Glorious Trinity three Persons and one God look down from Heaven the habitation of thy Holiness and of thy Glory with Mercy upon us miserable sinners and purifie we beseech thee our carnal Hearts enlighten our Understandings and exalt our Affections to a pious Contemplation of thy glorious Attributes to a Religious sense and admiration of all thy wonderful Works and condescending gracious Benefits to Mankind Thus let us learn in the profoundest Reverence to adore and magnifie thy holy Name And thus let us bless and praise thee for our Reason and Senses Health and Strength Food and Raiment with all the temporal Comforts and Necessaries of this Life Particularly for the Mercies of this Day c. But most especially for thy spiritual Blessings and for the Fountain and Foundation of them all thy miraculous and inestimable Love in the Redemption of the World by our Lord Jesus Christ for all the means of grace and hope of glory O Father of mercies thou art kind even to the unthankful yea thus must we ever acknowledge our selves to have abundantly experimented that gracious goodness of thine For notwithstanding our daily Provocations against thee thou still heapest mercy and loving kindness upon us All our Contempts and Despisings of thy spiritual Favours have not yet made thee withdraw them but in the riches of thy goodness and long-suffering thou still continuest to us the offers of grace and life in thy Son And all our abuses of thy temporal Blessings thou hast not punished with an utter deprivation of them but art still pleased to afford us a liberal portion of them The Sins of this day thou hast not repay'd as justly thou might'st by sweeping us away with a swift destruction but hast spared and preserved us according to the greatness of thy mercy Here mention all particular Blessings What shall we render unto the Lord for all these benefits he hath done unto us Lord let this goodness of thine lead us to Repentance and grant that we may not only offer thee thanks and praise but may also order our Conversations aright that so we may at last see the Salvation of God Grant that we may render thee not only the fruit of our lips but the obedience of our lives that so these Blessings here might be an Earnest of those richer Blessings thou hast prepared for them that love thee in Christ Jesus our Lord. And Forasmuch as without thee we are not able to please thee mercifully grant O God that thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts to withstand the Temptations of the World the Flesh and the Devil and with pure hearts and minds to follow thee the only God And thus may it please thee to endow our Souls with these heavenly Graces and Vertues of Faith Hope Love Sincerity Devotion Humility Fear Trust Thankfulness Contrition Meekness Chastity Temperance Contentedness Diligence Justice Charity and perseverance in all good O thus be pleased to make us partakers of thy Kingdom of Grace here and Glory hereafter And thus reign in our hearts by thy Graces now that thou mayest receive us into thy blissful Mansions above Oh! let there be always Oyl in our Vessels and our Lamps burning ready to attend our glorious Bridegroom at the uncertain hour of his coming either to Death or Judgment And O everlasting God who hast constituted and ordain'd the Services of Angels and Men in a wonderful order mercifully grant that as thy holy Angels alway do thee Service in Heaven so by thy appointment they may succour and defend us on Earth And that we may ever imitate their chearful and absolute obedience to thy Commands till we are translated hence to sing with them the everlasting Hallelujahs And O Almighty God who seest that we have no power of our selves to help our selves in thy bountiful goodness provide for us daily and keep us both outwardly in our Bodies and inwardly in our Souls that we may constantly be supported in both and may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the Body and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the Soul O continue ever to feed our Souls with the due and solemn administration of thy holy Word and Sacraments and with all those happy means of Grace and Salvation thou hast blessed us with in the Communion of thy holy Church which enable us to observe thankfully and devoutly especially in thy visible publick Worship O may all both Priests and People unanimously and piously offer up the constant Sacrifices of Praise and Prayer duly celebrate thy Sabbaths and holy Days and frequently approach as worthy Guests to thy holy Table thus often commemorating and beseeching thee O Christ O Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the World to grant us thy peace and have mercy upon us and never remove thy Candlestick from us miserable Sinners And be thou pleased to provide for our Bodies Food and Raiment with whatever else thou seest convenient and necessary for our well-being here giving us grateful and contented hearts for all and guiding us in such a right use of all as may tend most to thy honour and glory and our eternal welfare And O Merciful God who hast made all Men hatest nothing that thou hast made and dost forgive the sins of all them that are Penitent create and make in us new and contrite hearts that we worthily lamenting our sins acknowledging our wretchedness may obtain of thee