thy Captivity be my Redemption thy Humiliation my Exaltation
shalt make his Soul an offering for Sin he shall see his seed k Isa 53.10 even the fruits of his Passion devout Believers who shall serve him or keep his holy Will and Commandments and walk in the same all the days of their life they shall be counted unto the Lord for a generation being regenerated by Water and the Holy Ghost in Baptism whereby they are made Members of Christ Children of God and Heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven 32. They shall come being admitted into the glorious Communion of his blessed Saints and the Heavens both above and below both the Church Triumphant and Militant shall declare his righteousness His Mercies promised and performed in the Redemption of the world shall be proclaimed to all succeeding generations to a people that shall be born new born in and through all the Ages of the Church whom the Lord hath made his own peculiar people whose mouths are filled with his praise for ever saying Glory be to God the Father As it was in the beginning In the Greek Liturgy the people pray in the words of the Thief upon the Cross Lord remember us in thy Kingdom The Priest answers God be mindful of every one of us in his Kingdom both now and always for ever and ever Amen In the Mozarabick Liturgy I. By the wood of a Tree was Adam banished out of Paradise and from the Tree of wood the Cross the Thief that was crucified with our Lord ascended into Paradise The one by eating the forbidden Fruit transgrest the Law of his Maker the other confessed Christ in his Crucifixion to be the Lord of Heaven saying Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom II. Grant unto us O Lord the Repentance of the Thief upon the Cross and grant that we may with the like Faith call upon thee our Lord of great and much mercy saying Lord remember us in thy Kingdom III. Lord thou hast made us in the image of thine ineffable Glory which we have much defaced by the black marks of our many Falls have mercy upon the work of thine hands sanctify us of thy great goodness and restore us to our much-desired Country the celestial Paradise Lord remember us in thy Kingdom CHAP. VIII Meditations and Praiers preparatory to the Blessed Sacrament on Saturday-night or Sunday-morning before I. THOU art now invited O my Soul to such a Banquet as Heaven and Earth affords not the like 'T is the precious Body and Bloud of thy dear Redeemer which he first gave to be the price of thy Redemption and now gives again to be thy food and nourishment Teach me O Lord by thy Holy Spirit Out of St. Ambrose to understand and believe and ever to conceive and speak of those great and wonderful Mysteries and this day to receive the same with that Faith and Esteem Humility and Contrition holy Desires and Resolutions Reverence and Devotion as may please thee and conduce to my Soul's Salvation Empty my heart of all vain idle wandring Thoughts and of all filthy and unfruitfull Lusts Take from me this Heart of stone and give me an heart of flesh a soft and melting heart to fear thee love thee honour thee delight in thee and so to follow thee that I may be for ever happy in the enjoyment of thee II. O Holy crucified Jesus Out of St. Aug. Man ca. 11. I humbly beg by that sacred effusion of thy most precious Blead give unto thy Servant the effusion of Tears with compunction of spirit when I approach thine Altar to partake of that celestial Sacrament worthy of all Reverence and the most inflamed Devotion which thou O Lord God didst institute and command to be received in commemoration of thine infinite Love in dying for us and for the reparations of our manifold infirmities and daily failings Grant me Blessed Lord Out of T. Aquin. not onely to receive that Sacrament in the outward Elements but in the virtue and power thereof not Bread and Wine alone but the Body and Bloud of my Jesus to the Remission of all my Sins and to all other the Benefits of his Death and Passion for me III. The whole need not a Physician Out of T. Aquin. but they that are sick And such am I a diseased sin-sick Soul and as sick I now go to my Physician as a Sinner to the Redeemer of fallen Man as miserable to the Father of Mercy as unclean to the fountain of Purity as poor and needy to the Lord of all Bounty as blind and ignorant to the Brightness and splendour of Spirits as infirm and weak to the Strength of Israel And oh that it may please thee to enlighten my Darkness to heal all my Infirmities to inrich my Poverty to strengthen my Weakness to wash away all my Uncleanness and by the Communion of thy precious Body and Bloud to cleanse me from all Filthiness both of flesh and spirit that I may perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord. IV. Thou didst offer up thy self Out of Tho. a Kempis Blessed Jesus even thy whole self upon the Altar of the Cross a Sacrifice for my Sins no Member of thy Body not tormented no Power of thy Soul not sacrificed no Drop of thy Bloud not shed for me a miserable Sinner 'T is therefore most just and meet and my bounden Duty that I should offer up my self my whole self to thee and to thy service for I am not mine own being bought with a price and such a price as transcends the value of all that the whole Heavens and Earth afford beside Whatever I offer unto thee O Lord though it be all that I do enjoy in the world with my Praiers for all it will not be accepted without the offering of my self for 't is not mine but me not all that is without me but all that is within me thou requirest as the price of thy self to be enjoyed Receive me O Lord in the devout Participation of thy most holy Body and Bloud whereunto I am now invited Guard me O Lord with the pious custody and strong defence of thy holy Angels invisibly present and assistent in the transaction of those tremend Mysteries of Godliness and Salvation that the enemies of all that is holy and good may be thence driven back with shame and confusion In all the holy Actions of that sacred celestial Service make me sensible of the sweetness of thy presence with me that I may taste and see how gracious the Lord is a Psal 34.8 be satisfied with the plenteousness of thy house and drink of thy pleasures as out of a river For with thee is the Well of life and in thy light shall we see light b Psal 36.8 9. O send out thy light and thy truth that they may lead me and bring me to thy holy hill and to thy dwelling and that I may goe unto the Altar of God even the God of my joy and gladness and upon the
