Wisdom In special we thank thee for any well-grounded hopes we have of a better life and that Inheritance which is incoruâ—â—ible undefiled and that fadeth not away reâ—…ed in Heaven for us and for which also we are preserved O Loâ—… of tiâ—e are less then the least of all thy mercies and if thou lay upon us the heavyest of thy judgements we have no right to complain being men of death and such as have deserved everlasting condemnation For we brought into the world with us a corrupt nature wherein is the seed of all sin and by reason whereof in the whole course of our lives we have neglected or done negligently what thou requirest and have moreover too too carelesly rusht into those evils both in thought word and deed which thou forbiddest But since thou art a God that delightest in mercy and that hast been pleas'd out of thine infinite love to mankind to lay upon thine only Son the iniquity of us all We that are the sheep that have gone so far astray come boldly unto the Throne of Grace in his Name intreating thy Majesty that by that Lamb of God that hath taken away the sins of the World our many and great sins our day-sins and our night-sins may be so taken away that if they be sought they may not be found being removed from us as far as the East is from the West that so in all the sorrows of this world we may joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now received the atonement Make us able we pray thee by thy grace to prove that our sins are forgiven because they are forsaken s and that we have right to the promises of the Tree of Life because we do thy Commandements and walk sincerely in the duties of Christianity and of our particular Callings that thereby though we cannot procure yet we may assure our happiness and in that way of thine may come to be possessed of it That we may the better perform the duties belonging to us in our several places Help us we beseech thee to take heed both of Idleness and ill Company that are Enemies to Imployment And if we do labour diligently let us shew the power of godliness in not aiming at our own advantage and self-ends Set our hearts O God in so good a frame as that we may follow our business day by day in obedience to thy Word with respect to thy glory and to the doing of good to those that we live amongst and ought to be helpful unto For these ends and purposes we beg of thee as of a God Al-sufficient to preserve us from danger by thy Providence to enable us for what we are to do by thy power and to make all we do to thrive and prosper by thy blessing without which it is in vain to rise up early to sit up late and to eat the bread of sorrows Have a gracious respect we humbly pray thee unto all thine and ours according to all thy wisdom and goodness and according to all their need and occasions Be pleas'd to look with special favour upon the Churches of the Saints in all places especially in this and the neighbour-Nations Herein Pour forth thy choysest blessings on the head and thy choisest graces into the heart of the Kings Majesty with the rest of the Royal Family Furnish those with ability and fidelity that are in Authority in the State and that watch over the souls of thy people in the Church As for our selves and all that are under authority make us ever ready to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and unto God the things that are Gods Let thy fear O Lord be upon our hearts all the day long that walking conscionably as in thy presence we may present our selves comfortably before thee in the Evening with the sense and feeling of thy grace in us and goodness towards us in Jesus Christ through whom we glory in thee and to whom with thee O Father and the Eternal Spirit we acknowledge to be due and desire to give all honour and glory now and evermore Amen A shorter Prayer for the Evening MOst glorious God and in Jesus Christ our most loving Father It is of thy great mercy that we have been preserved and followed with many fatherly favours this day and that we are in so good a condition before thee to offer up this Evening Sacrifice unto thee We must needs confess and we come unto thee to confess that thy gracious dealing with us is altogether undeserved and that any evil that is or shall come upon us in this world is far less then we deserve For if we look to our beginnings we that at first were made good and like our God have by our sin in our first Parents forfeited and lost that holiness in which and that happiness unto which we were created so that thou mayest justly call us transgressors from the womb we having procured this unto our selves that we are every one of us shapen in iniquity and in sin did our mother conceive us And this corruption that over-spreads our natures so declareth and disperseth it self also in our whole carriage that as there is no day of our life wherein we do not many wayes partake in thy mercy so no day passeth over our heads wherein we do not in many things provoke thy justice In regard whereof we do not more need our daily bread for our bodies and being then a daily pardon of sin for our souls and for our well-being And blessed be thy Name O gracious God who art so far from leaving us without hope of a pardon that thou callest us unto thee and teachest us to seek it from thee as from our heavenly Father Unto thee therefore we come acknowledging O Father that we have sinned against Heaven and against Thee so that we are not worthy to be called thy children But though we forget to be towardly children yet do not thou forget to be a compassionate Father but be pleased to come forth and meet us and kiss us with the kisses of thy love Declare thy self in Jesus Christ a God reconciled unto us and that our sins and iniquities thou wilt remember no more So shall we remember thy Loves more then Wine and thou shalt put gladness into our hearts more then can possibly be had from all worldly enjoyments Nor do thou kiss us only but clothe us Take away our filthy garments which by our prodigality we have brought our selves unto and clothe us with change of rayment for as our great desire is that the righteousness of Christ which is the righteousness of God may be put upon us to shelter us from thy justice so we beg also for the clothing of the new Man that we may be meet to partake in thy mercy and may walk worthy of
