Thanksgiving O merciful Father after all thy mecies to me in the whole course of my life my soul hath this day further seen and tasted how good the Lord is in many significations of mercie and loving kindness to me I bless thee O Lord for the great work of mercie in Iesus Christ For that I have a time to repent me of those sins for which I might even now have been suffering in an eternal punishment I praise thee that I am not roating in a torment languishing in a disease pining in a prison nor a poor vagrant nor a disconsolate captive But on the contrary O my Lord thou hast given me a residence a protâ—ction a plenty a sound mind an healthful body and liberty But most especially that thou hast offered me sweet testimonies of thy present grace and a blessed hope of future glory Now O my Lord for every of these and for all other the blessed evidences of thy love and goodness to me I do from my soul acknowledg thy mercie and bless praise and magnity thy great and glorious Name for ever and ever And O Lord keep me this night under the same protection and let the mercy of my God so preserve me that neither sin nor danger may make me miserable through the might of Iesus Christ my ever blessed Saviour Amen Vse the same intercession that is set for the Morning Service THE Largest Forme FOR Private Exercise Morning PRAYER When thou addressest thy self to thy morning service first frame thy mind to meditate of the glorious excellencies and presence of God and worship him in this or the like manner Our Father which art c. O Most glorious and incomprehensible Lord God of heaven and earth whose immense essence and infinite perfections no tongue can express nor heart conceive Before whose Dreadful Majesty the holy Angels vaile their faces and the glorified Spirits cast their crowns Thou O Lord art only worthy to receive Glory Honour and Power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created Therefore being sensible of my miserable nothing poverty and dependency and admiring thy absolute and infinite excellencies do throw my self my soul and body at the foot of thy Majesty and do adore and worship thy divine presence acknowledging that blessing honour and power is due unto thee for ever and ever Amen A Confession O Lord my God who art a God of purity and holiness and hatest the wayes of iniquity Though thou hast sentenced sin to a wages of death and an eternal punishment and hast declared a dislike of all wicked persons and their performances yet O Lord wretch that I am I have not ceased to do evill in thy sight and to depart from all thy holy wayes For I have yeelded my self too much to satisfy the vanity of my corrupt mind and my unholy lusts not considering their inconsistencie with the Kingdom of Christ I have inclined my affections desires and designes too much to present enjoyments and suffered my heart to be betrayed by them to a forgetfulness or thee and departure from thee O Lord I have either altogether omitted the duties of thy service and worship or performed them too loosely and subordinately or with too much hypocrisie or confidence in them I confesse I have every way lived unanswerably to the infinite mercies and strict commandments of the Gospel too much neglecting the great salvation and the excellencies of the peace of Christ O Lord my God when I consider the iniquities I have committed in my mind with evill thoughts in my tongue in sinfull words and how much all parts and faculties have concurred as instruments of sin how I have offended against the motions of thy Spirit and my own purposes against all thy lawes and all thy providences in all my actions and employments and in every part of my life my sins become an heavy burthen too heavy for me to bear Here open thy soul to God in particulars so that for them and all other my sins I have justly deserved thy wrath and indignation to afflict me in this life with signal punishments and in the life to come with eternall torments Petition for Pardon But O Lord my God give me a true and sincere repentance such as thou shalt please to accept in Christ O teach mine eyes to weep my heart to break my soul to mourn for all my sins O let my understanding alwayes perceive and be convinced of their filthinesse and deadliness even as when thou beholdest sinnes to punish them or as when thou requiredst the blood of my Saviour to satisfie thy justice for them Lord help me to purpose against them and truly to depart from them as if the shame and unprofitablenesse the curse and the hell of them were alwayes before me And O Lord I beseech thee for thy tender mercies and bowels of compassion sake who canst not delight in the death of a sinner to pitty my poor soul lying under the burthen of my sins O my dear Iesus let these wounds of my soul be healed by thy stripes and the divine justice that I have offended be satisfied by thy dear sufferings And since thou hast paid a price for my sins and still intercedest for the pardon of them O deliver me from the guilt and burthen of them an unpeaceable conscience and a miserable eternity the just wages of them Through the merits of my dear Iesus my Lord and Saviour Amen Petition for Grace O my most gracious God I being sensible of my spiritual poverty and inabilitie to understand desire or think of the things of my peace without thy assistance do beseech thee in thy tender mercies not to leave my soule to the guidance of my sinful nature nor to give me over to my own vile affections but rather grant me power through thy holy Spirit to crucify my lusts and to deny my self in all things that are inconsistent with thee O strengthen me to encounter with the temptations of the world and let not the seeming satisfactions of any outward enjoyment betray my soul to forget thee or to decline my obedience to thee Lord grant me the compleat armour of thy grace that I may alwayes prevent the wiles of the devil and overcome the powers and rulers of darkness in their temptations Give me a disposedness in all parts and faculties of soul and body to exercise their offices in obedience to Christ Enlighten my understanding to mind heavenly things draw my will after thee and command all my affections to thee Fill me O Lord with every grace of the Gospel whose exercise thou requirest of me as a disciple of Christ O make me able to live godly to thee in all parts of thy worship righteously to men by the strict rules of justice and soberly to my self in all temperance and chastity Lord make me humble sincere meek patient and peaceable and give me strength to obey the whole will of Christ in all his
