and in God by him and rely entirely on the mercies of God through Jesus Christ. From thence he shall come In the Clouds shining and adorned with the glory of his Father attended by millions of bright Angels with the voice of an Archangel and a shout of all the Heavenly Army the Trump of God and every eye shall see him and they that pierced his hands and his â—…eet shall behold his Majesty his Terror and his Glory and all the families of the earth shall tremble at his presence and the powers of Heaven shall be shaken and the whole earth and sea shall be broken in pieces and confusion for then he shall come to put an end to this world and To Judge the Quick and the Dead For the Father judgeth no man but hath given all judgment to his Son And at this day of Judgment the Lord Jesus shall sit in the Air in a glorious Throne and the Angels having gathered together God's Elect from the four corners of the world all the kindreds of the earth being brought before the Judgment-seat shall have the Records of their Conscience laid open that is all that ever they thought or spake or did shall be brought to their memory to convince the wicked of the Justice of the Judge in passing the fearful Sentence upon them and glorify the mercies of God towards his Redeemed ones and then the righteous Judge shall condemn the wicked to the portion of Devils for ever to a state of torments the second and eternal and intolerabl death and the godly being placed on his right hand shall hear the blessed Sentence of absolution and shall be led by Christ to the participation of the glories of his Father's Kingdom for ever and ever Amen I believe in the Holy Ghost or the Holy Spirit Who is the third Person of the holy undivided ever-blessed Trinity which I worship and adore and admire but look upon with wonder and am not in a capacity to understand I believe that the Holy Spirit into whose name as of the Father and the Son I was baptized is the heavenly Author the Captain the Teacher and the Witness of all the Truths of the Gospel that as the Father sent the Son so the Son from Heaven sent the holy Spirit to lead the Church into all truth to assist us in all Temptations and to help us in the purchase of all Vertue This Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and our Lord Jesus received him from his Father and sent him into the world who receiving the things of Christ and declaring the same excellent Doctrines speaks whatsoever he hath heard from him and instructed the Apostles and builds the Church and produces Faith and confirms our Hope and increases Charity And this Holy Spirit our blessed Lord hath left with his Church for ever by which all the servants of God are enabled to do all things necessary to Salvation which by the force of Nature they cannot do and we speak by the Spirit and work by the Spirit when by his assistances any ways imparted to us we speak or do any thing of our duty He it is who enlightens our Understanding sanctifies our Will orders and commands our affections he comforts our sorrows supports our spirits in trouble and enables us by Promises and Confidences and Gifts to suffer for the Lord Jesus and the Gospel And all these things God the Father does for us by his Son and the Son by the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit by all means within and without which are operative upon and proportionable to the nature of reasonable creatures This is he who works Miracles gives the gifts of Prophecy and of Interpretation that teaches us what and how to pray that gives us Zeal and holy Desires who sanctifies Children in Baptism and confirms them with his grace in Comfirmation and reproves the world and consecrates Bishops and all the Ministers of the Gospel and absolves the Penitent and Blesses the Obedient and comforts the Sick and excommunicates the Refractory and makes intercession for the Saints that is the Church and those whom he hath Blessed appointed and sanctified to these purposes do all these Ministeries by his Authority and his Commandment and his Aids This is he that testifies to our Spirits that we are the Sons of God and that makes us to cry Abba Father that is who inspires into us such humble confidences of our being accepted in our hearty and constant endeavours to please God that we can with chearfulness and joy call God our Father and expect and hope for the portion of Sons both here and hereafter and in the certainty of this hope to work out our Salvation with fear and reverence with trembling and joy with distrust of our selves and mighty confidence in God By this holy and ever-blessed Spirit several persons in the Church and every man in his proportion receives the gifts of Wisdom and Utterance and Knowledge and Interpretation and Prophesie and Healing and Goverement and discerning of Spirits and Faith and Tongues and whatsoever can be necessary for the Church in several ages and periods for her beginning for her continuance for her in prosperity and for her in persecution This is the great Promise of the Father and it is the gift of God which he will give to all them that ask him and who live piously and chastly and are persons fit to entertain so Divine a Grace This Holy Spirit God gives to some more to some less according as they are capable They who obey his Motions and love his presence and improve his Gifts shall have him yet more abundantly but they that grieve the Holy Spirit shall loose that which they have and they that extinguish him belong not to Christ but are in the state of reprobation and they that blaspheme this holy Spirit and call him the spirit of the Devil or the Spirit