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
delivered from wrath and condemnation Matt. 22. 37 39. to love thee the Lord our God with all our heart and our Neighbour as our selves and let 's evidence our love to thee by keeping thy Commandments 1 Joh. 5. 3. and our love to our Neighbour by forbearing and forgiving reproving and admonishing counselling comforting and relieving him and performing all acts of charity and kindness to him Let us herein exercise our Acts 24. 16. selves to have always a conscience void of offence toward thee and toward men enlighten our understandings with the knowledge of thy Will inflame our affections with a delightful love of it and so conform our wills unto thine that we may readily do what thou wouldst have us do and cheerfully suffer what thou wouldst have us suffer Give us that Jam. 3. 17. wisdom which is from above that is first pure to fit us for the happiness of another life and then peaceable to give a relish to the injoyments of this and let us so imploy our selves in the affairs and businesses of this World as to make Religion our great business and present Rom. 12. 1. our Bodies and Souls a living Sacrifice holy acceptable unto thee which is our reasonable Service Help us to subdue our inordinate desires and all sinful passions and when at any time we are tempted to the breach of thy Laws with courage to resist the temptation not daring to sin against thee our gracious Father and righteous Judge and whatever Talents thou intrustest to our management health strength or credit our time Estates the seasons of Grace and opportunities of doing good let us husband and improve them with that wisdom and faithfulness that become them that must ere long give an account of their Stewardship And because through the weakness of our mortal nature we can do no good thing without thee grant us the help of thy Grace that in keeping thy Commandments we may please thee both in will and deed and in our several Callings whether they be publick or private our several Conditions whether of prosperity or adversity our several Relations whether of Husbands or Wives Parents or Children Masters or Servants Neighbours and Friends we may perform the Duties that those Callings Conditions and Relations require of us And Mat. 5. 16 let our light so shine before Men that they seeing our good Works may glorifie thee our Father which art in Heaven Whilest we are in the way let us quickly agree with our Mat. 5. 25. Adversary and give diligence that by a sincere repentance and an upright universal obedience we may be found of thee in peace and prepared to appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ when he shall sit upon the Throne of his Glory and weighing our thoughts words and actions in impartial Ballances shall render to us according to our works and let the consideration of that account leave such awful impressions in our hearts as both to hinder the doing of whatever may make the thoughts of it terrible to us and cause us to wait for our Lord with our Loyns Luk. 12. 35. girt and our Lamps burning that at his return we may enter with him into everlasting habitations Let thy merciful hands be opened toward all the Sons of Men whom thy hands have made and with a more especial kindness be gracious and favourable to Sion keep thy Church and Houshold continually in thy true Religion and leaning upon the hope of thy heavenly Grace let them evermore be defended by thy mighty Power Bless this sinful and unworthy Nation pardon all our Sins that cry aloud in thine Ears for vengeance purely purge away Isa 1. 25. our dross and take away all our Tin deliver us from the destructions we have deserved and perpetuate thy Gospel and true Religion among us from generation to generation Let the Life and Health the peace honour and safety of our Soveraign Lord be precious in thy sight and let all that govern under Him in Church and State maintain and encourage Truth and Peace Religion Righteousness and all goodness and grant that all under their Authority may lead quiet and â— Tim. 2. 2. peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty Succour and relieve all in any suffering condition recompence the kindnesses of our Friends and Benefactors seven-fold into their Bosom forgive and help us heartily to forgive all that may have offered injury and unkindness to us Look down upon us in mercy that are here lifting up our hands and hearts to thee we bless thee for the peace safety and refreshment of the last night beseeching thee so to guard us through the hazards and guide us through the affairs of this day that we may glorifie thee grow in Grace and go forward in the way that leads to everlasting Life and happiness through our Lord Jesus Christ according to whose directionâ— and command we further pray 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 Thursday Evening ALmighty and everlasting God the wise and righteous Governour of all things in Heaven and Earth who dost whatsoever thou pleasest and whatever thou dost is well and wisely done because thou dost it we thine unworthy Servants whom thy hands have made and ever since supported and supplyed