my Heart unto Wisdom when I awake up I am ever with thee Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost As it was in the ginning is now c. Then have an especial care that no vain filthy or impure thoughts have any entertainment within thy Breast but if any such endeavour to crowd themselves in presently discard them with detestation and abhorrency emembring that the First Fruits belong to God and he ought to have the râ—ime of all thy Thoughts then cast thy self out of Bed and whiles thou art dressing thy self desire God to cloath thee with the Righteousness of his Son Christ Jesus and use the following Ejaculations O Lord grant that I may put on the whole Armour of God that I may be able to stand against all the Fiery Darts of the Devil Above all things O Lord give me the Shield of Faith the Breast-plate of Righteousness the Sword of the Spirit the Girdle of Verity the Helmet of Salvation and let my Feet be shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace O grant that I may put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no Provision for the Flesh to fulfil it in the Lusts thereof Before thou art throughly dressed kneel down by the Bed-side and say In the Name of the Father and of the the Son and of the Holy Ghost prevent me O Lord in all my doings with thy most gracious Favour and further me with thy continual Help that in all my works begun continued and ended in thee I may glorifie thy holy Name and finally by thy Mercy obtain everlasting Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Our Father which art in Heaven c. On Combing your Head or Plaiting the Hair you may use such Ejaculaions as these Grant O Lord my Ornament may not be that of the Hair but that of a lowly meek quiet and humble Spirit Let it not be that of the outer but of the inner and hidden Man of the Heart Make me a clean Heart O God and renew a right Spirit within me While you are Washing you may Ejaculate thus O Lord wash me throughly from mine Iniquities and cleanse me from my Sin O cleanse me from all Filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit Not only my Hands and my Face O Lord but my Heart also Purge me with Hysop and so shall I be clean O Lord wash me and I shall be whiter than Snow I am unclean I am unclean but O Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean O touch me and say I will be thou clean Being now compleatly dress'd withdraw to thy Closet or place of Retirement and there lift up thy Soul to God in this or the like manner O Lord I beseech thee let thy holy Spirit direct me how I may spend this day most of all to thy Glory and my own and others benefit And then ponder a while on the business of the day and consider what sins either thy natural Temper Business or Company may most subject thee to to what dangers thou art most liable and what opportunities thou art like to have either of doing God Service or thy Neighbour good Against the former implore Gods Aid and Assistance in a particular Petition which you may find a convenient place to insert in your Morning Devotions and also Arm your self before-hand with Resolutions and the best Means you can to prevent them that so you may avoid the occasions of Sin And for the latter resolve to embrace all opportunities for the discharge of your Duty and then use this Ejaculation Thus thus O Lord I purpose by thy Grace to spend this day O be thou pleased to be present with me by the preventings and assistings of thy Grace and Holy Spirit that so I may perform what I intend to the Glory of thy Name the discharge of my Duty the benefit of others the comfort of my own Soul here and everlasting happiness hereafter in and through Jesus Christ Let thy Grace be sufficient for me Consider also seriously what Sins have passed from thee since thy Evening Devotions Being thus prepared take Gods Holy Book into thy hands yet not without Reverence and to put a distinction between this and other Books it will be commendable if thou uncover thy head in the reading of it or stand up even the Hearhens pay it Reverence the Jews hear the Law with Adoration and the Turks kiss the Alcoran thou maist also use one of these or the like Ejaculation or the Collect of the second Sunday in Advent Assist me I pray thee O Lord with thy Holy Spirit in the reabing of thy holy Word enlighten the Eyes of my Vnderstanding that I may understand the same give me a retentive Memory and Grace to reduce the same into Practice in my Life and Conversation through Jesus Christ my Lord and Saviour Amen Open thou mine Eyes O Lord that I may see the wondrous things of thy Law Blessed art thou O Lord O teach me thy Statutes O Lord sanctifie unto me my present Reading and Meditations for Jesus Christ his sake Then read that portion of Scripture that is either accommodated to the day or most fitted for your own condition and that with much seriousness attention and particular application of it to your self When you have ended use the common Doxology of Glory be to thee O Lord. Then re-collect what things observable you have met with in your reading and spend some time in Meditation of them and consider what use you may afterwards make of them either to encourage to Vertue or deter from Vice without this Post Meditation you will reap no more benefit by this â—alutary Word than a Body by the reception of the most nutritious Aliment which is not well digested in the Stomach Nay as this will be apt to turn into Crudities and Diseases to the Body so will the other prove fatal to the Soul and that which should have been the savour of Life unto Life will be nothing else than the savour of Death unto Death Meditation being ended betake your self decently and reverently to your knees and with great fervency offer up your Morning Devotions unoâ— the Throne of Grace which being done follow your lawful Studies or Employments still having an awful sense of Gods Omnipresence But if you be a Master of a Family then call your Family together and let they as well as you serve the Lord. Read a Chapter unto them and Pray again with them before you dismiss them to their business And if you live in a place where Publick Prayers are Celebrated and your manner of Life be such that you can without considerable inconveniences dispense with it think your self not excused from the Prayers of the Church in the Congregation At Noon when you see the Table spread you may meditate concerning Gods Mercy and Bounty towards thee and all mankind and use those or the like Ejaculations hereafter prescribed for that purpose and then receive
the good Creatures of God with an hearty desire of his Blessing Moderation and Thankfulness remembring that every Creature of God is good and not to be refused if it be received with Thanksgiving and that it is sanctified by the Word of God and by Prayer At any other time besides at Set Meals venture not to eat or drink without craving a Blessing and returning Praise at least by Ejaculation After a little Diversion return to thy Closet read a Psalm or two meditate and follow David's Example by offering up a Meridian Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving in the following or like Method Then betake thy self again â—o thy Employments or Studies and be â—iligent in them At Four in the Afternoon if thy occasions permit as there are but very few who can not spare so much time if the â—eart be inclin'd for thou maist do this â—n the midst of thy business and make â—hy Closet in the very Street use some â—f the following Ejaculations either as â—hy Devotion or particular necessities â—rompt thee to If there be again any Publick Prayers if thou be not a Man of Employment and Business omit them not Use the same Meditations again at Supper as before at Dinner and after Supper if the time of the Year or Season permits walk into the Fields and there contemplate and admire the wonderful Works of God the strange Effects of his Wisdom exhibited to us in the variety of Plants their decorous Order exact Symmetry of Parts and the like Praesentem narrat quaelibet herba Deum Let thy Soul say O how marvellous are thy Works O Lord in Wisdom hast thou made them all The Earth is full of thy Riches Who can express the noble Acts of the Lord Or shew forth all his praise c And if you use any Recreation have an especial care first that it be not unlawful or with evil Company next that it be not immoderate and take up too much time but that it may be such as may either tend to the health of thy Body or refreshment of thy Mind that so thou may'st be the better disposed either for the Service of God thy Neighbour or thy Self And because we are too apt to be led by Sense and to forget God in our Mirth thou may'st often lift up thy Soul to God to set a Watch before thy Mouth and to keep the door â—f thy Lips and take care that no lying â—ain-glorious Jesting frothy or idle Discourse proceed from thence consisering that thou must give an account â—f every idle word as well as sinful action Keep always a Religious sense of God in thy Soul and let no sensual pleaâ—ure or delight stain thy innocency When the time for Rest draws nigh â—etire to thy Closet cast off as much as â—hou canst all worldly thoughts and use â—hese or the like Ejaculations Let the words of my Mouth and the Meditations of my Heart be now and â—lways acceptable in thy sight O Lord my Strength and my Redeemâ—r O Lord I beseech thee bring into my â—emembrance the Sins of the day past whether of Omission or Commission whether of Thoughts Words or Actiâ—ns that so I may humbly confess them â—efore thee and find favour at thy Hands â—r the pardon of them in and through fesus Christ And also I humbly pray â—hee the mercies of the Day past wheâ—her Spiritual or Temporal that so I â—ay in some measure offer unto thy Divine Majesty that praise which is due unto thy Great and Glorious Name for them Then reflect and consider how you have spent the Day in what Company you have been how you have discharg'd your Duty in your Place Relation or Calling and how you have in all things behaved your self And if any Sin beyond the common frailties of Nature hath passed from thee keep a Diary of it that thou mayest repent it over again on thy Fast Days or before the Sacrament And that you may not think this Task and Discipline too severe to speak nothing of the common practise of pious Christians even Heathen Philosophers took this Course Pythagras Seneca and Plutarch yea the poor barbarous Indians as Apuleius reports used to call themselves to a daily account of the good and evil of the day and how much greater obligation lies upon us Christians besides the serenity and tranquility of mind every Man feels by such short reckonings with God Almighty I leave to every Man piously inclined to consider And that thou mayest do this the better after a general survey of thy Company Actions and the like in particular examine if thy thoughts have not been vain peevish uncharitable or unchast Whether they have been so holy or at least so innocent as they ought to have been c If thy words have not been vain and empty rash and inconsiderate Whether no foolish speaking or jesting lying or frothy and corrupt Communication hath proceeded out of â—hy Mouth Whether thou hast not slanâ—ered or back-bitten thy Neighbour Whether thy words have been mix'd with that Grace Discretion tending â—o Reprehension and Edification as they ought to have been Whether thy Actions have not been â—nweighed and inconsiderate Whether â—hou hast had purity of intention in â—hem Whether thou hast been so temâ—erate so chast so careful of spendâ—ng thy Time and Estate as thou oughtâ—st to have been Whether thou hast â—ischarged thy Duty in thy Calling as â—hou shouldest or whether thou hast oâ—itted any Duty which thou oughtest 〈◊〉 have perform'd and hast had opporâ—nity for Where thou hast been faulâ— confess it humbly to God and anâ—ex this short Ejaculation Lord be merâ—ful to me a Sinner And venture no more to sleep in thy sins unreconciled to God than thou would'st to die so for for ought thou know'st thou maist now sleep in Death and never see the dawn of another day Then seriously and thankfully consider also the Mercies of the day past both spiritual and temporal which may be commonly such as these delivering thee from those many sad casualties and accidents which might justly have faln upon thee by reason of thy Sins refreshing thee plentifully with his good Creatures blessing thee in thy Studies Labours and Undertakings giving thee leave to lift up thy Soul to him by some tho weak and imperfect Prayers and Praises and also preserving thee if it hath so happen'd from any presumptious sin into which thou would'st certainly have fallen had not Gods restraining Grace prevented thee c. Then say Not unto me not unto me but unto thy Name be the praise Blessed be the Lord God which daily loadeth me with his benefits even the God of my Salvation and blessed be the Name â—f his Majesty for ever Then read a Chapter in the New Testament meditate on it and theâ— immediately before you Address your ielf to God by Prayer to help your Devotion consider that God is a most Holy God that he will be sanctifi'd of all them who draw near unto him that
