whole Nature and dispose me for the moderate use of all thy Creatures Inform my Judgement with the useful Knowledge of those Truths which are necessary to be believed and practic'd rectifie my Will and sanctifie my Affections that I may so love and fear trust and hope desire and delight in thee above all Things that all my Thoughts Words and Works may shew forth thy praise who hast call'd me from the dark Regions of Sin and Ignorance to the marvellous Light of thy pure and undefiled Religion Give me Grace to improve every Opportunity and Blessing thy good Providence has intrusted me with that when thy Messengers Death or Judgement shall put an end to all the tedious Cares and troublesome Concernments of this mortal Life I may be clothed upon with a glorious and blissful Immortality Bless thy holy Catholic Church but more especially the Churches of these Kingdoms Bless the King's Majesty the Royal Family the Clergy Nobility Gentry and Commonalty of this Realm Let all my Friends Relations and Benefactors particularly * As Father Mother Husband Wife Children c. the Family wherein I live c. receive the Benefit of my Prayers Bless them in their Bodies with the Comforts of Health and Peace Liberty and Safety and in their Souls with sound Judgements holy Affections and heavenly Dispositions that their Lives and Practices may be unblameable before thee in the sight of all men And now O Lord I beseech thee accept of the Tender of my most humble and hearty Thanks for those innumerable Blessings by which I live and am provided for Thou hast given me Food and Raiment Liberty and Friends †Here mention the temporal Blessings God's Bounty has bestow'd on thee and thine c. and by thy merciful Providence hast wonderfully preserved me yet alive amidst the innumerable Assaults of my bitter and malicious Enemies But chiefly O Lord I praise and magnifie thy holy Name with all my Soul and all my Strength for the miraculous Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ for the Revelation of thy Will the Satisfaction which he made and the Ransom which he paid not only for mine but the Sins of the whole World for the sanctification of my Nature by the Grace of his holy Spirit the admirable Comforts and Refreshments of his Body and Bloud the conquest over all his and mine Enemies for his powerful Intercession and the gracious acceptance of my Prayers and Person before God c. * Spiritual Mercies For which and all other temporal and spiritual Mercies my Soul shall magnifie the Lord and with the best Faculties I have I will bless and praise him for ever Finally O Lord I beseech thee preserve me in a perpetual Remembrance of those manifold and undeserved Favours thy Bounty has bestowed upon me and mine And as thou hast wonderfully preserv'd me hitherto and particularly from the dangers of the Night past so keep me this Day and for ever from all Sin and Mischief Let the Love of Christ be always in my heart and in my thoughts and as he is my hope so let him be for ever my rule and pattern to walk by That by by a sincere and faithful Discharge of the several Duties of my Calling and Religion both to God and Man I may enjoy a comfortable and prosperous well-Being in this Life and in the World to come Life everlasting To which the Lord of his infinite Mercies bring me and all his People thro' the Merits of Jesus Christ In whose Name and Words I continue to pray unto thee Our Father c. An Evening Prayer for a private Person OH eternal God! the Father of Men and Angels whose Glory is far above the Heavens and by whom the lower World is establisht in a Wonderful Order making the Day and Night to succeed each other Thou excellest the praises of all thy Creatures and hast no need of our Services neither can any thing be added to thy infinite Perfection yet in great Mercy thou hearest Prayer and thy Power and Goodness are abundantly manifested to the meanest of thy Servants who call upon thee in Faith and Sincerity In confidence whereof I most humbly implore the gracious Assistance of thy holy Spirit and be pleased to accept of such Prayer and Service as thy Bounty shall enable me to perform But the sense of my sinful Estate and Condition might justly make me afraid to speak of thy holy name since I have so wilfully and wickedly abused thy Goodness affronted thy Clemency resisted thy Power undervalued thy Wisdom trespassed upon thy Patience and stopt mine Ears against all the charitable tenders of Mercy and Salvation In somuch that thro' this senseless Stupidity and unreasonable Folly my heart is become proud and unmortified pievish and disobedient lustful and intemperate so wholly intangled in the snares of Sin Wickedness that I am utterly unable to resist or flie from 'em For I am daily prevailed with by my buitish Appetites