beseech thee in mercy to look down upon us that in a sense of our own vileness are here humbling our selves at thy Foot-stool acknowledging it thy mercy and long-suffering that we are intrusted with one opportunity more to implore thy pardon and forgiveness Thou might'st have destroyed us the polluted Off-spring of disobedient Parents as soon as ever we came into the world and ever since we were capable of breaking thy Laws we have added sin unto sin and heapt transgression upon transgression We have trifled away that time that thou hast allotted us to make provision for an happy Eternity in the pursuit of pleasure and profit transient and momentany vanities and have waged and maintained War against thee in those seasons of Grace thou hast afforded us for the making our peace thy patience and long-suffering that should have led us to repentance we have perverted to fleshly purposes and a more presumptuous and impenitent progress in Sin We have over-cared for over-loved over-desired and over-delighted in the good things of this World and inordinately placed our affections upon earthly and temporary injoyments which thou hast fitted to such things as have in them an heavenly spiritual and everlasting excellency How grievously and how justly might'st thou plague us with the desires of our own hearts and punish us by giving us our portion in this
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 Tuesday Evening ALmighty and most merciful God and Father the Maker and Governour of all Creatures in Heaven and Earth and exalted in thy glorious perfections above the thoughts and services the praises and acknowledgments of the highest and best of them thine understanding is infinite and thou seest the hearts and ways of all the sons of men thy holiness is infinite and thou hatest all the sin and iniquity thou espiest in them thy power infinite thou canst easily punish them for the sins that provoke and displease thee and 〈◊〉 yet thine infinite mercies thou pardonest the sins of all that by sincere repentance and a through amendment of their ways return to thee We thy poor Servants in a deep sense of our guilt and wretchedness and the strong encouragements of thy declared mercy and goodness humble our Souls at thy Foot-stool beseeching thee to have mercy upon us and through the righteousness of thy dear Son whom thou hast given to be a propitiation and price of redemptition for us to pardon our many and great transgressions whereof we are guilty before thy Majesty in thought and word and deed and whereby we have deserved to be punished with overlasting destruction from thy presence by thy glorious power Hadst thou O Lord taken advantages against us or been forward to pour out that wrath and vengeance that we have been forward to provoke we had not now been begging thy mercy or cherish'd with the hopes of it but had in vain lamented the bloody and severe effects of thine incensed Justice We are not only by Nature the Children of Wrath but have in the course of our Lives actuated the sinful corrupt principles of our Nature and gone astray from thy holy just and good Laws that thou hast given to be the rule and measure of our actions and though both as thy Creatures thy Servants and thy Children thou hast laid upon us the greatest obligations to obedience and a dutyful complyance with thy Will yet have we in the eager and violent pursuit of our lusts Psal 2. 3. broken thy bonds asunder and cast away thy cords from us We have professed the pure and holy Religion of thy Son but have shamefully dishonoured him and his Religion by impure and unholy practises and 2 Tim. 2. 19. naming the Name of Christ we have not departed from iniquity we have given up our Names to him in Baptism and solemnly vowed obedience to the Laws of his holy Gospel but we have started aside like broken Bows and walked in the imaginations of our own hearts and fulfilled our vile and foolish lusts as if there were no God to be served no Soul to be saved no Hell to be feared no Heaven to be expected and as if the Name of Christians would have carryed us to Heaven we have done those things that many Heathens would have blushed at and been ashamed to have practised so that this might be our condemnation which of all other is the most grievous and insupportable that Light is come into the World and we have loved Darkness rather than Light Joh. 3. 19. because our deeds have been evil So many and undeserved have been thy mercies towards us so kind and unwearied the expressions of thy bounty that all our disobedience is by a shameful and odious ingratitude become exceeding sinful and we cannot without sorrow of heart and confusion of Face reflect upon our wearying thee with our sins when thou hast loaded us with thy benefits But we beseech thee O most merciful Father in the tenderest compassions of thy sounding bowels look down upon us and for thy Names sake the most powerful argument and such as uses to prevail O Lord hear O Lord spare O Lord forgive by a serious and hearty repentance and a true and lively Faith in thy Son make us fit partakers of thy pardoning mercy Though our deserts are thine indignation and vengeance the merit of his righteousness is remission and forgiveness though we have affronted thy Justice he hath satisfied it though we have incensed thy wrath he hath appeased it the chastisement of Isa 53. 