was manifestly and mightily declared to be the only-begotten Son of God Rom. 1. 3. Unto this may be added that this day hath been ever of high account in the Christian Church Let every one saith Ignatius that holy Martyr that loveth Christ keep the Lords day holy the Queen and Supreme of all dayes Hierom saith Among all dayes this day hath the primacy or holds the preheminence This is the day saith he that the Lord hath made let us rejoyce and be glad in it If we celebrate our birth-dayes saith Chrysostom How much more is this day to be observed which if any shall call the Birth-day of all mankind he shall not erre therein for we were lost and are found were dead and are alive were Enemies and are reconciled But it is with spiritual honour that this day is to be honoured not with feasting profuse drinking of Wine much less with drunkenness and dancing c. Chrysost Serm. de Eleemosyna I shall close up this with a later witness of the worth of the Sabbath yet not to be contemned it being the testimony of a very learned man and Martyr of Jesus Christ His words are these The Sabbath is the School-day wherein we are to come to the Lords School to be acquainted with the Lords law and will When therefore the Sabbath is so much commended in the Old Testament the Lords School is especially commended The Vniversity not of Plato or Aristotle but of the Omnipotent God is commended The knowledge of the Law and the understanding of the Covenant of God with Man is commended What was spoken therefore of the City of God we may apply to his Sabbath Glorious things are spoken of thee O thou day of God Nor is there any thing on Earth liker Heaven then the enjoyment and we may say the beat fiâ—al Vision of God on that day in those publike Ordinances and private Spiritual Exercises and Addresses unto which devout Christians devote themselves which may be confirmed unto us by this That the heavenly State and the weekly day of publique and private Worship go under one and the same name that is both are said to be a keeping of a Sabbath Heaven being in this here as that shall be in Heaven hereafter There followeth 4. The Judgements of God threatned against and inflicted upon Sabbath-profaners Here I shall make use of the Text in hand and Nehemiahs relation v. 18. which sheweth that their Sabbath-profanation was not only evil in them but was and they might fear it would be very evil to them The judgement described in this Scripture hath four sad things in it 1. It is hereditary As when a disease is hereditary and passeth from Father to child the pain of that disease is hereditary also so is it in this case Did not your Fathers do thus And where the sin is continued the judgement is entailed yea it is said further Did not God bring this evil upon us When there is a generation of Sabbath-breakers they pay for their Fathers sin and their own both together as it was in this long captivity And now they had cause to fear further judgement They being risen up in their Fathers stead an increase of sinful men to augment yet the fierce anger of the Lord toward Israel Numb 32. 14. 2. It is very harmful It is not only said this evill but all this evil for God chastiseth his people as their Congregation hath heard And they had heard besides what they heard at other times a little before these utmost miseries that the Lord for not hallowing the Sabbath would kindle a fire in the palaces of Jerusalem which should burn seventy years together and not be quenched We find in former times how severe the sentence of God himself was upon him that did but gather sticks on the Sabbath day And about the same time when they greatly polluted the Lords Sabbaths he said He would powr forth his fury upon them to destroy them in the Wildernesse wherein there were mighty slaughters made of them but all that evill was little to all this evill Neh. 9. 32. 36 37. for the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people saith the Prophet is greater then the punishment of the sin of Sodom that was overthrown in a moment And again Behold and see if there be any sorrow like my sorrow Godly Magistrates make laws for the holy observation of Gods holy day and ungodly Officers leave them unexecuted but the Supream Power will look to it and the highest God will animate his Laws by Executions which should make all of us fear and tremble and say If we rebell to day and Sabbath-breaking is Rebellion Ezek. 20. 13. Exod. 16. 