my head and my Trespass is grown up even unto Heaven All the thoughts and imaginations of my heart have been Evil and only Evil and that continually I have wrought many and great provocations in thy sight especially O Lord c. Here enumerate thy old capital Sins and that in the mosâ— provoking manner They have not been only single but repeated acts of sin for O Lord of this black Cataloguâ— which I have now brought forth before thee how few are there which I have not often times committed nay which are not become even habitual and customary unto me And to this frequency I have added both agreediness and obstinacy in sinning turning into my course as the Horse rusheth into the Battel doing evil with both hands earnestly yea hating to be reformed and casting thy words behind me quenching thy Spirit within me which testified against me to turn me from my evil ways and frustrating all those outward means whether of Judgment or Mercy which thou hast used to draw me to thy self Nay O Lord even my Repentances may be numbred amongst my greatest Sins they have sometimes been feigned and hppocritical always so slight and ineffectual that they have brought forh no Fruit in amendment of Life but I have still return'd with the Dog to his vomit and the Sow to the mire again and have added the breach of many resolutions and vows both at thy Table and in private to all my former Guilts Yea O Lord I desire to confess to my own shame and confusion that since the last time that I humbled my self in thy sight and so solemnly vowed and purposed to forsake every Sin and not to regard any iniquity in my heart I have returned unto the same if not worse Sins than I then came to confess before thee and to beg pardon at thy hands for for my thoughts O Lord have been vain c. Here enumerate the sins My Words have been inconsiderate c. my Actions have been unweighed c. And besides all this O Lord I have still the same proneness to that which is evil aversness and obstinacy towards what is good I have still an impenitent hard heart which is not sufficiently mollified with the sense of my Sins or thy wrath due unto me for them O God! God be merciful to me a Sinner yea I know not how often I have offended O cleanse cleanse thou me from my secret faults Thus thus O Lord am I become out of measure sinful and since I have thus chosen death I am most worthy to take part in it even in the second death the lake of Fire and Brimstone which burneth for evermore This this O Lord is in Justice to be the portion of my Cup to me belongs nothing but shame and confusion of face and that eternally But to thee O Lord God belongeth mercy and forgiveness though I have â—â—belled against thee O remember not my Sins and Offences but according to thy mercy think thou upon me O Lord for thy goodness Thou sentest thy Son to seek and to save that which was lost be hold O Lord I have gone astray like a Sheep that is lost O seek thy servant and bring me back again to the Shepherd and Bishop of my Soul Let thy Spirit work in me a hearty sense and detestation of all my abominations that true contrition of heart which thou hast promised not to despise And then be thou pleased to look upon me in mercy to take away all my iniquity and to receive me graciously into thy favour and for his sake who hath done nothing amiss be thou reconciled to me who have done nothing well Wash away the guilt of all my Sins in his Blood bury them so deep in his grave and hide them in his Wounds that they may never rise up in Judgment against me either here to shame me or hereafter to condemn me and subdue the power of them by his grace and grant O Lord that I may from this hour bid a final adieu to all Vngodliness and Worldly Lusts that I may never once more cast a look toward Sodom or long after the Flesh Pots of Egypt but consecrate my self intirely to thee to serve thee in righteousness and true holiness all the days of my life reckoning my self to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our blessed Lord and Saviour Amen After this go on with your Devotions and pray over the One and fiftieth Psalm HAve mercy upon me O God after thy great goodness according to the multitude of thy mercies do away mine offences Wash me throughly from my wickedness and cleanse me from my sins For I acknowledg my faults and my sin is ever before me Against thee thee only have I sinned and done these Evils in thy sight that thou mightest be justified in thy saying and clear when thou art judged Behold I was shapen in Wickedness and in sin hath my Mother conceived me But lo thou requirest Truth in the inward parts and shalt make me to understand Wisdom secretly Thou shalt purge we with Hysop and I shall be clean thou shalt wash me and I shall be whither than Snow Thou shalt make me hear of joy and gladness that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce Turn thy face from my sins and put out all my misdeeds Make me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy holy Spirit from me O take away this stony this hard heart of mine and give me a heart of flesh O give me the comfort of thy help again and stablish me with thy free Spirit Then shall I teach thy ways unto the wicked and sinners shall be converted unto thee Deliver me from blood-guiltiness O God thou that art the God of my health and my tongue shall sing of thy righteousness Thou shalt open my lips O Lord and my mouth shall shew thy praise For thou desirest no Sacrifice else would I give it thee but thou delightest not in burnt Offering The Sacrifice of God is a troubled Spirit a broken and contrite Heart O God shalt thou not despise O be savourable and gracious unto Sion build thou the Walls of Jerusalem Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifice of Righteousness with the burnt Offerings and Oblations then shall they offer Young Bullocks upon thine Altar 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 Conclude your Penitentials with the following Collects ALmighty and everlasting God who hatest nothing that thou hast made and do'st forgive the sins of all them that are penitent create and make in me a new and contrite heart that I worthily lamenting my sins and acknowledging my wretchedness may obtain of thee the God of all mercy perfect remission and forgiveness through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen O
Amen A Prayer for Grace out of the Whole Duty of Man O Most Gracious God from whom every good and perfect gift commeth I wretched creature that am not able of my self so much as to think a good thought beseech thee to work in me both to will and to do according to thy good pleasure O inlighten my mind that I may know thee and let me not be barren or unfruitful in that Knowledge Lord work in my heart a true faith a purifying hope and an unfeigned love towards thee give me a full trust on thee zeal for thee reverence of all things that relate unto thee make me fearful to offend thee in any thing careful to please thee in all things thankful for thy mercies humble under thy corrections devout in thy service sorrowful for my sins and grant that in all things I may behave my self so as befits a creature to his Creator a servant to his Lord Enable me likewise to perform that duty I owe to my self Give me that meekness humility and contentedness whereby I may always possess my Soul in patience and thankfulness Make me diligent in all my duties watchful against all temptations perfectly pure and temperate and so moderate in my most lawful enjoyments that they never become a snare to me Make me also O Lord to be so affected towards my Neighbour that I never transgress that Royal Law of thine in loving him as my self Grant me exactly to perform all parts of Justice yielding to all whatsoever by any kind of right becomes their due and give me such bowels of mercy and compassion that I may never fail to do all acts of Charity to all Men whether Friends or Enemies according to thy Command and Example Finally I beseech thee O Lord to sanctifie me throughout that my whole Spirit and Soul and Body may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be all honour and glory for ever Amen Here you may also pray more particularly for those graces you have found your self most of all to stand in need of better forms for which I can not advise you to thâ—n those contained in the Book of that Excellent Author The whole Duty of Man where you have devout Prayers for all those particular Graces which a Christian can stand in need of These Prayers being over spend some time again in Reading and Meditation afterwards having before prayed for your self you are next in Charity bound to pray for others also being as members of the same mystical body the Church which you may do in this or the like Form A Prayer of Intercession O Most gracious Lord who so tenderly lovedst Mankind as to give thy dear Son out of thy bosome to be a propitiation for the Sins of the whole World grant that the effect of this redemption may be as universal as the design of it that it may be to the Salvation of all O Let no person by impenitence and wilful Sin forfeit his part in it but by the power of thy Grace bring all even the most obstinate sinners to repentance Inlighten all that sit in Darkness all Jews Turks Infidels and Hereticks take from them all blindness hardness of heart and contempt of thy Word and so fetch them home blessed Lord unto thy Fold that they may be saved among the number of the true Israelites And for all those upon whom the Name of thy Son is called grant O Lord that their conversations may be such as becometh the Gospel of Christ that his Name be no longer blasphemed among the Heathens through us O blessed Lord how long shall Christendom continue the vilest part of the World a sink of all those abominable pollutions which even Barbarians detest O let not our profession and our practice be always at so wide a distance Let not the disciples of the holy and immaculate Jesus be of all others the most profane and impure Let not the Subjects of the Prince of Peace be of all others the most contentious and bloody but make us Christians in deed as well as in Name that we may walk worthy of that holy vocation wherewith we are called and may all with one mind and one mouth glorifie thee the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Have mercy on this languishing Church and sinful Nation look down from Heaven the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory Where is thy zeal and thy strength the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies towards us Are they restrained Be not wroth very sore O Lord neither remember iniquity for ever but though our backslidings are many and we have grievously rebelled yet according to all thy goodness let thy anger and thy fury be turned away and cause thy Face still to shine upon thy Sanctuary which is in danger to be desolate for the Lord's Sake do thou compose our differences heal the wounds which our unhappy schisms and divisions have made in thy Church and make up the breaches of our Sion and so separate between us and our sins that they may no longer separate between us and our God Avert those heavy judgments which we either fear or feel and our sins cry aloud to Heaven for and deny us not the continuance of those mercies which we yet enjoy and are altogether unworthy of but whatever temporal mercies thou art pleas'd to deny us whatever temporal judgments thou art pleased to bring upon us O remove not thy Candle-stick from us nor quench the light of our Israel but blessed Lord be pleased still to continue unto us the liberty of thy House the freedom of thy Gospel the injoyment of thy Sabbaths Sacraments and Ordinances in their primitive purity and regularity until time shall be no more Save and defend all Christian Kings Princes and Governours especially thy Servant Charles our King and those to whom we owe subjection Plead thou their cause O Lord against those that strive with them and fight thou against those that fight against them and so guide and assist them in the discharge of that Office whereunto thou hast appointed them that under them we may live quiet and peaceable Lives in all godliness and honesty Bless them that wait at thy Altar by what Names or Titles dignified and distinguished whether Arch Bishops Bishops or other inferiour Clergy Grant that they may all speak as the Oracles and live as the Messengers of God that so they may both save themselves and those that hear them More especially be gracious unto thy Servants Here you may insert the Bishop of the Diocese your Parochial Minister the Authors of good Books yet living or any that have been instrumental to your conversation Pour down a double portion of thy Spirit into their hearts make them eminent Instruments for thy glory Let them turn many from their wicked ways unto thee the living God and hereafter let them shine as Stars of the Firmament in thy Kingdom O