and Passions to commit those Sins which thou hast forbidden * Here confess thy particular Sins committed as c. and to ommit those Duties which thou hast commanded †And the Duties omitted even contrary to the most convincing Attestations of rectified Reason and Religion For which beinous and innumerable Offences thou mightest justly long ere this have given me my portion in the horrours and sorrows of a sad miserable Eternity But thou delightest in Mercy and thy loving kindness has been abundantly manifested hitherto in sending thy Son and Spirit not to call the Righteous but Sinners to Repentance Come Lord Jesus and say unto my Soul I am thy Salvation and my Leprosie shall be healed Think upon thy Mercies holy Father consider thy Son's Bloud and Obedience and accept of my sincere Contrition and unfeigned Repentance for his Names sake Touch my frozen heart with the Finger of thy Omniporence dissolve it into those Tears which may so wash my polâ—ited Conscience that thy love may refresh me that thy presence may revive me and the Garments of heaviness will be turned into the white Robes of Praise and Exaltation Oh let me hear the joyful News of a merciful Pardon from thy gracious Lips that the Bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce Stretch forth thy hand O Lord to save a poor miserable and sinful Creature from the power of Sin and Satan and the pain and peril of hell torments Keep me unspotted from the World that my Thoughts and Affections may not be drawn away from thee by the deceitful Pleasures unmanly Desires and unworthy Designs of this vain and transitory Life Support me under the many Temptations and Pressures which thy good Providence may order and appoint for the tryal and improvement of my Graces or the punishment of my Sins Teach and enable me to be truly watchful in all my Ways and so keep the door of my lips that I may not offend in Thought Word or Deed either
by the Power and Efficacy of Christ's Mediatorship to God's Grace and Favour He has broken the Shackles of Universal Guilt subdues and destroys all his and our Enemies rescues us from the slavery and dominion of Sin and Satan has taken away the Sting of Death and does effectually revoke that fatal Curse by which we were exil'd from Paradise and bound over to everlasting Punishment And having by the immense Sactifice of his precious Bloud paid so dear a Price for our Redemption all our Debts are now fully discharg'd God's Anger appeas'd his Justice satisfied an eternal Peace between Heaven and Earth fully ratified and all true Believers in Christ are reinstated in a Condition of Hope and an undoubted capacity of being for ever happy 3 The Sun of Righteousness thanks be to our gracious God is risen upon our Horizon Luk. 1.78 79. Isai 60.1 diffusing his pleasant Light and saving Influences over the whole Body of the Creation dispelling by his radiant Beams the Nignt and dark Clouds of Ignorance and Errour which before his coming had over-spread the face of the whole Earth Christ is the Way John 14.16 the Truth and the Life He keeps his Residence in and exerts his Power in the defence and protection of all pious Souls he enriches his Members with that pure and perfect Wisdom which is from above and kindles Charity Joy and Comfort in their Hearts by the powerful Influence and Operation of his Grace and Spirit he raises their Affections above transitory Things and does inspire and qualifie 'em with such holy and heavenly Dispositions as will sweeten and sanctifie all the Cross Providences which are incident to them in this Life and will finally advance them to and put 'em in Possession of a State of ravishing and uncompounded Pleasures at God's right hand for evermore 4 Christ Jesus the righteous governs his Church with perfect Love and Clemency preserves his Servants in Peace and safety and 't is impossible saith Irenaeus to recount the number of those great things which are done thro' the World by the Wisdom Power and Goodness of Christ for the Succour of the Nations and the Salvation of Mankind For as he liv'd so he died and rose again for us to cure all our Maladies and to restore us to a more happy condition than we lost by the Fall and defection of the first Adam And now to our unspeakable comfort he is sitting in Majesty and triumph at the right hand of God of which more fully afterwards pleading his infinite Merits and interceding power fully with the Father for us That all these Blessings and Priviledges and many more than we can either conceive or think of may be seasonably applied for the comfort and Benefit of all true Believers Hence we proceed 3dly The Application of this Point importing its influence upon Practice To the Application of this Point and shall consider what Influence this important and saving