5. our peace was upon him O let the merit of his righteousness be upon us And because the holy Jesus together with the guilt and punishment of sin alway delivers from the power of it and they that are Christs crucifie the Gal. 5. 24. flesh with its affections and lusts by the subduing and mortification of our sins convince and comfortably satisfie us that thou hast pardoned them and by thy sanctifying grace help us to cleanse our selves from 2 Cor. 7. 1. all filthiness of the flesh and spirit and to perfect holiness in thy fear sanctifie us wholly 1 Thes 5. 23. and let our whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ Quicken us holy Father by the spirit of life and holiness to run the ways of thy Commandments and as thou hast given our blessed Saviour to be Head of thy Church and anointed him with an unmeasured fulness of thy Spirit that he might communicate and impart it to the Members of his Body let some drops of that holy Oil fall down upon us that was so plentifully poured upon the Head of our High Priest and out of his fulness let us receive Joh. 1. 16. Grace for Grace and so renew the Image of his Holiness in our Souls that as his true Children we may shew forth all the Features and Lineaments of our heavenly Father And because we are not sufficient of our selves to avoid any evil or perform any good be graciously present with us to preserve us from the one and assist us in the other Make us perfect in every good work to do thy will working in us that which is well pleasing in Heb. 13. 21. thy sight through Jesus Christ Make us wise to Salvation and seeing our days are very few and uncertain and repentance both necessary and out of our own power let us not put it off till to morrow not knowing what a day may bring forth nor deceive our selves with vain purposes of parting with our Sins hereafter when this very night our Souls may be Luk. 12. 20. taken from us But seeing the Heavens and the Earth at 2. Pet. 3. 15. length and our selves ere long must be dissolved let us be diligent that we may be found of thee in peace without spot and blameless Bless thy whole Church scattered far and near over the Face of the Earth pour out upon it the Spirit of Truth and Holiness and grant that all that confess thy holy Name may agree in the truth of thy holy Word and live in unity and godly love be thou that art the Lord 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 Saturday Morning O Eternal Lord God the great Creator and Preserver of Heaven and of Earth and our most merciful Father in Christ Jesus Look down we beseech thee from Heaven upon us vile Dust and Ashes and grant that when we call upon thee with our Lips our Hearts may not be far from thee We do humbly acknowledge the great sinfulness and corruption of our Natures the blindness of our Minds the perversness of our Wills the disorder and depravedness of our affections and the vanity of our thoughts We acknowledge that we are by nature the Children of Wrath and that there is no sound or clean part in us We do farther confess that we have by many actual sins made our selves more the Children of Wrath than we were by Nature We confess our sins of omission as well as commission our sins against Thee our Brother and our own Souls We have many ways offended thee in thought word and deed And if thou shouldst mark Iniquities we were not able to stand before thee We have sinned against light and knowledge after the greatest of thy Mercies under sufficient means of Grace after many and solemn Vows of better obedience We have not been awakened out of our sinful and careless Life by the greatest of thy Judgments but have sinned after the convictions of our own Consciences and the experience of the evil of departing from thee after many confessions and many repetitions We have grieved thy Spirit defaced thy Image mispent our precious time trifled in the great concernments of Eternity and in great measure received the grace of thee our God in vain We humble our selves before thee O God and desire to be vile in our own Eyes as we have made our selves so in thine Enter not into Judgment with thy Servants O Lord for no Flesh shall be justified in thy sight Have mercy upon us O Lord have mercy upon us for Jesus Christ's sake who is the Propitiation for our Sins and ever lives to make intercession for those who come unto God by him Grant that he may not be an empty Name and Title to us but that he may bless us in turning us from our Iniquities and may give us Repentance as well as forgiveness of Sins And we most humbly beseech thee to give us thy holy Spirit purisie and cleanse our Hearts and help us that we may fear love and desire thee above all things Make us like unto thee and help us that we may chearfully do and suffer thy whole Will Supply all our wants sanctifie all thy dealings to us direct us in our difficulties and enable us against our Sins Deliver us O Lord from every evil thing from hardness of Heart