such as were first disobedient to him And this way of God is most conspicuous in his dealing with his people the Jewes to whom those places in the question chiefly referre For his severity upon them was only unto such that first fell from him They had a day of mercy which they despised after which it was just with God to make it a time of hardening and excluding them from mercy Which when God shall so do what art thou O man that thou shouldst question his justice or reply against him who hath power as a Potter over his clay to make some vessells to honour and some to dishonour when some accept others reject and despise his grace Therefore Gods wayes are â—â—equal That this truth may yet be fully signified we argue that the stony and other unprofitable grounds wanted not their seed the unfruitful tree had its husbandry manuring and long forbearance before it was sentenced to be cut down The refusing guests at the great Supper had their invitation To conclude Ierusalem had a day of visitation in which they neglected the things of their peace before the fearful sentence was past that they should be hid from their eyes From all which it followes that to want grace to be hardened to be a vessel of dishonour can be no arguments to suspect God will deny such grace and sufficient spiritual assistancies but rather motives to beware of the abuse and neglect of grace when it is offered lest we forfeit our peace by neglecting the day of mercy Quest But further may I not fear to be shut out from grace and all hopes of salvation by a fatal and irrevocable reprobation from eternity the necessary consequence of an irrespective decree for the salvation of some Ans. I know some places of Scripture have administred occasion of endless dispute wherein men have waded as in the dark into an abyss of doubts of unfathomed depth and by their passionate disceptations even to uncharitablenesse about that which I am confident is no further revealed then what may make it necessary to be acknowledged a mystery and to put reason to a trial to submit to that which it could never comprehend by any enquiries have made conclusions about the point which in naturâ rei will have and must hinder and put a barre against a lively undertaking the purposes of strict Gospel-obediencence and weaken the applications of Gods grace in pressing endeavours to work out salvation by the performance of the conditions of the holy Covenant Therefore passing by the enumerations of the differing opinions of the divines both of the Romish and Protestant faith laying aside all examination of such secluse secrecies of God and all unnecessary disputes about them I set up my rest in this one thing that I am comfortably confident that whatsoever Gods election and predestination is it doth not contradict his promises of mercy nor his end of giving Christ unto the world both which by the universal scope of the Gospel are general and conditional And it is the doctrine of the Church of England in the end of the seventeenth Article that we must receive Gods promises in such wise as they be generally set forth to us in holy Scripture and in our doings that will of God is to be followed whiâ—h we have expressely declared unto us in the Word of God Quest Another scruple yet occurres that if salvation through Christ shall be given to them only that perform the conditions when I consider the weakness of my faith the defects of my repentance and my innumerable failings in every part of the performancies of holy living I find nothing but arguments of discouragement and little hopes of being accepted to salvation How may I satisfy my soul in such a discomfort Ans. Though as it is evident that the faith repentance and holinesse of Gods best servants have ever been and shall ever be defective and imperfect they being unable through their corruptions perfectly to perform those Gospel-conditions yet is God pleased to accept of their faithfull and sincere endeavour to fulfill them For the state of Grace doth not necessarily suppose a soule exempt from all sin but from the reigning power rule and dominion of it and a safe condition towards God is not to be accounted by a freedome from all sinning who then could appeare before God and the reflections of his own concience with comfort but is to be collected by observation that the spiritual part hath the greatest predominancy in the thoughts affections designes and actions and that the lusts and carnall part are lesse and every day lessening by the power of the predominant grace In which estate the failings and defects being suddenly retracted and the soule humbled for them are unquestionably pardoned through the blessed plea and advocation of Christs precious merits and his never ceasing intercession Quest Now because you have mentioned such an hope of pardon by the merits of Christ I conceive it will tend much to thy satisfaction in the first attempt and in the whole course of obeying the Gospel rightly to understand what Christ hath merited for thee that thy soul may know what comforts to rejoyce in for what mercies to blesse God and what duties stand on thy account to be performed What therefore hath Christ as a Mediatour and Redeemer merited for thee Ans. A new Covenant of Grace whereby man being at present enmity with God might be reconciled to him and being in a lost estate might be recovered and redeemed to life and salvation Now the whole work of Redemption may be represented in these five effects of his death and mediation Quest What is the first Ans. Christ hath by his universal passion especially by his death and price of his blood satisfied and attoned the justice of God for the sins of the world to become effectual to the justification and salvation of as many as shall by faith accept of him upon his own terms receive his grace and sincerely perform the conditions of the Covenant Quest What is the second Ans. Christ hath merited that those conditions should not be like the lawes imposed upon the Iewes numerous troublesome full of business and attendance to shadowie rites and ceremonies but should become a light burden an easie and pleasant yoke and that his Commandements should not be grievous but should become approveable to right reason and acts in themselves of the greatest prudence and most conducible to the peace and felicity of all societies and persons Quest You see here a most blessed progresse of mercy to mankind first a dreadful justice satisfied which the sacrifice of worlds could never have done by the suffering of him that was both God and Man then secondly a condition propounded in a law which man could not but have given himself had God allowed him a capacity to have chosen one whereby to