Doctrine should have upon the Lives and Practices of Men. And 1 This is a Subject which may ravish our Souls with Joy and Wonder A Mirrour which the holy Angels delight in and desire to contemplate God and Man in the Person of Christ was the hope and expectation of the Fathers whom the Patriarchs fore-saw and rejoyc'd at and whom the Prophets in such magnificent streins did predict and presignifie whose presence makes glad the City of our God But the perfect understanding of this Mystery transcends all Humane Knowledge and in this Valley of Ignorance we can but attain to a small measure of it His Name is Wonderful and who can understand it Councellor and who can find it The mighty God and who can comprehend it How he being God should be begotten of God and yet but one God still Or how he could be born of a Woman without a Man and she continue still a Virgin That Almighty God out of the Virgin Earth created man and breathed into his Nostrils the Breath of Life was indeed a great Miracle But that a Virgin should conceive and bear a Son that was both God and Man was far greater That God without a Woman should form Eve out of Man was a strange Wonder but 't was much more prodigious that a Woman without a Man should bring forth a Son that was both God and Man For Iron to swim above the Water a Fountain to flow out of a dry Jaw-bone an Ass to speak an old Woman to Conceive Manna to be rain'd down from Heaven a wither'd Rod to yield both Blossoms and Fruit Rivers to flow from a flinty Rock Waters to be turn'd into Bloud Ravens to feed a Prophet Jordan to turn his stream backward the Red Sea to be divided c. These are Miracles to be extremely admir'd But in the Incarnation of our blessed Redcemer we 've a greater Miracle than all these for a Maid is made the Mother of God a great Sphere is drawn into the Center the great God of Heaven and Earth was conceiv'd in the narrow Womb of a Virgin This is indeed a Miracle which humane Reason's not able to comprehend Miraoulum Mirabiliter Miraculosum 1 Tim. 1.15 And therefore saith the Apostle 't is a faithful saying That Jesus Christ came into the World to save sinners We may as well doubt of the reality of our Being and Existence as suspect the Truth of it This is the Lord 's doing and 't is marvellous in our Eyes Man is naturally inquisitive after Curiosities and very desirous to know strange Accidents Now here 's a Subject for the most contemplative Curiosity to be exercis'd about A Mystery indeed and the more we pry into it the more miraculous we find it The more we know of it the more we shall be inflam'd with the desire of comprehending it and shall be still more and more happy in the improvement of this excellent Knowledge Si Christum discis nihil est si caeâ—era nescis Si Christum c All other Wisdom without the Knowledge of God in Christ is as bad if not worse than Ignorance it self For tho' with the wisest Solomon we could understand all the secrets of Nature the several Motions and Influences of the Stars all the Intrigues and Policies of State all the Mysteries of Traffick Arts and Sciences and whatever can be imagin'd to be within the reach of humane Understanding Yet without the saving Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ all our Wisdom is but Foolishness and to no purpose Let the Son of God therefore made Man for our sakes become the Subject of our devoutest Meditations 1 Cor. 2.2 The Holy Apostle determin'd to know nothing else and I am sure 't is both our Interest and Duty to concur with him in this Opinion We read in the Gospels that Christ was sometimes in the Cratch sometimes in the Garden sometimes in the Synagogue sometimes in Egypt sometimes at Jerusalem sometimes at a Marriage sometimes amongst Publicans conversant with
never thirst if we be naked he will cloath us with the Robes of his Virtue and the Garments of his Righteousness Psal 45.8 Gen 27.27 which smell of Myrh Alloes and Cassia and are like the smell of a pleasant Field which the Lord hath blessed if we be simple or ignorant he 's our Wisdom to instruct us if we be sinful he 's our Righteousness to save us if we desire to be holy he is our Sanctification to bless us Acts 3.26 in turning us away from our Iniquities Tit. 2.14 and purifying to himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works if the Devil tempt and allure us to sin he is the Captain of our Salvation who has not only in a great measure countermanded Satan's Commission but dissolv'd his Authority 1 Joh. 3.8 Now as all sincere Believers are thus abundantly supply'd with all things needful and convenient an hundred fold in this Life and in the World to come Life everlasting Luk. 18 3â— So on the Contrary All the pompous Delights of this visible World tho' they be seemingly never so specious or