of error or folly or do malicious despites to him that is they who on purpose considering and chusing do him hurt by word or by deed so far as lies in them shall for ever be separated from the presence of God and of Christ and shall never be forgiven in this world nor in the world to come Lastly this Holy Spirit seals us to the day of Redemption that is God gives us his Holy Spirit as a testimony that he will raise us again at the last day and give us a portion in the glories of his Kingdom in the inheritance of our Lord Jesus The holy Catholick Church I believe that there is and ought to be a visible company of men professing the service and discipline that is the Religion of the Gospel who agree together in the Belief of all the Truths of God revealed by Jesus Christ and in confession of the Articles of this Creed and agree together in praying and praising
call us and assist us Hear our Prayers c. Give to thy servants a watchful and an observing Spirit diligent in doing our duty inflexible to evil obedient to thy word inquisitive after thy will pure and holy thoughts strong and religious purposes and thy grace to perform faithfully what we have promised in the day of our duty or in the day of our calamity Hear our Prayers c. O teach us to despise all vanity to fight the battels of the Lord manfully against the Flesh the World and the Devil to spend our time religiously and usefully to speak gracious words to walk always as in thy presence to preserve our Souls and bodies in holiness fit for the habitation of the holy Spirit of God Hear our Prayers c. Give us a holy and a perfect repentance a well-instructed understanding regular affections a constant and a wise heart a good name a fear of thy Majesty and a love of all thy glories above all the things in the world for ever Hear our Prayers c. Give us a healthful body and a clear understanding the love of our neighbours and the peace of the Church the publick use and comforts of thy holy Word and Sacraments a great love to all Christians and obedience to our Superiours Ecclesiastical and Civil all the days of our life Hear our Prayers c. Give us Spiritual Wisdom that we may discern what is pleasing to thee and follow what belongs unto our peace and let the knowledge and love of God and of Jesus Christ our Lord be our guide and our portion all our days Hear our Prayers c. Give unto us holy dispositions and an active industry in thy service to redeem the time mis-spent in vanity for thy pity sake take not vengeance of us for our sins but sanctifie our Souls and bodies in this life and glorifie them hereafter Hear our Prayers c. Our Father c. IV. To be added to the former Liâ—…anies according as our Devotions and time will suâ—…feâ—… For all states of Men and Women especially in the Christian Church O Blessed God in mercy remember thine inheritance and forget not the congregation of the poor for ever pity poor mankind whose portion is misery and folly shame and death But thou art our Redeemer and the lifter up of our head and under the shadow of thy wings shall be our help until this Tyranny be over-past Have mercy upon us O God and hid not thy self from our Petition Preserve O God the Catholick Church in holiness and truth in unity and peace free from persecution or glorious under it that she may for ever advance the honour of our Lord Jesus for ever represent his Sacrifice and glorifie his Person and advance his Religion and be accepted of thee in her blessed Lord that being filled with his Spirit she may partake of his glory Have mercy upon us c. Give the spirit of Government and Holiness to all Christian Kings Princes and Governours grant that their people may obey them and they may obey thee and live in honesty and peace justice and holy Religion being Nursing-fathers to the Church Advocates for the oppressed Patrons for the widows and a Sanctuary for the miserable and the fatherless that they may reign with thee for ever in the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Have mercy upon us c. Give to thy Servants the Bishops and all the Clergy the Spirit of holiness and courage of patience and humility of prudence and diligence to preach and declare thy will by a holy life and wise discourses that they may minister to the good of Souls and find a glorious reward in the day of our Lord Jesus Have mercy npon us c. Give to our Relatives our Wives and Children our Friends and Benefactors our Charges our Family c. pardon and support comfort in all their sorrows strength in all temptations the guard of Angels to preserve them from evil and the conduct of thy holy Spirit to lead them into all good that they doing their duty may feel thy mercies here and partake of thy glories hereafter Have mercy upon us c. Give to all Christian Kingdoms and Commonwealths peace and plenty health and holy Religion to all Families of Religion and Nurseries of Piety zeal and holiness prudence and unity peace and contentedness to all Schools of Learning quietness and industry freedom from wars and violence factions and envy Have mercy upon us c. Give to all married persons faith and love charitable and wise compliances sweetness of society and innocence of conversation to all Virgins and Widows great love of Religion a sober and a contented spirit an unwearied attendance to devotion and the offices of holiness protection to the fatherless comfort to the disconsolate patience and submission health and spiritual advantages to the sick that they may feel thy comforts for the days wherein they have suffered adversity Have mercy upon us c. Be thou a star and a guide to them that travel by