and contempt of thy Word keep us from being tempted above what we are able and enable us by thy Grace against the assaults of the Devil the Temptations of the World and the Flesh and make us at the last partakers of Everlasting Life Be merciful we pray thee to the whole World enlarge the Kingdom of Christ and let the whole World be filled with the knowledge of thee and of thy Son as the Waters cover the Sea Bless thy whole Church reform whatever is amiss in the belief or lives of Christians Grant that all who name the Name of Christ may depart from all Iniquity Be gracious to these Kingdoms Pardon our Sins pity our Distractions heal our Breaches unite us to one another reconcile us all to thy Divine Majesty and defend us against our Enemies Especially we pray thee to bless the King endue his Heart with all the Graces of thy holy Spirit defend Him against all His Enemies bless Him in His Royal Relations and teach His Senators wisdom Bless all the Governours and Instructors of thy Church and grant they may all in their several places answer the end of their Institution and Appointment Pity all that are afflicted Comfort them that mourn visit the Sick and Weak have compassion on them who lye a dying and take them not out of this Life before they are fitted for a better Life than this Bless all our Friends with all the Blessings of this and of a better Life Forgive our Enemies convert and turn their hearts We bless thee for all thy Mercies to us both of this and a better Life above all we bless thee for Jesus Christ humbly beseeching thee so to affect our hearts with the sense of thy Mercies that thy goodness may lead us to Repentance And all we beg for Christ his sake who hath taught 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 Saturday Evening MOst gracious and ever blessed Lord God and our most merciful Father in Christ Jesus we that are less than the least of thy mercies desire in all humility to come into thy presence and beseech thee for Christ's sake to have a regard unto us We do acknowledge before thee our lost and undone condition without thy great mercy towards us we have grievously offended thee in thought word and deed been unthankful for thy Mercies incorrigible under thy Judgments and very unprofitable under the means of Grace We humble our selves before thee for the Sins of our whole Life and particularly for the Sins of this day with all the circumstances of aggravation with which they have been attended Pardon us O Lord we humbly pray thee for the sake of Jesus Christ who came into the World to seek and to save that which was lost Give us a true faith in him and work in us a sincere and hearty repentance never to be repented of And we pray thee assist us by thy Grace that we may for the time to come walk before thee in newness of Life Enlighten our Minds rectifie our Wills sanctifie our Affections and purifie all the thoughts intentions of our Hearts Make us fit Temples for thy holy Spirit to dwell in and grant that he who is in us may be greater than he who is in the World Be with us under all our Tryals and Temptations and prepare us for all events of things Sanctifie all thy dispensations to us and give us Wisdom and a saving Knowledge of thee and of thy Son Make us humble and lowly heavenly minded and pure in heart patient under every trouble contented in every condition and resigned to thy holy and heavenly Will And because the way of Man is not in himself we humbly pray thee to direct and guide us in the way that we should go Take care of our Affairs prosper all our Undertakings which are agreeable to thy heavenly Will help us that we may live Righteously So berly and Godly in this present World Cast out of our mind every thing that is displeasing to thee discharge our Hearts of all Pride Ambition Covetousness Malice Vain Conceit of our Selves And grant that we may not be overcome by the Temptations of the Devil the World and the Flesh And that we may not go out of this World with false hopes and expectations about us Prepare us we pray thee for our latter end When our Heart and Flesh shall fail us be thou the strength of our Heart and our Portion for ever And suffer us not at our last hour for any Pains or Agonies of Death to fall away from thee make us willing and ready to leave this World whensoever it shall please thee to call us hence Be merciful to the whole race of Mankind Advance the Kingdom of Christ in the World Let the People praise thee O God let all the People praise thee Especially be merciful to thy whole Church Bless these Kingdoms and settle us upon the Foundations of Righteousness of Truth and Peace Bless with the choicest of thy Blessings our Sovereign Lord the King Protect His Royal Person bless His Government let His days be many and His Reign prosperous And bless His Royal Relations and succeed His Counsellors and all in Authority under Him and grant that under Him we may live quiet and peaceable Lives in all godliness and honesty Bless all that minister in holy things and grant they may gain many unto Righteousness Have compassion upon the Afflicted upon the Oppressed and the Poor upon Widows and Fatherless upon all