profitable unless they be sanctified to us by the Grace of Christ's holy Spirit instead of being a Comfort and Blessing they will become our Plague and Punishment In like manner all our Wisdom Righteousness Learning c. which are not deriv'd from this Fountain and purified by the Bloud of Christ are but as a menstruous Cloth or filthy Rags and neither pleasing to God nor beneficial to our Selves as might be instanc'd if 't were needful in many Particulars Those outward Accomplishments may indeed make us appear Great but can never make us Good They may puff us up with Pride and Self-conceit but they seldom or never make men more holy and vertuous John 15.5 Without Christ we can do nothing but by the Assistance of his Grace and Spirit we are enabl'd to do all things 2 Cor. 9.8 Our Sufficiency is of him and we must ascribe all our holy Performances not to any Endeavours of our own but to the Riches of God's Grace in Christ And whatever we do that is Holy or Vertuous 't is no more We but Christ who by the Power and Presence of his Holy Spirit dwelleth and worketh in Us. In a Word We hold all that we have in Capite from him and 't is the best Tenure too We are his by Purchase he has paid a dear Price for us and therefore how dear and precious should he be to us We are Oblig'd to forsake all and follow him Matth. 19.27 1 Cor. 6.19 20. This is the most effectual Plea against Satan's Stratagems that we are not our own for we are bought with a Price and therefore intirely at his not our own Disposal This is that seasonable Expedient which will vanquish this and all other Enemies even our Faith in Jesus Christ God and Man in the same Person 6 And Lastly This Point of Doctrine duly consider'd will remind us of the State and Condition of other Men as well as our Selves Has God set such an inestimable Value upon Mens Souls as to purchase 'em at so dear a Price Could nothing less then the Bloud of the eternal Son of God pay a sufficient Ransom for the Redemption of them How should we then respect honour and indulge Christ's Humane Nature in the poorest and meanest of his Servants And since Good has been pleas'd to think us worthy of so much Care and Indulgence we 've Reason to use all possible Endeavours to keep these precious Jewels pure and unspotted both in our selves and others Have we contracted such an honourable Alliance with and do we stand so nearly related to the holy Trinity and our fellow Christians by the Vnion of our Nature to the Person of Christ How then should our Thoughts Desires Dispositions Words and Actions be conformable to the Nature Laws and Dignitie of such Relations How should we be afraid to submit to any thing that 's base or ignoble lest we reflect Dishonour upon God and that Nature of ours which he has so much dignified by his Incarnation Let us therefore indeavour as we are oblig'd both in Duty and Interest in every Iustance and Circumstance of our Lives to be and to do good to avoid all things evil in themselves and of evil Report That we may thereby glorifie God in our Bodies and in our Spirits which are his This would prove the most certain Expedient to bring this excellent Religion of the Holy and Eternal Jesus into Repute and Credit with those that differ from us and by our hearty Compliances with all its reasonable Constitutions we cannot fail both of the present and future Rewards which spring and flow from it Thus I have treated distinctly on the first Branch of this great Mystery of Man's Redemption and herein Particularly of the Names and Natures of Christ and that wonderful Vnion of 'em both in the same Person I have alleg'd several important Reasons why the Saviour of the World should be God why he should be Man and why God and Man in the same Person of Christ I have consider'd those special Advantages and Priviledges resulting from this heavenly Doctrine with the peculiar Influences which it should have upon the Lives and Practices of all Christians God Almighty give us all Grace so to believe these Truths faithfully and practice them conscientiously That the whole frame and contexture of our Lives may be truly conformable to the Kingdom and Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ Amen CHAP. IV. Of the Offices of Christ in general BY discoursing of the Offices of Christ and the Manner of their Administration we may understand more particularly the great End and Design of our Saviour's coming into the World And the many great things which he has done and suffer'd for the Redemption and Happiness of lost Mankind The Name of Christ as we noted before is a Title which imports Office and Dignity The Name Christ imports his Offices 'T is a Greek word in the Original and answereth to the Hebrew Messiah both which signifie our Anointed Saviour Historians tell