land or sea the confidence and comfort of them that are in storms and shipwrecks the strength of them that toil in the Mines and row in the Gallies an instructer to the ignorant to them that are condemned to die be thou a guide unto death give chearfulness to every sad heart spiritual strength and proportionable comfort to them that are afflicted by evil spirits pity the lunaticks give life and salvation to all to whom thou hast given no understanding accept the stupid and the fools to mercy give liberty to prisoners redemption to captives maintenance to the poor patronage and defence to the oppessed and put a period to the iniquity and to the miseries of all mankind Have mercy upon us c. Give unto our enemies grace and pardon charity to us and love to thee take away all anger from them and all mistakes from us all mis-interpretations and jealousies bring all sinners to repentance and holiness and to all thy Saints and Servants give an increasing love and a persevering duty bring all Turks Jews and Infidels to the knowledge and confession of the Lord Jesus and a participation of all the Promises of the Gospel all the benefits of his Passion to all Hereticks give humility and ingenuity repentance of their errours and grace and power to make amends to the Church and Truth and a publick acknowledgment of a holy faith to the glory of the Lord Jesus Have mercy c. Give to all Merchants faithfulness and truth to the labouring husbandman health and fair seasons of the year and reward his toil with the dew of Heaven and the blessings of the earth to all Artisans give diligence in their Callings and a blessing on their labours and on their familes to old men piety and perfect repentance a liberal heart and an open hand great Religion and desires after Heaven to young men give sobriety and chastity health and usefulness an early piety and a
of the world Make me amiable for ever in his eyes and very dear to him Unite his heart to me in the dearest union of love and holiness and mine to him in all sweetness and charity and compliance Keep from me all morosity and ungentleness all sullenness and harshness of disposition all pride and vanity all discontentedness aud unreasonableness of passion and humonr and make me humble and obedient charitable and loving patient and contented useful and observant that we may delight in each other according to thy blessed word and Ordinance and both of us may rejoyce in thee having our portion in the love and service of God for ever and ever IV. O Blessed Father never suffer any mistakes or discontent any distrustfulness or sorrow any trifling arrests of fancy or unhandsom accident to cause any unkindness between us but let us so dearly love so affectionately observe so religiously attend to each other's good and content that we may always please thee and by this learn and practise our duty and greatest love to thee and become mutual helps to each other in the way of Godliness that when we have received the blessings of a married life the comforts of society the endearments of a holy and great affection and the dowry of blessed Children we may for ever dwell together in the embraces of thy love and glories feasting in the Marriage-supper of the Lamb to eternal ages through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Amen A Prayer for a holy and a happy Death O Eternal and Holy Jesus who by death hast overcome death and by thy passion hast taken out its sting and made it to become one of the gates of Heaven and an entrance to felicity have mercy upon me now and at the hour of my death let thy grace accompany me all the days of my life that I may by a holy conversation and an habitual performance of my duty wait for the coming of our Lord and be ready to enter with thee at whatsoever hour thou shalt come Lord let not my death be in any sense unprovided nor untimely nor hasty but after the manner of men having in it nothing extraordinary but an extraordiry piety and the manifestation of a great and miraculous mercy Let my sense and my understanding be preserved intire till the last of my days and grant that I may die the death of the righteous free from debt and deadly sin having first discharged all my obligations of justice leaving none miserable and unprovided in my departure but be thou the portion of all my friends and relatives and let thy blessing descend upon their heads and abide there till they shall meet me in the bosom of our Lord. Preserve me ever in the communion and peace of the Church and bless my Death-bed with the opportunity of a holy and a spiritual Guide with the assistance and guard of Angels with the reception of the holy Sacrament with patience and dereliction of my own desires with a strong faith and a firm and humbled hope with just measures of repentance and great treasures of charity to thee my God and to all the world that my Soul in the arms of the holy Jesus may be deposited with safety and joy there to expect the revelation of thy day and then to partake the glories of thy Kingdom O eternal and holy Jesus Amen A GUIDE FOR THE PENITENT OR A Model drawn up for the help of a Devout Soul wounded with Sin Tertull. Peccator omnium Notarum Et nulli Rei nisi poenitentiae natus LONDON Printed by J. Grover for R. Royston Bookseller to His most Sacred Majesty MDCLXXVII TO THE Christian Reader AMong the so troublesome multitude of Books and the no less troublesome scarcity of good ones I have no reason to think this little Piece will much increase the number of the one or not serve to balance the trouble of the other but I rather hope it may be acceptable and useful if either