darkness and his Sovereign Dominion over all Angels Authorities and Powers whom thou hast made subject to him 1 Pet. 3. ult O God how great was thy love to the sinful sons of men which moved thee to pass by such innumerable offences whereby they had provoked thy severest displeasure How great was that love which hath honoured our mortal nature with so high a glory and committed the care of our immortal souls to one so mighty to save and so full of kindness and most tender charity toward us O the greatness of thy love which hath chosen us to be thy sons and heirs together with Christ Jesus and set such an high Priest over thy house and family to make intercession for us to dispense all divine blessings to us and send forth Angels themselves to be Heb. 1. ult ministring spirits for them who shall be heirs of salvation Who can understand the exceeding riches of thy grace in sending the holy Ghost to be a witness of our Saviours Resurrection and Exaltation and to make us abound in hope Rom. 15.13 that we shall be one day raised from the dead and carried to heaven and keep a perpetual rest after our short labours here with our blessed Lord and Master in his eternal glory O that we could begin it this day in devout Meditations of these things in unspeakable joy and satisfaction of heart in the assured hope and expectation of them and in blessing and praising thee who hast given us such good hope and everlasting consolation Lift up our minds we pray thee this morning above all these little things here below which are apt to distract our thoughts and turn away our eyes from that heavenly bliss And keep them above in the serious contemplation of it till we be in love with it and our hearts be fully bent and resolved to seek it every day in those ways wherein Jesus hath gone before us though it should be with the loss of all that we here possess It is but meet and fit that we should wholly quit our own will and devote our selves to follow thine especially since thou hast shown such unusual kindness towards us as if we had been innocent we durst not have presumed to expect from thee We are asham'd O Lord to think that ever we have disobeyed thee to whom we stand so deeply indebted both as we are thy creatures and as we are redeemed by the precious bloud of thy Son Jesus It grieves us that we have transgressed any of thy righteous and good Laws by which it is our happiness as well as our duty to be govern'd We abhorr the thoughts of ever breaking them any more beseeching not only thy gracious pardon but thy acceptance of our intire resolution to agree with thy Will in all things for the time to come We here again most solemnly dedicate all the powers of our souls and bodies to thy service desiring unfeignedly that all the thoughts and designs of our minds all the affections and passions of our hearts and all the actions of our life and conversation may be pure holy and unreproveable in thy sight For which end we most humbly implore the assistance of thy good spirit which our Lord hath incouraged us to hope thou wilt give to those that ask and seek it with their whole heart O let thy mercy be upon us according to thy word according as our hope is in thee and our hearts sincerely and stedfastly set to keep thy Commandments Psal 139.23,24 Search us O God and know our hearts try us and know our thoughts And see if there be any way of wickedness in us and lead us in the way everlasting Fill our minds with awful and reverend thoughts of thee as our Sovereign Lord and Judge Settle in us an immutable love to thee and the highest esteem of thy favour and grace as better than life it self That so we may study above all things to approve our very hearts and all our actions to thee and feel the sense of thy acceptance of us giving us greater pleasure than all the world can afford us Make it our delight to praise thee to call to mind thy loving kindness to offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving and to meditate on thy pretious promises Help us to Luk. 21.34 take heed to ourselves lest our hearts be at any time overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and the inordinate cares of this life Heb. 13.5 To have our conversation without covetousness and to be content with such things as we have 1 Thess 4.4 To possess our bodies in sanctification and honour Rom 13.9 To love our neighbours as our selves Matth. 7.12 And as we would that others should do to us to do even so to them Rom. 12.18 To live peaceably as much as in us lyeth with all men 1 Pet. 3.4 To put on the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit Jam. 5.12 To take those who have spoken in the name of our Lord for an example of suffering affliction and of patience 1 Pet. 4.16 And when we suffer as Christians not to be ashamed but to glorifie thee our God on this behalf And accept good Lord of all the praises and acknowledgements of all thy people met this day together according to thy Will and assist us to render thee still more hearty and affectionate praises in that holy Assembly to which we are going to joyn our selves O that all people on the face of the earth were united together likewise in one body to shew forth thy praise O that thy way were known upon earth thy saving health among all Nations And that all Christian Kings especially may be filled with thy holy Spirit and think it their Crown and their Glory to be the devout worshippers and faithful subjects of the Lord Jesus the King of kings and the Lord of lords Psal 132.9 O that thy priests may be cloathed with righteousness and thy Saints shout aloud for joy That all who are in distress and misery may rejoyce also in hope that all afflictions shall turn to their good and Heb. 12.11 afterwards yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness O Lord hear us and make thy face to shine upon thy servants that we may enter into thy gates with thanksgiving and into thy courts with praise that we may be thankful unto thee and bless thy Name 100.4,5 For the Lord is good his mercy is everlasting and his truth endureth to all generations Our Father c. At Night O Lord most high the Holy One who inhabitest Eternity who only hast immortality and art most blessed in thy own incomprehensible perfections Thou art to be feared and loved and worshipped and praised by us and all reasonable creatures who have any knowledge how great how mighty how wise and merciful thou art All thy works praise thee O Lord and we more especially ought to bless thee whom thou hast
us especially those in the Lord Jesus in whom thy Grace hath so exceedingly abounded as to surpass not only our deserts but the largest of our desires Blessed blessed for ever blessed be thy fatherly goodness who hast sent him from heaven so unexpectedly to visit us vile wretches who dwell in houses of clay whose foundation is in the dust Lord what is man that thou art mindful of him or the son of man that thou didst thus visit him We thank thee according to our poor ability from the very bottom of our hearts for his manifestation in our flesh for the charitable testimonies he gave of his love to mankind in the course of his life for that astonishing grace in submitting himself to dye for us for his glorious Resurrection and Ascension to heaven for the Soveraign Power and Authority which thou hast given him at thy right hand for his compassionate intercession for us and the assurances we have received of his being the King of glory and of his continued kindness to us by the coming of the Holy Ghost We will never cease to bless thee for that great salvation Heb. 2.3,4 which was first preached by the Lord was confirmed by them that heard him and for the witness which thou barest to them both with signs and wonders and with divers miracles and gifts of the holy Ghost according to thy own will We rejoyce in the Light of thy holy Gospel that we see the way to be happy both by the Doctrine and example of thy Son Jesus that we have the incouragement of his precious promises and such good hope of remission of sin and eternal life in the day when he shall judge the world in righteousness O how much are we bound unto thee for that comfortable hope which thou hast given us of seeing our dear Saviour in all his glory and being there where he is and reigning with him for ever We again render thee our most hearty thanks for that everlasting consolation and good hope through grace which thou hast given us and for all those benefits likewise which thou art pleased to bestow upon us to make our stay here on earth the more convenient and delightful to us We are every way obliged to thee beyond all that we are able to express or conceive Thou feedest us and clothest us thou preservest our health and our strength thou hast delivered us from innumerable dangers and when thou hast chastised us it hath been in great mercy and clemency and not according to our deserving O that all the world would shew forth thy praise and devote themselves to the service of our Lord. Let all Kings of the earth submit themselves unto him and glory in the name of his obedient subjects High and low rich and poor let them praise the name of the Lord from this time forth and for evermore Accept most gracious God of these unfeigned desires of us thy servants who for our parts intirely dedicate our selves both souls and bodies unto thee Resolving in all things to walk worthy of thee who hast called us to thy Kingdom and Glory and blessed us also with many other good things which make this life to be a more easie passage to a better We will never forget how much we are indebted to thee but study to express our grateful remembrance of thy mercies by living Tit. 2.12,13 soberly righteously and godly in this present world looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Favour we pray thee these holy purposes with the constant assistance of thy good spirit that we may be able to accomplish what we have begun and to perfect holiness in thy fear Help us to 2 Pet. 1.5,6,7,8 add to our faith vertue and to vertue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity That these things being in us and abounding they may make us to be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ Preserve us this day especially that we swerve not presently from these pious resolutions But may give such a proof of their sincerity by our being steadfast and immoveable in all well doing notwithstanding any temptation to the contrary that we may have the better hope we shall persevere to the very end through thy continued grace in Christ Jesus in whose words we desire all that thou seest needful either for our souls or bodies saying Our Father c. At Night WE are here again prostrate before thee O Lord of heaven and earth to joyn our selves with all that holy company Revel 4.8,11 who rest not day and night saying Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created Blessed be thy divine goodness which hath made the children of men but little lower than the Angels and crowned us with such glory and honour that we are capable to accompany that heavenly host in giving continual thanks and praise unto thee Praised be thy name that we are now alive and that we have the use of our reason and understanding and enjoy so many of the comforts and conveniences of this present life and have attained a good hope through Christ Jesus of being immortally happy O how great was thy love which sent him into the world to direct us in the way to that happiness by his holy doctrine and life and to be a propitiation for our sins by his death and to Act. 26.23 be the first that should rise from the dead and should shew light unto the world We rejoyce in that light of life We most chearfully devote our selves to be the faithful Disciples of him the Prince of peace the Lord of life and glory It is our happiness as well as our duty to be governed by him and obey his commands We are sensible that they are all equal just and good and that thou hast done us an infinite kindness in teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world And therefore we here again most heartily surrender our wills to thine desiring that we may unchangeably cleave unto it with the greatest and most intire love and affection to all its commands O that there may abide for ever in us such a strong and powerful sense of thy mighty love towards us in Christ Jesus as may constrain us freely and willingly to please thee in the constant exercise of piety and devotion righteousness and mercy temperance and chastity meekness and patience truth and fidelity together with such an humble contented and peaceable spirit as may adorn the Religion of our Lord and Master O God that these holy desires and inclinations may
be â—eared Psal 130.4 Thou hast sworn â—hat thou desirest not â—he death of a sinner Ezek. 18.32 â—ut rather that he should return and â—ve And hast sent thy Son Jesus â—ith the most indearing arguments â—f the greatest love to perswade us â—o return unto our duty Behold O Lord I return with grief and â—ffliction of spirit that I have offendâ—d thee detesting the thoughts of â—oing the like again and resolving â—o be more careful and diligent and â—rcumspect for the time to come â— let me live to the praise of thy â—mnipotent Grace inabling me to â—erform these resolutions in a more â—rict and exact obedience to thy hoâ— commands the rest of my days â—ercy mercy I most earnestly beg â— Father of mercies for the sake of him that dyed for me not meerly for the pardon of my sins but for a Divine Power to enable me to subdue them I desire not thy infinite goodness to bear me out in rebellion against thy righteousness purity and truth but that by thy goodness I may be partaker of them that my repentance may be accepted and that it may be hearty and stedfast never to be repented of I desire no peace quiet and ease in my heart but in a constant and resolute opposition of all the temptation of the world the flesh and the devil and in the hope I have thaâ— through thy gracious assistance iâ— shall be victorious O settle me I beseech thee in thiâ— holy disposition that I may preservâ— an intire friendship with thee hereâ— after by an happy agreement witâ— thy will and pleasure in every thing And for that end makâ— me strong in the Lord Ephes 6.10 anâ— in the power of his might That bâ—ing sensible of my own great weakness I may more earnestly depend upon thy aid from above by an humble and vigorous faith in thy Almighty goodness Maintain such a clear light in my mind that may keep me from being deceived with the vain shadows and empty appearances of satisfactory pleasure in any thing of this world Fortifie my will with the power of thy Divine love that may overcome all sensual affections that arise in me at any time against thy sacred commands And possess me with such a lively hope of those good things which Christ hath promised in the other life that may make me active â—nd zealous stedfast and unmoveable â—lways abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that my labour shall â—ot be in vain in the Lord. Thou knowest the secrets of all â—earts let thy mercy O Lord be â—pon me according as I deliberately and sincerely chuse to cleave unto thee with purpose of heart Act. 11.23 Psal 51.9,10,11 O cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy holy Spirit from me But hide thy face from my sins Psal 119.80 and blot out all mine iniquities Psal 19.13,14 Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a constant spirit in me Make my heart to be sound in thy Statutes that I may never be ashamed Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins let them not have dominion over me Then shall I be upright and I shall be innocent from the great transgression The words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart shall be accepted in thy sight O Lord my strength and my Redeemer Amen Amen A THANKSGIVING To the DIVINE GOODNESS For any hope of a PARDON After such RELAPSE O Eternally most blessed God the Fountain of all good from whence all creatures derive whatsoever they injoy They are all poor and indigent things full of necessities and wants which are continually supplied out of thy fulness But the wants of our souls are the most lamentable because besides the poverty of creatures we have made a great many needs to our selves by our wilful departure from thee in whom we live and move and have our being We stand in need of thy Pardon of thy converting grace and the greater supplies of thy holy Spirit which we know not how with any confidence to expect but that all these wants are not too big for thy infinite goodness to relieve and that thou hast been pleased most compassionately to consider our miserable condition in sending Christ Jesus into the world and filling him with all the treasures of thy grace and mercy that he might dispense them to us according to our several necessities O how excellent is thy loving kindness O God! How surpassing is thy love that will pass by the insolent offences of thy creatures against thy high authority and Soveraign goodness and not let them eternally perish without a remedy in that forlorn condition into which they have brought themselves â— Blessed for ever blessed be thy sparing Mercy which hath delivered Christ Jesus for our offences and testified thy acceptance of his Sacrifice of himself by raising him again for our justification Blessed by thy name for the gracious declaration which thou hast made that if any man sin we have an advocate with thee 1 Joh. 2.1,2 Christ Jesus the righteous who is the propitiation for our sins I most thankfully receive these glad tidings which are worthy of all acceptation 1 Tim. 1.15 that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners Thanks be to thy tender mercy which hath restored us to a possibility of recovering thy grace and favour The smallest hope of it I acknowledge is more valuable than the greatest abundance of all the injoyments and pleasures of this present life What praise therefore what love what obedience am I bound to render unto thee who hast given me such a good hope of peace and reconciliation with thee and thereby delivered me from the horror of my own guilty mind remembring that I have adventured to oppose my will to thine I ought for ever with the most zealous devotion of a grateful and obedient heart to admire and stand amazed at thy inconceiveable Grace which will not strictly mark what is done amiss but accept of our repentance and amendment in stead of an intire and constant performance of our duty to thee O the heighth the depth the length and the breadth of thy love in Christ Jesus which is the satisfaction of our heart and the joy of our lives which would otherwise be intolerably grievous and burdensome to us whilst we remember that we are sinners Fill me O Lord with a most ardent love to thee now that I here offer up my self in truth and sincerity of heart to be wholly disposed by thee Behold O Lord my will lies at thy feet I would have no will of my own but desire only that thy will may be done And fill me with an holy fear of thee that thy indulgent mercy may not make me remiss and negligent and presumptous again to offend thee But a perpetual sense of my new obligations to thee in reviving my hopes which I had forfeited in thee may render me more watchful more