about me a Body of Flesh which is ready to shrink at the approach of any thing grievous do thou O Blessed Jesu pray for me that my Faith fail not that no terrors of Death or Pains may ever shake my constancy or cause me to deny that Lord that suffered such bitter Agonies for me but that I may continue faithful unto Death and so receive a Crown of Life 13. Vpon an Epileptick Person falling into the Fire and being thereby Cured of his Disease THis Person had for a long time laboured of his Epilepsie the accessions of which at length were so frequent and violent that it would often precipitate him to the Ground without as much as giving him any warnings of it's approaches where he would lie as incapable of helping himself as he was insensible of his condition The Patient used to have a Servant attending him to prevent danger but was now by God's providence out of the way In the mean time a fit seizes him he falls into the Fire which being fervent scalded and burned the hinder part of his Head and Neck whereby were produced many Blisters and Ulcers which afterwards unexpectedly by Gods blessing effected a Cure of that obstinate Disease which hitherto had eluded the force of all Medicines Good God! what a Providence is this how wonderful art thou in all thy doings what an allay of Mercy with Judgment is here judgment in Afflicting mercy in Relieving The impotent Man which thirty and eight years had been Diseased lay a long time at the Pool Bethesda but could not be cured till our Saviour came when we are all together unable to help our selves and when all outward means do fail then God comes with his seasonable Relief and to our amazement and admiration perfects that which we could not expect He that once brought light out of darkness can still bring good out of evil nothing shall impede or hinder his Designs but even that which in humane Judgment seems contrary shall prove a salutary Remedy This shall teach me even in the mid'st of the heaviest pressures not to despond but to trust in him who is able by ways tho altogether unknown to me to relieve me in the greatest difficulties Ejaculations for several Occasions For Pardon of Sin HAve mercy upon me O God according to thy loving kindness according to the multitude of thy tender Compassions blot out all my Transgressions Wash me throughly from my Iniquity and cleanse me from my Sin For I acknowledg my Transgressions and my Sins are ever before me O God thou knowest my foolishness and my Sins are not hid from thee Purge me with Hyssop and I shall be clean wash me and I shall be whiter than Snow If thou Lord should'st be extream to mark what is done amiss O Lord who could abide it But there is forgiveness with thee therefore thou may'st be feared Hide thy Face from my Sins O Lord and blot out all mine Offences Be Merciful unto me O Lord heal my Soul for I have sinned against thee Remember O Lord thy tender mercies and loving kindness for they have been ever of old For thy Names sake for thy Mercies sake yea for thy dear Son Jesus Christ his sake pardon all my Iniquities for they have been very great For Grace TEach me to do the thing that pleaseth thee for thou art my God Shew me thy way O Lord and I will walk in thy Truth O knit my heart to thee that I may love and fear thy holy Name Lead me in thy Truth and teach me for thou art the God of my Salvation on thee do I wait all the day With my whole heart have I sought thee O let me not wander from thy Commandments Incline my heart unto thy Testimonies and not to Covetousness Make me a clean heart O God and renew a right Spirit within me Search me O God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way Everlasting Set a Watch O Lord before my Mouth and keep the door of my Lips Blessed art thou O Lord teach me thy Statutes So teach me O Lord to number my days that I may apply my heart unto Wisdom Lord make me to know mine end and the measure of my days what it is that I may know how frail I am For the Light of Gods Countenance O Lord hide not thy Face far from me put not thy Servant away in anger thou hast been my help leave me not neither forsake me O God of my Salvation O Lord whatever thou art pleas'd to deny me yet lift up the Light of thy Countenance upon me Thy loving kindness is better than life My Lips shall praise thee Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy holy Spirit from me Give me the comfort of thy help again and stablish me with thy free Spirit Withhold not thy tender Mercies from me O Lord let thy loving kindness and truth continually preserve me Turn me again O God of Hosts and cause thy Face to shine upon me and so shall I be saved Make me to hear of joy and gladness that the Bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce Speak peace unto my Soul and Conscience and say unto my Soul Thou art my Salvation Thanksgiving I Will praise the Lord according to his Righteousness I will sing praise to the Name of the Lord most high I will praise thee O Lord with my whole heart I will shew forth all thy marvellous Works I will freely sacrifice unto thee I will praise thy Name O Lord for it is good Blessed be the Lord God of Israel which only doth wondrous things Morning and Evening and at Noon will I praise thee Seven times a day will I praise thee because of thy Righteous Judgments While I live I will praise the Lord I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being Praise the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me praise his holy Name Praise the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his benefits Blessed be the Lord God which daily loadeth us with his benefits who is the God of our Salvation and blessed be the Name of his Majesty from everlasting and to everlasting Amen Amen In the time of outward or inward Trouble O Lord rebuke me not in thine Anger neither chasten me in thy heavy displeasure Look upon my Adversity and Misery and forgive me all my sin Be merciful unto me O Lord for my Soul trusteth in thee and under the shadow of thy Wings shall be my refuge until these Calamities be overpast Have Mercy upon me O Lord for I am weak O Lord heal me for my Bones are vexed My Soul also is sore vexed but thou O Lord how long Be not far from me for trouble is near at hand and there is none to help Give me help for I am in trouble and vain is the help of Man Keep me as the
of the first Covenant The Lord is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works Behold thou hast now made my days as it were a span length and mine age is even as nothing in respect of thee and I am altogether vanity The sentence of Death hath passed upon all for that all have sinned And I who have had so great a share in sinning cannot but expect to receive the due Wages of it Death Only I beseech thee blessed God to make me wise now in the time of my Health and Srength to understand this and to consider my latter end Grant O Lord that by departing from every known sin by keeping Innocency and always taking heed to the thing that is right I may be in an habitual preparation for Death and find peace at the last Wean my heart daily more and more from the love of the World and worldly things and place my affections upon their right and more deserving Objects Heaven and Heavenly things that my heart may be where my Treasure is and that whenever I shall be called to part with them I may leave all without any murmuring or reluctancy and be willing and content to die Let every pain and sickness mind me of my last And that Death may not be a surprize unto me furnish my Soul with all those Graces before-hand which I shall have greatest occasions to make use of in my last Conflict Give me Repentance unto life not to be repented of A Stedfast Faith that worketh by Love towards thee my God and Charity to all the World A Firm Hope such as maketh not ashamed but may become an Anchor of my Soul entring even within the Vail True Christian Courage and Patience and a resolvedness of a cheerful submission to thy Fatherly Correction And Grant that in all things I may so put my Soul and House in order that when I come to die I may have nothing else to do but to die Let not my Death be unexpected untimely or violent if it be thy holy will And when it shall please thee to cast me on my last Bed give me Grace to search my Heart to renew my Repentance and Interest in Jesus and to compose my Soul for God Give me the opportunity and refreshment of thy holy Sacrament the Seal of the Divine Love the benefit of Absolution Some irradiations of thy Love and Favour in the assurances of pardon and peace together with a patient and comfortable expectation of the performance of all thy promises Let not the Devil take advantage of my weakness nor any of his Suggestions prevail upon me Let not his Accusations or my Sins distract me in my last hour but do thou interpose thy seasonable Relief O forsake me not when my strength faileth me but in the mid'st of the sorrows and temptations that I have upon my Bed let thy Comforts refresh my Soul O suffer me not for any pains of death to fall from thee And in my last Agonies when my Soul shall quit the ruinous habitation of my Body let thy holy Angels convey it into the Regions of a glorious Eternity where there shall be no more death nor sorrow nor crying nor pain Grant this O merciful Father for the sake of him who by death hath overcome death even Jesus Christ my High Priest and blessed Redeemer Amen A Prayer for Sincerity out of the Whole Duty of Man O Holy Lord who requirest Truth in the inward parts I humbly beseech thee to purge me from all Hypocrisie and unsincerity The heart O Lord is deceitful above all things and my heart I fear is deceitful above all hearts O thou who searchest the Heart and Reins try me and seek the ground of my heart and suffer not any accursed thing to lurk within me but purifie me even with Fire so thou consume my dross O Lord I cannot deceive thee but I may most easily deceive my self I beseech thee let me not rest in any such deceit but bring me to a sight and hatred of my most hidden Corruptions that I may not cherish any darling Lust but make an utter destruction of every Amalekite O suffer me not to speak peace to my self when there is no peace but grant I may judge of my self as thou judgest of me that I may never be at peace with my self till I am at perfect peace with thee and by purity of haert be qualified to see thee in thy Kingdom through Jesus Christ Amen For Contrition out of the same Author O Holy Lord Who art a merciful Embracer of true Penitents but yet a consuming Fire towards obstinate sinners how shall I approach thee who have so many provoking sins to inflame thy Wrath and so little sincere Repentance to incline thy Mercy O be thou pleased to soften and melt this hard obdurate heart of mine that I may heartily bewail the Iniquities of my life Strike this Rock O Lord that the Waters may flow out even Floods of Tears to wash my polluted Conscience my drowzy Soul hath too long slept securely in sin Lord awake it though it be with Thunder and let me rather feel thy Terrors then not feel my sin Thou sentest thy blessed Son to heal the broken hearted but Lord what will that avail me if my heart be whole O break it that it may be capable of his healing Virtue and grant I beseech thee that having once tasted the bitterness of sin I may fly from it as from the Face of a Serpent and bring forth Fruits of Repentance in amendment of Life to the praise and glory of thy Grace in Jesus Christ our blessed Redeemer Amen Those whose Devotions are apt to be assisted by variety or are desirous of Forms for other Graces or more particular occasions may find a plentiful supply in the Books of the aforementioned-Pious Author in Dr. Tailor's holy Living and Dying but more especially in the Book of Devotions composed by the Reverend and Learned Dr. Patrick A Prayer to be used by any Pious Christian in these difficult times O Most just and holy Lord God thou art Righteous in all thy ways and holy in all thy Works I must needs confess that when I seriously consider the multitude and hainousness of my own Sins and those of the whole Nation which cry loudly to Heaven for Vengeance that it is even a miracle of Mercies that we have not long since felt the severities of thy Wrath in some direful Judgments but thou O Lord hast been exceedingly gracious and with much patience and long suffering hast waited for our Repentance and Amendment of Life but yet we have abused this Mercy of thine beyond all the former and have not returned unto thee And now O Lord seeing we would not be allured by thy Mercies thou art pleas'd to threaten us with the approach of thy Judgments which if thou wilt not avert O fit and prepare me for the cheerful Entertainment of whatsoever thy Wisdom shall think fit to
well as America in England as well as Soldania yea in the cleerest times of Light and greatest Knowledg when Reason seems to be exalted to its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 highest pitch yet like the Moon at full by a strange kind of interposition of our sensual and brutish Appetites suffers the greatest Eclypse and all the use it seems to serve us for is to make us only more ignorant and less pious For how do Men now a days strain their Reason shall I call it or Curiosity rather to so high a peg endeavouring to find out hidden and abstruse Mysteries such as God hath not revealed and he thought fit we should be ignorant of How curious and inquisitive are they to find out how the World was made according to the Rules of Philosophy and how it is still upheld by the same natural Causes And they proceed so far till at length they lose both their Hypothesis and Reason too and because they cannot find how these things should Physically be will thence conclude they are not at all The Fool hath laid aside all his Modesty that he had in the days of the Royal Prophet then he dared not to make his Tongue the Index of his Mind and prate of his Folly but only tacitly in his heart said there is no God but now alass he out-braves the Sun at Noon day and not only his heart but his lips which should shew forth God's praise are become the Trumpets of his wicked Thoughts he dares boldly proclaim the No-being of Him who gave to him and all things else a Being and thinks it a certain badg of Gentility and the mark of a pregnant polite wit so to do But whether these brave Gallants think as they say will be no hard matter to determine for certainly though they may be so bold as to utter it with their lips yet they cannot with all their skill disband their own fears lest it should be otherwise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no more than they can run away from their guilty Consciences nor yet quiet or satisfie their guilty Souls Otherwise what mean these secret Stings and Racks of Conscience That horrour of Mind and paleness of Countenance Those distracted and many times desponding thoughts when seiz'd with a fit of some sharp Disease and the apprehensions of their approaching death Quos diri consciafacti Mens habet attonitos sur do verbere caedit Occultum quatiente animo tortore flagellum Juvenal 13. Satyr Epicurus himself though he seem'd to disown a Deity yet confesses he feared nothing more than Death and the Gods One clap of Thunder shall force Caligula to run under his Bed and even the rough and stubborn Marriners in a Storm will cry every one unto his God The Satyrist of old observ'd it of such Hi sunt qui trepidant ad omnia fulgura pallent God hath