the great Eminence of the Author or the Argument it self or else the small bulk which are things that use to render works of this kind considerable be sufficient either to recommend or excuse it For the necessity of the argument may recommend it not to most Readers only but very many Writers too And without doubt many of those who have been ambitious to put themselves into the number of Authors by publishing their abortive labours will need the Rules and Offices of this Manual when their Conscience shall cite them to Repentance and to ask God forgiveness for nourishing Faction and sowing the seeds of Discord and venting their crude Notions to others trouble and their own shame For such men in the use of this little Enchiridion may find more comfort and do thimselves and the Age more right than in that small harvest of reputation their own voluminous labours could bring in which are now very fitly preferred from the Closet to the more worthy ministeries of the Shop ond Kitchin But the most Reverend Author to whose learned Piety thou owest these following assistances who in the sweetness and mildness of these lines has expressed the features and lineaments of his own candid serene Soul did not address them for his own use in that kind For that he was of the Highest Order of our Church he did not owe to his Interest which advances some nor to his Money which prefers commonly too many but wholly to his Vertues and his Learning and those other eminent Graces that made his Example as great in the Church as was his Dignity And this little Book is a great instance of his Humility and Charity which he does in some kind still exercise though he be now gone to receive his reward for them and as he used to look into the necessities of indigent persons to relieve them with his hand so in this Portuise he descends to converse with the weaknesses and solitariness of humble Penitents directing and improving their Devotions and instigating their Repentance and preparing a constant store-house of relief for them by his Pen. And now if a person so eminent in Grace so innocent in Life needed such Exercises as this for what thou receivest here know Courteous Reader it comes from his Counsel and from his daily Experience and Practise too consider whether thou thy self art not concerned to bring thy actions and life to as severe a scrutiny and a repentance as operative If thou joynest with me in Opinion here is a Directory ready at hand but if not thou needest it so much the more For our Sins the less impression they make on our Memory the deeper they make on our Conscience and he is in some cases the most guilty who presumes he is wholly innocent Retract therefore that conceit and betake â—…hy self to thy Closet and the practice of â—…his Book and God bless it to thy benefit and his own glory A GUIDE FOR THE PENITENT Remembrances concerning the Examination of your
him to reign over them Quest. What Promises hath Jesus Christ made us in the Gospel Answ. He hath promised to give us all that we need in this life That every thing shall work together for our good That he will be with us in tribulation and persecution He hath promised his Graces and his holy Spirit to enable us to do our duty and if we make use of these Graces he hath promised to give us more He hath promised to forgive us our sins to hear our prayers to take the sting of death from us to keep our souls in safe custody after death and in his due time to raise our bodies from the grave and to joyn them to our Souls and to give us eternal life and joys that shall never cease Quest. How is Jesus Christ able to do all this for us Answ. When he had suffered death and was buried three days God raised him up again and gave him all power in Heaven and Earth made him head of the Church Lord of Men and Angels and the judge of the quick and dead Quest. By what means doth Jesus Christ our Lord convey all these Blessings to us Answ. Jesus Christ had three Offices and in all he was Mediator between God and man He is our Prophet our Priest and our King Quest. What was his Office as he was a Phophet Answ. This Office he finished on earth beginning when he was thirty years old to â—…each the Gospel of the Kingdom Faith and Repentance Quest. When began his Priestly Office and wherein does it consist Answ. It began at his death for he was himself the Priest and the Sacrifice offering himself upon the Altar of the Cross for the sins of all the World Quest. Did his Priestly Office then cease Answ. No He is a Priest for ever that is unto the end of the world and represents the same Sacrifice to God in Heaven interceding and praying continually for us in the virtue of that sacrifice by which he obtains relief of all our necessities Quest. What doth Christ in Heaven pray for on our behalf Answ. That our sins may be pardoned our infirmities pitied our necessities relieved our persons defended our temptations overcome that we may be reconciled to God and be saved Quest. How is Jesus Christ also our King Answ. When he arose from his grave and had for forty days together conversed with his Disciples shewing himself alive by many infallible tokens he ascended into Heaven and there sits at the right hand of God all things being made subject to him Angels and Men and Devils Heaven and Earth the Elements and all the Creatures and over all he reigns comforting and defending his elect subduing the power of the Devil taking out the sting of Death and making all to serve the Glory of God and to turn to the good of his Elect. Quest. How long must his Kingdom last Answ. Till Christ hath brought all his enemies under his