it that at what distance soever we be one from another we may all live and walk in the same spirit of Faith and Love and Holiness Give us an happy meeting together again in this place if it be thy good will and pleasure to pay thee the vows which I make of greater care and diligence in thy service and greater charity towards all my neighbours Howsoever in the end of our pilgrimage bring us all together in that blessed rest which thou hast prepared for thy people after all their travels and labours through thy mercy in Christ Jesus To which I commend my self and all mine both now and ever Amen A short Prayer in ones Inne or at the end of the Iourney BLessed be thy goodness O Lord my Creator and continual Preserver by which I have been led it safety to this place and am not only alive but sound and unmaimed To thee O God will I sing and give praise who hast dealt so bountifully with me For thou hast delivered my soul from death Psal 116.1 7.8,9 mine eyes from tears Gen. 15.1 and my feet from falling 17.1 I love the Lord because he hath heard my voice and my supplications Because he hath inclined his ear unto me therefore will I call upon him as long as I live I will walk also with a perfect heart before the Lord who is my shield and my exceeding great reward Preserve in me I beseech thee a pious remembrance of all thy mercies and of all those holy resolutions which they excite in me Take me still into thy Almighty protection Continue me in thy fear and love and faithful obedience That having finished this journey in peace I may return to the place from whence I came full of thankful affections to thee and zealously disposed to perform my vows in a careful discharge of all the duties which my place and relations require of me And inable me good Lord ever to perform them with uprightness of heart and good will as becomes the servant of Christ Jesus To the same merciful providence which hath watched over me all this day I commend my self and all my relations and friends every where this night Beseeching thee to awaken in me in the morning the same love and thankfulness and humble confidence which I now find and desire ever to have in my heart towards thee my gracious Father Saviour and Deliverer To whom be glory honour and praise everlasting Amen A Prayer in case of any hurt from Thieves or otherwise O Most merciful Father for so I ought ever to acknowledge thee without whom one of the smallest creatures cannot fall to the ground and to whom we are of more value than many of them Matth. 10.29 I humbly and meekly submit my self to this cross in my way which thou in thy wisdom hast suffeâ—ed to befal me I know that thou â—rt able to make even this with all â—ther things work together for my â—ood And therefore I beseech thee â—ut graciously to pardon my sins which deserve greater punishment â—nd to preserve my soul still in safety â—…om all murmuring and repining at â—y providence by a stedfast faith â—nd trust in thee and an absolute reâ—gnation to thy holy will and pleaâ—ure and I shall not cease to â—less thee and to speak good of thy â—ame Help me to learn by this to live in constant sense of the uncertainty â—f all worldly hopes to set my affeâ—ions more perfectly on unchangeaâ—le enjoyments and to place my â—appiness only in chearful obedience â—nd contented patience in all estates â—nd conditions of life I remember â—…at we are all but pilgrims and stranâ—ers whilst we are here subject to many other changes and chances iâ— this mortal life And thereforâ— whatsoever I or those I have left aâ— home may further suffer before mâ— return Lord assist us all to take thaâ— patiently also And as we have received so many good things froâ— thee to receive likewise that whicâ— is evil giving thanks to thee thâ— Father of mercies who hast give us such a good hope of perfect secâ—rity peace and joy in our heaveâ—ly Country when we have doâ— and endured all thy pleasure 〈◊〉 the expectation of which blesseâ— state I will continually rejoyce praying thee to purifie me more aâ— more that I may be prepared fâ—… it and at last by thy mercy entâ— into it to give thee eternal praise Amen A Prayer to be said for a Friend in a Iourney O God whose Almighty Power and wise Providence and Omnipresent Goodness is the security support and comfort of all those that know thee It is the highest satisfaction of our souls to have a lively hope in thee of eternal life in the other world And to be perswaded that thou lovest us and wilt take care of us and bless us whilst we continue here and that nothing can befal us without the knowledge and consent of thy infinite goodness gives the most solid peace and repose unto our spirits in all the alterations and changes of this life I rejoyce in the belief that I live in a world which is full of thee that I am always under thy eye and have thee near unto me as to observe me so to help protect and defend me And I beseech thee fill the mind of him * Or her who is now gone from me with the same sense of thee that he may carry along with him every where this stedfast faith and hope in thee as the stay the rest and the refreshment of his soul How far soeveâ— he be from me O that he may be nigh to thee in frequent serious thoughts of thee and hearty love to thee and perfect trust in thee and a constant disposition of mind and will to do and be what thou pleasest That travelling under the shadow of the Almighty no harm may come to him but even those things which we account the greatest mischiefs if they shall betide him may be humbly accepted by us all with fear and reverence and chearful submission to thee as becomes those who profess our selves thy friends as well as thy servants No Thieves Murderers or other evil persons or things can approach him I know without thy leave who governest and over-rulest the motions of every creature at thy pleasure to which we ever ought â—o submit our own But if thou â—hinkest good to restore him hither â—gain untouched by any of them Lord help us to be so much the more thankful to thee who dealest with us according to our own hearts desire O that the sense of â—hy goodness then may so powerâ—ully affect our hearts that we may â—e moved thereby to a greater zeal â—nd freedom of spirit in thy service â—nd be the more forward to imitate â—hee in doing good and showing mercy to all men O that thy benefits may never slip out of our minds O that the mediâ—ation of them may be â—weet unto us Psal 104.34 and we may learn
unto her and her relations further favour Tob. 8.16 and finish their life in health with joy and mercy Renew her strength daily and as that increaseth so make her thankfulness and pious affections towards thee and serious resolutions to obey thee faithfully grow up together therewith Refresh her spirit while she lyeth on this bed of weakness with many heavenly thoughts and delightful meditations of all thy mercies towards her and towards mankind especially with a sense of thy wonderful love in Christ Jesus who was pleased to be born of a woman and to become like one of us that we might be assured of thy care over us in every condition and be made thy children and at last be heirs of everlasting life And when she hath recovered her former strength make her to feel this love still more powerful in her heart exciting her to serve thee carefully in all righteousness sobriety modesty devotion and readiness to assist others especially the poor and needy in the same distress wherein she hath been her self We commend likewise this little one which thou hast blessed her withal unto thy tender care and fatherly love beseeching thee that it may live to be dedicated unto thee and to be instructed in the knowledge of thee and to praise thee as we now do for bringing it into the world and for making it partakeâ—… likewise of thy grace in Christ Jesus Or if it shall seem good to thee to let either of them fall into any further danger enable her to endure iâ— with patient submission to thee trusting even in death it self in thy good providence and in thy precious promises who never failest those that faithfully seek thee Hear us O Father of mercies and pardon our offences pitty our infirmities make us more thankful for what we have received and more fit for thy future mercies either in this life or in the next through thy infinite love declared to us in Christ Jesus in whose holy words we conclude our prayers saying as he hath taught us Our Father c. A Thanksgiving to be used by the person her self when she is able UNto thee O God do I give thanks unto thee do I give thanks for that thou art near thy wondrous works declare Psal 75.1 In my distress I called upon thee and my cry came unto thee 18.6 34.4 I sought thee O Lord 138.3 and thou heardest me 30.3 and deliveredst me from all my fears 66.20 56.12 In the day when I cryed 104.33,34 thou answeredst me and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul Thou hast brought up my soul from the grave thou hast kept me alive that I should not go down to the pit Blessed be God which hath not turned away my prayer nor his mercy from me Blessed be God who hath preserved the fruit of my womb and made me the joyful mother of a child Thy vows are upon me O God I will render praise unto thee I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live I will sing praises unto my God while I have my being My meditation of him shall be sweet I will be glad in the Lord. Accept O most merciful Father of these thankful acknowledgements Psal 17.2 57.2 which go not forth out of fained lips And be pleased graciously to preserve such a lasting and fresh remembrance of thy great mercies in my heart that I may always be joyful in thee and speak good of thy name and trust in thee at all times and still cry unto thee O God most high who performest all things for me Make me studious likewise and forward to bring forth all the fruits of righteousness throughout the whole course oâ— my life which may witness the truth and sincerity of my thankfulness to thee O that I may never be less earnest and fervent in the return of obedience than I have been in desires and prayers to receive thy blessings Dispose me to have a kind and tender care of this infant which thou hast committed to my charge Make me willing to undergo to the utmost of my power the pains that accompany its education Let not the love of ease and pleasure breed in me an aversness to any duty to which both Nature and Religion incline me or give me grace by sober thoughts and a thankful remembrance of the late pain from which thou hast delivered me to overcome it Especially indue me with the greatest love to its precious and immortal soul And help me so to grow and encrease in Christian wisdom and goodness that I may be able to instruct it when it is capable in the fear of our Lord and by meek and gentle admonitions together with a good example in all things to win it to the love of true godliness Or if thou art pleased to take it from me who deserve not the least of thy mercies Lord so moderate my affections and bring them in subjection to thee that I may not undutifully repine at thy providence but in an humble adoration of thy unsearchable wisdom and a stedfast confidence of thy good will towards me resign it unto thee from whom I received it And I also beseech thy Divine goodness when thou shalt restore me to the publick assemblies of thy people again to give me grace to receive that mercy with exceeding joy Prepare my heart with enlarged affection to offer unto thee not only the sacrifice of praise giving thanks unto thy name but all other oblations which ought to accompany such addresses to thy glorious Majesty That they may be but an earnest of my future diligence and zeal in thy Divine Service and oâ— my readiness to do good and communicate unto others whereby I may lay up in store for my self a good foundation against the time to come 1 Tim. 6.19 that I may lay hold on eternal life through Christ Jesus Amen A Prayer for good success in some extraordinary business ALmighty and most merciful father the supreme Governour of the whole world who disposest and orderest all things in heaven and earth with admirable judgement and canst not possibly err in what thou doest nor fail of what thou designest I adore in the humblest reverence of my soul thy most glorious Majesty thy eternal Power Holiness Goodness and Truth which are all beyond my comprehension And more particularly I adore thy unspotted Justice and all-seeing Wisdom which penetrates into the deepest secrets and spies out all the ways of the sons of men and renders to every one of them according to their doings Jer. 10.23 I know O Lord that the way of man is not in himself Prov. 16.9 19.21 it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps Tob. 4.19 The success of all our counsels and actions depends on thy pleasure and when we have devised the way we intend to go thou givest it what issue seems good in thine eyes There are many devices in a mans heart