imprinted a fear of punishment in the very hearts of Men which upon the Commission of any great Sin dogs them with secret pangs and horrours and though like the Wounded Deer they run every where to disentangle themselves Haeretlateri Laethalis arundo yet still the Arrow sticks fast Though they love not God yet they have a flavish fear of him and are forced with Juvenal to confess Esse aliquos manes subterranea Regna That there are some tormenting Spirits and a Kingdom of darkness The Prophet Isaiah excellently describes them Isaiah 48.22 The wicked is like the troubled Sea when it cannot râ—st whose Waters cast up mire and dirt There is no peace saith my God to the Wicked So that the Psalmist's Axiom is undeniable Psalm 58.11 Doubtless there is a God that judgeth in the Earth But lest these stout Hectors should still maugre all the impressions of Nature and convictions of Conscience which they endeavour as much as in them lies to stifle and silence continue to persist in those most Irrational and Atheistical Tenets let them laying aside all prejudicate thoughts consider with me the subsequent Reasons endeavouring to evince That the Existence of a God and a Providence in the World is as cleerly demonstrable as any Truth whatsoever The greatest Physical certainty that it is possible for any Man to have is from Mathematical Demonstrations as That every whole is greater than its part that of a Triangle its three Angles are equal to two right Angles that if you add equal to equals the result will be equal c. These Axioms I say are as undeniable and as certain as any we can speak of now that the Being of God is as certain as any or all of these will appear hence As first of all without this Concession of a Deity all things that are the Objects of Sense may quite delude and impose upon our understandings Cartes Princ. lib. 1. yea we cannot be assured of Mathematical Demonstrations themselves or any thing else that seems cleerest and truest to our judgments and apprehensions and we may be still in a Dream and not discover whether these things seemingly so demonstrable are really true or barely Phantasms Chimaera's and the results of our giddy Fancies for I must be first ascertain'd of the infallibillity of my Senses before I conclude that things represented to me by them are true and this it is impossible for me to be assured of before I have the knowledg of a Divine Existence But when I seriously consider and am assured that there is a God and that his chiefest Attribute is Truth which hath a direct Repugnancy to Deception and Error and that He will not cannot therefore impose upon and delude my Senses Hence is it that I infer the reality of them and thence conclude that all things that are truly represented to my Senses are indeed so as they are represented because God never obtrudes Falsities upon us under the pretext of Truth Neither doth it at all invalidate this Argument to assert that we are often deceived because that the Deception proceeds not from the Understanding but from our Will when we too rashly consent to things not clearly and distinctly understood Therefore all Mathematical Truths are not to be suspected and the Existence of the Divinity no more nay less to be doubted of than them Next of all it is plain and obvious even to the lowest Capacity yea known by the dim light of Nature that what at first had a beginning did not derive its being from it self but that there must be some super-intended Cause on which in respect of their Substance all other things do depend and which must have in it the Complement of all Perfections and that can be no less than a Ray of Divinity or rather God himself How perfect is every part of the Creation Who can tell where any thing is superfluous or any thing deficient And the more perfect cannot be produced from that which is less perfect as by its efficient and total Cause Therefore seeing such Beauties and Perfections as
Physician passing by and moved with compassion bleeded some of them and prescrib'd such Medicines as he thought proper to their condition which it pleased God to succeed with his benediction so that those and those only recovered which were thus handled the others suffering the common though untimely fate of all Mankind So that hence it seems manifest that tho God had prepared the means yet had there not been an actual application of it they must of necessity have shared in the same destiny The other is this which I my self have been more than once the sad beholder of that persons labouring under a troublesom Cough or Catarrh which hath disturb'd their rest at nights and being of a thin texture of Body and weak Constitution by the unseasonable and unskilfull administration of Opiatick Medicines have taken their laethaean nap and gone smoothly and quietly to the Land of forgetfulness The like may be said of giving the same Medicine in a Pthysis Pleurisie Empyema and the like which hath often produced the same effect To say nothing of those many strong robust men that meerly through wantonness or for prevention of some Epidemical and Popular Disease that hath then threatn'd have committed themselves to the hands of confident Empiricks who not regarding or not knowing the temper of their Patients Bodies and the Nature and Dose of their Medicines have been by a Hypercatharsis or too violent Evacuations sent head long to the other World which may sufficiently evince that many have shortned their daies by rashly exposing themselves to such dangers or else wilfully neglecting those assistances they might have had for the preservation or prolongation of theiâ— lives The common Objection of Asa's reprehension for seeking to the Physician and not to the Lord is a very weak one to draw this Conclusion from That therefore I ought not to apply my self to a Physician for it is evident by the text 2 Chron. 16.12 that here is no Antithesis or opposition but a Protimesis and is an Expression by way of choice and estimation Asa is reproved because that in his Disease he sought not to the Lord but rather to the Physicians or them onely Had he implored the divine as well as humane assistance he had not without doubt been reprehended for it So in the 16 of St. Matthew the 19. and 20. verses we are bid not to lay up treasures for our selves vpon Earth but lay up for our selves treasures in Heaven and in a Parallel place we are forbad to labour after the Meat that perisheth but to labour after that which endureth to everlasting Life which are not to be understood as plain prohibitions to lay up Earthly treasures or to labour for our daily food but by way of choice or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rather lay up treasures in Heaven than treasures upon Earth rather labour after that Meat which endureth to everlasting Life than that which perisheth which is no more than this have a greater care of the one than the other Our Saviour himself says They that are whole need not the Physician but as it follows they that are sick which is a sufficient warrant for all in that Condition to apply themselves unto him for he is as Herophilus observes Manus Dei the hand by which God conveys health unto their diseased Bodies And though he can as I have before shewed cure them by a miracle yet his usual and common way is by fit and appropriate means so that they who wilfully neglect them do sihi manus inferre even cruelly prove their own Executioners therefore as the Son of Syrach Eccles 38.4 observes that seeing God hath created Medicines out of the earth he that is wise will not abhor them I could here swell this Section to a great bulk if I designed to depaint the dignity of Physick and learned Physicians but the Sun needs not the light of a Candle to make it seen nor a perfect natural Complection the disgraceful help of such Artificial Tinctures besides being of the same Profession my self I fear I should be condemned either of Pride or Vain-Glory and therefore shall conclude this only with too Disticks of the famous Horstius In ventum Medicina Dei est Medicusque peritus Rectè mortalis dicitur esse Deus Hoc Medico hoc commune Deo quod uterque misellis Auxiliatrices detque feratque manus SECT VII That a Holy and Vertuous Life is a necessary Qualification for a Physician in order to the imbettering his Judgment and his good success in Practice WHat is true in Theology That the Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom and the knowledg of the Holy Ones is Vnderstanding Prov. 9.10 and that The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him Psal 25.14 is also most true in Physick and Philosophy which Truth is acknowledged by the best and divinest Philosophers and hence is it that they so frequently discourse of their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Purgative Vertues such as they judged necessary to prepare the Soul in order to its clearer Contemplation and Knowledg of the most useful and sublime Speculations It is Aristotle's Observation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Wickedness is destructive of Principles and a greater than he hath observed that Wisdom cannot enter into a Wicked Heart nor dwell in the Body that is subject unto Sin Wisdom 1.4 Immorality and a Vicious Life unfits and indisposes the most Ingenious Minds for the Acquisition of the noblest Truths whether Moral or Divine and though sometimes they may hit upon some Curious and Philosophical Notions and Secrets of Nature yet even here they had done far better and excell'd themselves had they been more purg'd from Vice and Wickedness which casts such a mist before their Eyes that they can not discern Truth from Error dulls their Invention and so clouds their Understanding that they never arrive to the full discovery and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even of common Arts and Sciences Thus you see that a Holy and Good Life affords the greatest advantages to the imbettering the Judgment not only in Divine but Philosophical Speculations Next of all such a life is necessary in order to their Directions of profitable Prescriptions for their Patients Although as I have before hinted God is not always tyed up to means or to these in particular yet he usually co-operates with those that are proper and adequate to the end Those that do truly fear God as the pious and worthy Judge Hales of late blessed Memory hath observed have a secret Guidance from a higher Wisdom than what is barely Humane namely from the Spirit of Truth and Wisdom that doth really and truly but secretly prevent and direct â—â—em and let no Man think that this â—s a piece of Fanaticism for any Man that fears Almighty God and relies upon him calls upon him for his Guidance and Direction hath it as really as the Son hath the Directions of his Father and tho the voice be not audible
of thy mercy I here prostrate my Self before thee begging leave of thee that I may once more worship and adore thee and be admitted into thy Service which is perfect Freedome It is the unfeigned desire of my soul now wholly to attend upon thee and to devote my self entirely to thy Service I am come into thy presence to call my self to an Account for my Sins with Sorrow to bewail them most earnestly to deprecate thy displeasure for them and to renew my Vows and Obligations to thee against them for the time to come to acknowledg my dependance on thee to praise thee for thy Mercies and to make an absolute surrender of my self all the daies of my Life unto thy Service But alas O Lord what am I and what can I do without thee I do not attempt this great Work trusting in any power or strength of my own but in the gracious assistance of thy most holy and blessed Spirit O Gracious God who hast promised to give thy Holy Spirit unto them that ask it send it now down into my Soul and let him bring into my remembrance and convince me of every Sin and every Evil way What I see not teach thou me Search me O God and know my heart O try me and know my thoughts and see what way of Wickedness there is in me and lead me in the way everlasting Make the 〈◊〉 remembrance of my former sins bitter unto my soul Work in me a compleat repentance for them a loathing and abhorrence of them stedfast purposes and resolutions of forsaking them for the time to come and of making an entire resignation of my Self to thy service that so I may obtain the pardon of them in and through Jesus Christ O let not O Lord any of my former great and crying Sins the breach of former vows and promises my impenitency or obduracy or want of suitable Affections for this holy Exercise or any other thing interpose between me and thee this day to stop the current of thy mercy or cause thee to hide thy Face from me in displeasure But gracious God scatter all my Sins which may be as a cloud to hinder my prayers from coming up towards thee and thy mercies from coming down upon me that so in the end of this my Duty I may have an assurance of thy favour which is better than life and all the comforts of it I may have peace with thee and peace in my own Conscience and joy in the Holy Ghost and receiving Power and Strength from thee may run with chearfulness the ways of thy Commandments and serve thee by 〈◊〉 sincere impartial uniform obedience all the days of my Life through Jesuâ— Christ Amen Those whose Piety may inlarge their Devotions may here also fitly use thâ— two Prayers of the Author of the wholâ— Duty of Man for Sincerity and Contrition which because all those perhapâ— into whose hands this Manual may fall may not have by them I shall anon insert towards the end of it Then betake your self to a Seriouâ— and Impartial Examination of your seâ—â— concerning your Sins and if you be a person who use your self to those periodical Returns every Week your inquisition need go no farther than the preceding Week unless it be before every Sacrament when it may be necessary to renew