that are persecuted for Righteousness sake upon the Sick and the Weak upon all that are troubled in mind and at the point of Death Be merciful to them all according to their several necessities We beseech thee to be merciful to our Friends and to forgive all our Enemies We bless thy holy Name for all thy mercies to us and to all the World for thy preservation of us this day for the means of Grace and the hope of Glory We bless thee above all for Jesus Christ we praise thee for the clear revelation of thy Will the Promise of thy Spirit the time and space of Repentance which thou art pleased to continue to us for any measure of Health and Strength the many Mercies which we injoy and which others want and which we have been unthankful for Write a Law of thankfulness upon our Hearts we humbly pray thee and grant that we may be bettered by all thy Mercies Take us we pray thee into thy protection this night sanctifie and prepare our Hearts for all the solemn Duties and Services of the next Day and grant all our Requests for Christ's sake in whose words we further call upon thee 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 FINIS
FORMS OF PRAYER FOR EVERY Day in the Week MORNING and EVENING Composed for the use of PRIVATE FAMILIES By John Meriton D. D. Rector of St. Michael Cornhill London and Lecturer at St. Martins in the Fields LONDON Printed by H. H. for Robert Boulter at the Turks Head in Cornhill 1682. THE PREFACE THat all Men are obliged to worship God by praising and praying to him is so evident by the light of natural Reason as well as the Revelation of Scripture that none can question it but they whose Immoralities and improved Debaucheries have laid such a foundation of Atheism as makes them inclinable to deny the Being of God and loath to acknowledge their dependance upon him lest this should involve them in the dreadful consequence of their being accountable to him And that men ought dayly to pay this Homage and Tribute of Praise and Prayer unto God as they stand linked in the relations of Families though all readily grant that are sensible of the Sins there committed that need his Pardon of the many Temporal and Spiritual blessings either wanted and to be sought at his Hands or injoyed and to be thankfully acknowledged yet the too common neglect of Family Prayer is it 's to be feared and he must have a very easie and credulous charity that can be otherwise minded not only one of the many instances of the decay of Piety and Religion but one of the provoking Sins that cry aloud to Heaven for vengeance It is no doubt by many totally omitted from an insensible stupidity an irreligious profane disregard of God and their Duty but by others not a few as was well and charitably suggested by the Good Man that earnestly pressed me to this undertaking only from a consciousness of their inabibility decently to perform it Now that this might be neither a feigned pretence nor a real hinderance But that they that like Joshua are willing and resolved to serve God with their Families might have Materials of Devotion ready at hand As the Water near the Road offered it self to the Eunuch willing to be Baptized I have for the help of such as can read complyed with my Friends desire and composed a Form of Weekly Prayers Morning and Evening And though their length will not I hope be complained of by any whose leasure may allow and whose Affections can vigorously attend one quarter of an hours solemn and religious Address to God Yet in consideration of others multiplicity of Business and that flatting and depression of Spirits that may follow from it all the Prayers are printed in many distinct Paragraphs that some of the Confessions or Petitions or both may easily and without disturbing their Devotion be pass'd over and the Prayer thereby so contracted as to suit their convenience And I desire they would rather do so than wholly omit the Duty for better a short Prayer than none at all Lord's Day Morning ALmighty most high and holy Lord God who art the glorious Creator Preserver and Governour of all things in Heaven and in Earth and most worthy to be praised and honoured by all Creatures And with infinite kindness and compassion hast redeemed lost and undone Sinners by thine only beloved Rom. 4. ult Son whom thou hast delivered to death for their offences and raised again for their justification and so thou art for ever to be loved and delighted in obeyed and worshipped praised and honoured by thy redeemed ones We thy poor Creatures and Children are here before thee this Morning humbly sensible of this our great and bounden duty and of our own inability without the assistance of thy Grace to perform it And in a deep sense both of our duty and insufficiency we desire to offer up our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to thy Divine Majesty our mighty Creator and most merciful Redeemer and humbly desire that thou wouldest sanctifie and prepare both our Souls and Bodies by the Grace of thy Holy Spirit that we may present unto thee acceptable thank-offerings We acknowledge O Lord that besides the sins of our Callings common Imployments and even those of the Week