of the poor Prov. 22.2 with whom there is no respect of persons Look graciously upon me I humbly beseech thee who here cast down my self before thee acknowledging thy Soveraign power over all and thy wise providence which hath disposed all things into several ranks and orders for their mutual help and benefit I humbly submit to the state and condition wherein thou hast been pleased to place me below many others I thank thee that I live and that I live in health and have strength of body great and invaluable blessings and that I have so much liberty as to make my requests unto thee and acknowledge thy mercies and that I have any hope thou wilt never cease to do me good till thou hast crowned all thy mercies in eternal life Good Lord pardon me if I have at any time murmur'd and repin'd at my condition or envied the higher estate of other persons Pardon all my other offences whatsoever they have been and vouchsafe but to deliver me from the bondage of sin and to make me a Servant of Righteousness and I shall not only be contented but perpetually rejoyce in thy Salvation Indue me with a right understanding of my duty in this relation wherein I stand That according to thy command I may account those whom I serve worthy of all honour being careful to please them in all things 1 Tim. 6.1 never contradicting Tit. 2.9,10 nor purloyning Ephes 6.5,7 but showing all good fidelity and with good will and singleness of heart doing service as to the Lord and not to men Help me to demean my self so humbly Collos 3.23,25 and whatsoever I do to do it so heartily that I may obtain favour in their eyes Or if they be froward and hard to please O God preserve me from all unseemly passions and disrespectful behaviour towards them And make me so much the more diligent in their business remembring that I serve the Lord Christ from whom I expect to receive the reward of the inheritance Coloss 3.23,25 If thou art pleased any other way to afflict me with sickness or pains â—n my body which may hinder my â—abour and cast me into poverty Lord still strengthen my faith and confidence in thee And help me to â—ear it with a patient mind looking â—nto Jesus who took upon him the form of a Servant and became poor and suffered much for our sake but how is therefore highly exalted to â—uccour and comfort all those that â—ollow after him contentedly in well-doing In his Name and Words I â—ecommend my self unto thy mercy saying Our Father c. A Prayer of a poor Prisoner for Debt O God who art present to us in all places and hast regard to the sighs and groans of the miserable who humbly implore thy pitty and compassion towards them Vouchsafe to look graciously upon thy afflicted servant in this place which is most desolate and comfortless unless the light of thy countenance shine upon me I confess that I have too much abused the liberty which I formerly enjoyed and did not so carefully improve as I oughâ— to have done those happy opportunities which therewith were puâ— into my hands Many ways I am sensible I have offended thy Divine Majesty * Here acknowledge the particulars for which I am heartily sorry and acknowledgâ— my self infinitely indebted to thy goodness that I am not plunged into the depth of misery to bewail my sins in the bottomless pit I thank thee O Lord with all my soul that I am not shut up in the place of outer darkness and that I have any hope to obtain the benefit of the redemption which is in Christ Jesus In whose Name I beseech thee to pardon me and likewise to sanctifie these straits wherein I lye to the freeing my soul from the bond of all iniquity and the restoring me to the glorious liberty of thy children Help me seriously to follow the direction of thy Providence in this restraint and now that I am so much alone by my self to descend into my own heart to search and try my ways and unfeignedly to turn to thee my God Enlarge my spirit more than ever now that my body is confined in fervent Prayer for thy Divine Grace and in chearful Thanksgivings for the innumerable benefits that I have received from thy bounty and in tender pitty and commiseration of the sad condition of all distressed people And be pleased to touch the hearts of my Creditors also with a sense of my miseries incline them to accept of what I am able to pay and make me willing conscientiously to satisfie them to the utmost of my power In the mean time bestow upon me the blessing of a contented spirit Help me patiently to endure the inconveniences of this place And preserve me from the danger of all the temptations which I meet with in it especially from seeking a remedy of my sorrows in the pleasures of intemperance or evil company or any prophane mirth whatsoever Be thou my comfort O God my exceeding joy and the full satisfaction of my soul in all conditions And when thou art pleased to deliver me from this place and restore me again to my desired freedom O Lord make me ever mindful of the vows wherein I am now forward to bind my self Dispose my heart then to be so sensibly affected with the least of those mercies which formerly I have little regarded that I may never forget to praise thee even for the benefit of a sweeter air than now I enjoy and to acknowledge thee in the night season upon my bed and to thank thee for the coursest food and especially I may rejoyce to go again into the great Congregation to praise thee with the most ardent love for all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus Preserve in me also a grateful remembrance of the kindness of my Friends and Neighbours especially of those persons to whom I stand particularly indebted when by their charity I shall be released And whatsoever loss they sustain by my poverty good Lord make it up abundantly to them and theirs out of thy rich grace and mercy Requite their love with plenty and prosperity in this world and give them the reward of eternal life and glory in the world to come through Christ Jesus Amen A Prayer of a great Malefactor in Prison O Most holy and righteous Judge of the whole world give a sinful and miserable wretch leave to prostrate himself before the Throne of thy Grace and implore that mercy which formerly I have despised or abused I am not worthy I confess to lift up my eyes towards heaven and it becomes me in the greatest dejection of spirit to sigh and groan under the load of my sins which have been so great and many so bold so presumptuous and shameless that when with an awakened mind I reflect upon them I am ready to sink into hell and utterly despair of any mercy O God how have I hated
beseech God to bestow upon us And therefore with a sincere hatred of all sin and a spirit armed with hearty resolution against it invoke the Divine Grace for your assistance If you be true Christian Souldiers that manfully fight under the banner of our Lord call to him for aid with your weapons in your hand With a mind bent to consider desire God to enlighten you And with an heart stored with the treasures of Divine Truth beseech him to quicken and enliven you And with close and urgent applications of them to your heart entreat him to enable you to form and shape your whole man spirit soul and body according to them For God is not hard to be entreated since he entreats us to come to him yea gives a great deal of his grace without asking but it is the faintness or inconstancy of our endeavours to comply with his grace and our own petitions that makes them no more prevalent They that had no other Director but the light of their own minds saw this well enough and were so sensible of this truth that they were wont publickly to declaim as we find in Aristides his Oration to the Rhodians concerning Concord against the absurd folly of those who were perpetually importuning the Gods with their Prayers but would do nothing for themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. no not those things which they knew the Gods had put in their power And in the same manner Demosthenes in one of his Philippicks chides the Greeks comparing them to men who seeing great Hail-stones fall upon their heads prayed that they might be preserved in safety but would not run away to secure themselves from harm And therefore Clemens Alexandrinus Lib. 7. Strom. justly commends the wisdom of those who made the Laws of the famous Olympick Combats By which he that entred the lists having for a long time before exercised his body to feats of activity was ordered before he began to contend for the Prize to stand right over against the Statue of Jupiter and to say this Prayer O God if I am in all regards duly fitted and prepared as I ought for this Combate vouchsafe in thy righteous judgement to grant the victory to me Even so saith he may a man chearfully approach to God who faithfully and with a good conscience doth all that he can both to learn his will and to exercise himself in good works that are pleasing to him for he shall have all that can be wisht for the perfecting of his Salvation Just as a Physician as he goes on restores health to those who cooperate with his medicines so will God give his eternal salvation to them who work together with him both unto knowledge and unto well doing As for those who do not live well it is plain saith he in another place Lib. 6. Strom. that they do not so much as know what things are most profitable for themselves And if so then it is manifest likewise that they cannot tell how to pray to God to receive good things from him being ignorant of what is good Or if they should receive them they would have no sense at all of the gift nor use it according to its worth and dignity and that for the very same reason because they understand not its value Inspire therefore O God of all Grace I most humbly beseech thee both my heart and the hearts of all others who shall read this Book with such a godly will to endeavour zealously in all things to do what is well pleasing in thy sight that we may comfortably expect the constant and powerful presence of thy holy Spirit with us to help us in the performance of our duty till we have perfected holiness in thy fear And the sincerity of that love to thee which we profess in our Prayers being testified by an unwearied observance of all thy commands we may be able also to wait with an humble confidence for thy salvation who hast graciously promised to reward our weak and short obedience in this life with inconceiveable and endless joys in a better World Amen Imprimatur Sam. Parker R mo in Christo Patri ac Domino D no. Gilberto Archiep. Cantuar. à sac Dom. Ex Aedib Lambeth Octob. 21. 1672. ERRATA PAge 41. line 8. read abundant p. 50. l. 3. for thou r. the. p. 51. l. 11. r. consecrate p. 84. l. 9. r. devote p. 92. l. 24. r. children p. 135. penult dele to p. 258. l. 7. for who r. thou p. 265. l. 8. for bountiful r. beautiful p. 495. l. 5. r. every one PRAYERS FOR FAMILIES On the LORDS DAY In the MORNING ALmighty and Eternal God the Lord of heaven and earth we thy creatures are here prostrate before thee to express our humble and grateful sense of our dependence on thee to honour thee with our Praises and Thanksgivings and an hearty oblation of our selves our souls and bodies to thy service We are unworthy we confess to be admitted to speak unto thy Majesty nor can our thoughts or words add any thing to thy greatness happiness and glory but since thou art pleased in thy infinite goodness to do us the honour not only to admit but to invite our addresses unto thee that our spirits may be bettered by lifting up themselves to thee from whom we come by meditating thy praises by exciting our love and praying our acknowledgements to thee we most humbly and thankfully receive this thy great grace and favour towards us Remembring withal that it is but just and reasonable we should pay thee our vows which we made the last night being so graciously raised up in soundness of body and mind to see the light of this day which our Saviour hath made that we may be glad and rejoyce therein We laud and magnifie therefore thy most holy Name thy infinite Power Wisdom and Bounty which all the world proclaims with the highest praises We bless thee in behalf of all thy creatures as well as of our selves to whom thou hast given dominion over the works of thy hands for Psal 145.15,16 the eyes of all look unto thee and thou givest them their meat in due season Thou openest thy hand and satisfiest the desire of every living thing But above all we acknowledge thy inestimable benefits bestowed upon mankind in Christ Jesus the Son of thy Love whom thou wast pleased in thy infinite mercy to send among us in our own likeness to assure us of thy good will towards us and to instruct us in our duty towards thee and to give us hope of no less than immortal life by patient continuance in well doing We remember with all thankfulness his miraculous Birth at which the Angels rejoyced his most holy Life his bitter Agony and bloudy Death his glorious Resurrection upon this day from the grave his Ascension into the heavens to fit on the right hand of the Majesty on high his Triumph over all the powers of
good likewise we must hate and abhorr our selves who cannot but love and delight in those who show us any kindness and bestow any benefits upon us though they are but thy Ministers and Servants that have nothing and can do nothing but what thou hast given them and inclinest them to do By thee we were formed and brought out of our Mothers Womb. And by a greater mercy were early born again and made thy children in Christ Jesus We have been thy care ever since and been instructed in that Covenant of Grace into which at our Baptism we were received by the knowledge thou hast given us of thy blessed Gospel Wherein we read the great love of our Saviour in dying for us and have the promise of his Spirit to sanctifie and govern us his holy Precepts for the rule of our actions his glorious Example to excite and quicken us and the hope of eternal bliss by his Resurrection from the dead to incourage and comfort us in well doing And in the mean time we injoy the society of thy Saints the ministry of thy Angels and the direction and assistance of thy faithful servants the Embassadors of peace and reconciliation with thee All which fruits of thy wonderful love we have long enjoyed and thou hast this day entertained us at thy Table where thou hast refreshed us with the Communion of the body and bloud of Christ Jesus the earnest of a blessed resurrection and the pledge of immortality Besides innumerable good things which thy most tender mercy hath been pleased to bestow upon our bodies to make our passage to that blessedness through all the troubles and dangers of this life the more easie and delightful to us And all this thou hast done for those who have been too idle and useless cold and dull inconstant and soon weary of their duty forgetful of benefits and unfaithful to their own promises But thy infinite goodness still continues to do it to make us more diligent more zealous more steadfast and immoveable more mindful of thee and of our own holy purposes that we may be abundant as there is reason in the work of our Lord knowing that our labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. And that is the most sincere and fervent desire of our souls likewise who here most humbly beseech thee by the power of thy holy Spirit to preserve in us a perpetual and affectionate remembrance of all thy undeserved kindness to us Stir up all that is within us every morning to bless and praise thy holy Name That by a renewed serious acknowledgement of thy benefits we may be more and more stirred up to love and to all good works O that the Lord Jesus may be always in our thoughts and in our hearts that we may make him our pattern as he is our hope O that nothing may be so dear unto us in this world as his holiness his humility his goodness and charity his meekness and patience his intire trust in thee and resignation to thee his delight to do thy will O God in hope of that Tit. 1.1 eternal life which thou who canst not lye hast promised to us Fix our minds and affections more steadfastly on that glory wherewith he is crowned by his obedient suffering of death that we may never be weary nor faint in our minds under any sufferings for well doing but continuing faithful to the death may also receive the Crown of Life Accept we pray thee of this our bounden duty and service pitty our great weaknesses pardon all our sins and negligences and deny us not the grace of thy holy Spirit which we have implored to inable us to amend our lives according to thy holy Word But after thou hast refreshed us with quiet sleep this night let us feel it moving our hearts to the same holy thoughts acknowledgements desires and resolutions which it now works in us through thy mercy declared to us in Christ Jesus In whose words we conclude our Prayers saying as he hath taught us Our Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy Name Thy kingdom come Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil c. PRAYERS FOR FAMILIES MVNDAY MORNING WE humble our selves O Lord of heaven and earth before thy glorious Majesty we heartily acknowledge thy Sovereign Dominion over us all creatures we praise and magnifie thy eternal Power Wisdom Goodness and Truth and we render thee our most unfeigned thanks for the innumerable benefits which thou in thy bounty hast loaded us withal Above all for the gracious declaration thou hast made of thy good will to us in Christ Jesus by whom thou hast invited and incouraged sinners to return to thee and directed them in the way to everlasting bliss We blush to think of our shameful forgetfulness of thee and ingratitude to thee to whom we owe all that we have in this world and all our hopes in the next We most humbly implore thy tender mercies in the forgiveness of all our sins whereby we have offended either in thought word or deed against thy just and holy Laws For we are truly sorry for all our mis-doings we utterly renounce whatsoever is contrary to thy will and here devote our selves intirely to the obedience thereof Accept O most merciful Father of this renewed Dedication which we make of our whole man body soul and spirit to thee And as thou dost inspire us with holy resolutions so accompany them always with the assistance of thy grace that we may be able every day to offer up our selves more sincerely and more cheerfully to thee with more pure affection and hearty devotion and ready disposition to thy service We adore thy great grace which hath brought salvation to us and Tit. 2.11,12 teaches us that denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world We will indeavour O Lord to preserve a grateful sense of thy mighty love in our mind and to follow the doctrine and example of thy Son Christ Jesus as becomes those who have such a blessed hope and look for so great Salvation at the day of his glorious appearing We desire above all things to be so pure and undefiled so meek and gentle so humble and lowly so just and merciful so peaceable and patient contented and thankful as our blessed Lord and Master was And we hope that thou wilt fulfil all the gracious promises he hath made to us which we esteem far greater treasure than thousands of gold and silver They are the support the comfort the satisfaction of our hearts We ask nothing but that it may be to thy servants according to his Word Thou hast mercifully kept us the last night blessed be thy continued goodness and raised us again to see