us that 't was an ancient Custom in the Easten part of the World to Anoint their Public Officers Kings and Prophets especially with material Oyl denoting and symbolizing thereby the liberal and plentiful Effusion of extraordinary Endowments such as might qualifie them for and presignifie the hopeful and happy success of their Administrations But our Christ the eternal Son of God coming into the World to manage that great and important Office of Mediatour between God and Man must be sanctified Christ's unction differ'd from all others and set a part in a more peculiar manner than any of the Ancients were For they were only anointed with material Oyl but he was Sanctified and filled with the Holy Ghost they were set apart by Men but he was confirm'd by the Father in this Office they were invested with Authority and Ability
to save for a Time he for Ever Therefore A Concurrence of all the three Offices in Christ that he might be every way sutably qualified for the Charge and Burden which he underwent he became Prophet Priest and King all which Offices were never confer'd on any but on Christ For 't is observ'd that Melchisedec was King and Priest but no Prophet David was King and Prophet but no Priest Samuel was Priest and Prophet but no King But there 's a Concurrence of all these three Offices in Christ and he was furnisht from Heaven with a sufficiency of Power Holiness Wisdom and Goodness to dispense them for the Comfort and Benefit of all that believe in and obey Him And to this End 't was necessary 1 That he should be a Prophet The absolute Necessity of Christs being a Prophet to cure that gross Ignorance which we deriv'd from the Loins of the first Adam to reveal and expound God's Mind and Will to us to teach us how to apply his Merits by the exercise of a true and lively Faith and to direct us how to walk more conformably to God's Will in doing our Duties and avoiding Sin for the future that so the Devil and our Lusts should not have the Rule and Dominion over us 2 It was necessary that he should be our Anointed Priest And Priest Altar and Sacrifice that he might propitiate and make Atonement for all our Offences free us from the Guilt and Punishment of them reconcile us to God's Grace and Favour and translate us from a state of Sin and Death to a State of Righteousness and eternal Life 3 But since this Peace and Happiness could not be obtain'd for us And Xing not applied to us but by an absolute and irresistable Power considering the many Enemies and Impediments we have to conflict with in our Christian Course therefore 't was necessary that he should be a King That having sufficiency of Power and Authority he might enable us to resist and overcome all those Difficulties and Oppositions which might hinder our Return from the Chaos of corrupt Nature to a state of Grace and Glory And to this End God has been pleas'd to raise him far above all Principalities and Powers that he might effectually apply the satisfaction which he made and the Ransom which he paid for the Salvation of Mankind Thus much of Christ's anointing in General by God's holy Spirit to those three great Offices which he receiv'd as the Head and conveyeth to his Members the Church By instructing us as a Prophet satisfying for us as a Priest and protecting and governing us as a King We pass on to Particulars CHAP. V. Of his Prophetical Office THere are several other Titles synonimous to his being a Prophet which are ascrib'd to our blessed Saviour in holy Scripture He is call'd the Pastor the Apostle of our Profession Rabbi Master a Teacher from God a Law-giver the Author and Finisher of our Faith a Minister of the Circumcision a Teacher of the Gentiles that he might be a Light to them as well as the Glory of his People Israel All which several Titles and Appellations do import that he was a Prophet sent from God to instruct his People and to guide them in the Way of Salvation And without all controversie Christ the Prophet this is he whom God the Father promis'd to send into the World whom the Prophet Isaiah tells us should be anointed to Preach the Gospel And being com'd into these lower Regions was confirm'd in this Office by an audible Voice from Heaven three times repeated as before with this peremptory Command annext to his Commission Hear ye him His Mission was also confirm'd by many notable Signs and Wonders by the Testimony of his Harbinger John the Baptist and many other infallible Proofs which would be needless to mention here But besides the Disposition and Temper of his Mind was every way sutable to his Office and Authority For his Wisdom and Discretion Purity and Holiness His Particular Qualifications Courage and Constancy Meekness and Patience Sweetness and Goodness Power and Majesty conspicuous in all his Discourses