our own consciences And to violate thy holy and good Laws have offered violence to the dictates of our own minds We judge our selves O Lord and acknowledge we have justly deserved all that wrath that might make us everlastingly miserable and made our selves liable to those threatned punishments which we can neither escape nor endure but O our merciful Father do not thou condemn us we are ashamed and confounded in the sense and remembrance of our transgressions comfort us O Lord we beseech thee with a sense of thy pardoning mercy in our blessed and all-sufficient Redeemer Help us by a sincere and hearty repentance to return to thee from whom in our own crooked and perverse ways we have gone astray Let the time past of our lives suffice us to have 1 Pet. 4. 3. wrought the wills of the flesh and seeing we have already by the frequent commissions of sin too much offended thee and endangered our Souls let us not by the repeated and continued practice of it heighten the offence and add to our guiltiness Let the Blood of thy dear 1 Joh. 1. 7. Son Jesus Christ cleanse us from all sin and through his precious Sacrifice and meritorious sufferings that was pure and perfectly innocent discharge and acquit us that have been foul offenders Let thy holy Spirit sanctifie and renew us after thine own Image in righteousness and true holiness and as we hope to be pardoned by the precious death of Christ grant that crucifying our Lusts upon his Cross we may follow the example of his holy Life and in all holiness and humility meekness and charity zeal for thy Glory and submission to thy Will patience heavenly mindedness and self-denial contentment and the contempt of this World we may walk as Christ walked and be filled with all Phil. 1. 11. the fruits of righteousness which are through him unto thy praise and glory Help us to live by faith in thy promises in all varieties of thy providence let this be our great support and comfort that thou hast said thou wilt never Heb. 13. 5. leave us nor forsake us and in all difficulties and temptations let this be our great care that we do not leave nor forsake thee But sanctifie the Lord God 1 Pet. 3. 15. in our hearts and with a zealous faithfulness endeavour to please and approve our selves to thee in all our ways and seeing we call on the Father who without respect of persons judges according to every mans work let us pass the time of our sojourning here in fear 1 Pet. 1. 17. And give diligence to make our calling and election sure that 2 Pet. 1. 10 11. we may never fall either into scandalous sins or insupportable miseries but an entrance may be ministred to us abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Col. 3. 4. and when Christ who is our life shall appear we may also appear with him in glory Shew thy favour and goodness to all mankind and grant O Lord we beseech thee that the course of this world may be so peaceably ordered by thy governance that thy Church may joysully serve thee in all godly quietness and being delivered from the Plots and Combinations the Oppositions and Persecutions of its Enemies may alway walk before thee in truth and holiness and all that profess the Gospel of our Lord Jesus may hold fast his pure and heavenly Doctrines and express the power of them in their lives Bless this sinful and provoking Nation wherein we live pardon our many great and crying sins heal our wide breaches unite our divisions compose our distractions and remove from us whatever may provoke the Eyes of thy Jealousie and Glory and deprive us of thy long continued temporal and spiritual blessings and lay us open to thy dreadful and desolating Judgments Send thy blessed Spirit into our hearts a spirit of wisdom and knowledge and of the fear of the Lord a spirit of truth and holiness of peace and unity of righteousness moderation meekness and charity and instead of loading one another with slanders and scandals foul reproaches and bitter censures help us to bear one anothers Gal. 6. 2. burdens and so fulfil the Law of Christ Bless our Sovereign Lord King Charles with the choicest of thy blessings fill his heart with wisdom and piety with a mighty sense of the great Trust thou hast committed to him and the great obligations thou hast laid upon him with courage and resolution to support and promote Righteousness and true Religion And grant that all in places of Power and Authority may exert and use it for the punishment of evil doers and the praise of them that do well as it becomes them that have received their Power from thee and are accountable for it unto thee Order all publick Affairs to thy glory and the comfort and encouragement of all that fear thee Support and comfort all those whom thou hast fed with the Bread of Tears and mingled their drink with weeping And we humbly beseech thee for a blessing upon our selves as thou hast preserved us this night direct assist and prosper us in all the affairs and enterprizes of this day and let us all the day long be in thy fear remembring thou observest and thou wilt judge us and let a sense of this preserve us from all sin and quicken us to the doing of whatever may be pleasing in thy sight through our blessed Redeemer who when we pray hath taught and commanded us to say OVr Father which art in Heaven hallowed be thy Name Thy Kingdom come Thy Will be done in Earth As it is in Heaven Give us this day our daily Bread And forgive us our Trespasses As we forgive them that Trespass against us And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from Evil For thine is the Kingdom and the Power And the Glory For ever and ever Amen Wednesday Evening BLessed Lord God the high and lofty One that inhabitest Isai 57. 