may enjoy the blessings of peace and plenty and there may be no complaining in our streets We recommend to thee all our friends and neighbours all the poor the sick and other afflicted persons desiring those mercies for them which we should ask for our selves were we in their condition incouraged hereto by the large declarations which thou hast made of thy abundant goodness to mankind in our Lord Jesus In whose words we conclude our humble supplications unto thee saying Our Father c. At Night ALmighty and everlasting God the Soveraign Lord of all creatures in heaven and earth and our most merciful and gracious Father in thy Son Christ Jesus We most heartily acknowledge that our beings and all the comforts of them depend on thee the Fountain of all good We have nothing but what we have received thence and is owing intirely to thy free and bounteous love O most blessed Creator and to the unsearchable riches of thy grace O most blessed Redeemer To thee therefore be given by us and all creatures whom thou hast made to know how great and how good thou art all honour glory and praise all love service and obedience as long as we have any being It is but meet right and our bounden duty that we should at all times and in all places give thanks unto thee O Lord and devoutly resign both soul and body to thee to be absolutely governed and ruled according to thy holy will and pleasure We are heartily sorry that we have not done it from the very beginning of our lives till this time We are ashamed to think of our injustice and ingratitude in following our own desires so long and rendring our selves no sooner most humbly obedient in all things to thee Our hopes are only in those infinite mercies which have spared us notwithstanding and opened our eyes to see our errors and touched our hearts with some sense of our duty And we hope in them not only for a pardon which we earnestly implore according to thy gracious promises made in Christ Jesus but for the power of thy holy Spirit to further and promote those godly resolutions which we feel already in our hearts to live as becomes thy creatures and as becomes the Disciples of Jesus Christ who were early dedicated to thee and have often since vowed themselves to thy service As thou hast made us to understand the reasonableness and goodness of all thy Laws so make us more and more in love with them that they may be writ upon our hearts and our wills may cleave unto them as our very life Keep alive such a powerful sense of thee and of the love of our Lord and Saviour in our mind that we may naturally fear and reverence thee and study to be approved of thee and beloved by thee and account it our highest perfection and happiness to be like thee O that it may ever be the joy of our hearts to be Righteous as thou art Righteous to be Merciful as thou our heavenly Father art Merciful to be Holy as thou who hast called us art Holy in all manner of conversation to be indued with thy divine Wisdom and to resemble thee in Faithfulness and Truth O that the memory of our blessed Saviour and his admirable example may be always dear unto us that we may chearfully follow him in his Humility Meekness Patience Contentedness Peaceableness and Delight to do thy Will O God in every thing as he did Accept we most humbly beseech thee of these desires of our souls after thee and graciously assist and strengthen them according as we unfeignedly offer them up unto thee Accept likewise of our thanks for thy merciful preservation of us all this day by which we are come in safety to the conclusion of it and are here before thee with a new load of thy benefits upon us added to other innumerable blessings which thou hast formerly bestowed We are bold again likewise to commit our selves unto thee this night and to trust in thy merciful protection and care over us when we can take no care of our selves or any thing else belonging to us Defend us from all the powers of darkness from evil men from fire and all such sad accidents and raise up our spirits together with our bodies in the morning to such a vigorous sense of thy continued goodness as may provoke us all the day long to an unwearied diligence in well doing And the same Mercies that we beg for our selves we desire for the rest of mankind especially for all those who are called by the name of Christ O that every member of that body of which He is the head may do their duties with all fidelity according to the several offices to which thou hast assigned them That Kings may be tender-hearted as the Fathers of their Countries and all their subjects may be dutiful and obedient to them as their children That the Pastors of the Church may feed thy flock with Wisdom and Understanding and the people may all submit unto them and follow their godly counsels That the rich and mighty may have compassion on the poor and miserable and all such distressed people may bless the rich and rejoyce in the prosperity of those that are above them Give husbands and wives parents and chidren masters and servants the grace to behave themselves so in their several Relations that they may adorn the Doctrine of God our Saviour in all things and being an honour to his Religion here may receive immortal honour and glory hereafter from the hands of Christ Jesus in whose holy name and words we continue to beseech thy grace and mercy towards us and all thy people every where saying Our Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy Name Thy kingdom come Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil c. PRAYERS FOR FAMILIES THVRSDAY MORNING O Lord the high and holy One whose Psal 148.13 glory is above the earth and heaven We thy creatures prostrate our selves in the humblest adorations of thee ascribing to thee all Power Wisdom Riches Might Majesty and Dominion and acknowledging that to thee of right belongs all Worship Blessing Thanksgiving and Praise together with all Honour Love Service and Obedience for evermore Blessed be thine Omnipotent goodness which hath advanced us to such a degree of being that we are capable to look back to thee from whom we come to know thee to love thee to acknowledge thy great bounty towards us and to resemble thee in Wisdom and Goodness All that is within us blesses thy Holy Name for breathing into us immortal spirits that we may eternally admire thee praise thee love thee and joyfully render those grateful acknowledgements which we owe unto thee We can never sufficiently magnifie thy mercies towards
who hath taught us when we pray to say Our Father c. Another short Prayer for the Morning O Blessed God be thou acknowledged praised and loved by us and all the children of men on whom thou pourest continually thy benefits They are great and many we know not the summe nor understand the value of them The Angels themselves admired thy love to us in Christ Jesus and are become ministring Spirits to them who are heirs of Salvation We enjoy the continual fruits of thy watchful providence by which we have been kept in peace and safety the last night and are raised this morning in health and strength both of body and mind beholding all things belonging to us just as we left them with thee when we went to sleep Accept we most humbly beseech thee of this poor tribute of praise and thanks together with the hearty oblation of our souls and bodies which we here dedicate again to thy service Vouchsafe us the continued assistance of the grace of thy holy Spirit to inable us to make good those vows that are upon us of obediently keeping thy holy will and commandments and walking in the same all the days of our life Pardon good Lord all our breaches of this Sacred Covenant Deal not with us according to our sins neither reward us after our iniquities But in the multitude of thy tender mercies pitty our errors and wandrings and help us against our infirmities Give us leave this day to put our selves into thy powerful protection and to depend on thee for thy merciful guidance and assistance that we may be more faithful to thee in the discharge of our duties and never swerve from the rules of Sobriety Righteousness Charity and Godliness So shall we return with joyful hearts to praise thee in the Evening and teach those who shall come after us to continue thy praises in the next generation Amen for thy mercies sake in Christ Jesus in whose words we present the earnest desires of our hearts for our selves and all our Brethren saying Our Father c. A short Prayer for the Evening when there is not time for the longer O God we thy creatures who have tasted liberally of thy bounty many ways and been blessed in our several imployments and mercifully preserved from several dangers this day are here met to joyn together in most hearty thanksgivings to thy divine Majesty which with one accord we offer up unto thee It is the greatest happiness of all we acknowledge that we have any sense of thee in our minds any love to thee in our hearts any remembrance of thy benefits any holy dispositions to obey thee and any hopes that thou wilt pardon our sins and make us partakers of eternal life All that we desire of thee O Lord is the continuance and increase of this happiness that we may be possessed with a stronger sense of thy Majesty thy Soveraign Power thy unsearchable Wisdom Goodness and Truth and be filled with a more ardent love to thee and to all righteousness and delight to do thy Will in every thing and rejoyce in hope of thy immortal Glory As for all the things of this life in a grateful remembrance of thy many past mercies we intirely trust thee for the time to come referring our selves to thy Wisdom and resolving to be content with that portion which thy good providence is pleased to assign us Help us but to be steadfast and unmoveable in the work of our Lord to bring forth all the fruits of the Spirit love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness and temperance and we shall think our selves rich enough and well provided for in every state and condition of life In these holy thoughts and desires we commend our selves to thy gracious protection this night hoping to find them fresh and lively in our souls when we awake in the Morning and desiring withal the happiness of the rest of the world that they may know thee and acknowledge thee and be guided unto and walk in the way that leads to everlasting life through Christ Jesus our blessed Redeemer In whose powerful name and comprehensive words we continue to pray as he hath taught us saying Our Father c. Another for the Evening IN an humble and thankful sense O Lord of heaven and earth of our intire dependence on thee and of the duty we owe thee and the many promises and vows wherein we stand ingaged to thee we fall down before thee this Evening and with all reverence worship thy divine Majesty Giving thee the glory that is due unto thy Name and acknowledging thy multiplied mercies to us particularly those of this day to the conclusion of which thou hast now safely brought us with new resolutions in our hearts to continue for ever in thy faith and fear and love and obedience It is but just and reasonable and we feel likewise by daily experience that it is our happiness to keep thy Commandments and to maintain chearful thoughts of thee and an hearty friendship with thee by complying in all things with thy holy Will O pardon our folly most gracious God in forsaking at any time that perfect Rule to follow our own unruly desires Pardon us we beseech thee for we know not how to pardon our selves such ingratitude to thee and cruelty to our selves It is the grief of our hearts that we have in the least offended thee and our most earnest unfeigned desire to be preserved hereafter in an exact conformity to our Rule in every thing Yea we would delight to do thy Will O God and take such a pleasure in all the acts of righteousness mercy meekness and gentleness to our Neighbours and in praising and acknowledging thee the God of all grace and in living in an humble sense of thy bounty and our own undeservings and in a temperate and thankful use of all thy blessings that we may have the continual feast of a good conscience and the constant comfort and satisfaction of having thee alway for our friend and our gracious Father in Christ Jesus O thou who art the Inspirer of such holy counsels desires and purposes keep them for ever in our hearts Incourage strengthen and increase them that after the refreshment of a quiet sleep this night we may feel them lively and powerful in the Morning and with renewed joy we may still devote our selves to thy faithful service O that our friends and all thy people in every place may partake of the same mercies we desire for our selves and howsoever we are severed one from another in this world grant us an happy meeting at the day of our Lord in whose words we pray thee to hear us Our Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy Name Thy kingdom come Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us And lead us not into temptation but
present contentment and satisfaction of it hath a great recompence of reward O preserve in my mind a constant remembrance how dearly I am bought by the precious bloud of thy Son Christ how early I was dedicated to thy service how often I have since found abundant cause to determine I would be thine how I have condemned my self for the breach of those holy purposes and what great satisfaction of mind I have had in the keeping of thy Commandments That so I may never wilfully offend against so many forcible reasons obliging me to my duty but be swayed by them notwithstanding all the temptations of the world the flesh or the devil to persevere in a resolved obedience to thee for ever And by the power of thy holy Spirit I beseech thee to make them clearer stronger and more effectual that I may have the same thoughts passions inclinations and purposes now which I shall be apt to have when I come to dye For which end help me often to place my self before thy Judgement Seat and to consider that I must give an account for all that I have received for thy holy Gospel for thy divine inspirations for the counsels and exhortations of thy Ministers for all the means and helps of growing better and for all the incouragements I have even from the good things of this life which thy bounty bestows upon me That by a careful preparation for such a reckoning I may be kept close and stedfast to my duty in hope of that exceeding glorious reward which our Lord will bestow upon all his faithful servants at the day of his appearing Amen Another to the same effect O Most great and glorious Majesty of heaven and earth who art of unspotted purity and in whom there is not the least shadow of change I know that all the resolutions of thy Wisdom are most just and equal and I cannot chuse when I am in my right mind to be guided by any thing else but thy holy Will who designest I see in all the revelations thou hast made of thy self to us to make us like to thy own most blessed Nature I do here own and acknowledge most heartily the righteousness and goodness of all thy Laws I admire the loveliness of thy Image in wisdom righteousness and true holiness I loath my own deformity whilst I am unlike to thee I implore thy renewing grace as the greatest blessing I can receive from thee and I bind my self to the faithful improvement of it as the weightiest imployment of my life I am abundantly satisfied in the declaration thou hast made of thy gracious purposes towards us I renounce all thoughts and desires that are contrary thereunto and resolve that holiness and eternal life shall be my design and study I expect no pardon O my God but in ways of sobriety righteousness and godliness I hope for a blessed immortality only by patient continuance in well doing I consent to every part of thy holy Gospel and add my testimony to the truth of its words that none of thy commandments are grievous but thy yoke is easie and thy burden light I hope O Lord by thy grace I shall never contradict my self by disowning in my practice these free and serious professions But that I shall every day so call to mind my own protestations and resolutions as to continue with an unwearied diligence in stedfast obedience to thy commands and to grow still stronger in the grace of the Lord Jesus O that every such address as this unto thy Divine Majesty may leave a greater sense of thee and of my duty and of my happiness and of my manifold obligations and repeated promises upon my