last past whereby we have greatly offended thee the sins of our holy duties and our profanation of this thy holy day have given thee a just provocation to withdraw the grace of thy good Spirit from us and leave us to the ignorance and vanity of our own minds the wandrings and distractions of our thoughts the earthliness and sensuality of our affections the hardness impenitency and unbelief of our hearts And then by all the duties of thy Worship and Service we should dishonour thee and by offering the Sacrifices of Fools increase our own guilt before thee But we humbly beseech thee most merciful Father forgive us all our past offences that they may not stand as a partition Wall between thy Majesty and us to hinder either thy Grace from coming down upon us as Rain upon the tender Herb or our Prayers from coming up before thee as Incense Fill every one of our hearts with awful thoughts of thee as a God that searchest hearts and art throughly acquainted with our most secret imaginations dispositions and purposes and because thou art a God of purer Eyes than to behold iniquity Let us worship thee with an holy worship so as to fear thy Goodness and love thy Justice to delight in thy Mercy trust and rely upon thy Power and Faithfulness to admire praise and imitate thy Holiness In the publick Duties and Services of this thy Day help us so to joyn with the Assembly of thy Servants that our hearts may be inflamed with a love of thee and delight in thee and in the vigour and fervency of devout affections we may together glorifie thy holy and great Name set forward our own edification and comfort and advance in those ways of holiness that lead to everlasting happiness And seeing in great mercy and compassion to our Souls thou art pleased to continue to us thy Sabbaths and the use of thine ordinances which by our many and great sins we have long since forfeited Let us not like Children sitting in Mat. 11. 16. the Market-place trifle away the precious opportunities and means of Grace and Salvation Help us seriously to consider when we are in thine House the Habitation of thine Holiness Psal 26. 8. and the place where thine Honour dwelleth the glorious Majesty and spotless perfect purity of that God with whom we have to do and let us behave our selves in thy sacred and dreadful presence with that reverence and holy fear that humility and lowliness of mind that simplicity and godly sincerity that heavenly mindedness and purity of affection that firm constancy of resolution to devote our selves to thee by our hearty obedience to thy Laws as it becomes dust and ashes vile Creatures that dwell in houses of Clay when they worship and do homage to that Sovereign Majesty the Throne of whose Glory is in the highest
things in Christ Jesus our Lord that tend to the renewing us after thy likeness in this life and the satisfying of us with it in the life to come We bless thee for that inestimable gift the Foundation of all others the Son of thy dearest love and everlasting delight whom in a tender compassion to our Souls thou hast sent into the world to be our Redeemer and Saviour that when we had by our sins ruined and undone our selves and were so lyable to thy severe displeasure and insupportable vengeance that no creature in Heaven or Earth could deliver us from it it pleased thee in thine infinite goodness to find out and in thy mercy to afford us in him an admirable and unthought of way of recovery Now O Lord we know thou lovest us and hast a favour and good will towards us seeing thou hast not withheld thy Son thine only Son from us Ever blessed be thy Name that thy Son who is God over all blessed for ever took upon him our humane Flesh that while he lived here upon Earth he instructed us both by his heavenly doctrine and exemplary life that he gave himself to Death as the price of our Redemption that he compleated that great work in his powerful and glorious Resurrection wherein he conquered and triumphed over all the powers of darkness and hath begotten us again to a lively hope of an inheritance incorruptible undefiled 1 Pet. 1. 3 4. that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for us We praise thee that when he had wrought a perfect Righteousness for us upon Earth he ascended up to Heaven sits at thy right hand to represent and plead it on our behalf by his prevailing intercession that when he ascended up on high he led captive those spiritual enemies that held us in captivity and for the Eph. 4. 11. edification of his Church gave gifts unto Men Apostles and Prophets Evangelists Pastors and Teachers That thou hast Psal 119. 10 given thy holy Word to be a Lamp to our Feet and a Light to our Paths and when many Nations sit in Darkness and the Regions of the Shadow of Luk. 1. 