my countenance and my God Thou hast created me by thy power redeemed me by thy Christ sanctified me by thy Spirit and preserved me by thy watchful providence through the whole course of my life Lord I praise thee for the safety of my soul and body this day that thy grace hath kept me from grosse sins and thy protection from sad accidents O keep me this night by the covert of the same fatherly goodness through Jesus Christ my Lord Amen Let the intercession be the same that was used for the morning Service Now I commend this office as the fittest to be taught to servants in families and to be used by children before they come to mens and womens estate THE Third Form This third office I have here inserted for the benefit of those who usually accustoming themselves to the next and largest formes shall sometime be necessitated to shorten their service and may be ordinarily used by those who are not yet come up to so great designs of zeal for longer formes Morning PRAYER Our Father which art in c. Confession of sin O Lord God Almighty the God of all Glory Majesty and Power and the fountain of mercies I confesse I am unworthy to appear before thy holy presence having sinned against heaven and before thee and in thought word and deed continually rebelled against thee I have too much followed my lusts and desires and have not endeavoured to bring under my affections to the yoak of Christ I have loved the vanities of the world but too much undervalued thy Kingdom and promises I have not been so sincere and frequent in thy services so diligent in my calling so just and merciful in my carriage to others nor so sober and temperate in the use of my mind body and thy blessings as the strict holinesse of the Gospel hath required of me here make confession of particulars For which I stand here guilty of the breach of thy righteous commandments and lie lyable to the effects of thy wrath and displeasure Prayer for Pardon and Grace But O thou preserver of men for thine own compassion sake and for thy Iesus sake pity the troubles of a burthened soul and pardon all those sins I have committed against thee Let the blood of Christ satisfy thy justice and his intercession obtain thy mercy for a peace and reconciliation with thee that my sins may not separate from thy grace here nor thy glory hereafter And O Lord strenthen my weak soul with the graces of thy Spirit that I may hereafter overcome all the temptations of the devil the world and the flesh and may lead a new and holy life before thee Turn the stream of my affections to thee and take possession of my soul that all my thoughts words and actions may be subject to the law of Christ And having kept the faith and finished my conversation in holines I may at last through thy mercies in Christ obtain the crown of eternal glory Amen The Thanksgiving O merciful and Gracious Lord as I acknowledge my dependence upon thee for every part of my being so I desire to bless thy holy Name for all thy mercies to me especially for the redemption of my soul by the blood of thy Son and for the portion of thy grace that thou hast given me I praise thee O Lord for all temporall blessings as my health provision of food and rayment friends understanding senses and limbs and that I enjoy any thing that I have seen any others to want Blessed be thy Name for the safety of my soul and body this night past O keep me under the shadow of thy wings this day that I may fall into no sad accidents nor dangers and so defend me with thy grace that I may do nothing that may displease thee or that may occasion sin in others or give offence to the holy profession of Christ for his merits sake who is my blessed Jesus Amen Intercession Lord defend thy universall Church from all enemies persecutions and factions Preserve thy Churches in these nations restore them to their former peace and keep them from the dangers of their own divisions and enmities Grant that Magistrates and Ministers may concurre to the upholding thy truth and worship in this needful time Blesse my Parents children and all my near relationss with all spiritual blessings in Christ and all temporall comforts Relieve and comfort all that are in distresse all prisoners captives sick and poor persons distressed widowes and friendless children with every oppressed and sorrowful soul Convert the impenitent confirm the weak turn into the way of truth all that have erred and forgive and bless all mine enemies Lord hear these my prayers and grant me my requests for the mediation of Jesus Christ my Saviour to whom with thee and the holy Spirit be given all Glory Honour and Praise this day and for evermore Amen Evening PRAYER Our Father which c. O Most infinite Majesty and gracious Father in mercy thou hast added another day to my age O wretch that I am I have added many sins to my former score How often O Lord have I this day forgotten my obedience to thee How many vain thoughts hath my mind harboured How many vain and impertinent words hath my mouth uttered With how many passions have I been transported beyond the bounds of Religion How many sinful acts have I committed How many opportunities of doing good have I omitted wherein I might have glorified thy Name And whereas thou hast given it me as another day of grace to be getting oyle for my lamp and to be working out my salvation O unhappy Creature I have rather gone back upon the accounts of the Spirit Trifling away that precious time in my indulgencies to my carnal affections or pursuits of worldly advantages neglecting the great prize of Christ and treasures of eternity So that had I but the sins of this day to answer for at the barre of thy divine justice O Lord I might justly suffer thy wrath to all eternity O what hath my soul to plead for the sins of my whole life if the sins of this one day may confound me For Pardon and Grace And now Lord where is my hope truly my hope is even in thee who though thou art justly displeased with me for my sins yet hath thy Iesus fully satisfied thy justice for them and by the dear price of his blood purchased at thy hand forgiveness of them O my dear Lord I beseech thee therefore shut not up the bowels of thy compassion from me nor deny me the benefit of the death and passion of my Saviour Lord let his wounds heal me his blood cleanse me his death reconcile me to thy divine Majesty for ever And grant that in the residue of my dayes I may wholly conforme to the Kingdom of Christ that I may have peace of conscience here a comfortable death and a blessed eternitie through the merits of Iesus Christ my Saviour Amen