15. eternity whose Name is Holy who dwellest in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble Spirit We wretched and miserable sinners most humbly beseech thee to look down upon us from the habitation of thy Holiness and glory in the multitude of thy tender mercies and work in us that humble and contrite Spirit that is so pleasing and acceptable in thy sight that our hearts hardned by the deceitfulness of Sin may be softned by the effectual working of thy Grace By commanding us to call upon thee thou hast made Prayer our Duty and by promising to hear us when we Pray thou hast made it no less our priviledge in obedience to thy command and in the incouragement of thy Promise we are here before thee to offer up our Evening Sacrifice of Prayer desiring thee both to prepare our Hearts to Pray and bow down thine ear to hear We are not of our selves sufficient to perform
its affections and lusts and rise with him to a life of holy and new obedience that as Christ being raised from the dead Rom. 6. 9. dieth no more so being risen with him we may wilfully sin no more but run the race of thy Commandments till at length we receive the prize of a glorious and incorruptible inheritance Extend thy mercy and goodness to all the Sons of Men and let the Kingdoms of the World that are ignorant of thee and thy Salvation behold the light of thy glorious Gospel and become obedient to the Scepter of thy Son Bless thy whole Church scatter the Mists of Ignorance and Errour heal the breaches of Schism and Division quench the Wildfire of Strife and Contention cleanse the Spots of Profaneness and Superstition that defile and deform it and make thy Sion the Beauty and the joy of the whole Earth Be gracious to these sinful Nations forgive those many and great sins that have pulled down thy heavy Judgments upon us and still provoke thee more and more to punish us and particularly pardon we pray thee our wicked and scandalous profanation of this thy day our unthankfulness for the light of thy blessed Gospel and walking unsuitably to the principles of that holy Religion that hath been of a long time publickly taught and professed among us Wash us throughly Psal 51. 2. from our Iniquities and cleanse us from our Sins and grant that by unity and charity and holiness of life we may glorifie thy great Name evidence the truth of our Christianity and adorn the Gospel of God our Saviour Continue thy Gospel among us defeat and overthrow the evil designs of bloody and deceitful Men that would pervert the truth of it by mixtures of Superstition and Idolatry and let all that Psal 40. 16. love thy Salvation say continually let the Lord be magnified Guide and guard bless and protect thine Anointed Servant our Soveraign Lord King Charles let his days be many his Counsels wise and religious his enterprizes successful his Reign happy to himself and all his Subjects Cloath his Enemies with shame and upon his head Psal 132. 18. let his Crown flourish let the Bishops and Pastors of thy Church further the edification of it by soundness of Doctrine and holiness of Life and Magistrates cherish and defend it by the encouragement of all virtue and goodness and the punishment and suppression of all vice and ungodliness and let all men follow after peace and holiness without which Heb. 12. 14. none shall see the Lord. Refresh and support the Sons and Daughters of Sorrow and in the multitude of their Psal 94. 19. thoughts within them let thy comforts delight their Souls Be gracious and favourable to us that are here before thee forgive us all our Sins and remember not against us those iniquities that have this day polluted our holy offerings defend and protect us this night from all those dangers and mischiefs that might overtake us and let us find safety under the shadow of thy wings refresh our frail Bodies with a quiet and moderate rest and help us in the renewed strength of it vigorously to serve thee in a faithful discharge of the duties of the next day and all our days let us live to thee that in the end of them we may live with thee through Jesus Christ our Lord who hath taught and commanded us when we Pray to say OVr Father which art in Heaven hallowed be thy Name Thy Kingdom