78 79. Death the day spring from on high hath visited us to guide our Feet into the way of Peace We give thee our humble and hearty thanks that thou still keepest open the doors of thy Sanctuary that for our unfruitfulness thou mightest have shut and barred against us and notwithstanding our vile unworthiness thou graciously admittest us to Communion with thy Self in thy publick Ordinances the Reading and Preaching of thy Word Prayers to and Praises of thy Name and the participation of thy holy Sacraments wherein thou dost lively represent the Death of thy Son and to all worthy Receivers dost firmly assure and convey the precious benefits of it and bind them to walk answerably to them And we further thank thee with enlarged hearts O our heavenly Father for all the promises of thy Covenant which thou hast sealed with the Blood of thy Son and given unto us that we might by them be the more encouraged in an holy 2 Cor. 7. 1. obedience cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the Flesh and Spirit and perfecting holiness 2 Pet. 1. 4. in thy fear be made partakers of the Divine Nature We can never enough magnifie thy mercy and goodness that thou hast made our duty to be a part of our happiness and that it is not only necessary but best for us to love and fear trust and serve obey and honour thee and that we are not only bound to be sober and temperate meek and patient just and charitable but much better by being so And what thanks can we render to thee who in consideration of our weakness and slugglishness to the performance of our duty hast not only set before us the lively and encouraging examples of thy Saints and Martyrs but assisted and enabled us by the grace of thy holy Spirit that our sufficiency 2 Cor. 3. 5. hath been of thee who of our selves have not been sufficient to think a good thought and for the Reward of those Graces and Duties that are the Fruits of thy Spirit working in us hast promised such a glory and happiness in the world to come as surpasses not our desires only but our thoughts and conceptions We further glorifie thy great Name O Lord that thy rich and free Grace hath been the only motive to the bestowing all thy Mercies upon us guilty and wretched sinners that our unworthiness hath not hindred the streaming forth of thy goodness but thy goodness hath born away before it all consideration of our unworthiness And O how admirable in themselves and how obliging to us are all those favours and kindnesses which not only without our merits but notwithstanding our deserts of wrath and vengeance thou hast conferred upon us bold and provoking Rebels We are O Lord as thy Creatures infinitely below thee but as Sinners we have foolishly opposed and set our selves against thee we have broken thy holy Laws abused thine abundant Mercies slighted the tenders of thy Grace dishonoured and crucified afresh our great and merciful Redeemer resisted and grieved thy holy Spirit profaned and polluted thy Sabbaths and Ordinances that are both the Pledges and means of thy Grace and Favour And were there no other Sin upon our account but of these thy days and the holy duties of them they might for ever fill our Faces with shame and lay us under thy wrathful displeasure We have come unprepared to thy solemn worship and with unhallowed hearts entred the Sanctuary and approached the presence of the most holy God we have been heedless and unattentive hearers of thy holy Word remembring little of what we have heard and practing less of what we have remembred we have been flat and unaffected in offering up thy praise and our hearts have been earthly dull and distracted in our Prayers how often have we turned our Backs upon thy holy Table judging our selves unworthy of the precious benefits that are there tendered or if we have not altogether neglected the sacred Ordinance we have not as we might have done grown in the graces and the comforts of thy holy Spirit by it How seldom have we been seriously exercised in Meditation and either so recollected thy Mercies as to become sensible of our obligation by them or so thought on our ways as Psal 119. 59 â—… to turn our feet unto thy Testimonies Forgive us O Lord we pray thee all our past offences and as the best assurance of our forgiveness let us not so offend any more Graciously guide us into the ways of truth and holiness and that we may always fear thee let us set our selves continually in thy presence and so observe and stand in aw of thine all-seeing Eye that all our evil thoughts words and actions may be scattered by it Let us dye with Christ in the crucifying of our Flesh with
successful Enterprizes let all subordinate Authority be exercised to the beating down of Vice and the exaltation of Religion and Righteousness and dispose all that are under Authority to a pious obedience unto thee a peaceable subjection to them that thou hast set over them not only for wrath but for conscience Rom. 13. 5. sake and to mutual kindness and a brotherly love of one another We come unto thee holy Father for a blessing upon our selves beseeching thee to take our Bodies and Souls our Habitation and Possessions into the safe custody of thy watchful Providence that no evil befal Psal 91. 10. us nor any plague come nigh our dwelling repair the decays of our frail Bodies by a quiet and refreshing rest and let us lay out our strength and vigour in thy service to thy praise and honour and the giving up our account with joy at the appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in whom as the High Priest of our Profession we offer up all our Prayers and Praises and through whom alone we hope to be heard and accepted when praying we 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 Friday Morning O Lord the great and holy Dan. 9. 