given them immortal soules so he hath not left them without a meanes of being proportionably blessed nor made them for destruction nor appointed them to wrath Quest What assurance hast thou that those promises do oblige to thy particular interest in them Ans. Because they are general and conditional Quest It is well said For the promises being general thou art secured God hath not passed upon thee an irreversible decree to an hopelesse dissertion and being conditional thou art encouraged to undertake the task Christ hath appointed whatsoever it is But name to me some Texts that signify a proof that they are generall Ans. Saint Paul saith God would have all men come to the knowledge of his truth and be saved S. Peter saith that he would not that any should perish but that all should come to repentance And his oath confirms me in a beleef That he willeth not nor delighteth in the death of a sinner Quest Forasmuch then that all men shall not be saved it followes necessarily that the promises are conditional that is that eternal life shall certainly be given to all them and none but them that perform the conditions What therefore are they Ans. To beleeve to repent and to obey the Commandments of Christ Quest How doth it appear to thee that eternal life is promised on those conditions Ans. For the first Saint John saith He that believeth in him shall not perish but have life everlasting For the second our Saviour saith except we repent we shall all likewise perish and St. Iohn saith If we confess our sins God is just and faithfull to forgive them For the third Saint Pâ—ul saith that Christ became an Authour of salvation to all them that obey him and the reason of the condemnation of the wicked shall be that they obeyed not the Gospel of Jesus Christ CHAP. II. Quest NOw conceiving thou considerest the necesary concernment of these conditions to salvation and that without or besides them there be no other declared conditions by which to hope for mercy It is requisit thou shouldst understand them fully and apart And first what is faith Ans. It is a cleare assent of the understanding to the whole word of God and to all things contained therein especially to the whole doctrine of Christ and in that to all the promises to be relyed upon and the commands to be obeyed Quest God as he is represented to us in his word being the primary object of Faith What art thou to believe concerning God Ans. That there is one only God who is an infinite spiritual essence omnipotent omniscient omnipresent and everlasting who by the word of his power made and by his providence governeth and disposeth all things both in heaven and earth Quest In what further mystery is God propounded in the Scriptures to our belief Ans. That there be three distinct persons of and which are the same One God distinguished by the names of Father Son and Holy Ghost which are all coequal coessential and coeternal The first so called as he is Father of the Lord Iesus Christ by an eternal and therefore unconceivable generation The second person called God the Son as so begotten of the Father The third God the Holy Ghost as proceeding from the Father and the Son Quest God represented to us in Christ as to the work of Redemption being chiefly in the Gospel propounded to our faith What doest thou beleeve concerning that Ans. That after the fall of Adam in Paradise by which himself and his posterity fell into a state of death from which they could never have been recovered by any possible satisfaction of Gods justice that was offended Christ being the promised seed God sent in the fulnesse of time and gave to be a Redeemer for them that by his sufferings he might satisfy his justice that all they which should accept such conditions as he hath propounded might partake of that redemption be delivered from death reconciled to God and live for ever Quest In what manner did or doth Christ work that redemption Ans. By the exercise of his three offices as a Prophet a Priest and a King The first he performed by preaching the Gospel and therein the condition of salvation The second by offering up himself a sacrifice upon the Crosse and now at the right hand of God by making intercession for us And the last by his dominion over and government of his Church subduing his enemies and protecting his Saints and servants Quest There being a more particular faith required of Gospel-beleevers such as shall be imputed to them for righteousnesse and accepted to a condition of justification as was the faith of Abraham What is that faith Ans. A particular reliance upon the promises of Christ without wavering with a clear resignation of the heart to obey Christ in all his commands which faith being tryed and approved by God to be sincere by following acts of such relyance and obedience as was Abrahams it s then accounted through Gods free mercy in Christ for righteousnesse and accepted as a condition of justification excluding the works of the law as circumcision and other legal performances but â—â—cluding the good works of the Gospel to a holy life such as make and evidence beleevers to be truly faithful and their Faith to have been true and sincere Quest Is not a particular confidence in thy self and a present assurance that thou art accepted in Christ to a justification and infallible salvation the very Gospel-faith Ans. No for as there is no promise that God will grant any such assurance in this life by any direct act of faith nor any degree of perswasion otherwise then may be collected from the performance of the conditions so it necessarily follows that whatsoever degree of assurance we may have of our present safeestate towards God is but an effect of faith and our holy walking with God in all the conditions Now forasmuch as most of Gods servants are very defective when they come to proportion their particular estates by the strict rules of Gospel-holinesse though they may be in a very safe condition towards God may yet through an humble sense of their own failings more or lesse want such applications of certitude The assurances which the Gospel mentions signify the infallibility of the object that is the promises to be infallibly certain upon such conditions and not a necessity of a perpetual application of them with such certitude as to the subject our selves Though we must always be endeavouring to make those promises sure to us by our universal obedience to all Gospel-commands But when such assurances are upon any other ground ordinarily pretended they may justly be suspected to be but vain presumptions and unreasonable confidenciâ—s Quest