the God of all Mercy perfect Remission and Forgiveness and thus O Lord we beseech thee to Absolve us from our Offences that we may be deliver'd from the Bonds of those Sins which by our frailty we have committed especially this Day c. O Lord we bewail all these our manifold Sins and Wickednesses which we from time to time most grievously have committed by Thought Word and Deed against thy Divine Majesty most justly provoking thy Wrath and Indignation against us O Lord mercifully relieve us by the comfort of thy Grace and grant unto us and to all thy Faithful People Pardon and Peace that we may be cleansed from all our Sins and serve thee with a quiet Mind And thus too we pray thee O God to enable us entirely to forgive at all times as we desire to be forgiven to do in all things as we would be done by and so to love one another that all Men may know us to be Christ's Disciples O thus may our Light so Shine before Men that they may see our Good Works and Glorifie our Father which is in Heaven Thus O Lord Jesus come quickly and deliver us by the Mystery of thy Holy Incarnation by thy Holy Nativity and Circumcision by thy Baptism Fasting and Temptation By thine Agony and Bloody Sweat by thy Cross and Passion by thy Pretious Death and Burial by thy Glorious Resurrection and Ascention and by the Coming of the Holy Ghost And Good Lord Deliver us In all time of our
occasions of Delight gives more light to our Knowledge more heat to our Affections and more life to our Devotion Repentance and holy Living wherewith we ought to begin proceed and end every Year and Day to our last hour Thus may we grow to be as we ought Strangers and Pilgrims upon Earth and out of a right estimation of all earthly Things into a sweet fruition of invisible Comforts In a word thus we see our Saviour with Stephen talk with God as Moses and are ravish'd with St. Paul into Paradice and so qualify'd for the eternal Hallelujahs above A Morning Prayer for Family or Closet extracted out of the Whole Duty of Man and our holy Liturgy c. and composed according to that most excellent Form which our Lord Jesus hath taught and left us Mat. 6.9 O Thou that hearest Prayer unto whom all Flesh should come have thou respect unto the Prayers of thy Servants and to our Supplications O Lord our God to hearken unto the cry and to the Prayers which thy Servants pray before thee this day 1 King 8.28 O Lord who dwellest in the highest Heavens thou art the Author of our Being thou hast also begotten us again unto a lively Hope and carryest towards us the tenderness and Bowels of a compassionate Father O make us to render to thee the Love and Obedience of Children and that we may resemble thee our Father in Heaven that place of true Delight and Purity give us an holy Disdain of all the deceitful Pleasures and foul Pollutions of this World and so raise up our Minds that we may always have our Conversation in Heaven from whence we look for our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ Strike such an awe in our Hearts that we may humbly reverence thee in thy Name which is great wonderful and holy and carry such a sacred respect to all things that relate to thee and thy Worship as may express our Reverence to thy great Majesty Let all the People praise thee O God yea let all the People praise thee in a firm Belief due Sense and grateful Acknowledgment of all thy wonderful Works of Providence particularly let us praise thee for our common Creation Preservation and all the Blessings of this Life but above all for thine inestimable love in the Redemption of the World by our Lord Jesus Christ for the happy and visible means of Grace and hope of Glory so miraculously continued to us within the Pale of an holy Communion in the due Administration of thy sacred Word and Ordinances And now thus more particularly O Father of Mercies let us thine unworthy Servants render thee most humble and hearty thanks for all thy goodness and loving kindness as to all Men so to us and ours day and night here mentioned particular Blessings both spiritual and temporal For these and all thy gracious Wonders of the right hand and the left tending to this life and a better let our Souls magnifie the Lord and all that is within us praise his holy Name Establish thy Throne and rule for ever in our Souls and by the power of thy grace subdue those Rebellious Corruptions that exalt themselves against thee they are those Enemies of thine which would not thou shouldst reign over them O let them be brought forth and slain before thee and make us such faithful Subjects of this thy Kingdom of Grace that we may be capable of thy Kingdom of Glory and Lord Jesus come quickly Enable us by thy grace chearfully to suffer thy will in all thy Afflictions and readily to perform it in all thy Commands give us of that heavenly Zeal to thy Service wherewith the blessed Angels of thy presence are inspired that we may obey thee with the like fervour and alacrity and that following them in their Obedience we may be join'd with them to sing eternal Praises in thy Kingdom to God and to the Lamb for ever And O merciful God who hast made all Men and hatest nothing that thou hast made nor wouldest the death of a sinner but rather that he should be converted and live have mercy upon all Jews Turks Infidels and Hereticks and take