28. God will be wroth to morrow Yea and that with the whole Congregation For 3. It is diffusive It spreads far Here is wrath Upon Israel Woe to him that commits Folly in Israel For that 's a people near to God and therefore should not be defiled So woe to him that brings trouble on Israel which Achan found for Israel is a people dear to God and therefore he would not have them to be wasted and consumed by those sins that send for general judgments An Ague is one thing the Pestilence another he that brings the Plague into a City may be an instrument of much mortality and misery Now Sabbath-pollutions are pestilential that is they destroy many and make havock in Israel They that set a City on fire are most mischievous persons to be an Incendiary is a name of infamy but Sabbath-breakers set the whole Nation on fire and for their sakes amongst other notorious and Israel-ruining sinners Zion is plowed as a field and Jerusalem becomes heaps for by reason of this sin God threatens such fury as shall consume his people and that he will accomplish his anger against them Ezek. 20. 13 21. 4. It is cumulative that is profaning the Sabbath layes on more weight on those who are heavy laden with the burthen of judgement already For here it is said by them that had been very long in a very sad condition Ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath-day There 's never so much affliction but God can send more and being further provoked by this sin he will send more seven times more They that be in a prosperous estate should keep the Sabbath that they may keep well when it is well and they that be in an evil case should keep it to prevent their being in a worse The wrath of the King of Heaven is as the roaring of a Lyon and more wrath is as a more dreadful roaring the fore-runner of renting Judg. 14. 5. with Hos 13. 8. In all this it is to be remembred that the fourth Commandement still continuing as there is now also a weekly Sabbath-day so there is a like Sabbath-danger
thee our Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work Give us we beseech thee that Knowledge which is the Light of the Soul that Faith which is the Life of the Soul that Love which is the Heat and holy Fire of the Soul that Holiness and Meekness which is the Beauty and Ornament of the Soul and that Hope which is the Anchor of the Soul And thus prepare us for that glorious place whither our Fore-runner is for us entred and who hath given us assurance that where He is there shall also his servant be Nor do we pray for our selves only but as in duty we are bound for thy whole Church Thy Church is thy Treasure Lord where thy peculiar treasure is there let thine heart and peculiar favour be also Cast thine Eye of compassion on those therein that are under any special affliction Yea Look O thou All-seeing and All-pitying God into all corners of the World and shew thy self the God that comforteth those that are cast down In special manner Let the Eyes of the Lord our God be alwayes on this Land and the adjoyning Kingdoms from the beginning of the year even to the end of the year Make our gracious King a glorious Defender of the Faith Worship Wayes and Servants of Jesus Christ Let the Spirit of wisdom and the fear of the Lord rest on those Eminent Persons of his Majesties Privy Council ennoble with grace the whole Nobility Give a Spirit of Government and of Godliness to all in Authority that under his Majesty and his Magistracy we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty Let thy Ministers O Lord be clothed with righteousness and so let thy Saints shout for joy As for our selves and others that live under the light Give us grace we beseech thee to live as lights in the world holding forth the Word of Life in our life that so thy faithful Labourers may rejoyce in the day of Christ that they have not run in vain nor laboured in vain Bless we pray thee all our Friends and all we ought to pray for whether Friends or Enemies especially bless those belonging to us with spiritual blessings in heavenly things yea minister to them and us and all thine all those good things of any kind which we have or should have asked either for our selves or them And now O Lord with humble thanks for the mercies of this day we commend our selves and all we have into thy gracious hands intreating thee to preserve us from the sins and sorrows of the night and to grant us that safe and quiet rest whereby our bodies may be restored and our spirits revived for the service of the day following And that for Christs sake thine only Son and our alone Mediator and Advocate In whose Name therefore and in the confidence of whose Intercession we come unto thee and to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost three Persons and one God we render as is most due all Honour Obedience and Thanksgiving now and evermore Amen I shall only add two short Prayers for Children whereby they may be trained up to this necessary duty that so they may get much acquaintance with God by beginning betimes if they live longer and may not be without all acquaintance with God and Godliness if they die sooner A Prayer for Children for the Morning MOst high and holy God who hast set thy glory above the Heavens and yet out of the mouths of little Children yea of Sucklings hast ordained strong and powerful praise I bless and magnifie thy Name which is so excellent for that out of thine unspeakable love thou hast given to thy children and to their children Jesus Christ and together with him all things that I am born in thy Church that thou hast so provided for my bringing up that I may know of a child the holy Scriptures which are able to make me wise unto Salvation that by thee I have been holden up from the womb who have