Thine in all the offices of his holy Calling W. S. THE First Forme Thy child having been baptized and thereby made a member of Christ as soon as thou perceivest the eye of its reason to open direct it to that Kingdom of Christ to which its name was given up by Baptisme Begin to instruct it in the lesser Catechisme and as it maketh progresse in it morning and evening let it use such little services to God as this A Morning PRAYER for a Childe Our Father which art in heaven Hallowed be thy Name c. ALmighty God and merciful Father who hast kept me this night in all safety preserve me likewise this day from all sad accidents Keep my mind from evill thoughts my tongue from swearing lying and all evill speakiug and let all my actions be such as please thee And as I grow in age let me enerease in grace and goodnesse through Jesus Christ my Lord and Saviour Amen An Evening PRAYER Our Father which c. LOrd I Blesse thee that thou hast defended me this day from all evills and dangers I beseech thee forgive me wherein I have offended thee in thought word or deed Keep me this night in safety let me rest in the armes of thy providence that no evill spirits do violence to me nor any sad accident befall me through Jesus Christ my Saviour Amen As thou perceivest an improvement in capacity so adde this short intercession to both these Prayers O Lord protect thy Church be mercifull to this nation comfort all afflicted spirits return my Parents cares and love into their bosomes Blesse my brothers and sisters my friends and all thy people with grace and salvation for Jesus sake Amen THE Second Form When thou observest the former office to be too little for thy childes capacity be carefull according to its increase in knowledge that it may be obliged to larger services For that purpose I have prepared these following prayers Now supposing by this time that thy childe is made perfect in the lesser Catechisme I desire that first it rehearseth the Articles of its Christian Faith that so they may be accustomed upon its spirit and by prayer fastened upon the soul that it may never depart from that faith upon any temptation I beleeve in God the Father Almighty maker of heaven and earth c. After which let it be taught to say this short PRAYER O Lord preserve my soul in this faith let me not depart from it through any temptation but give me grace to continue in the profession of it to my lives end for thy mercies sake in Christ my Saviour Amen After which it will be expedient that thy childe should recite all or some of the Commandments by several periods that it may understand that it is necessary Christ should be obeyed as well as beleeved After which whole or part rehearsed let it be taught this short PETITION O Lord which hast made known thy will and pointed out thy wayes unto me wherein I should walk O let thy holy Spirit incline my affections to love them and strengthen my soule to keep them through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen Morning PRAYER Our Father which art c. Confession of sin and Prayer for Pardon and Grace O Lord God dreadful in thy justice and power Gracious in thy mercies and loving kindnesse I that am thy poor and sinful creature do present my self my soul and body to thy divine Majesty trusting in thy tender mercies and acknowledging my unworthinesse to appear before so holy a presence For Lord I am thine enemy by nature the imaginations of my heart are evill continnally and as thou hast added years to my life so have my corruptions increased My sins do multiply every day my own lusts and the worlds temptations do more and more prevaile upon me O Lord be merciful unto me forgive me what is past and for the time to come prevent me with thy grace restrain my lusts suffer me not to be ingaged in the sinful courses of the world nor be betrayed to any gross sins by the ill examples of men Lord make me to love and to submit to the holy Religion of Christ and in the strength of thy grace to lead a godly righteous and sober life through Jesus Christ my Saviour Amen The thanksgiving Lord I blesse thee for all the expressions of thy love and sweet providence to me Praised and for ever praised be thy Name for the Redemption of Mankind by Iesus Christ and for the particular work of thy grace upon my soul for all thy temporal blessings my health peace plenty friends and safety for that thou hast kept me this night from every evill due in justice to my sins O Lord preserve me this day under the protection of thy providence keep me that I may not offend thee in thought word or deed nor fall into any danger of soul or body through the might of Iesus Christ my Saviour Amen The intercession Lord be mercifull unto all men preserve thy universal Church from the enemies of the Gospel Be gracious to thy Churches planted in these nations in all these present dangers and departures from the faith Blesse all Christian Magistrates and preserve the Ministers of the Gospel that thy people may lead a godly and quiet life Blesse my Parents and near relations Releeve all in affliction hear their cry and help them Forgive mine enemies and give thy Grace to all people through Iesus Christ our Lord and blessed Saviour Amen Evening PRAYER Our Father c. Confession of sin and Petition for Grace and Pardon O Lord I that am but dust and ashes a finful and therefore miserable creature do again in confidence of thy goodness and my Iesus address my poor soul unto thee and lay my selfe at the foot of thy grace and mercy I confess I may justly be ashamed to appear before that holy presence which I have so often and so heinously offended this day in thought word and deed had I not a blessed Advocate that sitteth at thy right hand to make intercession for me O my dear Iesus have mercy upon me have mercy upon me receive me into the armes of thy compassion who like a lost sheep have this day ssrayed from thee into many errors and vanities Lord lay them not to my charge but put them upon the account of thy sufferings that I may never suffer thy vengeance for them in this world nor the world to come And now I commit my self to the protection of thy mercy this night defend me from all those miseries my sins have deserved and so hereafter direct me with thy Grace that I may live to thy glory all the dayes of my life through Jesus Christ our Saviour Amen Thanksgiving O Lord the heavens declare thy glory and all the creatures blesse thee O my soul do thou also praise the Lord and let all that is within me blesse his holy Name For thou only O Lord art the light of