your Repentance for the Capital Sins of your whole Life you may begin with reflecting upon the spending every day of the week where you were in what Company and what your Business or the like which will be apt to afford you fresh remembrances of your Sins and then if you please you may first consider and examine what your thoughts have been wherein they have been exorbitant and sinful what the bent and inclinations of your heart have been and how you have endeavoured to suppress the evil and to cherish the good and when you have found them humbly confess them and lift up your Soul to God in this Ejaculation Lord be merciful to me a Sinner Consider next your Words Whether they have been Vain Idle Corrupt Lying Detracting Uncharitable Passionate or the like Whether they have been mix'd with that Grave Discretion tending to Reprehension and Edification c And then after Confession annex the former Ejaculation God be merciful c. Last of all Examine thy self strictly also concerning all thy Actions thy Violations of the First and Second Table thy Sins of Omission and Comission towards God thy Neighbour and thy Self Examine how thou hast spent thy time resisted Temptations or compli'd with them and what the circumstances of aggravation have been then humbly confess them Endeavour to Work your heart to a true Sorrow and Contrition for them Be angry with your self that you should be so basely led away by the corruptions of your Nature and the pleasures of Sin which are but for a Moment by Evil company or the like Temptations then lift up thy Soul in this manner Thus thus O Lord have I sinned against thee yea I know not O Lord how often I have offended many a times more I am sure I have which I have either forgot or not adverted to O clâ—anse cleanse thou me from my secret faults Here make serious Resolutions against every Sin and especially those thou hast by Examination found thy self guilty of After this fall down up on thy knees or perhaps if the Sins be great and thy humility so too thou may'st think it more proper to prostrate thy self on the ground and Petition the Throne of Grace in this or the like Form following O God the Father of Heaven have Mercy upon me a miserable Sinner O God the Son Redeemer of the World have Mercy c. O God the Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son have Mercy c. O Holy Blessed and Glorious Trinity Three Persons and one God have Mercy c. The Prayer taken out of the Whole Duty of Man magna ex parte O Most holy holy holy Lord God who art of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity how shall I who am nothing but Iniquity dare to appear before thee Or take so Sacred a Name into my unhallowed lips but yet O Lord whom shall I invoke but thee whom I have offended Against thee thee only have I sinned and done these evils in thy sight I know that thou alone canst forgive sin and that we might not be discouraged to come unto thee thou hast publish'd thy self to be the Lord gracious and merciful slow to anger and of great goodness a God forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin yea thou hast promised That if we confess our Sins thou wilt be faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness Relying therefore on this thy gracious promise I am now emboldened to postrate my self before thee in all Humility of Soul and Body desiring to be ashamed and to blush when I lift up mine Eyes unto thee for my Iniquities are increased over
Lord I beseech thee mercifully hear my prayer and spare me who now confess my sins unto thee that I whose conscience by sin is accused by thy merciful pardon may be absolved from all my offences through Christ our Lord. Amen O most Mighty God and Merciful Father who hast compassion upon all Men and hatest nothing that thou hast made who wouldest not the Death of a Sinner but that he should rather turn from his Sin and be saved mercifully forgive me my Trespasses receive and comfort me who am grieved and wearied with the Burthen of my Sins Thy property is alwayes to have mercy to thee only it appertaineth to forgive Sins Spare me therefore good Lord spare me whom thou hast redeemed Enter not into Judgment with thy Servant who am vile Earth and a miserable Sinner but so turn thine anger from me who meekly acknowledg my vileness and truly repent me of my faults and so make hast to help me in this World that I may ever live with thee in the World to come through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen This being done you are next to review your Sins again and consider what were the occasions which drew you into each particular Sin and then consider and think of those ways and mean by which you may for the future avoid them and arm your self before-hand with reasons and holy resolutions against their assaults whensoever they invade which you may do well to commit to Writing After this consider what Graces directly oppose your Vices that you may in the next place petition for them for it is not enough that you are pardoned but you must also remember that that will not stand you in stead If you again return to your Old Vices An Examplification of this you have in one or two Sins following As January I fasted and upon Examination I found my self guilty of unclean and unchast thoughts and that with delight and approbation which sometimes brake forth into corrupt frothy Discourse and immodest or unclean Actions Upon reflecting into the Causes of this Sin I found them to be Eating and Drinking too highly keeping light or idle Company not keeping that Guard over my self as I ought nor behaving my self in all places with that gravity and seriousness as I should and giving way to the first motions of vain and impure thoughts Upon which I resolved to use my self to a spare low Diet to avoid Drinking much Wine or Strong Liquors to avoid light Company and not suffer mine ears to hear or my tongue to utter any frothy or corrupt Communication to carry my self always with a becoming gravity in my behaviour to deport my self as in the immediate presence of God remembering that he is a God of infinite Purity and Holiness I will be watchful over my own Heart that I do not permit any unclean thoughts or fancies to enter within me much less give them Entertainment and as soon as they offer themselves to my fancy I will endeavour to divert them by holy and heavenly Meditations And last of all I will be frequent in my prayers to God for a clean heart and purity of spirit and for the Graces of Temperance and Chastity When I fasted likewise I found my self guilty of muth deadness and dulness in my Devotions vain and wandring thoughts in them c. Upon Examination of my self I found the great Causes of it to be the want of keeping my self continually in a serious frame and temper of spirit my not spending some some time in Meditation before I came to pray my want of frequency in my Devotions and want of the due sense of God's great and dreadful Majesty and my own necessities of those things I come to pray for Upon which I resolved constantly to keep my self in an habitual frame and temper of piety to be more frequent in Prayer and to praemeditate of the dread and awfulness of that Majesty before whom I appear to consider before-hand that nothing but what is hearty and from the ground of the Soul will be accepted by him and how great need I have of those things I ask I will pray often for the Spirit of Devotion and Sincerity and will be sure to watch over my thoughts when I am at my Devotions but if any such enter I will presently repel them and then pray with greater fervency to cross the Devil's design therein These meditations and resolutions being over you may begin again thus O Lord increase my weak Faith Lord I believe help thou mine unbelief and give me Grace to live and die according to my belief for I believe in thee O God the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth And in Jesus Christ thy only Son our Lord who was conceived by the holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried He descended into Hell The third day he rose again from the dead He ascended into heaven and siteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead I believe in the Holy Ghost the Holy Catholick Church the Communion of Saints the Forgiveness of Sins The Resurrection of the Body and the life everlasting Amen O Lord be with my Spirit O Most gracious God make me careful to discharge and perform all my Vows and Resolutions which I have made unto thee both in publick and in private Make me a serious and professed enemy to every sin and to all ungodliness especially O Lord to all c. Here meition thy most prevailing Sins and Corruptions and let no sinful thought surprize me without a sorrowful sigh no ungracious word pass me without a suddain retractation and devour confession no wicked action defile me without a sincere and godly humiliation Unto each measure of sin enable me to allow a due measure of sorrow Let those sins that have been reigning over me be at set times constantly revenged by me and as my body hath been a deep sharer in my Sins so let it have a daily share in my Sufferings Help me at set times to deny my self some of those outward Enjoyments which thou O Lord in mercy hast allowed me as a true sign of my godly sorrow for that sinful excess which I have too oft taken without thine allowance Let those sinful hours which have been vainly lost in idleness and emptiness be willingly redeemed in a constant observation of Religious Duties Let no day pass me with out a solemn and devout task of Devotion no hour without some sweet Ejaculation and when at any time the troubles and disturbances of this frail life shall deny me happy opportunities for those heavenly performances what is wanting in act let it be made up in desire which thou Lord I trust wi lt graciously accept and look upon because faithfully intended These and whatever mercies thou knowest needful and requisite I humbly beg in the name and for the sake of Jesus Christ
Mercies which thou freely and undeservedly at first gavest him and made himself obnoxious to thy Wrath and eternal Misery thou hast not abhorred our Nature but hast so loved and honoured thy sinful Creatures as to manifest thy self in our Flesh O! that Men would therefore praise the Lord for his Goodness and declare the Wonders that he doth for the Children of Men. I revere and adore thee O Most Glorious Majesty for the Son of thy love and for all those mercies we enjoy in and through him I praise and magnifie thy holy Name for the Mission of thy holy Spirit to be the Seal of our Adoption the Sanctifier of our Souls the Earnest of the Inheritance of the Saints and the First Fruits of Everlasting Felicity that thou hast spared me so long and given me so large a time for Repentance whereas thou mightest have justly long since cut me off in my Sins and sent me headlong into eternal Destruction Had I no other Mercies but Here enumeraâ—â— thy spiritual Mercies I have sufficient matter for perpetual Praise and Thanksgiving O what what shall I render unto the Lord for all the benefits he hath done unto me I will take the Cup of Salvation and will call upon the Name of the Lord Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive Riches and Wisdom and Honour and Power and Glory and Blessing Wherefore Blessing and Honour Glory and Power be unto him that sitteth upon the Throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever Besides O Lord those Spiritual Mercies I have infinite Obligations upon me to bless and praise thee for those Temporal ones I have and do yet enjoy Thou followest me with thy goodness day by day and loadest me with thy benefits every moment It is a great mercy that I live and a greater that I enjoy not only the necessaries but the comforts of Life Thou hast been wonderfully gracious unto me in thy protections of me from and deliverances out of many apparent dangers I desire with all thankfulness to remember here mention thy deliverances many more I have forgotten or which I have suffered to pass unregarded through inadvertency for all which my Soul doth magnifie the Lord and all that is within me praiseth his holy Name Praise thou the Lord O my Soul Blessed be thy holy Name in particular for the fresh Testimonies of thy mercies this day for that thou hast put it into my heart and given me an opportunity now to humble my self before thee by Prayer and Fasting to call my self to an account of my Sins to make stedfast Resolutions against them to beg thy preventing Grace to render thee thanks for thy Mercies and to endeavour a reconcilation with thee and for any assurance of thy love and favour which thou hast given in unto my Soul Praise the Lord O my Soul and forget not all or any of his benefits And now I beseech thee O blessed God to accept of my Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving of my Fasting and Humiliation Alms and Oblation and do thou smell a sweet savour from them Let it be a Sacrifice well pleasing and acceptable in thy sight though not for any worth in it self yet in and for the Merits of Jesus Christ I confess O Lord should'st thou be extreme to mark the Iniquities of my holy things my Prayers have need to be prayed for my Repentance to be repented of and my Humiliations and Fastings to be humbled and fasted for But O Lord consider I pray thee that I am flesh and blood yea dust and ashes and so pity and pardon all my Infirmities and deal with me not according to the weakness of my performances but according to the riches of thy mercy in and through Jesus Christ Seal unto my Soul the pardon of all those sins that I have this day confess'd before thee and beg'd pardon at thy hands for especially c. and not only those but all others known or secret of what Nature or what kind soever Grant unto me all those Graces I have this day desired or thou seest me to stand