this Nation especially have been most signally happy in the enjoyment of public Peace and Plenty for several years Our Lot is cast in a good ground We have the Advantages of a fruitful and generous Soil which affords all things necessary and convenient for Food and Raiment for Physick and Delight We are blest with a temperate Air fruitful Seasons Conveniencies for Traffick yet secure and free from Invasion a well constituted Government a wise and merciful Prince whom God long preserve good Laws and duly administred for the Peace and Benefit of the Subject But then Secondly And our Souls We are far more transcendently happy in our precious and immortal Souls if we consider those admirable Facuities of Understanding Will Memory Affections c. and all their excellent Tempers and Dispositions which God Almighty has stampt with the Signature and Impressions of his own Divinity the love of Goodness and the knowledge of the Truth And tho' our Faculties were extremely obscur'd and deprav'd by our miserable Fall in Adam yet God has been wonderfully gracious to us in sending his dearly beloved Son into the World as we have seen at large before thereby repairing all our Defects and making up the Breach between God and us upon the gentle and easie Conditions of Faith and Repentance And to enforce all the saving Methods of Grace and Mercy he is pleas'd to vouchsafe unto us the bountiful Assistance of his holy Spirit by whose Operation and Influence we are preserv'd in a great Measure from Sin and Temptation and enabl'd to perform all our Duties to God's Glory and for the mutual Comfort and Benefit of our selves and others We have all the blessed Advantages of his holy Word and Sacraments and he has instituted and appointed an Order of Men to minister in Christ's stead and to be Ambassadors to solicite our Peace and reconcile us unto his Grace and Favour And besides all this we are certain if we be good Christians that we shall not only live comfortably here but our Souls thâ—ll be kept in safe Custody after Deaâ—â—â— that our Bodies united to our Souls and that God will bestow on us that glorious Kingdom which he has prepar'd and purchased for us where we shall perfectly enjoy all those never failing Pleasures without the least Allay or Discomposure which our Hearts can desire or hope for Thus the Divine Providence has made a wonderful Provision for our Souls and Bodies that we may live comfortably here and if we be not wanting to our selves be happy for ever And what could our gracious God have done more for his Vineyard then he has done for us Isai 1.4 Can any heart then be so callous and impenetrable as not to be influenc'd and affected with such admirable Endearments and Charms of Beauty Love and Mercy as these are How should we study therefore and endeavour as we are most strictly oblig'd in Duty and 〈◊〉 to please him in all things and conform the whole Man to his gracious and reasonable Commands How should we love him with the greatest fervency of Affection so as to desire above all things to enjoy him in all the Dispensations of his Grace and Glory Especially if we consider that there can be no Duty nor Vertue nor Grace acceptable to God unless it be founded in and flow from a Principle of Love Since then The sincerity of this Duty examin'd our Love to God is a Duty of so great Importance let us a little examine the Sincerity of it which may be understood by such Properties as these For if our Love be sincere we shall hate every thing that he hates and make it our chief Business and Delight to have a holy Entercourse with him in all the Duties and Offices of Religion and we shall study to avoid all those Sins and Temprations as the very Plague and Firebrands of Hell which shall at any time interrupt or hinder us in our Duty We shall be more zealous for God's Glory then our own Interest and be careful in all our Ways to do the Will and the Work of our Heavenly Father We shall be ready and dispos'd to forsake all things that are most dear to us in this World for his sake and the whole Bent and Tendency of our Lives will be a full Demonstration of the sincerity of our Affection to him A Mistake herein would prove of infinite Consequence to us which has caus'd me to be more express in the handling of this Point so that we are highly concern'd to be very inquilitive about the Nature and 〈◊〉 of our Love to God in Christ which to the natural and necessary Effect or a 〈◊〉 Faith and the very Source and Foundation of all Religion For if we have these worthy thoughts in our Minds concerning the Essence and Artributes of God and his Benefits to us which become the Perfection of the Divine Nature his Soveraignty over us and our Dependance upon him if we love him as the Author of all that Happiness which we enjoy and hope for then 3 We shall esteem and Honour him 2. By the 〈…〉 we 〈◊〉 to him for his Majesty and Mercy his Power and Goodness c. not only inwardly in our Hearts by conceiving always worthy Troughts of him in our Minds where all true Love is grounded 〈◊〉 