commaudments That having run the race that is set before me I may obtain through thy undeserved mercie in Christ the perfect peace of thy presence for evermore Amen The Thanksgiving O Lord of Glory and Power whose eye of providence runneth through the world to guide govern and provide for all things in whom alone I live move and have my being and from whom I have received whatsoever comfort I enjoy O Lord my soul acknowledgeth thou hast done gracious things for me and hast given me a large portion of thy fatherly mercies every way I blesse thee that when thou formedst me in my mothers womb I received no signal defect in body or mind and that thou hast since kept them both from all fearful changes and deformities And that when the sentence of death was upon me in the common fall of Mankinde Lord thou gavest me thy dear Son to redeem my soul to a possibility of life I thank thee for every grace and good work that may evidence thy Spirit in me and for that I have not committed every grosse wickednesse to which nature and temptation have made me subject I praise thy Name O Lord for all the comforts I enjoy that concern this life my health peace liberty friends and livelihood and for the safety of my soul and body this night under the protection of thy sweet providence Keep me this day by the same fatherly goodnesse secure me from all sad accidents that attend upon my frail estate and most especially keep me from all offences to thy divine Majesty O let no temptation prevaile upon me nor let my soul give way to any occasion of evill Give me grace to perform to thee all that thou hast commanded me and all the good thou hast put in my power O let me so live this day as if this night following were to be my last sleep and to morrow the last judgement Through the might of Jesus Christ my Saviour Amen The intercâ—ssions are put after the evening prayer being to be used both after morning and evening exercises Evening PRAYER The addresse to God by way of worship in the morning Prayer the supplicant if he please may now use also Our Father which art in heaven c. The Confession MOst glorious Lord God that inhabitest eternity and art cloathed with Majesty and power I that am but dust and ashes and thy poor creature desire to fall low at the footstool of thy Glories magnifying thine excellencies and acknowledging my unworthiness to lift up mine eyes to heaven against which I have sinned or to appeal to those mercies which I have so much neglected and abused For Lord when I consider my self I am nothing but a masse of corruption and sin to which I have made all the faculties of my soul and members of my body which were created for good works and thy glory to become instrumental And all those excellent lawes which thou hast set before me to be the rule of my obedience I have both lightly regarded and wilfully transgressed in the whole course of my life Such O Lord as concern thy self and thy immediate worship I have either altogether omitted or carelesly perform'd in my dealings with men I have not so strictly as I should observed that rule of Christ to do to all men as I would they should do unto me neither have I been so carefull to observe the holy lawes of Christ concerning my self as I should in a temperate chaste and sober conversation And as I have contracted a heavie burthen upon my soul by the sinfulnesse of my whole life so have I this day in particular added much to my former wretched account For I have not restrained my thoughts from vain imaginations nor set a strict watch before the door of my lips to prevent sinful and impertinent discourses Lord I have been too dull remiss in thy service too negligent in the duties of my calling too carelesse of the opportunities of doing good to others And though thou hast given me this day as another day of grace yet I have made in it little ot no progress in the way of my salvation that shouldest thou deal with me according to the carriage of my soul this day before thee thou mightest justly deny me another day of mercie and leave me to my selfe and to the said wages of my sins for evermore For Pardon But O Lord my God whose mercies are over all thy works and hast graciously promised to forgive and to accept a poor penitent soul returning to thee in sorrow and true repentance have mercie upon me have mercie upon me O hide not thy face from me nor cast thy servant away in thy displeasure Remember not my sins and offences but think thou upon me according to thy great goodnesse And though I come to thee with a weak faith and an imperfect sorrow even with such a repentance as ought to be repented of yet Lord accept of me for I come in the plea of my Saviours blood that satisfied thy justice for all my sins Deny me not therefore O Lord the benefits of his blessed death and passion let my soul have a portion in the rich price of that blood by which I may have peace and reconciliation with thee my God for evermore Amen For Grace O merciful Father in the humble sense of my own insufficiencie not only not to do but not to think of any thing in concernment to my salvation without thy grace I do humbly beseech thee in thy tender compassions to help me with thy divine assistance that I may be able to live conformably to the example of Christ and the strict holinesse of the Gospel O convince my judgement that there is no peace nor profit in the wayes of sin and incline my will and ingage all my affections to the pursuit of spirituall things as the chiefest good Let not O Lord my carnal lusts and affections nor any thing that is desirable in the vaine world nor the policie of the devil deceive my soul to neglect my dutie to Christ or the things of my eternal peace Lord make me sincere and exemplarie in thy worship and service diligent in my calling and just in all my actions make me charitable to my power to all that want me and strictly sober chaste and temperate in my self and in the use of all thy creatures Lord help me to be such as I may please thee in all thy wayes and as I may comfortably appeare before thee when I come to death or judgement Through the might of Iesus Christ my blessed Saviour Amen Thanksgiving O Glorious Lord who art my good God and gracious Father thou hast from time to time given me large expressions of thy love and goodnesse even when for my rebellions against thee and forgetfulnes of thee I might before this time have been cast off from thy protection and made a spectacle of thy justice to others in some signal punishments O Lord how great