with the Minister and the Congregation in publick Praiers and Praises of God in Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs in Confessions Thanksgivings and Benedictions as wherein chiefly the service of God consists Behold now praise the Lord all ye servants of the Lord ye that by night stand in the house of the Lord even in the Courts of the house of our God Lift up your hands in the Sanctuary and praise the Lord b Psal 134.1 2. As for me I will worship towards thy holy Temple and praise thy name c Psal 138.2 Thirdly as to your Carriage and Demeanour in the House of God you are commanded Keep thy foot when thou goest unto the house of God d Eccles. 5.1 enjoyning thee 1. to beware of all light unseemly indecent and irreverent carriage and to shew Humility and Devotion in all the Gestures of thy Outward man bowing down thy self and kneeling before the Lord thy Maker * Psal 95.6 before him who made both thy Body and Soul and joyned them together that they might be joyned in his Service So worshipped the people of God the whole congregation bowed themselves with their faces to the ground f 2 Chron. 7.3 And so all good people resolve to doe We will goe into his tabernacle and fall low on our knees before his footstool g Psal 132.7 2. The foot of the Inward man must also and chiefly be kept upright in the House of God Thy Affections are the feet or motions of thy Soul these must be kept free from all secular Cares pure from all sensuall Lusts clean from all wanton wicked Inclinations yea from all Thoughts of any worldly concerns For ye cannot serve God and Mammon h Matt. 6.24 In the High-priest's forehead was engraven in a plate of gold Holiness to the Lord i Exod. 28.36 and every ordinary Priest was commanded to wash before he entred into the Sanctuary k Exod. 30.19 20. intimating that exact Purity and Holiness which is required of all both Priests and people when we approach the presence of the Lord in his holy Temple So saith the holy man of God Holiness becometh thy house O Lord for ever l Psal 93.5 and he resolves accordingly I will wash my hands in innocency and so will I goe to thine Altar m Psal 26.6 Be not slothfull and negligent averse and careless backward and tardy in coming to the Church for many and mischievous are the Consequents of coming late For 1. you rob your self of the opportunity of your private Praiers for a Blessing upon the publick 2. You lose the benefit of the publick Confession and Absolution which are of high esteem and value to all who are wisely Religious And 3. to deprive your self wittingly and willingly of any part of God's publick Worship is both a sin and a loss of so great an account as cannot easily be exprest or will be ordinarily believed Against such sinfull sloth and neglect endeavour to have imprinted in your heart the love of God's House and of his Service there performed Say with the man after God's own heart Lord I have loved the habitation of thy house and the place where thine honour dwelleth o Psal 26.8 I was glad when they said unto me We will goe unto the house of the Lord p Psal 122.1 Our feet stand in thy gates O Jerusalem q Verse 2. 1. When you come to the Church-door Consider that you are now upon entrance into the Presence-chamber of the Great King of the world whose Throne of glory is in Heaven above but his Throne of grace in his Temple here below Say then within your self Surely the Lord is in this place How dreadful is this place this is none other but the House of God this is the Gate of heaven r Gen. ◠16 17. O how amiable are thy dwellings thou Lord of hosts My soul hath a desire and longing to enter into the Courts of the Lord my heart and my flesh rejoyce in the living God Yea the sparrow hath found her an house and the swallow a nest where she may lay her young even thine Altars O Lord of hosts my King and my God Blessed are they who dwell in thy House they will be always praising thee †Psal 84.1 2 3 4. And most happy were I could I both esteem it and make it my greatest joy and constant labour of love to praise the Lord in his Temple 2. When you are entred and View the Baptisterion or Font Give hearty thanks unto God for your Christendom that by holy Baptism he hath called you to the state of Grace and Salvation through Jesus Christ and humbly beseech God to give you his grace to continue in the same to your life's end by the religious observance of that Vow which was so solemnly taken in your name the which you must now perform that you forfeit not the great privileges rewards and honours of being a Member of Christ a Child of God and an Heir of the Kingdom of Heaven 3. When you view the Pulpit Remember how many good Lessons you have received thence the which not being carefully practised will rise up in judgment against you in the great Day of your Triall Resolve therefore for the future to be a Doer of the Word and not a Hearer onely deceiving your own self 4. When you look up towards the Altar say What reward shall I give unto the Lord for all the benefits he hath done unto me I will receive the Cup of salvation offer the sacrifice of Thanksgiving for my Redemption and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord in the sight of all his people in the courts of the Lord's house even in the midst of thee O Jerusalem Praise the Lord t Psal 116.12 13 14 18 19. Glory be to the Father As it was in the beginning 5. When you come to your Seat kneeling down pray I. Praier Let thy merciful ears O Lord be open to the praiers of thy humble servants and grant that what we ask faithfully we may obtain effectually through Jesus Christ II. Prayer O God forasmuch as without thee we are not able to please thee grant that thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts and more especially be assistent to us in all the holy actions of this day through Jesus Christ III. Prayer And since by reason of our Sins we are unworthy to offer up any Sacrifice to so pure a Majesty grant mercifull Lord both to me and to all thy faithfull people pardon and peace that being cleansed from all our Sins we may serve thee with a quiet mind through Jesus Christ Directions relating to some parts of the publick Worship AS soon as the Minister begins with the publick Worship all your private Meditations and Praiers must be waved and your mind applied to attend diligently and to joyn devoutly in