feet that is till the day of judgment in which Day shall be performed the greatest acts of his Kingly power for then he shall quite conquer Death triumph over the Devils throw his enemies into Hell-fire and carry all his Elect to never-ceasing glories and then he shall deliver up the Kingdom to his Father that God may be all in all Quest. How is Christ a Mediator in all these Offices Answ. A Mediator signifies one that stands between God and us As Christ is a Prophet so he taught us his Father's will and ties us to obedience As he is a Priest he is our Redeemer having paid a price for us even his most precious blood and our Advocate pleading for us and mediating our Pardon and Salvaon As he is a King so he is our Lord our Patron and our Judge yet it is the Kingdom of a Mediator that is in order to the world to come but then to determine and end And in all these he hath made a Covenant between God and us of an everlasting interest Quest. What is the Covenant which Jusus Christ our Mediator hath made between God and us Answ. That God will write his Laws in our hearts and will pardon us and defend us and raise us up again at the last day and give us an inheritance in his Kingdom Quest. To what Conditions hath he bound us on our parts Answ. Faith and Repentance Quest. When do we enter into this Covenant Answ. In our Baptism and at our ripe years when we understand the secrets of the kingdom of Christ and undertake willingly what in our names was undertaken for us in our infancy Quest. What is the Covenant of Faith which we enter into in Baptism Answ. We promise to believe that Jesus Christ is the Messias or he that was to come into the world That he is the Anointed of the Lord or the Lord 's Christ That he is the Son of God and the Son of the Virgin Mary That he is God incarnate or God manifested in the flesh That he is the Mediator between God and Man That he died for us upon the Cross and rose again the third day and ascended into Heaven and shall be there till the day of Judgment that then he shall be our Judge in the mean time he is the King of the world and head of the Church Quest. What is the Covenant of Repentance Answ. We promise to leave all our sins and with a hearty and sincere endeavour to give up our will and affections to Christ and do what he hath commanded according to our power and weakness Quest. How if we fail of this Promise through infirmity and commit sin Answ. Still we are within the Covenant of Repentance that is within the promise of pardon and possibility of returning from dead works and mortifying our lusts and though this be done after the manner of men that is in weakness and with some failings yet our endeavour must be hearty and constant and diligent and our watchfulness and prayers for pardon must be lasting and persevering Quest. What Ministeries hath Christ appointed to help us in this duty Answ. The Ministery of the Word and Secraments which he will accompany with his Grace and his Spirit Quest. What is a Sacrament Answ. An outward Ceremony ordained by Christ to be a sign and a means of conveying his grace unto us Quest. How many Sacraments are ordained by Christ Answ. Two Baptism and the Supper of our Lord. Quest. What is Baptism Answ. An outward washing of the Body in Water in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost in which we are buried with Christ in his death after a Sacramental manner and
became a Sacrifice for all our sins and suffered himself to be taken by the malicious Jews and put to a painful and shameful death they being envious at him for the number of his Disciples and the reputation of his person the innocence of his life the mightiness of his Miracles and the power of his Doctrine and this Death he suffered when Pontius Pilate was Governour of Judea Was crucified Jesus Christ being taken by the Rulers of the Jews bound and derided buffeted and spit upon accused weakly and persecuted violently at last wanting matter and pretences to condemn him they asked him of his person and office and because he affirmed that great Truth which all the world of good men long'd for that he was the Messias and designed to sit on the right hand of the Majesty on high they resolved to call it Blasphemy and delivered him over to Pilate and by importunity and threats forced him against his Conscience to give him up to be scourged and then to be Crucified The Souldiers therefore mocking him with a Robe and Reed and pressing a Crown of thorns upon his head led him to the place of his death compelling him to bear his Cross to which they presently nail'd him on which for three hours he hanged in extreme torture being a sad spectacle of the most afflicted and the most innocent person of the whole world Dead When the Holy Jesus was wearied with tortures and he knew all things were now fulfilled and his Father's wrath appeased towards Mankind his Father pitying his innocent Son groaning under such intolerable miseries hastned his Death and Jesus commending his Spirit into the hands of his Father cried with a loud voice bowed his head and died and by his death sealed all the Doctrines and Revelations which he first taught the world and then confirmed by his Bloud He was consecrated our merciful High-Priest and by a feeling of our miseries and temptations became able to help them that are tempted and for these his sufferings was exalted to the highest Throne and seat of the right hand of God and hath shewn that to Heaven there is no surer way than suffering for his Name and hath taught us willingly to suffer for his sake what himself hath already suffered for ours He reconciled us to