Confession O Lord our God who art infinite in thy glories and perfections incomprehensible in thy power and Majesty before the brightnesse of whose holy presence the Angels vail their faces and at the foot of whose Majesty the gloâ—ified Spirits cast their crownes How much more unworthy are we poor sinful dust and ashes to appear in the presence of so holy a God whom we have so heinously offended in thought word and deed through the whole course of our lives For O Lord we confess that though thou hast declared how displeasing all sin is in thy sight and hast manifested thy displeasure by the fearful punishments of wicked men yet miserable wretches that we are what little regard have we had to fulfill thy will or to depart from the ways of sin We have still suffered our base lusts too much to prevail upon us and the pleasures profits of the world to surprize and carry away our hearts And when we have found our selves industrious and exact in the pursuit of worldly things how faint and imperfect have we been in doing the work of Christ So that shouldest thou O Lord condemn us for these our sins and for the breach of all thy holy laws in our loose and vain thoughts in our sinful words uttered in passions merriments and other impertinent discourses and in all our actions against piety justice charity and sobriety how justly mightest thou execute thy displeasure against us and make this day a day of vengeance to us to deprive us of all present comforts and to scal us up to everlasting torments Petition for pardon of sins and grace But O must gracious preserver of men who hast not appointed us for wrath nor wouldest that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance Create in us O Lord by thy holy Spirit a true and sincere repentance speedily and faithfully to turn from all our evill wayes And do thou fully forgive us the sins we have committed even for thy fatherly mercies sake even for thy Jesus sake who hath satisfied thy justice for them O Lord we beseech thee to deliver us from the burthen and guilt of them from thy vengeance and the sad effects of them in temporal and eternal punishments And now O Lord we humbly acknowledge that we are unable to do any thing of our selves that may please thee without the assistance of thy grace and thy Christ strengthening us O blessed Lord give us thy grace O dear Jesus afford us thy strength that we may be able to perform to thee all our duties as thy disciples and yeeld obedience to all thy Commandments Raise up our thoughts desires and designes unto thee secure our affections to heavenly things and let our souls stand alwayes ingaged to do the will of Christ Lord help us to watch over our selves that neither the lust of the flesh the love of the world nor the temptation of the devil may take us off from our love to thee desire of thee nor faithful obedience to thee and that we may ever hereafter live a podly righteous and sober life to the Glory of thy Name the present and eternal peace of our soules through the precious merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour Here I desire that the Master of the family or who is concerned in the performance of the service for the family would here interpose some of Davids Psalmes and if he think fit a Chapter also in a judicious order And after either or both let the whole company joyn in one profession of the faith sayng I beleeve in God the Father Almighty c. After which let this short Petition be used as was taught in the former private Form O Lord preserve our soules in this faith let us not depart from it through any temptations Give us grace constantly to continue in the profession of it all the days of our life Through Jesus Christ our Saviour Amen But when the employments of the Family be such as there is not time for these interpositions then go on directly to the Thanksgiving O Blessed Lord God the giver of all goodnesse and the fountain of Comfort who art pleased to engage a particular providence to the governing and disposing of every creature we humbly acknowledge our necessary dependence upon thee and that every comfort we enjoy is but what we have received from thee O what shall we render unto the Lord for those innumerable mercies we have received in all parts of our lives We blesse thee for the summe of all metcies the redemption of our soules by the blood of Christ and for the particular work of thy grace upon us We praise thee for all thy temporal blessings our health plenty peace that thou hast kept us this night past from all troubles and sad accidents and that we are here together in a condition to blesse thee in an universal safety this morning when justly for out sins we might have set down in ashes bewayling some great infelicity And since O Lord thou hast put our soules and bodies and all that we have in thine own hand to dispose of as it pleaseth thee O keep them gracious God according to thy tender mercies from every evil to which sin and a miserable nature have exposed them every moment O keep our soules that we may not be surprised nor overpowered by any temptation to sin against thee this day Lord give us wisdom to balance every action by its concernment to us at our dying hour and enable us to be doing something that may make out account comfortable at the great day of Christ Draw our affections nearer to heavenly things and increase in us a greater care diligence and earnestnesse in doing the will of Christ that we may this day live acceptably to thee and after a constant perseverance in well-doing to our lives end we may obtain a portion in thy eternall glories through thy free grace and undeserved mercy in Iesus Christ Amen The intercession O most merciful Father thou hast tyed us by the charity of the Gospel to pray for all men O be merciful to the Nations that sit in darkness and to thy ancient people the Iewes let the Sun of righteousness with healing in his wings rise upon them that they may see acknowledge the things of their peace in Christ Preserve thy universal Church from all the enemies of the faith of Christ and from the sad effects of its own differencies and distractions Protect these Churches from their present dangers and great distempers every where Bless O Lord our Parents children friendr and relations Comfort all in affliction and trouble Bring them into the way of truth that are in errour forgive and bless all our enemies Gather us altogether to the resting place of thy Glory through the merits of Iesus Christ our Saviour Amen THe Grace of our Lord Iesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the holy Ghost be with us all evermore Amen