and Demeanour are so many unanswerable Topics to prove that our Lord Jesus Christ was anointed with the holy Spirit and with Power that he might be every way qualified for the due Administration of this high and extraordinary Office of a Prophet Which Office in the most strict sense denotes that the Person invested with it should be inspir'd with extraordinary Abilities to Prophesie of and foretel things to come And tho' our Anointed Saviour could not be deficient in this since his Wisdom and Knowledge are infinite yet his Prophetical Office is to be understood in a larger Acceptation and does import a Person endu'd with the extraordinary Gifts of Divine Wisdom and Authority to interpret God's Mind and Meaning and to reveal his whole Will to the Sons of Men so far as it may concern his own Glory and their present and eternal Welfare Thus we have seen how Christ our great Prophet is every way sutably dispos'd and qualified for the Management of this weighty Office We shall enquire in the next Place into the manner of its Administration The Admistration of this Office And for the better understanding of this Point We shall consider 1. What it is that God has been pleased to make known and communicate to us by the Spirit of his Son 2. What Returns of Duty and Obedience he expects from us For the 1st What God has been pleas'd to reveal to us by the Spirit of his Son Christ our great Prophet has by his Grace and Spirit reveal'd God's will to Mankind hereby declaring what he will have us believe and do that we may be happy here and for ever And to this end he has been graciously pleas'd to take away the Veil and has fully explain'd those Laws of Nature and Morality which were never understood before Mat. chapters 5.6 7. he has also corrected the Mistakes and supplied the Defects of all former Dispensations Concerning the Law which he was rectified and improv'd and added some excellent Principles and Precepts most conducing to the Interest and Satisfaction of Mankind which do far transcend all former Laws and Institutions whatsoever For in the Doctrine of the Gospel we have anexact Specimen of all those Truths which concern the Salvation of Christians wherein the Terms of our Reconciliation are fully and clearly exprest all the Doctrines Commands Counsels Conditions Covenants Threatnings Promises which respect the present and future Happiness and Misery of our Souls and Bodies are so throughly stated that he who runs may read And the excellent Design of this great Ambassie the Priviledges and Immunities of this Gospel Covenant are not limited to some few Kingdoms and Countries but extended to all Persons in all Ages thro' the most remote and distant Parts of the World The sound thereof is gone into
Preservation of the King 's most excellent Majesty James the Second c. and all the Royal Family bless the whole Clergy but him especially whom thou hast appointed to watch over us in this Parish together with all the Nobility Gentry and Commonalty of this Realm that they may all become active Instruments for the Advancement of thy Glory the Safety and Preservation of the King's Person Honour and Interest and for the Comfort and Benefit of all his truly loyal peaceable obedient Subjects Visit we pray thee with thy Grace and Blessing all our Relations Friends and Benefactors forgive the Injuries committed against thee and us by all our Enemies Comfort and Support all distressed Persons with the stedfast Belief of sure Confidence in and a patient Submission to thy divine Will and Wisdom in all Straits and Sufferings whatsoever And now O Lord we return thee most humble and hearty Thanks for all those temporal and spiritual Blessings which make the time of our short abode in this Life more easie and comfortable to us But let our Souls for ever love adore admire and praise thee for thine infinite Goodness Bounty in sending thine own Son from the highest Region of Bliss to take our Nature upon him Who submitting to all the Indignities of a sorrowful Life and the Injuries and Tortures of a painful and accursed Death has not only deliver'd us from the dreadful and damning Effects of our Sin and Disobedience but puts us thereby into an undoubted Capacity of being sayed appointing the Use of such Means and affording us those most powerful Assistances whereby we may live comfortably here and be happy for ever We praise thee more particularly for the Safety and Refreshment of the Night past and since thy Providence has bless'd us with the Light of another Day keep our Souls and Bodies we beseech thee pure and undefiled and enable us to imploy it and the whole residue of our Lives to thy Glory and the real and mutual Benefit of of our selves and others So that after the few Dayes and Nights we have to pass in this World