in need of especially c. give me Grace to resist all Sin for the time to come not to regard any Iniquity in my heart but to abstain from the very appearance of Evil to have respect unto all thy Commandments and to serve thee by a constant sincere uniform and impartial Obedience all the days of my Life O mind me continually of all my Vows and Obligations and I pray thee let me receive such strength from thee as may enable me readily to perform the same Of my self I am a frail weak Creature obnoxious to the arrests and victory of all temptations O do thou perfect thy strength in my weakness and let thy Grace be sufficient for me O deliver me Blessed God from my own self and save me or I perish everlastingly that so when I appear again before thee in this manner I may find I have gotten Strength over my Corruptions and that I can now run the way of thy Commandments because thou hast set my Feet at liberty And now O Lord seeing thou hast been pleased to promise that thou wilt give thy holy Spirit to them that ask it I most humbly and ardently beseech thee to send down this holy Spirit into my heart and let him take possession there and rule and reign and govern therein for ever And let this Spirit of thine also if thou see it fit in the close of this Exercise assure my Soul of my pardon and reconciliation with thee and let me have any even the least taste of those joys those ravishments of thy Love wherewith some of thy Saints have been so transported that I may never be weary of well-doing nor faint in my mind but may run the way of thy Commandments with chearfulness and alacrity and may very feelingly and in the sincerity of my heart confess that thy ways are ways of pleasantness and all thy paths are Peace Hear me O Lord for my self Hear me for others Hear others for me and hear the Intercessions of thy dear Son Jesus Christ for us all In whose prevailing Name and holy Words I conclude my imperfect Prayers and Services saying Our Father which art in Heaven c. Thy grace O Lord Jesus Christ thy love O heavenly Father thy sweet and comfortable Fellowship O holy blessed and glorious Spirit of Grace be with me and remain with me always Amen This being over leave thy Closet and carry thy self with a Chearful gravity towards thy own Family or others that thon appear not unto Mâ—n to fast Mat. 6.18 then receive the good Creatures of God with moderation and thankfulness and conclude the day as you do other Days You having been for some time constant in this Duty your Soul will still call for it as your hungry Stomack will for food and you will delight in the â—eturns of it Some time the Week after it may be very profitable if you
review your Catalogue of old Sins and your holy resolutions against them that you may be still humbled for the one and be put in mind to perform the other And because I have here mentioned the Catalogue of Sins I shall in the next place shew you the reasons and benefits of keeping such a Catalogue or Narative by you and afterwards direct you to the manner of doing it by giving you â—n Exemplification thereof in some Sins Reasons why we ought to keep such a Narrative or Catalogue of our Sins and the benefits of it 1. FIrst the committing of our Sins to such a Diary or Catologue â—eeps them in perpetual Memory and makes them in David's phrase Psal â—1 3 to be ever before us so that we may Novas agere penitentias renew our â—epentance for them which probably was â—ot so compleat at first as it ought to have been besides we should think such Sins never sufficiently bewailed and repented of and possibly too our memory may be too willingly treacherous we may forget them or at least the aggravating Circumstances of them we desire God indeed not to remember them but then we our selves must and ought 2. The committing of our Sins to such an Accomptal makes us presently to remember when God sends any Judgment upon us for what particular Sin it is Punishment is the natural effect and consequence of Sin God many a times spares when we deserve punishment but he never punishes us without our demerits yea God many times doth so adapt the punishment to the sin that we may very intelligibly read the one in the other and then we shall have this benesit that understanding the Cause we may hasten to the Cure confess and bewail the same kiss his Rod acknowledge the Justice of his proceedings and say Righteous art thou O Lord and just are thy Judgments This affliction is but the genuine product of my Sin I may thank my self for it and therefore I will bear the Indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him the Cup is bitter but salutary God chastens me here that he may satisfie his Justice and spare me hereafter And so the Sin repented of the removal of the Judgment soon follows seeing it hath answered that end for which it was sent 3. The keeping our sins in memory hath this great benefit in it to teach us how to arm our selves against the same sins for the time to come If we have been once foiled by an Adversary it is ten to one but if we have adverted to it we may easily remember what it was that gave him the advantage over us and so like Alfrid strongly prepare against the next Assault Si modo victus erat ad crastina bella parabat It will be no difficult matter having an account of your sin and the circumstances of it to re-collect also what inducements and temptations prevailed against you at what avenue the sin entred and so thou mayst immediately guard and fortifie thy self that thou do not twice fall by the same Stratagem 4. It is profitable that you may see what strength you have got over them and know how to keep your ground against them Though an Enemy be several times repulsed yet if he be still potent subtil and malicious he will not cease to assassinate King Alfrid sate as unquiet when he was Conqueror as when he was conquered Si modo victor erat ad crasâ—ina bella pavebat We have entered the lists against a strong and malicious Combatant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Enemy of Mankind by way of Eminency and he is constantly upon his Guard going his Round and seeking whom he may devour and so subtil that like Hanibal he will lay an Ambush even in the smoothest Field let us not therefore â—emit our watchfulness or diminish our force lest he again enter and our last Estate be worse than the first 5. A fifth Reason is That we may frustrate the Devils great Design and Endeavour which is either to make them appear small in our Eyes when they are indeed very great or else to hide them altogether from us until the Judgment of the great Day No sin is indeed positively small being committed against a God of infinite purity and holiness but comparatively so with relation to other sins but yet the Devil is such an Impostor that he would needs perswade us that even great sins are no sins at all or very small ones peccadillo's and tells us as Lot of Zoar Is it not a little one 'T is but a small inconsiderable Lust a humane Frailty this will not ruin thy Soul many thousands are guilty of far greater than this Thus he will endeavour to hood-wink thee for the present but then at the hour of Death or day of Judgment he will take off this Vail and open thine Eyes when to thine astonishing amazement thou wilt find how miserably how irremediably thou hast been deceived The constant sight of thy sins will be apt to raise thy thankfulness to God for being delivered from the power of them Sin is the greatest Evil and if we once come to be sensible of it we shall not only fly from it but have our hearts enlarged with the greatest thankfulness to God for our delivery from the power and dominion of it Lastly The keeping of such a Catalogue is very profitable that by reflex thoughts on our sins we may be kept in the greater humility and low opinion of our selves We have generally in our Natures an inbred Principle of Pride which puffs us up with a vain conceit of our selves and more especially in respect of Grace with which being but slenderly imbued we are presently opinionated of our selves undervalue others and think that we have arrived to the very 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and heighth of Grace in a moment not unlike your young Sophisters who having suddenly suck'd in some of the Elements of Logick and Philosophy think as well or better of themselves than the Doctors of the Chair Now the serious remembrance of our former Obliquities and Follies will be apt to chastise this Vanity and correct our Pride It is storied of the Peacock that though his Train be never so much expanded and his Crest elevated yet one glance of his Eye upon his black Feet will presently depress his Crest shrink and contract his Plume In the highestâ— thoughts of our selves the consideration of our great enormous sins if we be any way pious or ingenious will humble us and make us confess That in us dwelleth nothing that is good He that covereth his sin shall not prosper but he that confesseth his sin shall find mercy The manner of keeping your Narrative and an Exemplification of it in some Sins SUffer no sin to pass by you unregarded and make every day a particular reflection upon the actions of the day as before directed that you may discover what sins you have been guilty of and what most inclined to And
certainly if we are dutiful Children we shall not suffer the remembrance of them to be buried in ungrateful silence but as the Heart will be filled with the sense so will the mouth with the acknowledgment of his Mercies Who can express the noble Acts of the Lord or shew forth all his praise Psal 106.2 Oh how great is the Sum of them If we tell them they are more in number than the Sand Psal 139.17 18. Praise the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me praise his Holy Name Praise the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his benefits 3. And is God so merciful Then this O my Soul should teach thee humility and to have low thoughts of thy self If thou wert not miserable thou hadst no need of Mercy If thou wert righteous 't were but justice to receive good from the hands of God not mercy Every particular blessing I enjoy is the fruit and effect of the mercy of God and ought to each me a Lesson of Humility Many Stripes many Judgments indeed have I deserved but I must confess with holy Jacob That I am not worthy of the least of all his Mercies Gen. 32.10 4. Is God a God of such infinite Mercies This then should teach thee O my Soul in all thy difficulties and distresses in all thy wants and necessities to have recourse unto him to rest and depend upon him The Angel of the Lord saith holy David tarrieth round about them that fear him Psal 34.7 and delivereth them And Psal 34.22 The Lord delivereth the Souls of his Saints and all that put their trust in him shall not be destitute And as in temporal dangers so in temporal wants we must cast all our care upon him for he careth for us 1 Pet. 5.7 They that fear the Lordlack nothing Psal 34.9 and v. the 10. They that seek the Lord shall want no manner of thing that is good God is a God all-sufficient and able to help me in my greatest necessities He is a God rich in Mercy and will not suffer me to want therefore I will cast my burden upon him I will put my trust in him 5. Is God so Merciful This should teach me to fear him This may perhaps seem strange What shall I fear him because of his Mercifulness I have great reason to trust him indeed and to love him but shall I fear him for it Yes certainly we ought to fear him even for his Mercy There is forgiveness with thee saith David therefore thou may'st be feared Psal 130.4 and 67. ult God shall bless us and all the ends of the Earth shall fear him Though he forgives though he blesses though he shews us mercy yet we must fear him Yea I must needs say that of all Gods Attributes Mercy is the dreadfullest for where-ever his Mercy lights and is neglected or returns empty without answering Gods Designs he will certainly recompense his abused Mercy with double Severity Laesa patientia furor fit 6. Is God thus Merciful This should teach us to imitate his Mercy by being merciful to our poor necessitous Brethren Let us imitate it in its universality it is over all his works Who is there under the Sun that hath not tasted of it in its reality He giveth liberally and upbraideth not It is far from God to do any thing seemingly 't is not enough to profess Compassion and to say as those in St. James ch 2.16 Depart in peace be ye warmed be ye filled and yet give nothing to cloath or to feed them But thou shall do according to the Precept in Deuteronomy ch 15.10 Thou shalt surely give him and thy heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him And to encourage thee take Gods own promise annex'd to it Because that for this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy Works and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto Thus we must imitate God in being merciful unto all and in being really merciful All our acts of mercy to our poor Brethren Christ takes as done to him Matth. 25.40 In as much as ye have done it unto the least of these my Brethren ye have done it unto me The miseries of my Brethren are my own miseries and therfore your mercies to them are in a sense mercies to me Lastly Is God thus merciful This should teach thee O my Soul to be continually praising him for his Mercies Praise is a Duty incumbent on all the Sons of Men because that all have tasted of his goodness and his mercy Give the Lord saith David the honour due unto his Name Psal 29.2 Shewing that it is not an arbritrary or voluntary act but a just debt which we owe to God God not only supplieth but even daily loadeth us with his benefits as the Psalmist observes and as he expects no other so we can make no other retribution unto him but our Praises and Thanksgivings O let us never then defraud him of that so easie Tribute but let our Hearts be continually filled with the sense and our Mouths with the acknowledgment of his Mercies We confess O Lord that we are not worthy of the least of all thy Mercies and therefore the less we deserve them the more thou deservest our Praises O let us not by our ingratitude provoke thee to discontinue thy Mercies or to shut up thy tender Mercies in displeasure and so teach us to value them by making us feel the want of them Alelujah Of the certainty of Death and Judgment Hebrew 9.27 And as it it appointed unto Men once to die but after this the Judgment GOD at first Created Man in a state of Innocency and appointed him Laws to observe and gave him withal a power to keep them and to the keeping of which he annexed the continuation of a happy life and immunity from death and lest his credulous Nature might be too easily imposed upon to his own and his posterities ruin lest the ties of Love and promise of a Reward were not strong enough to bind him to his Duty and Allegiance God was pleased to hedg in his way with a denunciation of threatnings and judgments in case he should any way disobey those Laws set and tells him Gen. 2.17 In the day that thou eatest thereof transgressest my commands for I have told thee positively thou shalt not eat of it thou shalt surely die but Man degenerate Man soon cast off his primitive Innocence violates those Laws and thereby renders himself and all his posterity obnoxious to that Judgment of Death before threatned And now God ratifies his former denunciation establishes it by a perpetual Decree That unto dust he shall return Gen. 3.19 So that now we see whence Death had its first beginning Rom. 5.12 It is but the product and birth of Sin Sin having once conceived never prove abortive but brings forth Death James 1.15 It is now appointed unto Men once to die and as certain as the Decree of God is