also outwardly in our Demeanour and Carriage towords him in all our Words and Actionse viz. By acknowledging our whole Dependance upon him and Praying unto him for the supply of all our Temooral and Spiritual Wants by paying him the just Fribure of Thankfulness for his manifold 〈◊〉 and blessings bellow'd upon our Souis and Bodies in Hearing Reading and Meditating on his Word with a serious 〈◊〉 of Mind and fervency of Affection in receiving the holy Sacraments with a Disposition of Soul and a Posture of Body correspondent to those stupendous Mysteries in Sanctifying his Sabbaths and keeping with due Observance the Festivals of the Church in allowing a competent Maintainance a dutiful Respect and Obedience to all his Ministers and Viregerents in promoting holy Conferences with his Children and Servants for the mutual Edification and Comfort of one another And in a Word by being zealous in the whole Course of our Lives for the Enlargement of the Boundaries of his Kingdom of Grace and Righteousness as it becomes his dutiful and Obedient Children 4 This Temper of Mind will oblige us to depend upon him 3. By our Trust in Dependance upon him and to repose our whole Trust and Confidence in his All-sufficiency in general and in his Wisdom Power Goodness and Mercy in particular Always praying unto him earnestly and devoutly for the supply of all our Wants as before and depending entirely on him for protection in and deliverance from all Temptations Sin and Danger and humbly submitting our selves to the determination of his VVisdom and Providence for the disposing of us and our Concernments to his own Glory and our
reduced to this Head Thou shalt love the Lord thy God saith he with all thy Heart Matth. 22 37 38 39. with all thy Mind with all thy Soul and with all thy Strength and thy Neighbour as thy Self Hereby implying that we should make that Return of Duty unto God as to Love and Honour Worship and Obey him with all the Powers and Faculties of our Souls and Members of our Bodies That we should so love our Neighbours viz. the whole Race of Mankind as to be just and charitable to 'em in our whole Entercourse and Dealings with them That we should have that tender Regard to our own present and eternal Welfare 1 Cor. 6.20 Jam. 1.17 as to glorifie God both in our Souls and Bodies and to keep our Selves unspotted in this world These are the indispensible Duties of Religion which God expects and requires from us and the certain Conditions of our Happiness which being faithfully and conscientiously perform'd will dispose and qualifie us for all the Blessings and Priviledges of the Gospel I shall therefore treat of these Duties severally and distinctly by which I hope to acquit and discharge my self of that Task I 've undertaken And we begin 1st More particularly Of true saving Faith With our Duty to God And hereby we are oblig'd to Believe and Confess That there is but one God and that there 's no other besides Him That he is an infinite and immortal Spirit without Beginning and without End That by his infinite Power Wisdom and Goodness he has made all things visible and invisible the Heavens the Earth the Sea and all that in them is We must believe also that he that made 'em doth preserve them in this excellent Beauty and Order wherein they do now consist that they might all minister to his Glory and the mutual Benefit of one another We must believe That he knows all Things and is intimately present in all Places and that he is the Fountain and Original of all Happiness and Perfection of Grace and Glory That he is a God of infinite Power Justice Mercy Truth Goodness c. and therefore abundantly able and freely willing to protect our Persons and reward all our Endeavours with Temporal Spiritual and eternal Blessings But we are oblig'd more particularly to believe and confess That God has made us Men by Creation Christians by Redemption and Candidates of Grace and Glory by Sanctification Father Son and Holy Ghost three distinct Persons in the Unity of the Divine essence after a secret and inconceivable Manner which we must believe but cannot understand Again we must believe and confess That all things contain'd in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the Word and Will of God reveal'd to the Sons of Men by his holy Spirit That all the Affirmations thereof are true both as to the Doctrinal and Historical parts of them and we must acknowledge 'em to be so tho' they be above our Reason and beyond the reach of our humane Capacities that all God's Commandments are holy just and reasonable and necessary to be observ'd and obey'd tho' they may seem opposite to our natural Tempers and visible Interests in this World That all the Promises and Threatnings in Scripture which concern the present and future Welfare and Misery of Mankind upon the performance or neglect of the Duties and Conditions on which they are grounded shall most certainly and inevitably come to pass For our God is of infinite Veracity faithful and just in his Dealings with us Heaven and Earth