been no way able to look to my self And in particular for that thou hast kept me in safety this last night and raised me up comfortably this morning O Lord I confess I am a transgressor from the womb for who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean not one And though I have lived but a while in the world yet I have sinned much so that it were just with thee suddenly to seize upon me and to take me out of this world before I am prepared for a better But Lord look upon me not as I am in my self but in Jesus Christ and in and through him pardon me who am so sinful Teach me who am so ignorant Sanctifie me who am so corrupt Make me to remember thee my Creator in the dayes of my youth Help me to hide thy Word in mine heart that I may not sin against thee but may thereby even while I am young clense and amend my wayes Order my steps in thy Word that no iniquity may have dominion over me And that I may not be wanting in any duty that thou requirest of me Grant me thy grace O God that I may be subject and obedient to my Parents and Governours tractable to my Teachers diligent in my business humble and gentle in my behaviour fearful to learn of any that which is evil and careful to learn of all that which is good Be pleased O Lord to strengthen and perfect my natural parts but especially vouchsafe that as I grow in years so I may grow in grace Protect and bless me I beseech thee this day throughout that in the evening I may praise thee for thy great goodness in Christ Jesus To whom with thee O Father and God the Holy Ghost be rendred all Glory Dominion and Service now and evermore Amen A Prayer for Children for the Evening O Most wise and gracious God I acknowledge my self a simple and sinful Creature I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my Mother conceive me That foolishness which is bound in the heart of a child is fast bound in mine and that corruption which abides in all abounds in me which sadly shews it self in my backwardness and unwillingness in better things and my self-will and earnestness to walk in the wayes of mine heart and in the sight of mine eyes though for all such things thou wilt bring me to judgement Notwithstanding all this Be pleas'd O blessed Father to look upon me in thy Christ as thy child Unto me and into me let every good and saving gift come down from the Father of lights Give me so much understanding as to know my sin and judge my self for it so much repentance as to feel my sin and abhor my self for it and so much faith as to flie to Christ for pardon and power against
know what this or that man is he answers They are not unknown men that I thus discourse or dispute of but such as are known Now put these two together that he speaks of the foulest sinners and that known to be such and then perhaps upon serious consideration he will rather be thought worthy of imitation then guilty of exuberancy and straining too far in such expressions Sure Calvin thought him so and therefore being much put to it by the opposition of a notorious person that for many wickednesses was interdicted and forbidden to come to the Lords Table and yet had prevailed so far against the discipline as that it seems he meant to have rushed in I say Calvin being thus put to it he breaks out in his Sermon with much vehemency into these words But I saith he following Chrysostom will rather suffer my life to be taken from me then endure that this hand of mine should reach forth these holy things to the judged contemners of God I observe that he saith to such as are judged so But suppose things be at that pass that Church government is wanting or interrupted or so corrupted as that the purging of the Church in an orderly way of Discipline cannot be obtained Must a Minister therefore deliver the Body and Bloud of Christ to evident and eminent contemners of God Or ought he not rather to suspend his act and to forbear the administration of the Supper to such while such I shall leave the answering of this to those that be very free for free-admission upon whose spirits notwithstanding they being men of understanding and piety I find such a convincement as concerning this necessary restraint that in the upshot it comes to this Though Professors must not be debarred from their right or the use of their right by any single Minister Yet saith a learned man we require in him so much piety that in prudence discretion and charity to the soul of a notorious and scandalous person he withdraw the Sacrament from him for a time till he give in evidence of his amendment Such another saying the same Reverend Author hath concerning those who are very grosly ignorant closing in both and much in words with one that wrote before him on the same subject a man of parts and I believe so well minded that he meant not to do any hurt in his Plea for General Admission to the Sacrament save that a man may quickly be a means of that evil which he doth not mean His words as to the matter of gross Ignorance are these I must confess if you will say that some are so grosly ignorant that they are not capable for the present to learn or be instructed by publick teaching then may you have the liberty for me to number them amongst Ideots and such as have not the use of reason and so deal with them accordingly that is as he saith after except and exclude them It 's true that the Author in relation to these ignorant persons seems to build much upon their receiving instruction when they are at the Sacrament but the question he e is