heart That I may always go out of thy presence with my mind more towards heaven with lower thoughts of all the injoyments of this life with a greater relish of piety and holiness and more passionate desires to become every way such as thou canst approve and love and delight in for ever And assist me I humbly beseech thee so constantly from above that whatsoever good thoughts are at any time in my mind they may grow to fixed principles and all heavenly affections may become a new nature and the constant temper of my spirit and all my purposes and resolutions may advance into a serious practice and exercise of godliness and all the actions of an holy life may grow more free chearful vigorous and full of delight till they be compleated in everlasting bliss through Christ Jesus Amen A PRAYER After RELAPSE Into any SIN I Cast down my self before thee O most holy Lord of heaven and earth with an humble sorrowful and penitent heart adoring thy infinite grace which suffers such a vile and miserable sinner to approach into thy presence I am thine indeed dedicated long ago to thy service which I have since chosen as the most perfect freedom But so much the greater reason I have to be abashed before thee and to be astonished at thy forbearing mercy which prolongs the life of such an one as I am who have been so false to thee and to my own resolutions I remember in the bitterness of my soul how many obligations thou hast laid upon me to observe and obey thee how often I have acknowledged the justice and goodness of thy Precepts and how frequently I have promised and vowed to conform my self unto them and what great and precious promises thou hast made to me of invaluable blessings And yet wretch that I am I have been drawn aside from thy ways by easie and slight temptations and for a small and momentary pleasure or gain * Here mention the particular sin have ventured the loss of thy favour which is better than life it self O God that thou shouldst have patience with so perfidious so ungrateful so senseless a creature as I am That thou shouldst permit me to see the light of the Sun and hast not condemned me to utter darkness in weeping wailing and gnashing of teeth But that thou givest me leave to look towards heaven and that I have any heart to speak unto thee and still may call thee Father saying Father I have sinned against thee and am no more worthy to be called thy son O the riches O the unsearchable riches of thy grace I can never sufficiently admire thy exceeding great long-suffering towards me in Christ Jesus Nor sufficiently abhorr and loath my self for my foul revolt from thee who art so kind gracious especially if I should still continue to abuse such tender mercy and compassion towards me Tribulation and anguish indignation and wrath I acknowledge is the due portion of those that do evil and if thou shouldst abandon me and cast me out of thy sight I must confess that thou art righteous and that I reap but the fruit of my own ways and suffer the deserved punishment of my late iniquity But thou O God delightest in mercy and there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayst
and I will praise thy name for ever and ever for those exceeding great and precious promises which thou hast given us to support and comfort us in all the troubles of this life Increase my faith strengthen and confirm my hope lift up my spirit continually to that blessed place where Jesus is that I may rejoyce in hope of that immortal life when all tears shall be wiped from our eyes and there shall be no sighing nor sorrow any more but we * This clause to be used only in the loss of Friends or Relations who are now parted asunder shall meet together to acknowledge with eternal praises thy wise and merciful providence which by ways most contrary to our desires hath brought us to endless and undisturbed bliss Thou knowest O Lord the weakness and frailty of our nature and therefore vouchsafe me the constant assistance of thy good Spirit for which I depend upon thee to inable me to continue in this humble quiet and dutiful submission to thee waiting for that peaceable and joyful repose in the eternal rest which thou hast prepared for thy people through thy mercies in Christ Jesus By whom all glory honour love and obedience be rendred to thee by me and all mankind both now and for ever Amen A Prayer which a pious soul may use that is full of doubts and much troubled in mind O Lord 2 Cor. 1.3 the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort I acknowledge and adore thy eternal Power Wisdom and Goodness I render thee my most hearty thanks for all the benefits thou hast freely bestowed on me from my first coming into the world until this time Many O Lord my God are thy wonderful works which thou hast done and thy thoughts which are to us ward they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee Psal 40.5 if I would declare and speak of them they are more than can be numbred Above all I bless thee for that great demonstration of thy love and good will to mankind by Christ Jesus whom thou hast sent into the world to save sinners and for bringing me to the clear knowledge of him faith in him and some love I hope towards him and unfeigned affection to thy holy will declared to us in his blessed Gospel O God thou hast taught me from my youth up and hitherto been marvailously gracious to me Hide not I beseech thee thy face now from me and put not thy servant away in displeasure Thou hast been my help leave me not neither forsake me O God of my salvation But for Jesus Christ his sake I humbly intreat thee to pardon and pass by all my neglects of thee and unthankfulness to thee and offences against thee And as I here sincerely devote and dedicate my whole self soul and body to thy service so help me O my God and further me in the performance of my duty by the grace of thy holy Spirit To thee all hearts are open and from thee no secrets are hid deal with me according to the earnest desire and full purpose of my soul to conform my self in all things to thy holy Will Settle in me an unmoveable faith in thy infinite Mercies a constant love and chearful affection to my duty and a readiness of heart to obey thee and to submit to thy wise appointments in every condition The whole earth is full of thy Mercy thou openest thy hand and satisfiest the desire of every living thing O refuse not the humble desires of my poor soul which gaspeth after thee even as the thirsty land Thou who givest to the Beasts their food and to the young Ravens when they cry O satisfie me early with thy Mercies that I may rejoyce and be glad all my days Compose my broken and disturbed thoughts quiet my troubled and disordered spirit and appease all the ragings and tumults there by a sweet sense of thy most tender mercies which have been ever of old and endure continually Banish from me all causless fears and jealousies deliver me from all unprofitable sadness and dejection of spirit keep me from rash judging of my self and much more from charging thee foolishly Bestow upon me a chearful spirit by an humble hope in thee and by referring my self wholly to thee Endue me with such wisdom and uprightness that I may neither neglect my duty nor suspect thy gracious acceptance of me Give me an hearty zeal to do the best that I am able and a setled perswasion that thou requirest no more of me Defend me O my gracious God from dishonouring thee and my Religion by distrusting thy goodness and calling thy loving kindness in question towards those that are sincerely bent to please thee Remove all troublesome imaginations from me and give me a clear understanding of thee and of my self Or when I am in darkness and confusion of thoughts grant me so much light and judgement as not to conclude my self forsaken by thee but to reflect upon thy long continued favours to me and many deliverances of me that so I may resolve still to hope in thee to bear my present trouble patiently and to resign my will absolutely to thy good pleasure And good Lord enable me to look beyond these clouds to that blessed state whither my Saviour is gone in which there is no darkness at all and in an humble hope of coming to the same place where he is to content my self with any condition whilst I am here so far remote from that Region of light and glory Hear me most loving and merciful Father I most humbly beseech thee Pitty my great dulness and deadness of heart Strengthen my weak and feeble endeavours Support my fainting spirit and cause it humbly to hope in thee for ever Confirm and establish every good thought desire and purpose which thou hast wrought in me Perfect that which thou hast begun Make me to grow in wisdom faith love and willing obedience Conduct me hereafter so evenly and steadily so peaceably and quietly so chearfully and securely in thy ways that I may glorifie thee whilst I live by incouraging others to accompany me in thy service And when I come to dye may resign my soul unto thee with an undisturbed mind and in an holy hope also of a joyful resurrection of the body at the great day of the Lord Jesus to whom be glory and dominion for ever Amen A Prayer to be said by others for one that is troubled in mind O God the only Hope the Refuge the Comfort and satisfaction of our souls Of whose Goodness and tender mercy all the world hath so many testimonies and we our selves have had such long experience that we are incouraged thereby though most unworthy to make this humble address to thy Divine Majesty Thou seest we know and pittiest the misery and torment of this afflicted spirit none of his * Or her sighs or groanings are hid from thee But to express also our charity and compassionate
will O Lord be done I commend both my body and my spirit into thy hands who art able to make the Sea give up her dead by thine Almighty Word Help me always to hold fast that hope of eternal life as an anchor of my soul both sure and stedfast Heb. 6.19,20 which may preserve me in unshaken comfort and joy at the hour of death it self And looking up to that quiet place whither Jesus our fore-runner is entred for us I may begin those Praises and Thanksgivings which I hope shall have no end but be continued for ever in the company of the blessed in the other world Unto which I beseech thee of thine infinite mercies to bring me through Christ Jesus who is made an high priest for ever Amen A Thanksgiving after it is finished and the party returned home again O Blessed Lord Thou art great and greatly to be praised for by thy word the heavens were made Psal 48.1 33.6,7 and all the host of them by the breath of thy mouth 135.6 107.24 c. Thou didst gather the waters of the Sea together as an heap and laidst them up in the store-houses of the deeps They are all at thy command and whatsoever thou pleasest that dost thou in heaven and in earth in the Seas and all deep places I have seen thy works O Lord and thy wonders in the deep For thou spakest the word and the stormy wind arose which lifted up the waves thereof And again when we cryed unto thee thou madest the storm a calm so that the waves thereof were still Blessed be thy Almighty Goodness which carried me safe through such great and dreadful dangers Blessed be thy goodness that the deep hath not swallowed me up and that I am not gone down into silence Blessed be thy goodness that neither my body nor my goods became a prey to unreasonable men but that thou broughtest me to the haven where I would be and hast now returned me home in safety O God that I may never forget the vows which I was forward to make when I was in trouble Preserve in me for ever an awful sense and apprehension of thy great power who bringest the wind out of thy treasuries Psal 135.7 89.9 and rulest the raging of the Sea Jer. 5.22 and stillest the noise of its waves Psal 120.11 Who would not fear thee O Lord who would not tremble at thy presence who hast placed the sand for the bound of the Sea by a perpetual decree that it cannot pass it and though the waves thereof toss themselves yet can they not prevail though they roar yet can they not pass over it O possess my heart with a greater reverence of thy divine Majesty that I may ever serve thee with fear and rejoyce before thee with trembling Especially make me fearful of offending thee who art so great and powerful and hast done such great things for me and canst do greater and wilt do them as thou hast promised by Christ Jesus Philip. 3.20 who hath power to subdue all things to himself Heb. 2.3 Blessed be thy infinite grace which hath wrought such a marvellous redemption for us by him How shall I escape if I neglect so great salvation How miserable shall I be if after all the dangers from which I have now been rescued I should for my ingratitude and disobedience be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone O God that all thy mercies and deliverances here may by a thankful remembrance and careful improvement of them only prepare me for that glorious deliverance at the day of the Lord Jesus And as by thy good providence thou hast saved me from the violence of storms and tempests and other hazards so by thy grace deliver me from the power and violence of all temptations and enable me stedfastly to persist in well doing and patient suffering unto the end Endue me with such a right sense of my Religion as may make it to be my delight that so I may be out of all danger of being prevailed withal to forsake that which is so sweet and pleasant to my soul O that it may be my guide in prosperity and my comfort in adversity the rule of my life and my great satisfaction in death Sanctifie every condition unto me that sickness or health poverty or riches honour or disgrace may prove real blessings to me and make me profit in piety and vertue And let a great sense of thee and of Religion intermix it self with all my employments Teach me so to behave my self that I may be acceptable in thy sight not only when I make such addresses as these unto thee But whether I eat or drink or whatsoever I do else I may abide in thy love and be approved by thee for a good and faithful servant All which I most humbly beg of thee and whatsoever thou seest good for me in the name of the Lord Jesus by whom and with whom in the unity of the holy Ghost all honour and glory be unto thee O Father Almighty world without end Amen A Prayer to be used by a woman with Child O God the Author of our being the Fountain of life and all other good who hast begun an excellent work in me which no eye but thine sees and no hand but thy Almighty power can finish I adore thy great and glorious Majesty in this and in all other thy works of wonder Thou dost great things without number but art more particularly to be acknowledged in the formation of mankind who are fearfully and wonderfully made after thy own image and likeness Be pleased O Lord in thy infinite goodness to perfect and compleat that which thou hast begun Preserve the smallest degree of life which thou hast inspired Bestow upon it intireness of all its parts and prepare a convenient habitation for an understanding spirit capable of the best wisdom and inclinable to vertue and goodness Prevent good Lord the miscarriage of my hopes and ripen them to a good issue And the nearer they come to their full growth strengthen the more my humble trust in thee and submission to thee and hearty desires to encrease the number of thy faithful people together with my own Family That ought to be the chiefest desire of my soul to be formed my self in all things according to the mind and will of thee my God that so I may be an instrument of doing good to others O thou who hast wrought many holy purposes and resolutions in my heart preserve and confirm them that they may not prove abortive but bring forth continually the fruit of good living Perfect me in Knowledge in Faith in Love and in Obedience Enable me so discreetly and carefully to discharge the duties of all the Relations wherein I at present or shall hereafter stand that I may be a comfort to them and a credit to Religion And howsoever thou disposest of me or them Lord make me well