shall pass away Mat. 5.18 but not one Iota of his Word shall fail till all these things be fulfilled But herein we must be cautious that we do not mistake a naked Assent to the Truth of these Mysteries for a Principle of saving Faith Jam. 2.19 For the Devils do believe all these things to be true and tremble to think of it But that Faith by which we Christians through the infinite Mercies of God and the alone Merits of Christ do expect Salvation The Properties of a saving Faith must appear in the powerful Effects and excellent Fruits of it 't is a lively active Faith if it be sincere most ready to comply with and willing to obey the whole Will of God And the effects of it will appear And this is the first Instance of Duty which we owe unto God Namely to believe in him 2dly As a necessary and natural Result of a justifying and saving Faith We are oblig'd to Love him above all things 1. By our love to God This is another Branch of Christian Piety and an indispensible Condition of our supreme Happiness For if we do not love God sincerely and devoutly with our whole Hearts Wills and Affections in this Life 't is morally impossible that we should enjoy him in the other Now the Motives by which we are induc'd to love the things of this World with any competent Delight and Satisfaction are either the excellent Qualities of the Things themselves or 't is for the sake of the Benefits and Advantages which we receive from them and by them But we are most especially oblig'd to love God in both Respects Whom we must love For the sake of his own Exlencies And 1 Because he is most amiable and lovely in himself For all the scatter'd Excellencies which we are apt to love and admire in the Creatures are but Emanations from and imperfect Adumbrations of that infinite Perfection which the boly Angels and Saints glorified do contemplate in God a Happiness which above all things we should aspire to and desire to enjoy How should our Souls be charm'd and delighted with the incomparable Excellencies of the Divine Nature how should we be ravisht and transported with Exstasies of Joy and Wonder since we may upon certain easie Conditions more fully comprehend and perfectly enjoy all those wonderful Endearments of Love and Beauty hereafter which even now shine so conspicuously in all God's glorious Attributes and Actions 2 God is not only infinitely lovely in himself And for the Benefits bestowed which should oblige us to love and admire him even for the sake of his own Excellencies above all the transitory Delights Riches and Honours of this World But we must love him above all things because he is most beneficial and bountiful to us Psal 100.3 in bestowing his innumerable Blessings and Benefits upon us To instance in a few amongst many Particulars And First On our Bodies Man is the Epitome of the whole Creation a Compound of Heaven and Earth Psal 139.14 little lower than the Angels and yet far transcending all the rest of the Creatures Psal 8.5 6. He is fearfully and wonderfully made as to the curious and admirable Structure of his Body for which the divine Providence has made a liberal Provision for its support and comfort not only for its Being but also for its Well-being And we of
't is better for a man saith Solomon to be Master of his own Passions than to conquer an Army Temperance in Eating and Drinking with Fasting and Labour are powerful Expedients to subjugate the Flesh and bring under the Body St. Paul made use of 'em to subdue his own Appetite and recommends the same Duties to us as the best instruments to further us in the great Work of Mortification and Self-denial To which we should not fail to joyn our earnest Prayers to God for the Assistance of his Grace and Spirit that we may obtain this comfortable Victory and Conquest over our Selves For our blessed Saviour who best understood our Frailties recommends this Duty to us as the most successful Expedient and without which all our other natural and moral Endeavours will prove ineffectual and to no purpose Now if all these Means will not secure our Chastity but that our Appetites are still headstrong and unruly then 't will be necessary to make use of lawful Marriage which God has been pleas'd to institute and allow to pare off the Excrescencies of corrupt Nature and to secure us from the Guilt and Punishment of our fleshly Lusts Yet herein we must consider that there 's a Temperance and Moderation to be used even in the Pleasures of lawful Wedlock and as all Embraces and Contact are simply forbidden with others so we must not abuse our own Allowances but preserve our Vessels in Sanctification and Honour 1 Thes 4.4 and keep our selves within the due Bounds of Justice and Modesty By these Hints we may understand how much this Virtue of Chastity will conduce to the Interest and Satisfaction not only of the outward but the inward Man for no man shall ever repent that he has liv'd chastly and virtuously as the Contraries are most pernicious to and destructive of both My designed brevity will not suffer me to