not What they may possibly attain when they be there but What they have attained before that they may be regularly there Will not present gross ignorance weigh more to refuse them then possible knowledge to receive them I say possible but not probable for it is not like they should learn much by being at a Sacrament who have heard many Sermons concerning Sacraments and yet have learned in a manner nothing Unto this I must further add that the question here is not Whether these grosly ignorant persons are so far uncapable as to be numbred among Idiols for they are wise enough in their generation and element but Whether they are not so far unteachable and intractable as that they cannot be justly numbred among discerners of the Lords Body to wit because they know not neither WILL they understand Indeed if they would yield themselves to instruction and endeavour to attain Sacramental knowledge suitable to their parts and breeding then though dismissed formerly they might be received freely But that being not done when as discerning and damnation are so near Who can bid them draw near The words of the same Author concerning a scandalous cariage are these I am willing to grant Where there are scandals 1. Notorious that they offend the Congregation 2. So open that they need no proof nor debate 3. In the present fact so that no repentance can be pleaded such may be dealt withal as ipso jure excommunicate Thus ingenuous he is and thus much he yields out of the reverence he hears to the reason of the Church that shuts out such from the Sacrament whereby he confirms with me this present reason for Sacrament-restraint taken from the judgment of the Church of God Yet I do not find that the Church excludes such as he doth that is as accounting them presently the objects of Excommunication but as not thinking them fit subjects in that state for Sacrament-reception That clause therefore as ipso jure excommunicate would be a little further weighed which if I mistake not the Author adds to keep intire his Tenet of free-admission to the Lords Supper that is of all that are Church-members He was provident therefore in declaring those scandalous oftenders which he describes to be excommunicate that is to be indeed or in right no Members and so his free-admission of all Members will stand the better But here I have these things to Reply 1. That the before-described notorious persons are notwithstanding members because not yet actually cast out for Was not the incestuous person notwithstanding his horrible sin and the common fame thereof when Paul wrote I say was not he yet a Member How could he be put away and cast out if he were not with in 2. To punish him actually de facto as one not reputed a member who is excommunicate only de jure that is is under such an offence as may be a cause of Excommunication and which hath a tendency in it to that censure is not fair but like punishing a Malefactor before a tryal which the above-named Author wisely considering gives this account of it Even ignorant and profane till convicted and excommunicate not only de jure but de facto have a right for that not keeping company with fornicators covetous c. 1 Cor. 5. 11. is intended no otherwise but upon a sentence and judgement fore-going afore which they might for its unreasonable a punishment should be inflicted before a judgment Thus he 3. Neither is he that hath committed a notorious act before the Sacrament excommunicate de jure for it is not just to put him under so dreadful a sentence before tryal be made whether he will obstinately persist in his sin or no which there is no time for supposing the crime to
God he is more abundantly glorifyed 2 Cor. 9. 12 13. 2. Our own good God would have us to be wise for our selves and to know things for our own good Now the more Suitors there be the more like they be other things being alike to have their suit granted else why are the people of God call'd upon on more important occasions to seek him together It s true there cannot be so solemn an Assembly in a Private house as when the trumpet is blown in Zion but yet a Christian-Housholder kneeling before the Lord with his Wife and Children and whole Family is in some part and with a Religious resemblance like Jehosaphat and Judah standing before the Lord with their little ones their Wives and their Children a thing which the Lord likes so well that he undertakes that himself which is by so many cast upon him Go gather together all the Jews saith Esther and fast ye for me and if I perish I perish I 'le venture my life upon that concurrent course We finde also in the New Testament that the Prayer of the Christian company made the house shake where they were assembled together And Church-prayers bring Peter out of Prison in witness whereof he comes to that very house where many were gathered together praying Nor is the joyning of the Family in Prayer beneficial only for the better hearing of the petitions presented to God in the generality but in special for the better speeding of all houshold-affairs for as our nourishment so our imployment is sanctified by the Word and Prayer which is the more considerable in a Family because the Scripture lets us know how much the prosperity thereof depends on the blessing of God which is as was said before like to be more obtained when it is sought by more and when God is wrestled with by an united strength of Faith and Fervency If it be here objected as it is like enough to be That in ordinary Families there are