come Thy Will be done in Earth As it is in Heaven Give us this day our daily Bread And forgive us our Trespasses As we forgive them that Trespass against us And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from Evil For thine is the Kingdom and the Power And the Glory For ever and ever Amen Monday Morning O Most mighty Lord God and merciful Father the Author of our Being both Bodies and Souls and the Giver of every good Gift that may tend to the benefit and happiness of both our Souls and Bodies we thy poor and most unworthy Servants are here before thee this Morning thankfully to acknowledge thy great goodness in all the blessings we injoy for this Life and a better humbly to implore thy mercy in the free pardon of all our Sins and earnestly to beg the grace of thy holy Spirit that we may faithfully discharge the duties of pardoned Sinners and answer the Obligations thou hast laid upon us by thy manifold blessings We bless thy holy and great Name as for all Spiritual and Temporal blessings bestowed on us through thy Son so particularly for all the ordinances of the Gospel and the priviledges of thy House yesterday injoyed and for the safety and quiet rest and refreshment of the last Lam. 3. 22. night acknowledging it to be of thy mercies that we are not consumed and because thy compassions fail not for hadst thou rewarded us after our Iniquities we had long since been incapable of any the least blessing and had been punished with utmost and everlasting misery We confess O Lord there hath on thy part been nothing wanting that might work in us a Conformity to thy Will but there hath wanted on ours a care to please thee and a fear to offend thee a love and delight in thee and a stedfast purpose to give up our selves to the obedience of thy heavenly Laws And which hath made us more remiss and negligent we have not firmly believed the excellent and glorious things thou hast promised upon a compliance with thy Will nor the fearful and insupportable punishments which thou hast threatned to our disobedience We have with great folly over desired over loved over trusted to and over delighted in the things of this World which cannot profit us nor in the least promote our spiritual interest or eternal happiness whilest we have been Mat. 6. 33. careless and negligent in seeking thy Kingdom and righteousness though for our incouragement to do that in the first place thou hast graciously promised that all the conveniencies of life shall be added unto us How have vain transitory profits and pleasures drawn off our hearts from the love of thee who alone canst make us happy and from a delight in thy Laws in the keeping of which there Psal 19. 11. is great reward We have with too great care pampered our vile bodies and made provision Rom. 13. 14. for our flesh to fulfil the lusts of it and with too little provided for our Souls and secured their happiness in the future state We have misimployed the Talents intrusted with us in the service of Sin and abused to thy dishonour our time and opportunity of doing good our health and strength our ease and liberty our credit and plenty the members of our Bodies the faculties of our Souls which being received from thy bounty should all have been improved to thy glory nor have we remembred the great day of reckoning
any duty to bear any burden to resist any temptation to mortifie any lust 2. Cor. 3. 5. To think one good thought but all our sufficiency is of thee thou O Lord canst pardon our Sins supply our wants heal our distempers enlighten our blindness soften our hardness strengthen our weakness we have no whither to go but unto thee nor can we come to thee but in thine own Power into such a wretched condition have our Sins brought us that we are both unable to help our selves and unworthy that thou shouldst help us but our comfort is that thy Grace doth not use to find Sinners worthy but make them so nor dost thou shew favour and kindness to them because they please thee but because thou art pleased with thine own Mercy and Goodness Our Iniquities we acknowledge have been many and great a sinful nature as a corrupt Fountain hath sent forth polluted streams in the thoughts words and actions of our Lives and we have often offended against thy holy Laws and expressed the enmity of our carnal minds Though all thy Laws are in themselves most equal just and good and thou hast both encouraged our obedience by the gracious promises of thy favourable acceptance and an eternal recompence and affrighted from sin by threatning it with everlasting punishment yet lightly esteeming thy Promises and contemning thy threatnings we have troddâ—n thy holy Laws under our Feet and broken through the restraints wherewith â—…ou hast hedged us in from finding our own ways Our pride and earthliness our unbelief unthankfulness our hypocrisie sensuality and hardness of heart witness against us to our faces and give us great cause to blush and be confounded