vile and vain thoughts when we are alone from idle words when we are in company and from an empty carriage and unprofitable expence of time whether we be alone or in company And since thou hast appointed man to labour and the day to labour in Keep us we pray thee from idleness and neglect of our Callings from infidelity and depending on our labour and industry from discontent if we live hardly by it and from intemperance state-pride covetousness and worldly confidence if we thrive and prosper in it Let all our dealings through thy grace O God that art the God of all grace be just and equal without over-reaching and as there shall be occasion let us be charitable according to our ability without grudging And be pleased to set and keep our hearts in so good a frame that notwithstanding our worldly occasions We may be watchful to do and ready to receive any spiritual good and let our desire be to be in that company that will give occasion of both with the shunning not only of wicked but unprofitable Society Enable us we humbly pray thee to adorn our Profession by providing for honest things not only in the sight of the Lord but in the sight of men Let thy fear O God who art great and terrible be upon our hearts and before our eyes all the day long that so we may presume to do nothing which it will or should grieve us to think upon at night Let there be cause rather to bless thee in the Evening as for thy goodness toward us so for some goodness in us and that the day hath not passed without using our Talents so as to bring in some advantage to our great Lord mean-while being here before thee to confess how good thou art every way unto us we would not go out of thy presence without praising thee our most merciful God for ordaining such peace for us as that we may with safety both abide at home and go abroad about all our occasions It is of thy great goodness that we are not forced to go in by-ways for fear of violent men but the high-wayes are freely occupyed and we have cause to rehearse the righteous acts of the Lord towards the Inhabitants of his Villages who now dwell without fear in such undefenced places In special we bless thee our gracious God for that Government whereby we enjoy this peace and liberty humbly beseeching thee to settle still amongst us and ever to preserve over us a religious and righteous and rightful Magistracy for our present tranquillity and felicity And ever to establish amongst us an able and faithful Ministry for the saving of our souls and our everlasting happiness in the day of the Lord Jesus for whom we bless thee in whom we enjoy and joy in thee and to whom with thee O Father and the Holy Spirit we acknowledged to be due and desire from our souls to give all Glory Majesty Dominion and Power now and evermore Amen A Family-Prayer for the Evening O Most holy and most glorious Lord God we poor and polluted creatures acknowledge our selves altogether unworthy to be admitted into thy presence so much as to confess our sins yet since thou art pleased to offer thy self unto us in Jesus Christ under the name of a Father assuring us that If we confess our sins thou art faithful and just to forgive us our sins we are therefore bold in him to come before thee confessing O Father that whereas at first we were made very good and very like God Now through our own fault and fall every one of us is shapen in Iniquity and in sin did our mother conceive us And besides this corruption of nature enough of it self to condemn us Against Thee Against thee only for there is but one Law-giver have we sinned in the whole course of our lives Justly O Lord mayest thou draw up an heavy charge against us for our sins of omission upon which our Saviour will pass his last Sentence for we cannot but acknowledge that we have left made light of and like leaking vessels let slip many Sermons Our fruits after much seed sowen have been so few that we deserve our stripes should be many unto which this other evil is added that we have often sleighted the Lords Supper either by not caring to receive it or by neglecting to prepare for it We have idled away also or profaned many Sabbaths at least we have gone heavily under the service of that day which we should call a delight And whereas heart-searching is exceeding needful for the well-ordering of our hearts and lives we confess that many examinations of our hearts and wayes for which thou hast hearkened we have neglected yea though this duty of Prayer by our selves and in our Families be so needful so beneficial and such an al-sanctifying service yet for a long time either we have been very careless and mindless of it or else careless and heartless in it But besides all these omissions and neglects of duty we do further confess that we have committed much evil and been guilty of much Rebellion against thy Majesty yielding ordinarily unto Satans temptations who never ceaseth to put fair colours upon the forbidden fruit rushing often into evil company and partaking with them in the unfruitful works of darkness and when we have been alone sadly and securely satisfying the lusts of our evil and distempered hearts especially in the evils more pleasing and sutable to our sinful natures In regard of all which and all other our many and great transgressions we deserve O most just God to be deprived of all thy blessings and to be laden with thy judgements as we have laden thee with our sins But whilest we are displeased with our selves for them and it is in our hearts desire not only to confess them but forsake them and turn to thee from them We beseech thee O Father of Mercies in the Name and for the merits of Jesus Christ to be merciful to us sinners laying every one of our sins for we are not able our selves to bear the least of them upon that Lamb of God on whom the Lord hath laid the Iniquity of us all freeing us also of thy free grace from all those evils which are either on us or due unto us for the same And that we may be hereof assured Give us we pray thee that most excellent grace of Faith without which the Word of Promise and of Pardon cannot profit that thereby receiving the forgiveness of our sins our spirits may rejoyce in God our Saviour which since we cannot do but in the Publicans way who said God be merciful to me a sinner that is in a way of repentance therefore do thou O Lord work and if any thing of godly sorrow be already wrought do thou more and more work so