divers persons in whom there is little appearance of Faith and Grace and then what strength can they give to the Duty of Prayer To this I answer 1. That the same objection might have been made against all Judah that stood before God with their little ones their Wives and their Children for sure they were not all Israel that is truly gracious and clean in heart that were of Israel And yet we find that of that general appearing there was a great acceptation yea God will have gathered together children and those that suck the breasts Besides that it is required that in the Church which will always be a mixt company Amen should be said by the whole Assembly which notes such a conjunction as makes the Prayer common to all yea and commodious also for God requires no unprofitable thing Now the reason why God requires and accepts this joyning together is because He is honoured yea his honour is heightened by the submission and seeking of his People when they are gathered together though divers or many of the company are not persons truly gracious And howsoever Infants and Sucklings cannot pray and so sorry Men and Women are like to pray very poorly themselves yet others by looking on them and taking to heart their hazzardous condition may thereby be stirred up to pray much more earnestly and effectually Yea the Beasts of Niniveh may lowden their cry Jonab 3. 8. 2. I answer That it is too high and hard for us to pronounce who in a Family have true Grace and who have not and we are not to reason away conjunction in Religious Exercises by uncertain conjectures Nay though they do by their outward and ill carriage give great occasion to judge them bad and unregenerate men and they be indeed such yet the having and holding of them to a course of Religion in the Family may through the blessing of God prevail for their Reformation yea we do not know but that the Prayers of the company and houshold wherein there be some that have Grace may be a means through Grace of the working of Grace in those that joyn with them though as yet they have no Grace So Sauls conversion is supposed to be given in of God by the Prayer of Steven And the conversion of Augustine who was as Saul much corrupted in opinion by the prayers and tears of his ever-weeping and seeking Mother August confess lib. 3. 12. 4. 9. 3. I answer further and grant that there is not the same acceptance of Prayer from Persons that want the Grace of God as from them that have it for gracious Persons being in Christ are in him accepted as having a night to all the Promises of God which in him are Yea and in him Amen and whereof they are the heirs But though they that want Grace Faith and Interest in our High-Priest cannot come boldly to the throne of Grace to obtain Mercy and find Grace as Believers may yet they may be so far accepted as to be helpers for the obtaining of outward blessings We find Pilgrims and Prisoners Sickmen and Seamen crying to God in their distress and He who takes notice of the voice of nature and necessity saveth and delivereth them in that way out of all their troubles Nor were the Ninevites deceived in the hope they had of preventing perishing by Praying and crying mightily unto God for in that way they prevailed though we cannot say for the pardon of their sin and saving of their souls yet for the saving of their City at least at that time 4. To shut up this If this Objection will hold we must exclude all men that are not good men from the duty of Prayer yea of Private Prayer when yet we know that Prayer is a general duty And unto Simon Magus that had no part nor lot in Gospel-saving priviledges but say in the gall of wickedness and bond of iniquity unto him notwithstanding Peter saith Repent of this thy wickedness and pray God if perhaps the thoughts of thine heart may be forgiven thee It s true that Peter bids him Repent first and then Pray for Prayer cannot be heard for pardon of sin unless by Pardon we understand the removal of some outward judgement I say Prayer cannot be heard for the pardon of sin as it binds over to everlasting condemnation unless in a way of true Repentance and yet God is so full of compassion as to forgive iniquity So as not to destroy even those who seek him because he slaies them whose professions and fair promises are but flatteries and whose hearts are not right with him nor stedfast in his Covenant in their returnings to him Having been so long in the first Position I shall be shorter in those that follow The second Position Approved examples are binding to the end of the World in those things wherein the
vile and vain thoughts when we are alone from idle words when we are in company and from an empty carriage and unprofitable expence of time whether we be alone or in company And since thou hast appointed man to labour and the day to labour in Keep us we pray thee from idleness and neglect of our Callings from infidelity and depending on our labour and industry from discontent if we live hardly by it and from intemperance state-pride covetousness and worldly confidence if we thrive and prosper in it Let all our dealings through thy grace O God that art the God of all grace be just and equal without over-reaching and as there shall be occasion let us be charitable according to our ability without grudging And be pleased to set and keep our hearts in so good a frame that notwithstanding our worldly occasions We may be watchful to do and ready to receive any spiritual good and let our desire be to be in that company