nevertheless thy counsel O Lord that shall stand I will therefore bless thee O Lord my God alway and desire of thee that my ways may be directed and that all my paths and counsels may prosper for thou thy self givest all good things and thou humblest whom thou wilt and as thou wilt Accordingly I now most earnestly recommend my self and all my concerns to thee who hast bid me in all my wayes acknowledge thee Prov. 3.5,6 and thou wilt direct my paths I trust in thy wise and good providence with all my heart and lean not unto mine own understanding I hope in thy mercy that thou wilt so direct assist and prosper all my thoughts designs and endeavours that they may attain their desired end And above all things I desire that I may have grace to design and seek for nothing but what is just and honest pious and charitable praise worthy and of good report Bless me good Lord with that integrity of heart in which thou so much delightest and then bless me with wisdom and good understanding in all my affairs that I may guide them with discretion Wisd 7.15,16 For it is thou that leadest into wisdom 9.10 and directest the wise Ecclus. 23.1,5 In thy hand are both we and our words all wisdom also and knowledge of workmanship Leave me not therefore O Lord Father and Governour of all my whole life leave me not to my self alone but send out thy wisdom from the throne of thy glory that being present she may labour with me And turn away from me vain hopes Indue me also with a patient contented and untroubled spirit that I may wait on thee as long as thou pleasest And whatsoever the event shall be enable me to rejoyce in thee as my portion and to rest perfectly satisfied in thy love and in the assured hope of good things in the other world I humbly recommend likewise to thy merciful guidance all those with whom I have intrusted any of my concerns that they may manage all their undertakings with skill and prudence justice and fidelity and do for me as they would that I or others should do for them Make us all ever mindful that all our works are as the Sun before thee Ecclus. 17.19 Ephes 3.20 and thy eyes are continually upon our ways Rom. 16.25,27 that we may never dare to do any thing but what thou approvest and of which we may give a comfortable account at the great day of judgement Now unto him that is of power to do for me exceeding abundantly above all that I ask or think to God only wise be glory through Jesus Christ for ever Amen A Prayer when one intends to live Vnmarried O Lord the lover of souls for whom they were made and in whom alone they can be happy There is none I have in heaven but thee Psal 73.25 nor on earth that I desire besides thee Who art the perfection of wisdom power and goodness and the fountain of all the good that is in us Thou art able to raise us to what degree of wisdom strength and goodness thou pleasest and hast promised us thine assistance to make us like unto thee and assured us we shall be immortally blessed by a glorious participation of thee Thou drawest us so mightily that we have no power to resist thee when our minds turn themselves towards thee and reflect upon thy most excellent Nature which discovers it self in all thy bounty to us and the rest of thy creatures We cannot but love thee when we think of thee and when we love thee we cannot but again think of thee that we may have the pleasure still of loving thee more O fix my mind I beseech thee in a more stedfast contemplation of thee and of all thy gracious communications to me that I may spend my days delightfully in a perpetual meditation of thy mercies which I have received in such abundance from thee There is nothing I know more natural and more easie than to think of the kindnesses of those that love us especially theirs to whom we bear a mutual love O how great how free and undeserved is thy love to us What infinite reason is there that we should love thee with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our strength Inspire me O God with such a lively sense of thy goodness in my creation and ever since both to my soul and to my body that I may ever preserve a sweet and grateful remembrance of it and may feel it provoking me daily to commemorate thy loving kindness with the most ardent love of thee my most bountiful benefactor O that I could love thee in every thing that I see and enjoy being led by it to the thoughs of thy admirable wisdom which astonishes us in the least of thy creatures and of thy matchless goodness which hath provided such variety of pleasures for all our senses Possess me with a great and strong admiration of the excellency of wisdom that I may be a lover of her beauty Wisd 8.2,3,9 and seek her out from my youth desiring to marry her to my self For thou the Lord of all things thy self lovest her And therefore I purpose to take her to live with me knowing that she will be a counseller of good things and a comfort in cares and grief But especially over-power my heart with a strong and lasting sense of thy exceeding abundant kindness in Christ Jesus in whom thou hast choseâ— me Ephes 1.4,8 that I should be holy and without blame before thee in love Let me never think of that buâ— with such great transports of love and joy and thankfulness unto thee as may make me then forget all other things And make me to understand more and more how thy love in him hath abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence That so I may be the more moved to admire it and delight to meditate upon it and be still searching into those treasures of thy Wisdom and unsearchable riches of thy Grace till I come to be filled with all the fulness of thee my God Ephes 3.19 Translate all my affections from these lower objects to him that is fairer than the children of men Psal 45.2 who loved me so much as to dye for me who is risen again and sits at thy right-hand in incomparable Majesty and Glory Raise up my thoughts as high as that heavenly place where he is and where I hope one day to be equal to the Angels Luk. 20.36 who neither marry nor are given in marriage Help me to begin that happy state in separating my self frequently from all this world and joyning with that blessed company above in praising thee and giving thanks unto thee whose mercies are great and endure for ever And when I am about any other imployment help me chearfully to attend it and with a willing mind to perform the duties belonging to it Possess
me with such an hatred of idleness and sloth that I may always be busied about some good or innocent thing Especially dispose me to exercise my self in works of mercy and charity and to take all opportunites of doing good to the bodies or souls of my Neighbours Indue me with prudence and discretion in the choice of my company and friends and give me wisdom to improve their society to the best purposes Make my mind more heavenly and when any thoughts contrary to my inclinations and resolutions arise in me turn them immediately to thy self and my blessed Saviour Open my eyes to behold the things that are not seen And put out the splendor of all those things that dazzle our eyes here by the appearance of a brighter and more glorious good Which may raise my designs higher than this world and make all my passions and affections more equal and moderate my discourse more profitable my behaviour more humble modest and such as becometh Saints and all my actions more conformable to thy will and more exemplary to those whom I converse withal The very God of peace sanctifie me wholly 1 Thess 5.23 and preserve my whole spirit and soul and body blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ O that my love to any thing here may not turn into wantonness and folly nor my joy and chearfulness into lightness and vanity nor my seriousness or sorrow into melancholy and discontent nor my just anger into hatred and contention nor industry in my business into carefulness distrust and earthliness of mind nor my discretion and prudence into craft dissembling and deceit Dispose my heart that I may so mind heavenly things as to be very humble and lowly in my own eyes and be so humble and sensible of my own unworthiness and weakness as to make my addresses to thee continually with the greater earnestness for thy merciful help and supply Teach me so to pray and call upon thee as to labour and strive my self and so to labour and run that I may obtain Let faith in thy good providence and precious promises be my comfort and hope of thy glory make me rejoyce and a great love to thee make me unwearied and fill me with the consolations of the holy Ghost O that my Religion may become my Nature so that it may not be my burden or trouble and help me so to look upon it as my duty as withal to account it my honour priviledge and happiness O that I may never desire any thing but to be so pure as thou wouldst have me and to enjoy those rewards of holiness which thou canst and wilt bestow upon me This is the summe of my desires that whatsoever I do may please thee and whatsoever thou dost may be pleasing to me Lord hear me and answer me graciously And if I shall see any cause hereafter to change my condition preserve in me â—n unchangeable love to thee above â—ll things That still I may please â—hee and be acceptable in thy sight delighting my self in wisdom and â—eposing my self with her Wisd 8.16 â—or her conversation hath â—o bitterness and to live with her hath â—o sorrow but mirth and joy In which happiness the Lord vouchsafe â—o keep me whatever my condition â—e for Jesus his sake To whom with thee O Father and thy blessed â—pirit be everlasting praises Amen A Prayer when there are any thoughts of changing that condition and deliberations about Marriage O Lord my most gracious and merciful Father of whose tender care and good providence I have had so long and abundant experience that I should be extreamly ungrateful if I should not acknowledge thee and love thee and trust in thee and upon all occasions call upon thee and seek thy favour for ever There hath no day passed since I came into the world but it hath brought along with it many tokens of thy love which thou art still renewing in every moment of my life By thee I have been carried through all the dangers of infancy and child-hood unto this age of understanding and reason And thou hast blessed me many ways since that time especially with some remembrance and sense of thy self from whom I came and on whom I depend which I account the greatest benefit of all Blessed be thy goodness that I am not a perfect stranger to thee but that thou hast made me to know something of thee and of thy infinite goodness who alone art able to make me happy both here and eternally I hope in thee O my God that thou wilt never forsake me but be my guide even unto death Pardon I beseech thee all the sins and negligences of which I have been at any time guilty and let them not hinder the continuance of thy mercy and favour towards me on which all the comfort of my life depends Leave me not to my self and the weakness of my own counsels especially now in the greatest turn and change of my life but vouchsafe to direct my thoughts and all the motions of my heart aright to that which will be most profitable for me and conduce every way to my future comfort and satisfaction Lead me in the way wherein I shall go and guide me for thy names sake Indue me with such a serious considerate and discerning spirit that I may not follow the inticements of any fading and perishing good but cleave to that wich is unchangeable and never dies Favour thou hast taught me is deceitful Prov. 31.30 and beauty is vain but one that feareth the Lord shall be praised O possess my heart with an holy fear of thee that nothing may appear so amaible in mine eyes as true Religion Piety and Vertue Make me in love with the beauties of Wisdom for thou lovest none but him that dwelleth with wisdom Wisd 7.28 to be allied unto which is immortality 8.17,18 and great pleasure I know it is to have her friendship and with the beauties of sobriety meekness mercifulness humility and all those things which are the image of thy goodness That being inclined by these in my choice I may find a fit person to be the guide of my youth or an help meet for me the delight of mine eyes in whose society I may enjoy a constant relief ease and pleasure and be set forward thereby in the way to heaven Assist me I beseech thee in all my deliberations about this change that I may soberly weigh every thing which is offered to my thoughts And after all the dangers which by thy goodness I have escaped I may not be so unhappy now as to fall into the saddest of all by the strength of fancy by rashness and unadvisedness of mind or the violence and unruliness of any passion but may dispose of my affections to a person worthy of them Help me blessed Lord to make so wise a choice that I may never repent of it afterward Direct and govern likewise the minds and hearts
none besides thee Thou art righteous in all thy ways Job 11.7 and holy in all thy works Thou lovest righteousness and hatest iniquity and art excellent in power and in judgement and in plenty of justice The earth is thine and the fulness thereof the world and they that dwell therein The heavens declare the glory of God the firmament sheweth his handy-work The sun moon and stars praise the name of the Lord for he commanded and they were created He hath also established them for ever and ever He hath made a decree which shall not pass I know O Lord that thou canst do every thing and that no thought of thine can be hindred Whatsoever the Lord pleases that doth he in heaven and in earth in the seas and in all deep places For he is great and of great power his understanding is infinite Praised be thy Soveraign goodness and tender mercy which spreads it self over all thy works O Lord how manifold are thy works in wisdom hast thou made them all And they all wait on thee that thou mayst give them their meat in due season That thou givest them they gather thou openest thy hand they are filled with good The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever the Lord shall rejoyce in his works Thou always wast and ever wilt be the most holy powerful wise and good Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations One generation shall â—raise thy works to another and shall deâ—lare thy mighty acts They all pass away like a shadow but thou art the same and thy years shall have no end For ever O Lord thy word is setled in heaven Thy faithfulness is unto all generations While I live there fore will I praise the Lord I wilâ— sing praises to my God while I have any being I will praise thee O Lord with my whole heart whose name iâ— exalted above all blessing and praise For we cannot know the Almighty to perfection His wisdom is unsearchable and his ways past finding out His name alone is excellent his glory is above the earth and heaven II. O what high dignity is this thaâ— I am admitted into thy presence tâ— speak unto thee the blessed and only Potentate 1 Tim. 6.15 the King oâ— kings and Lord of Lords who only hast immortality O how happy ought I to think my self thaâ— I may draw thus nigh to thee whâ— dwellest in light unapproachable who art so happy in thy own most blessed Nature and who if thou dost but open thy self to any soul and fillest it with a great sense of thee and affection to thee thou lettest heavenly joys into it and makest it happy beyond expression For heaven cannot be separated from thee but wheresoever thou art there is peace and satisfaction joy and gladness and unspeakable bliss Adored be thy divine goodness which hath made me so happy this day as to feel some sense of thee begin to shine in my soul Adored be thy goodness which incourages me still to look up unto thee that I may feel more of thee yea hath ingaged me by innumerable Mercies to continue these addresses to thy divine Majesty O how excellent is thy loving kindness Psal 36.7 O God! 139.17 How precious are thy thoughts unto me how great is the sum of them Psal 46.5 Many O Lord my God 22.9,10 are thy wonderful works which thou hast done and thy thoughts which are to me-ward they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee if I would declare and speak of them they are more than can be numbred By thee I was fearfully and wonderfully made in secret Thou art he that took me out of my mothers womb and didst make me hope upon her breasts I have been cast upon thee ever since and thou hast been my gracious God unto this moment My infancy and childhood was attended with a very careful providence And thou hast blessed my riper years with a continued health and strength of body and mind and abundance of good things to support and refresh me in my pilgrimage through this world to a better life I never have wanted my daily bread even when I was not able to ask it of thee And thou hast bestowed on me many friends and kind benefactors And prevented me likewise by a timely grace and sent me many instructors that I might remember thee my Creator and Jesus Christ my Saviour Into whose family blessed be thy Name I was early adopted and assured of thy fatherly love and tender mercy towards me O how deeply do I stand indebted to thee for all those by whose Counsels or Sermons or Writings or religious Society or godly Examples or charitable Prayers I have been helped forward in my way to heaven Blessed be thy Name for all the means whereby I have been led to the knowledge of thy great love in the Lord Jesus which passeth knowledge For ever blessed be thy Name for sending him into the world born of a woman to be a teacher of righteousness to go before us and leave us a pattern of a most holy life to dye for our sins and to rise again for our justification and then to ascend into the heavens to prepare a place for us where thou hast advanced him above all principalities and powers Phil. 3.10,11 and given him a name above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should how and every tongue confess him to be the Lord to the glory of thee O God the Father Almighty I glorifie thee O heavenly Father with all my heart and soul for inspiring thy holy Apostles and Prophets 2 Cor. 4.6 and shining into their hearts to give the light of the knowledge of thy glory in the face of Jesus Christ I thank thee for calling me to faith in thee for making such great and precious promises to incourage our hope and for disposing me in any measure to be an inheritour of them I thank thee for granting such power to our blessed Lord to fulfil his word for making him a royal high-Priest and appointing him to bless us here and eternally Glory be to thee O Lord most high who hast so often favoured me with the gracious visitations of thy holy Spirit inlightning my mind drawing my will towards thee exciting in me holy desires working many pious purposes and resolutions in my heart giving me a taste how gracious thou art setting before me the hope of eternal life and perswading me by innumerable arguments to entertain those blessings which I should have been forward of my self to have desired Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord Psal 106.2 who can show forth all his praise How often hast thou spared me when I deserved to be punished How many dangers have I escaped From how many assaults of the enemy have I been guarded And how many of his designs have been defeated by an invisible and unobserved goodness which ought for