we may be happily translated from the short and troublesome Enjoyments thereof to the ravishing and immutable Pleasures of a future and better Life Grant these our most humble Suplications and what thou seest further needful and convenient for us we sincerely beg at thy hands for the Merits of Jesus Christ the righteous in whose holy Name and Words we pray unto thee Our Father c. The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ c. An Evening Prayer for Families O Lord the Almighty Creator of the World and the merciful Redeemer of Mankind who seest our down lyings and uprisings and to whom the Darkness and Light are both alike Thou art a God of Infinite Purity and Holiness nor can any thing be added to thy admirable Perfections and essential Glory by us or any of thy Creatures for thou reprovest thy Angels of Folly and the Heavens are impure before thee much more might the sense of our wretched Estate and Condition make us justly asham'd and afraid to offer unto thee any Sacrifice yet in great Mercy to our Souls thou hearest Prayer and thy Power and Goodness are every where manifest in the visible Administrations of thy Providence We beseech thee therefore to accept of this Evening Oblation of our Souls and Bodies which we desire with all Humility to present a holy living and acceptable Sacrifice unto thee thro' Jesus Christ We do confess O Lord and in great bitterness of Spirit lament and bewail our detestable Impiety Unworthiness and hardness of Heart in that we have wilfully trampled upon thy Sovereign Power and Authority by violating and transgressing thy just and reasonable Commands rejecting all the bountiful Tenders of thy Grace and Mercy and obstinately despising the Riches of thy Forbearance and long suffering Patience which should lead us to Repentance But thou hast graciously spar'd us hitherto when we deserved Punishment and in the midst of Judgement thinkest upon Mercy Wherefore O Lord thy Mercy is our Sanctuary and unto thee do we flie for Succour Let the sense of our Vileness possess us with an holy Indignation against our Selves and give us Grace to look back upon the Offences of our former Lives with that horrour and regret hatred and detestation that neither our vile Lusts the illusions of Satan nor the alluring Enticements of this vain and transitory World may prevail with us to neglect the great Concernments of Eternity And for the perfecting of our present and future Happiness we beseech thee O heavenly Father to be gracious and merciful unto us in the forgivenness of all our Sins Pardon the vanity and impurity of our Thoughts the sinfulness of our prophane idle and impertinent Words and the Impurity injustice and Impiety of all our Actions Purge our whole Nature from the Stain and Pollution of the Old-man not only from grosser presumptuous Sins but even from our private Slips and more secret Corruptions Sanctifie us throughly by thy holy Spirit and we shall be clean wash us in thy Sons Bloud and we shall be whiter than Snow Bless all our Endeavours of Reformation and let the redundant Satisfaction of our meritorious Advocate and Intercessor prevail for our Release and Rescue for thy Grace and Acceptance Fix our thoughts our hopes and desires on Heaven and heavenly Things Make us watchful over our Ways and enrich our Understandings and our Wills with the love of Goodness and Knowledge of thy Truth Mortifie and subdue all our lustful Appetites and Passions by the Operation and Prevalence of thy Grace that we may submit our Selves entirely to the gracious and safe Conduct of rectified Reason and Religion And to this end we beseech thee strengthen our Faith confirm our Hope and give us a daily increase of Charity that we may serve thee sincerely fervently and constantly in Righteousness and true Holiness all the days of our Life Enable us to increase still more more and persevere in all the Instances of Piety Virtue that by adding Strength to Strength and one degree of Grace unto another we may have acomfortable Well-being in this Life and in the World to come Life everlasting We implore thy Mercies also for the Peace and Happiness of all Mankind Bless thy Church universal but more especially that part of it to which we stand so nearly related in these divided Kingdoms of great Brittain and Ireland Remember not O Lord our crying Sins nor the Iniquities of our Forefathers whereby these Nations have been involv'd in Bloud and Ruine and do still cry aloud against us for Vengeance But out of the Bowels of thy tenderest Mercy and for the sake of our Compassionate Redeemer let thy heavy Wrath and Judgements be turned away from us Bless our gracious Soveraign and all the Royal Family endue him with the Spirit of Wisdom and sound Judgement in thy Fear and make him successful in