Evening PRAYER for a Family Our Father c. Confession O Most infinite and Glorious Majesty Lord God of heaven and earth who hast granted us poor creatures and wretched sinners the mercy to appeal unto thee as unto a merciful and Gracious Father who might justly for our sins stand now confounded at thy presence as before the face of an angry Judge For Lord who have ever provoked thee to anger if we have not who were ever justly accounted sinful if we are not For if thou accountest our sins by our time what moment is it in which we have not offended thee if by the instruments of action what faculty of the mind affections of the heart what sense or member of the body have not been employed to sin against thee if thou numbrest our sins by thy holy lawes which of them that concern either our duties to thee our God our righteous carriage to others or the sober use of our selves or thy blessings have we not transgressed So that there appears a numberless number of sins before us such as become an heavie burthen too heavie for us to bear And yet O Lord as if it had not been enough to have thus offended thee in the former part of our lives we have this day added to the sad account by many sinful imaginations which we have given our mindes leave to multiply by many offensive sinful words by many omissions of serving thee and doing good to others and by many acts that cannot but displease thee That shouldst thou deal with us accordingly thou mightest justly cast us off from thy protection deprive us of our present comforts and sweet enjoyments and make us miserable by the effects of thy wrath here and eternally Petition for Pardon and grace But O Lord of mercy though thou hatest sin in it self and wicked men that continue in it yet are thy armes alwayes open to accept and thy mercies ready to pardon all them that acknowledge and forsake their sins We beseech thee therefore O Lord enable us truly to repent us of all our sins that we may sorrow for them and sincerely abhorre them that we may have real purposes against them and faithfully forsake them all the dayes of our lives And then O Lord be graciously pleased to forgive all those our sins unto us acquit us of the guilt unload us of the burthen of them and do thou accept of the blood of Christ in full satisfaction for them O Lord impute them not unto us either to punish us for them in this world with miseries and sad accidents or in the world to come with eternal torments And Lord do thou help us for the time to come with thy grace or we yet perish O enlighten our understandings and judgements with all spiritual wisdom that we may know and approve the things that are excellent incline our wills to pursue them and ingage all our affections to them Wean us from the love of the world and let our soules hunger and thirst after righteousnesse Grant that we employ our selves in all our worldly labor cares for the things of this life with affections so subordinate to spiritual things that we may first seek the Kingdom of God and its righteusnesse and use the world as if we used it not Lord keep us intire in our obedience to Christ that we may upon no temptation depart from the strict holiness of the Gospel Lord make us humble meek peaceable just and charitable make us zealous for thy glory and truth careful of doing good to others and of keeping our selves undefiled members of Christ to our last end Through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour Amen Here I also desire the supplicant may interpose the reading of Psalmes a Chapter and the Beleef as in the Morning Service The Thanksgiving O most blessed Lord God who art the fountain of blessing and Father of mercies who by thy providence orderest all our particular conditions for us in which we every where observe great evidences of thy love and goodnesse to us We humbly acknowledge our necessary dependence upon thee and do confess to thy Glory that every comfort we enjoy is of thy free gift and bounty We desire therefore according to our bounden duty to offer up unto thee this evening sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving for all thy mercies and sweet providences to us Especially our souls magnify thy divine love that thou hast given us thy Son our Iesus to pay the price of his blood to satisfy thy justice for all our sins That thou hast engaged us by being born and living under the meanes of Grace to make profession of the faith of Christ and that thou hast not set us in the region and shadow of death We bless thee O Lord that thou hast given us power in any measure to love or fear thee to desire and intend heavenly things and that thou hast not given us up to a reprobate mind nor to be led away with the errour of the wicked to fall from our stedfastness We praise thy Name for the blessings of this life for the present estate and condition in which thou hast placed us and therein for our portion of health peace friends and provisions to live all which before this time thou mightest have justly taken from us for our manifold provocations Blessed be thy providence for the mercies of this day past thou hast given us hearts in any measure to serve thee and hast sweetened our affaires and enjoyments with any proportion of peace and contentment That we have been delivered from all fearful accidents such as might have made us to sit down in wo and filled our souls with amazement and sorrow Lord place us this night also under thy divine protection and providence Free us from all terrors and affrightments and the sudden surprise of any danger or accident and when we awake and rise grant O Lord that we may proceed in the way of good living and so persevere in it all the dayes of our lives that when we come to our last sleep and period of our time we may rest in and with thee to all eternity through thy infinite mercies in Iesus Chhrist our Saviour Amen Let the intercession be the same that is used in the morning Service The lesser CATECHISM FOR CHILDREN BY VV. SMYTH THE Lesser CATECHISME for Children QUESTION VVHat is the best thing to be desired and laboured for ANSWER To be saved Quest How is it to be obtained Ans. By the free gift of God in Christ Quest To whom will he give so great an happinesse Ans. To all them that perform the conditions of the Gospel-Covenant Quest What are those conditions Ans. These three to Beleeve Repent and Obey the Commandments of Christ Qu. Thousaidst thou must believe And what are the Articles of thy Christian faith as they are contracted into one summe called the Apostles Creed Ans. I beleeve in God the Father Almighty Maker