God by his Death led us to God drew us to himself redeemed us from all iniquity purchased us for his Father and for ever made us his servants and redeemed ones that we being dead unto sin might live unto God And this Death being so highly beneficial to us he hath appointed means to apply to us and to represent to God for us in the Holy Sacrament of his last Supper And upon all these considerations that Cross which was a smart and shame to our Lord is honour to us and as it turned to his Glory so also to our Spiritual advantages And Buried That he might suffer every thing of humane nature he was by the care of his Friends and Disciples by the leave of Pilate taken from the Cross and embalmed as the manner of the Jews was to bury and wrapp'd linnen and buried in a new grave hewn out of a Rock And this was the last and lowest step of his Humiliation He descended into Hell That is He went down into the lower parts of the earth as himself called it into the heart of the earth by which phrase the Scripture understands the state of Separation or of Souls severed from their Bodies By this his descending to the land of darkness where all things are forgotten he sanctified the state of Death Separation that none of his servants might ever after fear the jaws of Death and Hell whither he went not to suffer torment because he finished all that upon the Cross but to triumph over the gates of Hell to verifie his Death and the event of his sufferings and to break the iron bars of those lower prisons that they may open and shut hereafter only at his command The third day he rose again from the Dead After our Lord Jesus had abode in the grave the remaining part of the day of his Passion and all the next day early in the morning upon the third day by the power of God he was raised from Death and Hell to Light and Life never to return to death any more and is become the first-born from the dead the first-fruits of them that slept and although he was put to death in the flesh yet now being quickned in the Spirit he lives for ever And as we all die in Adam so in Christ we all shall be made alive but every man in his own order Christ is the first and we if we follow him in the Regeneration shall also follow him in the Resurrection He ascended into Heaven When our dearest Lord was risen from the Grave he conversed with his Disciples for forty days together often shewing himself alive by infallible proofs and once to five hundred of his Disciples at once appearing Having spoken to them fully concerning the affairs of the Kingdom and the Promise of the Father leaving them some few things in charge for the present he solemnly gave them his Blessing and in the presence of his Apostles was taken up into Heaven by a bright Cloud and the Ministery of Angels being gone before us to prepare a place for us above all Heavens in the presence of his Father and at the foot of the Throne of God From which glorious presence we cannot be kept by the change of Death and the powers of the Grave nor the depth of Hell nor the height of Heaven but Christ being lifted up shall draw all his Servants unto him And sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty I believe that Jesus Christ sitteth in Heaven above all Principalities and Powers being exalted above every Name that is named in Heaven and Earth that is above every creature above and below all things being put under his feet That he is always in the presence of his Father interceding for us and governs all things in Heaven and Earth that he may defend his Church and adorn her with his Spirit and procure and effect her eternal Salvation There he sits and reigns as King and intercedes as our High-Priest He is a Minister of the Sanctuary and of the true Tabernacle which God made and not man the Author and Finisher of our Faith the Captain of our Confession the great Apostle of our Religion the Great Bishop of our Souls the Head of the Church and the Lord of Heaven and Earth And therefore to him we are to pay Dvino Worship Service and Obedience and we must believe in him
Angels yet our obedience may be as humble our conformity to thy will may arise up to the degrees of Unity and theirs cannot be more that as they in Heaven so we on Earth May obey thy will promptly chearfully zealously and with all our faculties and grant that as they there so all the world here may serve thee with peace and concord purity and love unfeigned with one heart and one voice glorifying thee our heavenly Father Grant that we may quit all our own affections and suspect our reasonings and go out of our selves and all our own confidences that thou being to us all things disposing all events and guideing all our actions and directing our intentions and over-ruling all things in us and about us we may be Servants of thy Divine Will for ever Give us this day our daily Bread Thou O God which takest care of our Souls do not despise our Bodies which thou hast made and sanctified and designed to be glorious But now we are exposed to hunger and thirst nakedness and weariness want and inconvenience Give unno us neither poverty nor riches but feed us with food convenient for us and cloth us with fitting provisions according to that state and condition wherein thou hast placed thy Servants that we may not be tempted with want nor made contemptible by beggery nor wanton or proud by riches nor in love with any thing in this World but that we may use it as strangers and pilgrims as the relief of our needs the support of our infirmities and the oil of our lamps feeding us till we are quite spent in thy service Lord take from thy Servants sad