the two verses before recited v. 17 18. is contained Nehemiah's contending or arguing the case by strong and solid reasons with the Nobles who either had a hand in this evil as being Actors in it themselves or at least were under the guilt of it for want of being the restrainers of it being it's like intrusted with the care of such things in Nehemiah's absence This contention is made good by the great evil that there is profaning the Sabbath day which is twofold 1. The evil of sin v. 17. What evil thing is this that ye do 2. The evil of punishment Did not your fathers do thus and did not God bring all this evil upon us v. 18. The former of these sheweth that It is an evil thing to profane the Sabbath day I use the word Sabbath not as intending to speak of or to give any countenance to the observation of the Jews Sabbath now but as purposing to speak of the Christian Sabbath and to take in that only of the Jews day which sometime belonged to it in the general nature and notion of a Sabbath and with respect to that observation of a Sabbath which being prescribed in the fourth Commandement belongs to every Sabbath of Gods appointment Nor do I while I make use of the name Sabbath deny the Lords day to be the more Evangelical name but I call it a Sabbath because it will never be the Lords day unless it be a Sabbath day that is it will never be a day of holy Rest unless it be a day of rest which the word Sabbath signifieth Concerning which I shall mention these three particulars 1. The Rest enjoyned 2. The thing intended in that rest to wit Holiness 3. The Extent both of the rest and the holiness it is for the whole day First In a Sabbath rest is required and that so as to do no manner of work the meaning is not that we are to abstain from sinful works only which though they be eminently unlawful on that day yet are truly unlawful any day and are forbidden in all the other Commandements Nor is it the meaning that we should abstain from servile work only that is worldly works painful and gainful which are allowed on other days for howsoever such works be in special manner forbidden as being named in the fourth Commandement yet that 's but by a Synechdoche or a figure whereby more is meant for if they only were forbidden then the Sabbath might be spent in things easie liberal and ingenuous without blame and then God should have the day no more or little more then if it were spent in servile works when yet it must be a Sabbath of or to the Lord The thing therefore required is that all manner of work be forborn by what name or title soever it be called that is ours and not Gods that depriveth God of his day or is an hinderance of that holiness which is intended in the Sabbath or day of rest Of this Rest there are divers reasons As 1. The solemnity of the day for it 's one of Gods solemn dayes Psal 81. 5. that the celebration thereof may be more fair and full by laying aside all work and the whole Creation as it were to wait on the Creator Levit 23. 3. 2. As in point of solemnity so In point of mercy for the relief refreshing and taking breath of the toiled creature after six dayes labour which is said of God himself after his work but it is spoken after the manner of men Exod. 31. 17. On the seventh day he rested and was refreshed 3. And especially In point of Piety for the sanctification of the day in the holy services thereof and that not without need For if we look to innocent Adam albeit some question Whether the Law of the Sabbath were given to him before the Fall yet there 's no cause to question but that it would have been useful to him though he had not faln because he could not at once dress and keep the Garden and have that compleat and indistracted communion with God which it was easie for him to enjoy in a time of rest and separation from all such earthly and heterogeneal imployment But now man being faln this Rest is of more absolute necessity because both humane infirmity and corruption so compass and cleave to us that we cannot with full intention of mind be in Heaven and Earth both at once that is we cannot at the same time apply our selves intirely to matters of so different a nature and operation as heavenly and earthly things are which apparently carry our hearts contrary wayes whereof there needs not further proof then the dayly experience we have of the dividing of our hearts and the withdrawing of them from things spiritual or at least the eclipsing of them by the interposition of earthly things which if they be earthly thoughts hinder spiritual thoughts and disturb heavenly meditations if they be earthly words they cool spiritual communications a man cannot speak two different languages both at once and if they be earthly Actions they weaken spiritual exercises and thrust aside heavenly transactions For this reason Play also and Sports are forbidden for God forbids not work for the thing He likes work better then play but for the end to wit because it hinders the intire imploying of the day in holy things which Play doth much more because of a greater delight in it and for that the heart is more taken up with it and stollen as the hearts of the men of Israel were by Absaloms kisses 2 Sam. 15. 5 6. from the son of David the Lord of the Sabbath by it Now Albeit there might be some rest out of the fourth Commandement appendant to the Jews day and proper to them as appertaining to their Education which I conceive it will be hard to find that which is produced for it being as probably answered as urged yet all that rest which is enjoyned in the Commandement and is necessary for Sabbath-sanctification belongeth to us as well as to them for As the observation of the Sabbath prescribed in the fourth Commandement being spiritual argueth the Law that requireth it to be both moral and eternal so with respect thereto the bodily rest also becometh moral and therefore a common and continuing thing to us as well as to the Jews Nor need this rest seem tedious if we consider what works God requireth and alloweth on the Sabbath-day As 1. Works of Religion Six dayes shalt thou labour and do all thy work saith the Commandment but on the Sabbath-day we may and must do Gods work Hence it 's said The Priests profane the Sabbath that is materially by doing those works that would profane it if God had not commanded them for his service but being that he hath so done those Priests are blameless because those works though servile in their nature yet were sacred in their end and