enlarge further on these Heads And therefore I must leave it to your Prudence and Conscience to collect the rest 3dly The last Virtue which concerns the Body is the sober and moderate use of those Riches and Estates which the divine Providence has been pleas'd to allow us for our Support and Accommodation in this Life which is known by the name of Contentedness Which Virtue consists in the inward voluntary and universal Submission of our Wills and Desires to God's gracious and wise Disposal of us in every Estate and Condition of Life For if our Condition be prosperous this true Christian Contentment will oblige us to rest satisfied with what we have without the trouble of an anxious Care and carking Desire of getting more If we be poor this will teach us to be satisfied with that little Portion which God has given us without coveting of or murmuring and repining at the flourishing Estate and Condition of other Men. But this peaceable and innocent Composure of Mind and Spirit is only peculiar to the sound Christian For tho' the Heathens did pretend to it yet they were not Masters of it They could indeed comport with the want of Riches and were sometimes affected with a simple Poverty But if they happen'd to fall into Disgrace or Contempt then they esteem'd it an heroical act to kill themselves which in such Cases they usually did and a Demonstration of a magnanimous Spirit Lib. de Civit. Dei Cap. 10. But St. Aug. in the Case of Cato Vticensis and Lucretia detects the folly and madness of this Conceit and fully shews that this Fool-hardiness does rather proceed from an impotent and cowardly Spirit And doubtless 't is the greatest Fortitude to be Masters of our selves to conquer our own Passions and to entertain all Events with a submissive Patience Contentedness and Aequanimity Especially if we consider that God Almighty has been pleas'd to appoint a state of sufferings to be the more sutable Dispensation for the promoting of his own Glory and our Good Therefore it must hence follow that the chief and adequate Object of our Christian Contentment in which the Mind of Man can only be satisfied and without which all the Enjoyments of this World will prove empty and evanâ—â—d is the alone infinite and immutable God and the full enjoyment of him by Faith and Love in Christ our Mediator John 17.3 For that pious and gracious Soul that makes God his only Substance and Portion rusts fully satisfied in his Mercy and Goodness tho' the things of this World should fall cross and run counter to his natural Desires and Expectations The Truth whereof will more evidently appear if we consider these few Things And 1 Nothing â—ess than this infinite and Vniversal Good which fills all the Faculties can terminate the Desires and Aspirations of the Soul after an endless and blissful Immortality Pleasant sounds may delight the Ear but not the Eye beautiful Colours may please the Eye but not the Ear But that divine and excellent Spirit which injoys the Favour of God in Christ has an Universal Satisfaction and shall abound with the perfection of Parts in this Life and Degrees in the future to his unspeakable and endless Comfort 1 Pet. 1.8 Whom having not seen they love c. 2 This Vniversal Good must be powerfully imprest upon and have its residence in the Cabinet of the Heart which is the Fountain and Principle of all rational and religious Thoughts and Actions Now all the Pleasures Riches and Honours of this vain and transitory World do only rove and fluctuate in the Fancy and have no Communication nor Intercourse with the Soul for they are like the Armour of Saul to David too wide and unfit for it But the true sense of God's Love in Christ does replenish every Corner of the Heart with Grace and Truth and gives that substantial Pleasure and Contentment that there 's no Joy on Earth like that of resting satisfied with the Enjoyment of God the Supreme Good 3 This only is the Complement and Perfection of all other Virtues but especially of this Christian Contentment Nothing less then the Supreme Good can replenish the Soul and in the midst of all temporal Enjoyments there 's still a plus ultra something to be desir'd and pursued which is yet superior far more excellent Moses could not be satisfied 'till he came to the Top of Pisgah that he might see the beauty and fruitfulness of the promised Land But a Believer's Rest and Contentment is only in Heaven and without a certain Prospect of and Title to those future Rewards all the puny Delights on Earth will prove nauseous and unsavory to him 4 'T is the Property of this supreme Good which can only afford the rational Powers of the Soul plenary Contentment to be permanent and of everlasting continuance For tho' we should enjoy all things even to our wishes yet the very apprehension of a future change as we see in the more favourable Intervals of chronical Distempers would stifle or diminish our present Ease and Contentment
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
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