from them all ignorance hardness of heart and contempt of thy Word and so fetch them home blessed Lord to thy Flock that they may be saved among the remnant of the true Israelites and be made one fold under one Shepherd Jesus Chrit our Lord. O incorporate all Mankind into thy holy Church and regenerate all with thy Holy Spirit receiving us for thine own Children by Adoption and thus graft in our Hearts the love of thy Name encrease in us true Religion nourish us with all Goodness and of thy great mercy keep us in the same and give unto us the encrease of Faith Hope and Charity and that we may obtain that which thou dost promise make us to love that which thou dost command Give us that continual supply of thy grace which may sustain and nourish our Souls unto eternal Life and be thou pleased also to provide for our Bodies all those things which thou seest fit for their support thro' this our earthly Pilgrimage and make us chearfully to rest on thee for them first seeking thy Kingdom and the Righteousness thereof and then not doubting but all these things shall be added unto us O God the Protector of all that trust in thee without whom nothing is strong nothing holy encrease and multiply upon us thy mercy that thou being our Ruler and Guide we may so pass through things temporal that we finally lose not the things eternal Prevent us O Lord in all our doings with thy most gracious Favour and further us with thy continual help that in all our works begun continu'd and ended in thee we may glorify thy holy Name and finally by thy mercy obtain everlasting Life Grant O Lord that the course of this World may be so peaceably ordered by thy governance that thy Church may joyfully serve thee in all godly quietness And grant that all those who do lean only upon the hope of thy heavenly grace may evermore be defended by thy mighty power Heal our Souls O Lord for we have sinned against thee let thy tender Mercies abound towards us in the forgiveness of all our Offences Here mention particular Transgressions And grant O Lord that we may never forfeit this pardon of thine by denying our's to our Brethren but give us those Bowels of Compassion to others which we stand in so much greater need of from thee that we may forgive as fully and finally upon Christ's Command and Example as we desire to be forgiven for his Merits and Intercession O Lord we have no strength against those multitudes of Temptations that daily assault us only our eyes are upon thee O be thou pleased either to restrain them or assist us and in thy faithfulness suffer us not to be tempted above that we are able but in all our Temptations make us a way to escape
New Prayers AND MEDITATIONS WITH Pious Exhortations FOR Fast-Days Pursuant to their MAJESTIES King WILLIAM and Queen MARY'S Injunctions to Suppress Irreligion and Prophaneness By Tho. Watts Vicar of Orpington and St. Mary Crey in KENT Except ye Repent ye shall all likewise Perish Luke 13.3 5. LONDON Printed for John Salusbury at the Rising Sun in Corn-Hill 1692. THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY TO HIS Ever Honoured Friend the Reverend William Asheton D.D. Rector of Beckenham Reverend and worthy Sir YOur late Approbation of my good and zealous design herein however meanly manag'd by so young helpless and unqualify'd an Author emboldens me to this Publication under your Name which has so well merited of the Christian Church That I cannot but find Protection hereby from the Insolencies and Affronts of Scorn and Prejudice and from all the open Injuries of unjust Censure and uncharitableness Though Pride Worldliness and Hypocrisie may still prove irrefragable and constantly undermine the Plain-dealer Yet alass this Grievance is nothing to that common Infidelity Prophaneness and Irreligion uncontroulably revelling in this confused Age and impudently confronting every thing Just and sacred doing all possible despight to God and his Church This intolerable madness with those many-headed Monsters every where rending Christs seamless Coat cry aloud for speedy suppression or woful vengeance upon a stupid People which latter nothing surely can now prevent but either an Universal Reformation and unanimous Piety or a due execution of Primitive Discipline which the Gospel authorises which our more Zealous and Godly Forefathers exercised under the hottest Persecutions which the Greek Church has all along maintain'd under Turkish Bondage and which alass our holy Establish'd Church could not thus long have only wish'd and annually hop'd for in vain were not here more fatal and general Corruptions and more daring Impiety than any where else as consequently more dreadful will be our Desolation which nothing certainly but Gods infinite mercy through the merits of our gracious Redeemer hearkening to the Prayers and Tears of some faithful Sons of Abraham amongst us hath hitherto delayed Now therefore since only gentle perswasion remains since we are to preach in Season and of Season to Rebuke and Exhort and not wilfully to neglect any means of informing our selves or instructing others And since we must be careful of mistakes and resolvedly honest not to concel any part of our Duty from our Flocks And since it is high time for the Priests the Ministers of the Lord to weep between the Porch and the Altar and to