4. God that keepest Covenant and Mercy to them that Psal 145. 18. love thee and art nigh to all that call upon thee in truth and sincerity though thou hast thousands of holy and blessed Spirits and ten thousand times ten thousands dayly Ministring about thy Throne and art not at all better'd by their pure and spotless Services yet thou hast gracious and compassionate regards to the Prayers of weak and sinful Creatures that dwell in Houses of Clay thou openest thine Eyes to take knowledge of their condition bowest thine Ear to hearken to their Cryes movest thy Bowels to pity their infirmities and stretchest forth thine hand to relieve their wants We poor Creatures and guilty Sinners are here fallen down at thy Footstool adoring thine infinite perfections of holiness and wisdom power truth and goodness and beseeching thee mercifully to look upon our follies and frailties to supply our bodily and spiritual necessities to lift up the light of thy countenance upon us and turn away thy Face from our deserts of vengeance to answer 〈◊〉 which purposes we have none in Heaven Psal 73. 25. but thee none in Earth that our Souls can desire in comparison of thee We dare not we confess look up to Heaven with any confidence of being accepted for our own worthiness as being conscious that we have grievously offended that holy just and Almighty Majesty that is there seated on the Throne of his Glory nor are we worthy to tread upon the Earth or injoy the fruits and benefits of it where we have acted our wickednesses in the sight of Heaven We were not only conceived in Sin and brought forth in Iniquity but we have conceived Sin and brought forth Iniquity Num. 32. 14 and are risen up in our Fathers stead a generation of sinful men to kindle and in crease the anger of the Lord against us We have followed after our own imaginations and fulfilled the motions of our own Wills which have been opposite and contrary to the declarations of thine though there hath been the greatest reason we should receive Law from thy Mouth as our Almighty Creator Sovereign Lord and merciful Redeemer How barren and unfruitful have we been in thy Vineyard though thou hast caused the Clouds to drop down their moisture upon us and watered us with the plentiful showers of thy Word and the fructifying dew of thy holy Spirit that should have made us fruitful in all good works How have we neglected the Seasons of Grace And when thou hast called us to a speedy and present repentance the answer of our hearts hath been we will repent to morrow as if we could live as long as we listed and had power in our selves to turn to thee when we listed We bewail before thee the blindness of our understandings the stubbornness of our wills the vanity of our thoughts the earthliness of our affections we have hated what thou lovest and loved what thou hatest and the good things which thou hast allowed us to love moderately and in subordination to thee we have followed with eager and unbounded appetites and embraced with our highest and best love we have not carryed our selves as it becomes those that are Strangers and Pilgrims upon the Earth and profess to seek a better heavenly Countrey but lived as if we were at home and expected nothing better than what is to be here injoyed as if the happiness of this Life would never end and that of the next would never begin O Lord be merciful to us and in the multitude of thy tender mercies be reconciled to us through thy Son and blot out all our Iniquities give us heartily to repent of all our forepast Sins and Follies and so to receive Christ Jesus the Lord as Col. 2. 6. to walk in him And whatever thou denyest us grant us a full pardon through our dear and all-sufficient Redeemer whom thou hast set forth to be a Propitiation Rom. 3. 25. through Faith in his Blood And let the time past of our 1 Pet. 4. 3. Lives suffice to have wrought the wills of the flesh judging that Christ dyed for us that we 2 Cor. 5. 15. should not henceforth live unto our selves but unto him which dyed for us and rose again Col. 1. 10. help us to walk worthy of thee unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God give us we pray thee a Psal 111. 10 good understanding not only to know but to do thy Commandments and by growing 2 Pet. 3. 18. in Grace let us increase the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Phil. 4. 8. Whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any virtue and if there be any praise let us think on and follow these things and never be slothful in the weighty matters of thine honour and the everlasting interest and happiness of our Souls but diligently follow those that have been followers of thee and have Heb. 6. 12. through faith and patience inherited the promises And because we are weak in our selves and insufficient to perform our duty to subdue our lusts to improve our blessings or bear our burdens to resist and conquer our spiritual enemies to stand our ground in the