that will give occasion of both with the shunning not only of wicked but unprofitable Society Enable us we humbly pray thee to adorn our Profession by providing for honest things not only in the sight of the Lord but in the sight of men Let thy fear O God who art great and terrible be upon our hearts and before our eyes all the day long that so we may presume to do nothing which it will or should grieve us to think upon at night Let there be cause rather to bless thee in the Evening as for thy goodness toward us so for some goodness in us and that the day hath not passed without using our Talents so as to bring in some advantage to our great Lord mean-while being here before thee to confess how good thou art every way unto us we would not go out of thy presence without praising thee our most merciful God for ordaining such peace for us as that we may with safety both abide at home and go abroad about all our occasions It is of thy great goodness that we are not forced to go in by-ways for fear of violent men but the high-wayes are freely occupyed and we have cause to rehearse the righteous acts of the Lord towards the Inhabitants of his Villages who now dwell without fear in such undefenced places In special we bless thee our gracious God for that Government whereby we enjoy this peace and liberty humbly beseeching thee to settle still amongst us and ever to preserve over us a religious and righteous and rightful Magistracy for our present tranquillity and felicity And ever to establish amongst us an able and faithful Ministry for the saving of our souls and our everlasting happiness in the day of the Lord Jesus for whom we bless thee in whom we enjoy and joy in thee and to whom with thee O Father and the Holy Spirit we acknowledged to be due and desire from our souls to give all Glory Majesty Dominion and Power now and evermore Amen A Family-Prayer for the Evening O Most holy and most glorious Lord God we poor and polluted creatures acknowledge our selves altogether unworthy to be admitted into thy presence so much as to confess our sins yet since thou art pleased to offer thy self unto us in Jesus Christ under the name of a Father assuring us that If we confess our sins thou art faithful and just to forgive us our sins we are therefore bold in him to come before thee confessing O Father that whereas at first we were made very good and very like God Now through our own fault and fall every one of us is shapen in Iniquity and in sin did our mother conceive us And besides this corruption of nature enough of it self to condemn us Against Thee Against thee only for there is but one Law-giver have we sinned in the whole course of our lives Justly O Lord mayest thou draw up an heavy charge against us for our sins of omission upon which our Saviour will pass his last Sentence for we cannot but acknowledge that we have left made light of and like leaking vessels let slip many Sermons Our fruits after much seed sowen have been so few that we deserve our stripes should be many unto which this other evil is added that we have often sleighted the Lords Supper either by not caring to receive it or by neglecting to prepare for it We have idled away also or profaned many Sabbaths at least we have gone heavily under the service of that day which we should call a delight And whereas heart-searching is exceeding needful for the well-ordering of our hearts and lives we confess that many examinations of our hearts and wayes for which thou hast hearkened we have neglected yea though this duty of Prayer by our selves and in our Families be so needful so beneficial and such an al-sanctifying service yet for a long time either we have been very careless and mindless of it or else careless and heartless in it But besides all these omissions and neglects of duty we do further confess that we have committed much evil and been guilty of much Rebellion against thy Majesty yielding ordinarily unto Satans temptations who never ceaseth to put fair colours upon the forbidden fruit rushing often into evil company and partaking with them in the unfruitful works of darkness and when we have been alone sadly and securely satisfying the lusts of our evil and distempered hearts especially in the evils more pleasing and sutable to our sinful natures In regard of all which and all other our many and great transgressions we deserve O most just God to be deprived of all thy blessings and to be laden with thy judgements as we have laden thee with our sins But whilest we are displeased with our selves for them and it is in our hearts desire not only to confess them but forsake them and turn to thee from them We beseech thee O Father of Mercies in the Name and for the merits of Jesus Christ to be merciful to us sinners laying every one of our sins for we are not able our selves to bear the least of them upon that Lamb of God on whom the Lord hath laid the Iniquity of us all freeing us also of thy free grace from all those evils which are either on us or due unto us for the same And that we may be hereof assured Give us we pray thee that most excellent grace of Faith without which the Word of Promise and of Pardon cannot profit that thereby receiving the forgiveness of our sins our spirits may rejoyce in God our Saviour which since we cannot do but in the Publicans way who said God be merciful to me a sinner that is in a way of repentance therefore do thou O Lord work and if any thing of godly sorrow be already wrought do thou more and more work so