to mourn and grieve in the sense of them Who of us hath had that due sense of thy holiness power and goodness thine omnipresence and all-seeing Eye as to be thereby driven from our Sins or quickned to the exercise of Virtue and Godliness Who of us hath been so affected with that Grace that hath appeared bringing Salvation as to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and make it our study and business to please and approve our selves to thee Who of us hath so felt the burthen and tasted the bitterness of our sins as to loath and leave them with dislike and abhorrency Who of us hath been so delighted in thy love as to return thee our hearty love in a sincere and uniform obedience Who of us hath so firmly believed the rewards and punishments of the future state as to press toward the mark for the obtaining the prize and make hast to escape and flee from the bottomless Pit and burning Lake The zeal and earnestness that we should have shewn in matters of Religion we have expressed in following our worldly interests and that coldness and indifferency that would have been well bestowed upon the little and short lived benefits of the present Life hath attended the performance of our holy duties We have in some measure known our Masters Will and yet have done our own and to please our corrupt and fleshly Appetites have done what we have well understood to be displeasing in thy sight Though thou hast often commanded us to repent and turn from our evil ways and we have been convinced that to hear thy Voice to day is both our duty and our wisdom we have demurred by lingring delays and not cast off our Sins by a speedy repentance We are ashamed O Lord of this our folly and beseech thee so to awaken and assist us by thy Grace that we may not receive it in vain nor longer delude our own Souls with the deceitful purposes of a future repentance but let us make haste to hearken to thy loud and earnest 2 Cor. 6. 2. Calls now while it is the accepted time and the day of Salvation And let thy pardoning mercy freely forgive all our Sins thy Grace having by true repentance made us meet partakers of that inestimable benefit So set them before our face as that we may mark and consider them mourn for and confess loath and forsake them and so cast them behind thy back as not to observe them with a wrathful countenance or punish them with a justly deserved vengeance By the precious blood of thy dear Son that immaculate Lamb that was offered to take away the Sins of the World Psal 51. 2. Wash us throughly from our Iniquities and cleanse us from our Sins and through his perfect righteousness let the free gift come upon us unto justification Rom. 5. 18. of Life Deliver us we pray thee as from the guilt and damnation of Sin by his precious Sacrifice so from its power and dominion by his sanctifying Spirit and though like a Leprofie in the Walls of an infected house Sin will remain in us while we are in the world let it not reign Rom. 6. 12. in our mortal Body that we should obey it in the lusts thereof But as the Flesh in us lusteth against the Spirit let thy Gal. 3. 17. Spirit in us resist and subdue the lusts of the Flesh Let not an inordinate love of the allurements and intangling vanities of this World quench or weaken in our Souls that entire and most hearty love that is due to thee and heavenly things nor distracting cares for the conveniencies of the Body eat out and destroy the care of our Souls nor hinder a timely provision for their future and eternal happiness But for as much as our stay here below is very short and the time of our departure hence into an everlasting state very uncertain let us with fear and trembling earnestness and diligence work out our own Salvation and carry our selves with upright and inoffensive Consciences toward thee and all men whilst we are in the World as we shall wish to have done when we come to leave it Help us to run the race of holy obedience meekness and patience charity contentment constancy and perseverance to fight a good fight finish our course and keep the faith that we may receive a Crown of righteousness which the righteous Judge shall at the last day 2 Tim. 4. 7. 8. give unto all them that love his appearing And let the contemplation of that glory and happiness and the well-grounded hope of our attaining it make us diligent and faithful in the discharge of our duty watchful against all fleshly defilements patient and cheerful under all crosses and troubles cold and indifferent to all the profits and pleasures of this Life and let our whole conversation on Earth be such as may become the Heirs of an heavenly glorious and eternal inheritance that when our earthly 2 Cor. 5. 1. house of this tabernacle shall be dissolved we may have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens and be found meet to be Col. 1. 12. partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in Light Look in mercy upon all the Sons of Men