say Spare thy People O Lord and give not thine Heritage to reproach Who can blame me for or how can I excuse my self from such poor endeavours as my double charge and circumstances can allow which otherwise perhaps might produce something more correct and elaborate and thus far more useful c. However give me leave Sir thus to attend you as my Gamaliel and in an humble tho faint imitation and even in as great a distance as your noble endowments and excellent Abilities have set me thus to presume upon admiration of your Zeal and vigilance your Piety and goodness your publick Spirited Charity and Justice your profound Judgment and Prudence and your constant meekness and affability so well know to the World in your many Beneficial Writings and Conversation at home and abroad This without Compliment or flattery which can't be here and which has always been far from my Temper I shall only mention and thus beg your favourable acceptance hereof in Testimony of those many condescending favours bestow'd upon your unworthy and ever Obliged Humble Servant Thomas Watts Orpington Jan. 23. 1692. THE PREFACE TO HIS Beloved Friends AND PARISHIONERS Grace Peace and Love be multiplyed for ever My Friends and Brethren THis small Treatise I present you with now as a seasonable New years gift desiring your candid acceptance and serious perusal hereof and most humbly beseeching our Heavenly Father so to influence us all with the graces of his holy Spirit that we may see our Errors amend our lives daily and both know and do the things which belong to our Peace before they be hid from our Eyes For sudden Desolation or impending Ruin may fall upon us and however Death which is appointed once for all Men will be our infallible Lot and then we shall be past doing our selves any good for in the Grace no Man remembreth God or giveth him thanks in the Pit and after Death follows certain judgment and then we shall have nothing to do but see our selves either sav'd or damn'd to all Eternity Wherefore as we value either and as we believe we have immortal Souls within us which will once be separated from our Bodies and be united to them again in the general Resurrection at the great aad last Assize of all Mankind So we should be careful of our behaviour in this Life and constantly endeavour our utmust Conformity to the will of our Almighty Creator and Redeemer Which all of us must needs in some measure understand and which not the meanest Capacity among us can plead invincible ignorance of and no other is in the least excusable especially under this clear shining Light of the Gospel and the frequent due Administration of Gods Holy Word and Sacraments in the Communion of a visible Church which we have all been long miraculously blessed with insomuch that we above will People in the Earth have the greatest inducements and obligations both upon the safe Principle of our truest Interests and upon the nobler divine Principle of Love and gratitude to worship and obey our mereiful Lord to glorifie his holy Name before the World in an universal and ready performance of our Religious Duties and thus to work out our own Salvation with fear and trembling Yet alass how lukewarm yea how cold and indifferent are the generality of us herein Even to a downright Prophaneness Irreligion in some and a Supine Neglect and Stupidity in others and a superficial careless observance hereof in most How do we thus obstinately or idly contemn and disregard the common means of grace and Salvation ordain'd by our Lord himself in his Church Militant here Wherein to be short all such are most eminently sinful and guilty whom the learned Doctor Sherlock most piously and rationally confutes and instructs in his Practical Discourse of Religions Assemblies a Book worthy the Perusal of every Christian out of which I shall crave leave to enumerate them Aâ—â—l Those who wholly or for the most part absent themselves from the Publick Assemblies of Christians and these are of three sorts First Those who forsake Religious Assemblies out of Prophaneness for want of a due Sense of any Religion or in contempt of it II. Those who forsake Religious Assemblies for want of a due sense of the necessity and advantage of Publick Worship who do not go to Church because they think they can Worship God as well at home in their Closets or Families
ye have robbed me even this whole Nation And now that this is applicable to us under the Gospel and that we have the same divine Right and Support herein is clearly evident in 1 Cor. 1.13 14. Do ye not know that they who minister about holy things live of the Sacrifice and they who wait at the Altar are partakers with the Altar Even so hath the Lord ordained that they who preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel And the reason hereof is plain in verse 12. If we have sown unto you spiritual things is it a great matter if we shall reap your worldly things And further to add a few more Scripture Testimonies for a general Reformation Ought not every Parent and head of a Family to resolve with Joshua c. 24.15 As for me and my house we will serve the Lord. And with holy David That only they who fear the Lord shall dwell in his House that a Lyar shall not dwell in his sight that the ungodly shall be far from him and that he will not know a wicked Person And