from the power of Satan to God that they might receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them who are sanctified by faith that is in thee VIII I receive with all thankfulness this thy exceeding great grace which hath declared that if we walk in the light as thou art in the light 1 Joh. 1.7 we shall have fellowship one with another Ecclus. 17.29 and the bloud of Jesus Christ thy Son shall cleanse us from all sin I admire thy incomprehensible love O how great is the loving kindness of the Lord our God and his compassion unto such as turn unto him in holiness It constrains me to offer up my self with the heartiest affection to thy service resolving hereafter to be more watchful more diligent more zealous in the performance of my duty and to walk more circumspectly as a child of the light and to make it my delight to do thy will O God Behold O Lord my heart is bent to resign it self perfectly into thy hands and to make a new dedication of all the powers of my soul and body to be employed continually in well doing I have sworn and am stedfastly purposed to keep thy righteous precepts Psal 119.30 31.11 I have chosen the way of truth 14.15 thy judgements have I laid before me 16.115 I will stick unto thy testimonies 111.112 and run the way of thy commandments Thy word have I hid in my heart that I may not sin against thee I will rejoyce in the way of thy testimonies as much as in all riches I will meditate in thy precepts and have respect unto thy ways I will delight my self also in thy statutes I will never forget thy word Depart from me ye evil doers for I will keep the commandments of my God Thy testimonies have I taken as my heritage for ever for they are the rejoycing of my heart I have inclined my heart to perform thy statutes alway even unto the end IX Accept I beseech thee the free-will-offerings of my mouth O Lord and teach me thy judgements Give me understanding and I shall keep thy law yea I shall observe it with my whole heart Make me to go in the path of thy commandments for therein do I delight With my whole heart have I sought thee O let me not wander from thy commandments Psal 119.108,34,35,10,115,116,117 I am sensible of the exceeding great weakness and inconstancy of our nature and that without thy gracious aids I shall not be able to accomplish these resolutions And therefore I look up unto thee with the more ardent desires for power from above to confirm and strengthen them and to assist me mightily to fulfil thy whole good will and pleasure I will stedfastly depend upon the promise of my blessed Saviour who hath told me that thou wilt give thy holy spirit to them that ask it of thee My hope O God is in this thy true and faithful word Vphold me according unto thy Word that I may live and let me not be ashamed of my hope Hold thou me up and I shall be safe and I will have respect unto thy statutes continually Preserve in me such a lively sense of thy good will and readiness to help me that I may be so strong in our Lord and in the power of his might as to be able to do all things through Christ strengthing of me O thou Father of mercies who hast bestowed so many and so great blessings on us without asking who hast visited us so lovingly when we could not desire any grace from thee and when we could but did not desire it and when we did but very coldly and with little devotion of spirit deny not the humble and importunate requests of thy poor supplicant who most earnestly beseeches thee that thou wilt grant me according to the riches of thy glory to be strengthened with might by thy Spirit in the inner man Ephes 3.16 Arm me therewith against the assaults of all temptations either from the good or the evil things of this life that they may never seduce or deterr me from my duty but I may do vertuously in all points according to my Christian profession and those vows and promises wherein I stand ingaged to thee X. Fill me O God with the whole knowledge of thy Will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding that I may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of thee my God Increase that faith likewise more and more which worketh by love and purifieth the heart and overcometh the world Stir up in me that lively hope which may make me purifie my self even as thou art pure and that ardent love to thee which will make me chearfully do thy will and love my Brethren with a pure heart fervently Excite in me a great hunger and thirst after righteousness till I feel the satisfaction of perfect reconciliation with thee conformity to thee Continue me in the number of those who are humble and lowly in their own eyes moderate in all their appetites and desires who mourn daily that they have offended thee and that others keep not thy laws who are meek and gentle towards all men in heart and word and all their actions who are merciful and kind ready to give and to forgive who are pure in all their thoughts intentions passions and conversation and who study the things that make for peace and who are void of all pride and vain-glory of all strife and contention indeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace O my God possess me with such a strong sense of the blessedness which thou hast pronounced to all these that I may be willing also to suffer wrong rather than to do it and to suffer any thing for righteousness sake with a constant heart giving thanks unto thee that thou wilt honour me and count me worthy to suffer for the name of Christ Help me to give a good example to all my Neighbours by the sincere practice of all these vertues shining as a light in the world and being the salt of the earth That others seeing my good works may glorifie thee our heavenly Father Dispose my heart to cast all its care on thee to pray without ceasing to bless thy holy name at all times to trust in thee with a stedfast confidence in thy almighty goodness to make thee my strength and my fortress and the rock of my salvation to have my conversation without covetousness and to set my affections on things above where Christ is at thy right hand In the multitude of my thoughts within me let thy comforts O Lord delight my soul When I am full O that I may never wax wanton or forget thee but still rejoyce in our Lord alway that so when I have nothing I may be as possessing all things Let the doing of my duty ever be my pleasure and
to serve thee be a great reward Let a contented mind be instead of all that I want and a thankful heart sweeten all my enjoyments Let patience always ease me under my burdens and an entire submission to thy will breed in me a settled tranquillity of spirit Let my delight be in the excellent that are in the earth and my thoughts be very much there while I live where I desire to be when I dye That heaven being my aim my hope and the longing expectation of my soul I may conquer all difficulties in my way to it and go through honour and dishonour good report and bad report prosperity and adversity with the same chearfulness and evenness of mind till at last I come to that place of rest and peace with the glorified Jesus who is able to give eternal life to them that obey him XI Blessed be thy name who hast inspired my heart with these holy desires and wrought these purposes and resolutions in me It is an earnest I hope of thy never failing love towards me in assurance of which I repose my self with full satisfaction of heart Yea this is my joy and my glory that I know thee and that I live under the care of thy wise merciful and almighty providence at present and that I have the promise of remission of sins and of a crown of life when the times of refreshment shall come from thy presence and thou shalt send Jesus Act. 3.19 to conduct all the faithful to that glorious place where he lives This is my salvation and and all my desire 2 Sam. 23.5 Now that I see thy abundant love O heavenly Father it sufficeth Rejoyce with me likewise all ye Angels of God according to the word of our Lord that there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth Luk. 15.7 Bless the Lord ye heavenly hosts ye minsters of his that do his pleasure Psal 103.21 And O that this joy may increase continually by my daily increase in all goodness and the perfecting of my repentance till I come to be admitted into their company and enter into the joy of my Lord. XII And I wish the same happiness to all mankind which I desire for my self It will multiply my joy to see all the people praise thee O God to see all the people praise thee O make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye lands Serve the Lord with gladness and come before his presence with thanksgiving Psal 100.1 Give unto the Lord O ye kindreds of the people give unto the Lord glory and strength Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name bring an offering and come into his courts O worship the Lord with holy worship fear before him all the earth 96.8,9 More especially I desire the increase of grace mercy and peace to thy chosen people Beseeching thee to bless thy universal Church and to fill the hearts of all its members with thy love that they may rest neither day nor night saying Blessed be God Blessed be the glorious Majesty of heaven and earth whose power wisdom and goodness excel all praise and endure for ever And arise O God for the sighing of the poor and the needy let not the men of the earth always oppress them Psal 10.18 Let the salvation of thy people come out of thy holy place 14.7 Be thou exalted in thy own strength and so will we sing and praise thy power 21.13 Lord continue thy loving kindness unto those that know thee and thy righteousness to men of upright heart Let not the foot of pride come against them and let not the hand of the wicked remove them 36.10,11,12 O let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end but establish thou the just 7.9 Protect O Lord and defend that part of thy Church which thou hast planted in these Kingdoms Great and innumerable have been thy mercies to us but alas we are a stubborn and rebellious people a people that set not our heart aright and whose spirit hath not been stedfast with thee And therefore thou hast justly plagued us many ways and we should have but our deserts if thy hand should still be stretched out to punish us seven times more for our sins But what is man that thou shouldst take displeasure at him or what is a corruptible generation that thou shouldest be extreamly angry with them For in truth there is none among them but hath dealt wickedly and among the faithful there is none that hath not done amiss But in this O Lord thy righteousness and goodness shall be declared if thou be merciful to them which have not the confidence of good works Psal 78.8 2 Esdras 8.34,35,36 Psal 79 8,9 118.25 O be merciful unto us be merciful unto us and do not utterly forsake us O remember not against us former iniquities and that we have so soon forgot thy works and the wonderful deliverances which thou hast given us Help us O God of our salvation for the glory of thy name and deliver us and purge away our sins for thy names sake Fill us with thy wisdom from above that we may be heartily in love with the Religion which we profess and preserve us in it for ever Defeat the counsels of all its enemies and bring their wicked devices to nought Unite us to each other in brotherly love and make us at peace among our selves O let peace be within this Church Let them prosper that love her and seek her good Save now I beseech thee O Lord O Lord I beseech thee send now prosperity And for that end indue our Soveraign Lord the King with all the gifts and graces of thy holy Spirit Hear the daily prayers of thy Church for him that he may always incline to thy will and walk in thy way and study to preserve thy people committed to his charge in wealth peace and godliness Enlighten all our Bishops Priests and Deacons with true knowledge and understanding of thy Word and enable them both by their life and doctrine to set it forth and shew it accordingly Teach all our Counsellors and Senators wisdom and give all our Magistrates courage and zeal to excute Justice and to maintain Truth Vouchsafe to all thy people increase of grace to hear thy word with meekness and to receive it with pure and sincere affection and to bring forth the fruits of the spirit Give them honest and good hearts to honour and obey the King and all that are put in authority under him to submit themselves to all their Governours Teachers spiritual Pastors and Masters to order themselves lowly reverently to all their betters to be careful not to hurt one another by word or deed to be just and true in all their dealing to bear no malice nor hatred in their hearts to preserve themselves to temperance soberness and chastity not to covet one anothers goods but to learn and labour
truly to get their own living and to do their duty in that state of life unto which it hath pleased thee to call them And good Lord bless the honest labours of all men among us and crown them with good success Especially of those who have any work in hand for the glory of thy name the increase of Christian piety and the peace of thy Church Reward the bounty of all charitable persons either for the honour of Religion or the relief of them that are in poverty And make the bones which thou hast broken to rejoyce Comfort all that are in a sorrowful condition and bring them out of all their troubles Send thy Angel to guide and preserve those who are in journeys upon their lawful occasions Let them that go down into the deep and do business upon the great waters observe thy providence and praise thee for thy goodness and for thy wonderful works for the children of men Forgive all that have done me any evil and requite the kindness of those who have done me any good Let their souls abide in good and their seed inherit the earth Psal 25.13 Rejoyce the heart of all my Friends and fulfil the petitions of all that have desired my prayers 106. ult Let none that wait on thee O Lord be ashamed let all them that trust in thee say continually the Lord be magnified Save and deliver every one of us O Lord our God from the hands of our enemies to give thanks unto thy holy name and to triumph in thy praise Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ from everlasting to everlasting and let all the people say Amen Praise the Lord. AFter this if the spirits be tyred it will be fit to give them some refreshment And then it will be very profitable to read and weigh seriously our Saviours Sermon on the Mount contained in the V. VI. and VII Chapters of the Gospel according to St. Matthew And such meditations may be interspersed as are most sutable to the persons condition and occasions With the addition of some of the prayers foregoing for RESOLVTION in well doing or for the DIVINE GRACE or for good SVCCESS in any business or for Friends that are TROVBLED IN MIND or are in a long JOVRNEY c. And then conclude with the following Prayer and Thanksgiving I. I Most humbly adore and worship thee O Lord most high the possessor of heaven and earth And admire thy infinite love to mankind whom thou hast thought worth the expence of the bloud of thy dear Son and the conduct and assistance of the holy Ghost and the Ministry of Angels by whom thou exercisest a most watchful providence over us and so many gracious messages from heaven wherein thou hast plainly declared that thou desirest to see us eternally happy by being made partakers of a Divine Nature When we seriously consider thy glorious perfections and thy astonishing kindness towards us we may justly wonder at our selves that we should ever refuse to be conformed