carefulness and all distrust and give us only such a proportion af temporal things as may inable us with comfort to do our duty Forgive us our Trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us O dear God unless thou art pleased to pardon us in vain it is that we should live here and what good will our life do us O look upon us with much mercy for we have sinned grievously against thee Pardon the adherent imperfections of our life the weakness of our duty the carelesness of our spirit our affected ignorance our indiligence our rashness and want of observation our malice and presumptions Turn thine eyes from our impurities and behold the brightness and purest innocence of the holy Jâ—…sus and under his cover we plead our cause not that thou shouldst judge our sins but give us pardon and blot out all our iniquities that we may never enter into the horrible regions where there are torments without ceasing a prison without ransom reproaches without comfort anguish without patience darkness without light a worm that never dies and the fire that never goeth out But be pleased also to give us great charity that we may truly forgive all that trouble or injure us that by this Character thou mayest discern us to be thy Sons and Servants Disciples of the Holy Jesus lest our prayer be turned into sin and thy Grace be recalled and thou enter into a final anger against thy Servants Lead us not into Temptation Gracious Father we are weak and ignorant our affections betray us and make us willing to die our adversary the Devil goeth up and down seeking whom he may devour he is busie and crafty malicious and powerful watchful and envious and we tempt our selves running out to mischief delighting in the approaches of sin and love to have necessities put upon us that sin may be unavoidable Pity us in the midst of these disorders and give us spiritual strength holy Resolutions a watchful Spirit the whole Armour of God and thy protection the guard of Angels and the conduct of thy holy Spirit to be our security in the day of danger Give us thy grace to fly from all occasions to sin that we may never tempt our selves nor delight to be tempted and let thy blessed Province so order the accidents of our lives that we may not dwell near an enemy and when thou shalt try us and suffer us to enter into combat let us always be on thy side and fight valiantly resist the Devil and endure patiently and persevere constantly unto the end that thou mayest crown thy own work in us But deliver us from evil From sin and shame from the malice and fraud of the Devil and from the falseness and greediness of men from all thy wrath and from all our impurities good Lord deliver thy Servants Do not reserve any thing of thy wrath in store for us but let our sins be pardoned so fully that thou maiest not punish our inventions And yet if thou wilt not be intreated but that it be necessary that we suffer thy will be done Smite us here with a Father's rod that thou maiest spare us hereafter let the sad accidents of our life be for good to us not for evil for our amendment not to exasperate or weary us not to harden or confound us and what evil soever it be that shall happen let us not sin against thee For ever deliver us from that evil and for ever deliver us from the power of the evil one the great enemy of mankind and never let our portion be in that Region of Darkness in that everlasting burning which thou hast prepared for the Devil and his Angels for ever For thine is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever and ever Amen So shall we thy Servants advance the Mightiness of thy Kingdom the Power of thy Majesty and the Glory of thy Mercy from generation to generation for ever Amen LITANIES FOR All Things and Persons O God the Father of Mercies the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ have mercy upon thy Servants and hear the prayers of us miserable sinners O Blessed Jesus the Fountain of Peace and Pardon our Wisdom and our Righteousness our Sanctification and Redemption have mercy upon thy Servants refuse not to hear the Prayers of us miserable sorrowful and returning sinners O Holy and Divinest Spirit of the Father help our infirmities for of our selves we know not what to ask nor how to pray but do thou assist and be present in the desires of us miserable sinners I. For Pardon of Sins REmember not Lord the follies of our childhood nor the lusts of our youth the wildness of our head nor the wandrings of our heart the infinite sins of our tongue and the inexcusable errours of the days of vanity Lord have mercy upon us poor miserable sinners Remember not O Lord the growing iniquities of our elder age the pride of our spirit the abuse of our members the greediness of our purposes the peevishness and violence of all our passions and affections Lord have mercy c. Remember not O Lord how we have been full of envy and malice anger and revenge fierce and earnest in the purchases and vanities of the world and lazy and dull slow and soon weary in the things of God and of