Irreversible so certainly shall all the Off-spring of Adam High and Low Rich and Poor Learned and Unlearned descend unto the gates of the Grave mingle their dust and pay down their Symbole of Mortality Divesne prisco natus ab Inacho Nil interest infimâ De gente sub dio morieris Victima nil miserantis orci Omnes eoâ—em cogimur c. Horat. Carmin Lib. 2. Ode 3. St. Austin observes three kinds of â—eath The first is when God forsakes â—he Soul so he forsook Saul 1 Sam. 6.14 and so he forsook Pharaoh Exod. â—13 This Death is also mentioned Matt. â— 22 Let the dead bury their dead The second is When the Soul forâ—â—kes the Body which is in the common â—urse and order of Nature So Lazaâ—s died John 11. The last is When both Body and Soul â—ffer eternal Death and this is mentiâ—ned Matt. 25.46 and so also Luke 16. â—2 23. The Rich also Man died and was â—uried and in Hell he lift up his Eyes â—eing in torments c. Now Sin is the parent of all these â—ut great sins and a state of impenitency â—nd hardness of heart are the cause that â—ove God to the first and last First to â—rsake the Soul but not till the Soul â—rsakes him next to consign him over 〈◊〉 that state of Immortal Death The second kind of Death is common â—o the Godly as well as the Wicked to â—im that feareth an Oath as well as â—im that sweareth to the Religious as â—ell as the Profane because Gods Decree 〈◊〉 unchangeable Eccles 7.20 and because â—hat even they also cannot lead a sinless life but have many sins many frailties and imperfections that they cannot totally be freed from while they live Death saith the Apostle passed upon all Men for that all have sinned Rom. 5.12 Death then is certain to all nullum Saevà caput Proserpina fugit and yet nothing more uncertain than the time of it Mors certa est incerta dies One dies in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and vigor of his Age when his Bones are full of Marrow and his Blood of Spirits Another in his Infancy wen there are great expectations of future comfort and hopeful successes Another is intombed in his Mothers Womb and never sees the Light Another dies in the Flower of his Youth Another in Old Age but all sooner oâ— later come to one Seat the Grave One goes well at Night to his Bed and in the Morning is found dead Lotus nobisum est hilaris coenavit ideâ— Inventus mane est mortuus Andragoras Martial l. 6. Another goes out of his doors anâ— his beloved Consort is with much joâ— and impatience expecting his happy reâ—urn and anon she receives the sorrowâ—â—l news of his Death by a Fall or a â—eavor Of all the uncertain things in â—â—e World I know not a more uncerâ—â—in thing than the times of our Death There are so many thousand Casualâ—es that may intervene to deprive a Man â—f life that it is a greater wonder that â—e is than that he is not A Plague or â—â—me popular Disease or Fevour or Smallâ—ox an Immoderate Grief or profuse â—y an Intemperate Draught or undiâ—ested piece of Meat yea a Hair or a â—rape-stone with Myriads of other acciâ—ents may introduce Death And as Death is certain so is Judgâ—ent too As it is appointed unto Men once to â—e so after this the Judgment As one fixed by an irrevocable unalterable Deâ—ee so is the other too He hath appointed a day in which he â—ill judge the World Acts 17.31 This Judgment will be universal both 〈◊〉 to persons and things God will judge â—e secrets of all hearts by Jesus Christ â—om 2.16 Every Man shall receive the â—â—ings done in his body according to â—â—at he hath done whether it be good or evil 2 Cor. 5.10 and to that end we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ God is said to be the Judge of all Heb. 12.23 which evinces the certainty of a day of Judgment Otherwise to what purpose is there a Judge And shall not the Judge of all the Earth do right Here the good man finds the sharpest Misery and greatest Afflictions the Evil Man the sweetest Felicity and fullest Pleasures Here the Rich mans Table stands pressed with Delicacies and poor Lazarus lacks even Crums to feed him Therefore it would much impeach the Justice and Goodness of God if there were not a time and place to make some retribution to each of these to reward the Righteous and to punish the Wicked Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompence Tribulation to them that trouble you and to you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels 2 Thess 1.6 7. Remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented Luke 16.25 So that a Man shall say Verily there is a reward for the Righteous Verily he is a God that judgeth in the Earth Psal 58.11 Otherwise where is our Hope For if in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all Men most miserable 1 Cor. 15.9 Nothing could buoy up the Spirits of a good Christian amidst all the heavy Pressures and Afflictions of this Life but that he has the Hopes and Assurance that there is an exceeding and eternal Weight of Glory laid up for him in the life to come St. John in his Revelation tells us Chap. 20.12 13. That he saw the Dead small and great stand before God and the Books were opened and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the Books according to their Works And the Sea gave up the Dead which were in it and Death and Hell delivered up the Dead which were in them and they were judged every Man according to their Works From the whole you see there is a certainty nay a necessity of Death and Judgment This then should teach thee O my Soul 1. First to be often meditating of it before it comes Nil sic revocat a peccato quam frequens Mortis et Judicii meditatio This will restrain thee from Sin and make Death and Judgment less terrible when it comes Is there such a day approaching for all the Sons of Men How should we then resolve with David to make a Covenant with our eyes that they behold not vanity that we set a Watch before our Mouths and keep the door of our lips as with a bridle that we offend not with our tongues that we always have clean hands and a pure heart that at length we may dwell in his Tabernacle and rest upon his holy Hill for ever Si sapis utaris totis Colinediebus Extremumque tibi semper adesse puta Martial I know the sting of Death is Sin but thanks be to God who giveth us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ 2. Are there
that they may never rise to shame me here or to condemn me hereafter and I pray thee O Lord to give me every day a deeper sense of my sins and a more compleat repentance for them a loathing and detestation of them and let their remembrance be bitter unto my soul Send down thy holy Spirit into my heart and let him root out every accursed unmortified Lust and sinful corruption from my Soul and destroy in me all the remaining affections unto Sins and dispose my Soul to a constant obedience of all thy Commandments and keep me in an habitual frame and temper of Piety all the days of my Life O Lord give me daily a clearer sight of my Duty and incline my heart to walk exactly and so acceptably continually before thee make me sensible of thy exuberent Love and let not all thy mercies longanimity and patience towards me a miserable Sinner prove successless but raise in my heart all grateful acknowledgments Blessed be thy great and glorious Name O Lord God for all the mianfestations of thy love and goodness towards me unto this day for the Mercies of thy right as well as thy left hand but especially for the Fountain and Foundation of all our Mercies Jesus Christ for the means of Grace for the hopes of Glory for thy particular preservation of me and mine this Night past and for all other thy goodness and loving kindness and I pray thee O Lord Give me that due sense of all thy Mercies that my heart may be unfeignedly thankful and that I may shew forth thy praise not only with my lips but in my life by giving up my self to thy Service and by walking before thee in Holiness and Righteousness all my days And now O Lord since thou hast been pleased in thy Mercy to bring me safe to the beginning of another day preserve me I beseech thee in the same by thy mighty power from all sin and from all danger Let thy spirit and providence direct and preside over all my Actions this day and keep me by the power of thy Grace from those Sins to which my wicked and disorderly Nature subjects me to but especially free me from Here mention thy most prevailing Sins or such as thy Nature Business or Company may that day incline thee to Make me exactly watchful over my self to behave my self as in thy presence and to set thee always before my Eyes that so I do nothing which may dishonour thee my God or wound my own Soul and grant that by the conduct of thy Grace I may be directed and assisted in keeping strictly close unto all thy Commandments and in the discharge of my Duty in that place and Calling in which thou hast set me Let thy blessing O Lord attend me in my Studies Labours or Employments this day give me holiness of intention in them and succeed all with thy benediction Let thy Providence signally watch over me and thy Presence secure me from all evil either of Soul or Body this day and for ever Hear me O Lord and answer me graciously and do for me more abuundantly then I can ask or think and all I beg for Jesus Christ his sake for whom my Soul desires to bless thee and in whosemost prevailing name and holy words I farther pray unto thee saying Our Father which art in heaven c. A Prayer for the Morning in publick with thy Family which with little variation may be also used in private It is a good thing to give thanks unto thee O Lord and to sing praise unto thy name O thou most high to shew forth thy loving kindness in the Morning and thy faithfulness every Night Hear our Prayers O Lord and accept of our praises in Jesus Christ O Most Gracious Lord our God whose Mercies endures for ever and thy Remembrance throughout all generations Thou art boundless in thy compassions towards all thy Creatures and art infinitely good unto them not only beyond what they can deserve but what they can wish We the unworthyest of them desire at this time to give glory unto thee in a humble and hearty acknowledgment of those many mercies and favours both Spiritual and Temporal which thou from time to time hast vouchsafed unto us and most liberally heaped upon us We confess O Lord that we are not worthy of the least of all thy Mercies but most worthy of the greatest and severest of all thy Judgments especially when we consider the sinfulness and wickedness of our lives past for we have drank iniquity like water gone on very Stubbornly and Rebelliously against thee and thy Commandments all the days of our lives continually committing those things thou forbiddest and leaving undone those things which thou commandest yea all the thoughts and imaginations of our hearts have been evil and only evil and that continually and which is worst of all we have still the same proneness to all that is evil but aversness and obstinacy towards that which is good We have still impenitent hard hearts that are not mollified with the sense of our Sins or of thy Wrath due unto us for them But O thou who art a God of infinite Mercies and Compassions manifest the same unto us in the full pardon and forgiveness of all the Sins that ever we have committed against thy Divine Majesty Accept of that satisfaction and attonement made by thy innocent and beloved Son Jesus Christ and for the merits of his suffering pardon all that is past and be thou fully reconciled unto us And so assist us with thy Grace and Holy Spirit that we may be able for the time to come to repel all the temptations of the Devil the World and the Flesh and to live more Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present evil World that so having our fruits unto holiness here we may have our ends everlasting Life O make us stedfastly resolved to despise all the pleasures of sin rather than offend thee our God and to chuse the most difficult parts of Virtue and Piety to obtain and secure thy Love O let us delight in thy Service and desire thy favour above alâ— things which is better than life it self and all the comforts of it Let us love what thou lovest and hate what thou hatest wish nothing so much as to please thee fear nothing so much as to offend thee and in all things be conformable to thy holy Will and walk before thee in all well pleasing O Lord put us in mind of Death and Judgment that every day we draw nearer to our last day and that we shall all shortly give a severe account of all that we have done in the Body and all that we have left undone of all that we have spoken nay of all that we have thought So teach us therefore O Lord to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto Wisdom and continually so to demean our selves as those that must one day appear before the Judgment seat