to thy will nay that we should not be exceeding forward to joyn our selves unto thee in most hearty love and intire friendship with thee I am amazed at the dulness and stupidity of our Nature that there should need so many intreaties and beseechings of us to be so happy It is impossible to think of thee and to prefer any thing in our esteem and desire and choice and delight and joy before thy favour and good will towards us who art so able and so desirous to bestow the greatest bliss upon us And therefore I most earnestly beseech thy goodness that to all other mercies which I have begged of thee thou wilt add this grace to bring thy self often to my remembrance and to possess my heart with a constant serious and deep sense of thy marvellous kindness in giving me liberty to chuse so great a good as thy self and in propounding to my will such everlasting happiness and in drawing me from those ways which are contrary even to my peace and satisfaction here by such powerful motives to well doing II. Awaken O Lord awaken this sense continually in my mind Fasten my thoughts upon those unseen and eternal enjoyments Make me feel what an happiness it is to love thee with all my heart to cleave unto thee against all temptations which would allure or affright me from my duty to bless and praise thee with joyful lips to be kept in perfect peace and tranquillity while my mind is stayed on thee to be full and satisfied and to desire nothing more but to live for ever in thy love O make me more and more to conceive and remember what an infinite delight thou the infinite good canst pour forth into us how highly our Lord Jesus is dignified and exalted and that thou hast made him most blessed for ever and made him exceeding glad with thy countenance Psal 21.6 and that he will bring all thy children unto his glory Settle in my soul such strong apprehensions of these things that they may purifie my heart more perfectly and provoke me to an unwearied diligence in well doing and make me endure hardship also if need be as a good souldier of Jesus Christ who was made perfect through sufferings III. And assist me especially in these holy addresses to thee that continuing instant in prayer I may feel my heart lifted up more and more towards heaven by ardent breathings after thee And indue me likewise with such a spirit of wisdom and such sincerity of heart that I may never be discouraged though I fall short of the height of my desires but I may always thankfully acknowledge thy grace in what I have attained and labour earnestly to grow better with a quiet patient even and steady mind Preserve in me an humble confidence that thou wilt never forsake the work of thine own hands And let that confidence make me industrious but not slothful And let thy holy Spirit bless and further my endeavours and a fervent desire and hearty good will press me forward and the pleasures of Religion mightily indear it to me and the joy that thou hast set before me make me run the way of thy commandments with an enlarged heart And the nearer I come to the end of my race may it please thy goodness to present me with a clearer sight of that Crown of Life which our Lord hath promised Open to me more of the treasures of thy Kingdom and fill me with a greater joy in hope of thy glory that so I may be willing to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best of all IV. And now O Lord what thanks shall I render unto thee for these holy thoughts desires and affections which by thy grace I feel in my heart together with all the other benefits which thou hast bestowed on me or intendest for me Great and marvellous things O God hast thou wrought for the children of men and thou hast
ceasing to do evil â—nd constantly doing well and we â—ay glorifie thee throughout our whole life in all our actions 1 Pet. 2.9 showâ—ng forth thy praises who â—ast called us out of darkness into thy marvailous light accordâ—ng to thy abundant mercy in Christ Jesus By whom thou hast given us a good hope in thee that thou wilt hear our prayers and do for us above all that we can ask or â—hink which we humbly beg in â—hose holy words which he hath â—aught us saying Our Father c. Another at Night O Most blessed for evermore the Father of Mercies and the God of all Comfort How precious are thy thoughts to us ward how great is the sum of them Thou renewest thy favours continually and art still pouring upon us innumerable benefits of which this is not the least that thou givest us leave to come into thy presence to call thee Father and to make known our requests to thee by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving We accept O Lord with all thankfulness this thy great grace and loving kindness to us and are here again prostrate before thee this evening to acknowledge thy goodness in making us such excellent creatures capable to know thee and acknowledge thee and love thee and by being made like thee to be eternally happy with thee Blessed be thy name that we are now alive and that we have lived so long in health and strength and peace and plenty of all good things whereas our eyes might have been consumed with grief our bones sore vexed and we might have mingled our drink with continual weeping We are bound unto thee for the free use of our understandâ—ngs for the good inclinations we find in our wills for any devout â—ffections which are stirring in our hearts for all the advantages we have had by our education good company and holy examples And more especially for the illuminations of the holy Ghost by thy blessed Gospel the breathings of it frequently into our spirits the importunities thou hast used to draw us to thee and the great and precious promises whereby thy love in Christ Jesus constrains us to resign our selves intirely to the obedience of thy Precepts We ought likewise to admire and praise thee for thy goodness to all thy creatures who live daily upon thy bounteous allowance Psal 145. The eyes of all wait on thee and thou givest them their food in due season Thou diffusest thy blessings in several streams to every one of them according to their needs 104.28 That thou givest them they gather thou openest thy hand they are filled with good We give thee the glory of the plentiful provision thou hast made for them and more particularly admire thy great liberality to the children of men under whose feet thou hast put in subjection all sheep and oxen yea and the beasts of the field the fowl of the air and the fish of the sea and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the waters O Lord we praise thee for thy goodness to those who praise thee not themselves Be thou adored and acknowledged in thy bounty which bestows so many blessings unasked and unsought and continues them notwithstanding abundance of provocations and most high offence that they have given to thy merciful kindness And let thy goodness to thy Church be never forgotten by us which thou hast in all ages protected and defended in a marvailous manner propagating the Gospel of our Saviour confounding its opposers and spreading it by the power of the holy Ghost over the face of the earth We thank thee for thy singular favour to these Countries wherein we live To whom these glad tydings of Salvation have reached and who have long enjoyed a more glorious light than many other places and been delivered from the darkness of Popish superstition and from sundry attemps that have heen made to bereave us of this happiness and are again settled after many confusions in a peaceable enjoyment of thy true Religion which thou hast also continued to us though we have not brought forth fruit worthy of the Gospel of thy Grace O that all thy undeserved goodness may have this effect upon us to make us heartily love thee and devoutly worship thee and zealously obey thee and steadfastly trust and hope in thee for ever That by a careful improvement of the knowledge of thee our God and our Lord Jesus Christ by whom thou hast given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness we may still enjoy this inestimable treasure and all thy love to us may at last be finished in those eternal joys which he hath promised to the faithful And as we have been taught exhorted and incouraged this day out of thy holy word and have likewise publickly acknowledged our obligations to thee and made profession of love and gratitude and dutifulness to thy Divine Majesty So help us all the week following openly to testifie the truth and honesty of our hearts in all this by a blameless conversation in all humility meekness temperance righteousness charity and peace with all them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart Bless our Soveraign the Defender of the Faith we profess and all imployed under him in their several offices that they may be instruments of continuing to us these holy opportunities with all other good things that may make these Kingdoms happy O that all our Friends may be thine and if we have any enemies Father forgive them Comfort and support the sick the needy and all other distressed persons with an immoveable belief of thy wise and good providence to which give them grace patiently and obediently to resign themselves And when all our senses this night shall be bound up with sleep be thou O Lord our keeper and after the refreshment of that repose and this holy rest from our labours raise us in the morning to return unto them with cheerful minds and ready wills praising still and magnifying thy multiplyed mercies to us in Christ Jesus by whom we present our selves and petitions to thee saying further as he hath taught us Our Father c. Another for the Afternoon or any other time of that day O Most Holy Glorious and Blessed Thy Name is excellent in all the earth and thou art for ever praised by all the host of heaven who are never weary of thy service We thy creatures sinful dust and ashes have many times professed it is our happiness to joyn with those heavenly inhabitants in admiring worshipping blessing and loving thee the great Lord of all with pure hearts in unity of spirit sincere friendship and brotherly accord one with another We have often spoken great things of thee and declared thy service to be the sweetest pleasure and one hour spent in holy meditations devout affections and cheerful thanksgivings to be far better than all the time we spend in other imployments How much then if we mean sincerely and according to our words should our
hearts rejoyce that we may spend a day in thy Courts are invited to a longer attendance on thy divine Majesty in the duties of thy worship and service We are ashamed that any weariness should seize on our spirits and that it should be irksome to us to renew our thoughts and acknowledgements of thy infinite goodness Behold O Lord we are resolved again to address our selves unto thee with praise and thanksgiving for giving us such opportunities to look back to thee the Author of our being to lift up our souls towards our heavenly Country and unite them to the first and chiefest good from whence we derive whatsoever we have or hope to enjoy Beseeching thee to help us to draw near unto thee with hearts full of wonder at thy incomprehensible Majesty full of love to thy most wise and Almighty goodness full of thankfulness for thy benefits full of desires to be what thou wouldst have us and full of joy that thou wouldst have us be so happy in being made thy children partakers of a Divine Nature and heirs of immortal life We admire thy glory O great Lord of heaven and earth which shines in the whole Creation thy greater glory in the work of our redemption by the miraculous Birth Life Death and Resurrection of Christ Jesus and the greatest of all which we hope and wait for at his appearing when he shall come to be admired in his Saints and glorified in all them that believe Thou hast done great things for us already thou hast promised to do greater and thou art daily performing thy promises and preparing us for the accomplishment of them all in the highest blessedness O God of all grace make us wiser Stewards than we have been of thy manifold gifts and graces which we are intrusted withal Help us carefully to husband this sacred opportunity which thou continuest to us to the best advantage of our immortal souls Gather in our thoughts from our ordinary business Fix them on thy self and hold them in the contemplation of thy infinite mercies and of those divine Truths which represent our duty and thy exceeding love and kindness towards us Chase away all worldly affections and over-awe our spirits with a sense of thy divine presence that by serving thee with a religious reverence this day we may be disposed to walk in thy fear all the rest of our lives Having a grateful remembrance of thy benefits a deep and serious reflection upon our own resolutions and thy gracious promises an holy jealousie over our selves lest we should be unfaithful to them and a pious care in all things to approve our selves the constant and diligent servants of the Lord Jesus O that our thankfulness and good affections and zealous desires may not end with our prayers nor conclude with this day But we may be possessed with such a strong and habitual sense of thee and of our obligations to thee that we may every day earnestly and heartily serve thee in all the actions of Christian piety and be unwearied in well doing unto the conclusion of our lives Another O Most holy great and glorious Majesty of heaven and earth To whom all the blessed company above do with the highest admiration and love give continual praise and thanks and honour and worship and obedience acknowledging thou art above all that they are able to speak of thee or ascribe and render to thee Much more art thou exalted above the thoughts of such poor mortals as we who are clothed with flesh and live far remote from the throne of thy glory And yet such is thy goodness thou condescendest to admit nay to draw us to a fellowship with those holy spirits that we may thereby be made happy and called thy servants though when we have done the best we can very unprofitable What is man that thou art mindful of him what are the sons of men that thou dost at all consider them Thou hast crowned us with glory and honour here below and raised us to a Dominion over the works of thy hands Thou hast indued us with understandings to know thee and with wills to love thee whose most excellent wisdom Almighty power and surpassing goodness we discover in all thy works of wonder But what is sinful man that thou shouldest so much regard him as to send after him to seek and save him when he was lost Lord what grace was this that thou shouldest vouchsafe to speak with us and communicate any thing of thy mind to such forgetful and ungrateful wretches But that thou shouldst speak to us by thy Son and declare thy mind in such words of grace and favour and publish such kind intentions towards us and recover us with so much cost and purchase us to thy self with the precious bloud of thy Son Jesus and send thy holy Spirit to purifie us that we might have thy Image renewed in us and be made fit society for thy self again and restored to immortal life Lord how much doth it exceed all belief hadst thou not given us in tender mercy such abundance assurance of it We have those reasons to bless thee which the Angels have not We must admire thee not only as the great Creator and Preserver of all things which we heartily do and give thee the glory of all thy marvailous works but also as the Redeemer of mankind out of a forlorn condition by the manifestation of thy self in our flesh by the bloud of thy Son the constant breathings of the holy Ghost the light of thy Gospel and an unwearied patience which hath waited on us and propounded to us no less happiness than to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus who is advanced far above all principalities and powers and every name that is named not only in this world but in that also which is to come We praise thee O God we magnifie thy most holy Name we confess our selves bound to thee above all other creatures that we have any knowledge of for we are twice thy creatures and thou hast a double title to all we have O stir up all that is within us to bless thee and love thee and offer up the sacrifice of thanksgiving to thee Fill our hearts with joy and gladness that we have another opportunity wherein to recount thy mercies to us to be further instructed in thy mind and will declared by our Saviour and to be under the comfortable influences of heaven to cherish those holy thoughts affections and resolutions which are begun in us and to promote our growth and increase in all wisdom goodness and vertue Possess us with such a strong sense of thy continued love towards us that we may testifie our true and hearty thankfulness for it by attentive consideration of all that we hear out of thy holy Word and by laying it up in our hearts and esteeming it more than the greatest treasures of this World and endeavouring every day to have our conversation as becometh the