I have trifled away so many of my Youngest days without knowing thee or taking any notice of those strict duties which I did owe unto thee that I was so long a Child in all things excepting Innocence and that only by an over-hasty Spring of early Wickedness I was more than a Child But I Repent O my God I Repent I Accuse and Judge and Condemn my self for it Lord be thou merciful to me a Sinner III. Wo Wo unto me O God that as I grew up the seeds of Corruption which I brought with me into the world grew up along with me and by insensible degrees which I observed not Pride and Folly and Lust took Possession of me and Sin hath reigned in my mortal Body But I Repent O my God I Repent I am infinitely confounded at it Lord be thou merciful to me a Sinner IV. Wo Wo unto me O God that being washed in the Waters of Baptism from the guilt of that Original Corruption which I brought with me into the World I have since that time so many ways actually defiled my self that I can no longer pretend by any former contract with thee that I am either a Child of thine a member of thy Christ or an heir of the Kingdom of Heaven But I Repent O my God I Repent I am utterly confounded at it Lord be thou merciful to me a Sinner V. Wo unto me O God that having been received into the Bosom of thy Church which so many millions of Souls have not had the happiness to be I have ingratefully dishonoured thy holy Faith by an unholy Life and having so often confessed thee with my tongue I have denied thee in my life and actions But I Repent O my God I Repent I Accuse and Judge and Condemn my Self for it Lord be thou merciful to me a Sinner VI. Wo Wo unto me O God that having abjured the Devil and all his works and given up my name to Christ to fight under the Banner of his Cross I have on the contrary treacherously complied with his Enemy in many things and shall be found I fear to have been more diligent in serving him than I have been in serving thee But I Repent O my God I Repent I am confounded and astonished at it Lord be thou merciful to me a Sinner VII Wo Wo unto me O God that being obliged by that high calling of being a Christian to renounce the Pomps and Vanities of the World I have so infinitely failed in this that I have doted on nothing more for those very Vanities have been my Idols and my seduced Heart hath gone a Whoring after them But I Repent O my God I Repent I am ashamed and confounded at it Lord be thou merciful to me a Sinner VIII Wo Wo unto me O God that being farther bound by that most Solemn Vow utterly to forsake the sinful Lusts of the Flesh I have instead of forsaking them pursued and hunted after them and when other temptations have failed have been apt enough to kindle my own Fire and to be a Tempter to my self But I Repent O my God I Repent I hate and loath and abhar my self for it Lord be thou merciful to me a Sinner IX Wo Wo unto me O God that knowing thy revealed Will to be the Law to which I was bound in all obedience to submit my self I like an insolent Rebel have not only set up my own Will in opposition to thine but many times preferred it before thine and have listned more to the false Oracles of Flesh and Blood than to all thy Holy Commandments But I Repent O my God I Repent I Accuse and Judge and Condemn my self for it Lord be thou merciful to me a Sinner X. Wo Wo unto me O God that being made according to thine Image the greatest honour that could be done thy Creature I have dashed so many blurs and spots and foul sins upon it so defaced all the lines and features of it that unless the Holy Spirit please to renew that Image in me again I tremble to think what I must one day hear Depart from me I know you not But I Repent O my God I Repent I am ashamed and confounded at it Lord be thou merciful to me a Sinner XI Wo Wo unto me O God that having received a Rational Soul from thee to be a Moral Light and guide unto my actions I have been so brutish as to follow my sensual appetite instead of it and have made no farther use of Reason than to find out vain excuses to cozen my own Soul into all the by-ways of Sin and Errour But I Repent O my God I Repent I Accuse and Judge and Condemn my self for it Lord be thou merciful to me a Sinner XII Wo Wo unto me O God that being endowed with Memory to serve as a Magazine to treasure up thy Precepts and holy Counsels in I have stuft it so miserably full with the Idea's of former Vanities and Sin that I have left no room for thee at all But I Repent O my God I Repent I infinitely condemn my self for it Lord be thou merciful to me a Sinner XIII Wo Wo unto me O God that having received a Heart from thee to be the seat of clean and holy affections and the only Temple for thy holy Spirit to dwell in I have so unworthily abused and altered the property of it that it is now become a Den of Thieves and an unhandsome receptacle of all uncleanness But I Repent O my God I Repent I hate and loath and abhor my self for it Lord be thou merciful to me a Sinner XIV Wo Wo unto me O God that my wretched Heart being corrupted my Imagination hath run wildly after with a swarm of vain and sinful Thoughts which like importunate Flies being driven away light again and again upon my destracted Soul and intermingle with the best of my Devotions But I Repent O my God I Repent I am infinitely troubled and grieved for it Lord be thou merciful to me a Sinner XV. Wo Wo unto me O God that mine Eyes being greedy after Vanity have been upon all occasions as open windows to let in Sin but when by the same way they should have issued out Penitential Tears to wash away the stains those Sins had made there hath been no passage found for them But I Repent O my God I Repent I am inwardly grieved and deplore my self for it Lord be thou merciful to me a Sinner XVI Wo Wo unto me O my God that for the entertaining of vain conversation I have left mine Ears too often open to light and vain and sinful discourses and in all my inquiries have hearkned more to what the world saith abroad than to what thy holy Spirit and my own Conscience saith within me But I Repent O my God I Repent I Accuse and Judge and Condemn my self for it Lord be thou merciful to me a Sinner XVII Wo Wo unto me O God that I have not