with Solomon To train up their Children in the way they should go that when they are old they may not depart from it Prov. 22.6 And for effecting all this use good Conversation Reading and Praying with thy Family and constantly resort to God's House of Prayer with all Reverence Devotion Humility and Piety behaving thy self in all decently orderly according to the most excellent Rules of our establish'd Church wherein hold ye fast the Profession of your Faith without wavering not forsaking the assembling of your selves together as the manner of some is For thus God hath shewed thee Man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly to love mercy and walk humbly with thy God Mic. 6.8 Thus I draw to a conclusion proceeding to the remaining Rules of our Meditation As O taste then my Soul and see how good the Lord my strength is 8. The Taste of our Meditation Chuse now to go to the House of Mourning rather than the House of Feasting Is not one day in the Lords Courts better than a thousand And who would not rather be a Door-keeper in the House of his God than to dwell in Tents of Ungodliness Yea wouldst thou not chuse rather Affliction with the People of God than to enjoy the Pleasures of Sin for a Season But 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 Blessed are they that dwell in thy house they will be always praising thee Blessed is the Man whose strength is in thee in whose Heart are thy ways who going through the vale of Misery use it for a Well and the Pools are filled with Water they will go from strength to strength and unto the God of Gods appeareth every one of them in Sion But O my vileness and corruption 9. The Complaint the Wish the Confession behold I was born in sin and in iniquity did my Mother conceive me My Nature is wholly tainted and defil'd I am all over wounds and bruises and putrifying Sores I have too long liv'd in Ungodliness I have Eyes to pluck out and hands to cut off I have too many bewitching Darlings to part with and I am overwhelm'd with evil pester'd with infections cover'd with guiltiness and surrounded with charming and violent Temptations O would to God I had never known these Would I had begun the real renouncing of them sooner Would I had endeavour'd after a more early Innocence and more timely performance of my Vows and Duty But yet O Lord thou wilt not cast me off uttely thou only canst raise me and make me clean Tho' my horrible guiltiness makes me tremble to approach thee yet where shall my polluted Soul be washt if not in the Fountain which thou hast open'd for sin and for uncleanness tho the Flesh is weak yet the Spirit is ready and willing and tho' after all my best Righteousnesses will be but as filthy Rags and when I have done my utmost I must still acknowledge my self an unprofitable Servant Yet say the word only O my God I will be thou clean O Lord God of Hosts hear my Prayer hearken O God of Jacob 10. The Petition and Enforcement have mercy upon me O Lord after thy great Goodness and according to the multitude of thy Mercies do away mine Offences Accept of my infirm Faith and Repentance and grant me the application of my Saviour's Merits and unsinning Obedience then and thus alone can I be presented pure and unblameable and unreproveable in thy sight This O Lord I believe upon my sincere Repentance this thou hast promis'd and thus hast thou receiv'd returning Sinners yea thus hast thou met the Prodigal Sons Why dost thou doubt then O my Soul 11. Lastly the Assurance Confidence and Thanksgiving Why art thou so full of heaviness and so disquieted within me Put thy trust in God for he is thy Helper and the strength of thy Salvation thou art secure and happy in the Divine Word thy Conversion Humility Contrition thy Love and Devotion are accepted the guilt of thy sin is wash'd away in thy Saviour's Blood and the power thereof subdu'd by his grace Thy loathsom Issues are already stanched and thy Sicknesses will not be unto death but to the glory of God's Mercy in pardoning to the glory of his grace in purifying so polluted a Wretch Christ is thy ransom the Holy Spirit thy guide and the Almighty Father thy qeconciled Friend and Protector Fear not then my Soul only sin no more beware both of Presumption and Despair and in an holy awe and reverence endeavour to sight manfully under Christ's Banner against Sin the World and the Devil and to continue his faithful Souldier and Servant unto thy lives end For the Lord God is thy Light and Defence the Lord will give Grace and Worship and no good thing will he with-hold from them that live a godly Life O sing Praises sing Praises unto our God sing Praises to our King and Saviour O sing ye Praises with understanding While I live will I praise the Lord yea as long as I have any breath I will sing Praises unto my God Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end Amen Now thus have I briefly gone thro' the Rules laid down by the Godly and Learned Bishop Hall in his Art of Divine Meditation whereto as also to the pious Dr. Horneck 's Great Law of Consideration I refer the Readers for your complete Instruction in this useful excellent and necessary Duty which ransacks our deep and false hearts weans us from the World finds out and expels our secret Enemies which prevents temptations chears up our Solitariness tempers our