which endureth to Everlasting Life Pardon I beseech thee O Lord as all my sins in general so especially whatever amiss hath passed from me this day and for Jesus Christ his sake do thou become unto me a reconciled Father own me for thy Child and continually preservr me by thy providence keep in me always a Religious Sense of thee and of thy goodness towards me and sanctifie my heart with thy holy Spirit that I may walk before thee the remaining part of this day and all the days of my life to thy honour and glâ—ry through Jesus Christ my blessed Lord and Saviour in whose Name and Words I continuâ— to implore thy Mercies saying Our Father c. A Prayer for the Evening in private O Most holy holy Lord God Heaven and Earth are full of the Majesty of thy Glory Thou art a God of purer Eyes then to behold the least Iniquity with the least Approbation thou chargest thine Angels with folly yea the Heavens are not pure in thy sight How shall I then so sinful and impure a Wretch dare to appear before thee or to take so holy a Name into my sinful and unhallowed Lips But O Lord thou art God and not Man thy ways are not as our ways nor thy thoughts as our thoughts but as high as the Heavens are above the Earth so are thy thoughts of Love and Peace higher than our thoughts and therefore relying on thy Mercies and gracious Promises I am bold at this time to prostrate my self before thee humbly confessing that I am corrupt in my very Nature having an inability and aversness to that which is good and an aptitude and proneness to all that is evil but I have corrupted my self yet much worse by many vicious Customs and sinful Habits I have transgressed my duty to thee my Neighbour and my self followed too much the devices and desires of my own wicked heart and not only not obeyed but many times wilfuâ—ly broken thy Commandements which are holy just and good and to my former provocations I have added the sins of the day past of omission and commission of thoughts words and actions Here particularize any sin Yea I know not how often I have offended O cleanse cleanse thou me from my secret faults And now O Lord should'st thou be extream to mark what I have done amiss I could not be justified in thy sight nor be able to answer thee for the sins of this one day but thou O God delightest in Mercy and there is forgiveness with thee that thou may'st be feared O I beseech thee let Repentance and Contrition prepare me for that Mercy of thine and then be thou pleased to take away all mine Iniquity and to receive me graciously into thy favour Neither do I desire thee only for the pardon of my past sins but do most bumbly beg for a Divine Power that I may be able to subdue them for the time to come and get a compleat Victory over all the Temptations of the World the Flesh and the Devil To that end let thy Grace and goodness and tender mercies prevent and follow me all the days of my life and bring into obedience whatsoever exalteth it self against thy blessed will that at last I may come to be such as thou would'st have me to be even holy in all manner of Conversation And as I pray unto thee so I desire likewise from an unseigned heart to praise and to bless thee for thy infinite Mercies for those which relate to this life and a better particularly for the Mercies of the day past Here enumerate them O Lord the least of these deserves my hearty Thanksgivings let not the universality and commonness of thy goodness make me to have the slighter regard of it but fill my Soul with a Sense of thy Love and my Tongue with sincere acknowledgments that as I daily receive blessings from thee so I may daily from an affectionate and devout heart offer up thanks unto thee and let my whole life and all my actions be the verification of my Praises And now I beseech thee O Lord receive me this Night into the Arms of thy providence hide me under the shadow of thy Wings Give thy holy Angels charge over me to pitch their Tents round about me that no evil happen unto me nor any plague come nigh unto my Dwelling but that I and mine and all my Concerns may be safe under thy gracious protection that lying down in thy fear and being refreshed with moderate rest I may be the fitter to serve thee in the duties of the ensuing day And all I beg in the Name and for the sake of Jesus Christ my alone Saviour and Redeemer for whom my Soul hath endless cause to bless and to praise thee to whom with thy self and Holy Spirit of Grace be by me ascribed as is most due and all thy Saints and Servants both in Heaven and in Earth all possible Praise Might Majesty and Dominion both now and for evermore Amen A Prayer in publick with the Family for the Evening HEar us O Lord in the multitude of thy Mercies even in the truth of thy Salvation and let not O let noâ— the loud cry of our sins hinder our Prayers from coming up unto thee or thy Graces and Mercies from coming down upon us but pardon our sins which make us unworthy to appear in thy presence and our services to be accepted by thee and assist us we pray thee with thy holy Spirit which may make us fervent and earnest in our Devotions that so we may obtain our Requests at thy hands in and through Jesus Christ O Eternal and Everliving Lord our God thou art in thy self most glorious and in thy Son most gracious Heaven is thy Throne and that thou fillest with thy Majesty the Earth is but thy Foot-stool and yet that thou fillest with thy Goodness both Heaven and Earth loudly proclaim the exceeding greatness of thy Glory and transcendent Excellencies We thy sinful Creatures who are not worthy to lift up our Eyes unto Heaven for we have sinned against Heaven and before thee are yet bold in the Bowels and Mercies of Jesus Christ to cast our selves down at the Foot-stool of thy Majesty desiring in all humility of Souls and Bodies to acknowledg our own vileness and wretchedness O Lord we brought into the World with us evil and wicked Inclinations and we have since made it our business to improve them into practice As the thoughts and imaginations of our hearts so the very words of our Lips and actions of our Lives have been evil and only evil and that continually Our provocations against thee our God have been very great and hainous and as for their number more than the Sands of the Sea We have lived in an universal disobedience to thy Laws and violated all thy holy Commandments in the keeping of which there is great Reward And this O Lord not only through ignorance and frailty but too many
So assist us continually with thy grace that we may be able to repel all the Temptations of the World the Flesh and the Devil Teach us to deny all Vngodliness and every worldly Lust and to live more Soberly Righteously and Godly in this present World that so having our Fruits unto holiness here we may have our ends Everlasting Life And grant O Lord we may not only cease to do evil but we may also learn to do well that we may have respect unto all thy Commandments and serve thee by a sincere uniform impartial Obedience all the days of our lives giving all diligence to add unto our Faith Vertue to Vertue Temperance to Temperance Chastity to Chastity Humility to Humility Meekness to Meekness Brotherly kindness Charity Preseverance and every Christian Grace That we may at length arrive to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ to be such as thou wouldest have us to be holy in all manner of conversation even as thou our God art Holy Prepare us for all Conditions that thou shalt see fit to call us unto here in this life and give us hearts truly thankful submissive and contented in all thy disposals Give us a sanctified use of all thy Creatures and such a portion of those Temporals as may best secure our eternal concerns Mind us of Death and Judgment That we dwell in Houses of Clay whose Foundation is in the dust that when a few days are past we shall go the way whence we shall not return and that it will not be long before we shall stand at thy just Tribunal and be callâ—d to give an account of all our Actions in the Flesh whether they be good or evil Give us Grace therefore all the days of our appointed time to wait until our change shall come That we may be continually trimming our Lamps and waiting for the coming of the Bridegroom that at whatsoever hour he calls for us we may be ready to enter in and be admitted to sit down at the Eternal Supper of the Lamb. Neither desire we a blessing for our selves alone but for the whole race of Mankind Let the knowledg of the Lord cover the Earth as the Waters cover the Sea Let the people praise thee O God yea let all the people praise thee More especially bless we beseech thee the Congregation of Christs Church however dispersed over the face of the whole Earth Have a particular regard to that Church and Nation in which we live Bless the principal Member of it our gracious Soveraign Lord the King the Queen and all the Royal Family Bless all that wait at thine Altar by what Names or Titles dignified or distinguished Grant that they may speak as the Oracles and live as the Messengers of God Bless all to whom thou hast committed the Sword of Justice let them not bear it in vain but so use it as to be a terror to evil doers and a praise to them that do well Bless all the Commonalty of this Land every one of us in our several places and relations and grant that we may all live in the true Faith and Fear of thee our God in humble obedience to the King and in brotherly Love and Charity one towards another Bind up the broken hearted Give liberty to the Captives and the opening of the Prison to them that are bound Comfort all that mourn in Zion give unto them Beauty for Ashes the Oyl of Joy for Mourning and the Garment of praise for the Spirit of Heaviness And as we pray unto thee so we desire likewise to laud and praise thee for all thy Mercies Spiritual and Temporal towards us for thy protection of us this Night for all the Mercies of the Week past to our Souls and Bodies More especially we beseech thee accept our praises for the great Mercies of this day for all the wonderful works of thy Creation and for the providential care and provision made for every one of them That thou hast appointed us certain seasons and opportunities to Worship and Adore thee even for our own good But above all we acknowledg thy inestimable benefits bestowed upon us in Jesus Christ We praise thee for his immaculate Conception and Incarnation his holy Life and bitter Death for his glorious Resurrection upon this day for the Mission of his blessed Spirit and continual Intercession for us at thy right hand for all the means of Grace and the hopes of Glory We praise thee for the glorious Company of the Apostles for the goodly Fellowship of the Prophets for the Noble Army of Martyrs and for all other thy Saints and Servants departed this life in thy Faith and Fear beseeching thee to give us grace so to follow their good Examples that we together with them may be partakers of a glorious Resurrection unto life everlasting And now O Lord seeing this is thy day a day which thou hast sanctified and set apart for thy Service be pleased to give us Grace wholly to devote it unto thy glory Make us more watchful over all â—ur thoughts words and actions than on other days and so assist us with thy holy Spirit that we may perform all those Duties thou requirest of us in such manner as they may be well pleasing and acceptable in thy sight Fit and prepare us for thy House of Prâ—yer and for the discharge of those great and weighty Duties which thou there expectest from us purifie bur hearts from all sin and inflame them with a Spiritual Zeal and Affection that we may enter into thy Gates with Thanksgiving and into thy Courts with Praise Give us Grace to come before thee with reverence and godly fear Make us servent in our Devotions answerable to our needs and necessities Give us hearing Ears understanding Hearts retentive Memories particular Application of it to our selves and holy Resolutions of practising it in our Lives and Conversations that we may return satisfied with the fulness of thy House and praise thee more and more Open thou the Mouths of thy Ministers every where this day O be present with the Assemblies of thy Saints Speaâ— unto thy Servants the Ministers that they may speak unto thy people and deliver unto every one such Doctrine as may be suitable and seasonable to the several Conditions of their Auditors That the most obdure sinner may be convinced and converted the most weak in faith may be strengthned the most dâ—jeâ—cted in spirit may be comforted And grant that all who speak and all that hear this day may add some Glory unto thy Name and receive some benefit and comfort to their own precious and immortal Souls Finally thou O Lord who knowest the several wants and necessities of all thy Servants O that thou wouldest be graciously pleased to put a word into the mouth of thy Minister which shall dispense thy holy Oracles unto us this day which may particularly respect our Condition whether it be for Comfort or Terror Reprehension or Exhortation