Wisdom In special we thank thee for any well-grounded hopes we have of a better life and that Inheritance which is incoruâ—â—ible undefiled and that fadeth not away reâ—…ed in Heaven for us and for which also we are preserved O Loâ—… of tiâ—e are less then the least of all thy mercies and if thou lay upon us the heavyest of thy judgements we have no right to complain being men of death and such as have deserved everlasting condemnation For we brought into the world with us a corrupt nature wherein is the seed of all sin and by reason whereof in the whole course of our lives we have neglected or done negligently what thou requirest and have moreover too too carelesly rusht into those evils both in thought word and deed which thou forbiddest But since thou art a God that delightest in mercy and that hast been pleas'd out of thine infinite love to mankind to lay upon thine only Son the iniquity of us all We that are the sheep that have gone so far astray come boldly unto the Throne of Grace in his Name intreating thy Majesty that by that Lamb of God that hath taken away the sins of the World our many and great sins our day-sins and our night-sins may be so taken away that if they be sought they may not be found being removed from us as far as the East is from the West that so in all the sorrows of this world we may joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now received the atonement Make us able we pray thee by thy grace to prove that our sins are forgiven because they are forsaken s and that we have right to the promises of the Tree of Life because we do thy Commandements and walk sincerely in the duties of Christianity and of our particular Callings that thereby though we cannot procure yet we may assure our happiness and in that way of thine may come to be possessed of it That we may the better perform the duties belonging to us in our several places Help us we beseech thee to take heed both of Idleness and ill Company that are Enemies to Imployment And if we do labour diligently let us shew the power of godliness in not aiming at our own advantage and self-ends Set our hearts O God in so good a frame as that we may follow our business day by day in obedience to thy Word with respect to thy glory and to the doing of good to those that we live amongst and ought to be helpful unto For these ends and purposes we beg of thee as of a God Al-sufficient to preserve us from danger by thy Providence to enable us for what we are to do by thy power and to make all we do to thrive and prosper by thy blessing without which it is in vain to rise up early to sit up late and to eat the bread of sorrows Have a gracious respect we humbly pray thee unto all thine and ours according to all thy wisdom and goodness and according to all their need and occasions Be pleas'd to look with special favour upon the Churches of the Saints in all places especially in this and the neighbour-Nations Herein Pour forth thy choysest blessings on the head and thy choisest graces into the heart of the Kings Majesty with the rest of the Royal Family Furnish those with ability and fidelity that are in Authority in the State and that watch over the souls of thy people in the Church As for our selves and all that are under authority make us ever ready to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and unto God the things that are Gods Let thy fear O Lord be upon our hearts all the day long that walking conscionably as in thy presence we may present our selves comfortably before thee in the Evening with the sense and feeling of thy grace in us and goodness towards us in Jesus Christ through whom we glory in thee and to whom with thee O Father and the Eternal Spirit we acknowledge to be due and desire to give all honour and glory now and evermore Amen A shorter Prayer for the Evening MOst glorious God and in Jesus Christ our most loving Father It is of thy great mercy that we have been preserved and followed with many fatherly favours this day and that we are in so good a condition before thee to offer up this Evening Sacrifice unto thee We must needs confess and we come unto thee to confess that thy gracious dealing with us is altogether undeserved and that any evil that is or shall come upon us in this world is far less then we deserve For if we look to our beginnings we that at first were made good and like our God have by our sin in our first Parents forfeited and lost that holiness in which and that happiness unto which we were created so that thou mayest justly call us transgressors from the womb we having procured this unto our selves that we are every one of us shapen in iniquity and in sin did our mother conceive us And this corruption that over-spreads our natures so declareth and disperseth it self also in our whole carriage that as there is no day of our life wherein we do not many wayes partake in thy mercy so no day passeth over our heads wherein we do not in many things provoke thy justice In regard whereof we do not more need our daily bread for our bodies and being then a daily pardon of sin for our souls and for our well-being And blessed be thy Name O gracious God who art so far from leaving us without hope of a pardon that thou callest us unto thee and teachest us to seek it from thee as from our heavenly Father Unto thee therefore we come acknowledging O Father that we have sinned against Heaven and against Thee so that we are not worthy to be called thy children But though we forget to be towardly children yet do not thou forget to be a compassionate Father but be pleased to come forth and meet us and kiss us with the kisses of thy love Declare thy self in Jesus Christ a God reconciled unto us and that our sins and iniquities thou wilt remember no more So shall we remember thy Loves more then Wine and thou shalt put gladness into our hearts more then can possibly be had from all worldly enjoyments Nor do thou kiss us only but clothe us Take away our filthy garments which by our prodigality we have brought our selves unto and clothe us with change of rayment for as our great desire is that the righteousness of Christ which is the righteousness of God may be put upon us to shelter us from thy justice so we beg also for the clothing of the new Man that we may be meet to partake in thy mercy and may walk worthy of