if any spare time remains read some good Book but be sure so to order your Devotion and necessary Affairs as to be at Church at the beginning of Prayers As you go think of the great Priviledge and Mercy you enjoy in being admitted to the House of God to pray and hear his holy Law and the particular blessings of living in a Nation where God's Word is freely dispensed to all think what a sad aggravation of your Fault it will be if you resist or neglect such great Advantages but let not the sense of your unworthiness tempt you to despair or negligence but rather to love and admire the long Sufferance of God and to resolve to improve better these means of grace Enter the Church with reverence and gravity it is the House of Prayer make it not a Den of Thieves by sinful thoughts and hypocritical Designs nor yet a House of Merchandize by thinking or talking of worldly Affairs but so soon as you come to your Seat make an humble Prayer to God for attention and zeal grace to know and do his will a pure unprejudiced mind to apprehend and hold fast the Truth Pray for a blessing on the Minister then present and all other faithful Dispensers of the Word and Sacraments throughout the World that they may be successful Labourers in God's Vineyard and convince and convert many from their sins and build up all through Faith unto Salvation that the Word may be Seed sown in good ground bringing forth Fruit abundantly to the glory of God Pray also against wandring thoughts and drowsiness finally desire the union of your Prayers with all Christians and that the Intercessions of the Universal Church sent up in the Name of its common Redeemer may by him be presented acceptably to God and obtain for it all good things notwithstanding the blemishes imperfections and mistakes of its particular Members These or the like Petitions you may use as time permits till the Minister begins then standing up Of Publick Prayer Matth. 18.20 Isa 56.7 Luk. 2.37 Ioel 2.15 16 17. Hebr. 10.24 35. apply those Texts of Scripture that are read to your self To be able to do this the better read them over at home to consider them then attend to the Exhortation which is to inform you of your Obligation to the Worship of God by holy Scripture the end and benefit of it and manner how you should perform it with a truly penitent heart and therefore with seriousness apply it to your self and do not hear it as words of course which you are not concerned in gazing about as too many do but being composed and recollected as in the Presence of God with bended knees and a contrite heart sensible of your great unworthiness make the following Confession next comes the Absolution To hear this with profit you must first understand the meaning of it it is a short Declaration of God's Mercy and Pardon to penitent sinners that is to those who being truly penitent of their sins are heartily sorry they have committed them and resolve by the assising grace of God never more wilfully to do the like As for Example Almighty God These words sets forth God's infinite Power and Ability to Pardon The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who desireth not the death of a sinner This shews God's infinite goodness and willingness to pardon since he spared not his own Son will he not with him freely give us all things But rather that he may turn from his wickedness and live Here follows the conditions you must turn from your wickedness before you have any right to the Promise of Life and though God had much rather you should repent and live being desirous that none should perish but that all should come to Repentance yet here is no encouragement to hope for any that lead wicked lives but to the Penitent that is such as to the utmost of their power sincerely endeavour to obey God's Commands and to avoid what he forbids doing their Duty as well as they are able yet trusts not to any merit thereby but being sensible of the weakness of their best performance expect Mercy and Eternal Life as the free gift of God for the sake and merit of Christ Jesus only to such Penitents God has given power and commandment to his Ministers to declare and pronounce to his People being penitent the absolution and remission of their sins Which is no other then declaring the terms set forth in the Gospel more largely for the Minister only declares on what Conditions we may be pardoned by Almighty God but does not by this Absolution pardon any who do not perform the Conditions He pardoneth and absolveth all them that truly repent Where observe the Minister does not say I pardon but he pardoneth that is God and that only those that truly repent that is confess and forsake their past sins for without amendment Repentance will not profit so that no one can with comfort apply this Absolution that indulges any wilful sin And unfeignedly believe his holy Gospel that is the Duties and Threatnings as well as the History and Promises Wherefore let us beseech him to grant us true Repentance and his holy Gospel Where you may observe you must joyn Prayer to your Endeavours both for Repentance for what is past and the assistance of God's holy Spirit to enable you to do your Duty for the time to come for by our own strength we are not able to do any thing that is good and acceptable to God the rest is so easie that it needs no Explanation If you are sure of your â—art in performing the Conditions of Repentance and Amendment God will most certainly perform his promise which he has authorized his Servant to declare in his Name on which you may rely with comfort and apply with confidence to your self You must not say the Absolution after the Minister that being not properly a Prayer but setting forth the Condition of our Pardon While the Minister is saying the Absolution offer some such Ejaculations as these Let this gracious Absolution pronounced by the Minister be extended unto me Thou art the Father of Mercy who willest not the death of a sinner O fit me and all here present to receive the Remission of our sins by a faithful performing the Conditions on our part Encrease our Faith perfect Repentance and by the assistance of thy holy Spirit help us unfeignedly to believe and sincerely obey thy Gospel that those things may please thee which we do at this present and that the rest of our life hereafter may be pure and holy so that at the last we may come to thy Eternal Joy through Jesus Christ our Lord. At the end of this and other Prayers say Amen which signifies your consent to Prayer and desire that God will hear and answer it Then follow the Lord's Prayer which being the most perfect Pattern and comprehensive Form of Prayer is in our Liturgy several times
you can spare imploy in reading good Books Prayer and Meditation the Friday or Saturday before the Communion keep as a Fast but if by reason of your labour you find your strength will not hold out eat a piece of bread and drink a cup of beer in the Morning or at Noon and eat your Supper with thankfulness as at other times and on the day imploy an hour or two in Examination and humble Confession of all your sins with earnest Supplication for Pardon through the Merits of Christ Jesus to which purpose use the following Form or the like enlarging according to your own particular case A general Confession of Sin O God who art light and in whom is no darkness at all with whom we can maintain no communion unless we walk in the light as thou art in the light O God who though thou art merciful and gracious to Penitents art a holy and a just God too and would by no means acquit the guilty and impenitent I present my self before thee at this time with an earnest desire to confess and bewail my past sins and to renew my Vows and Resolutions of forsaking them that I may find mercy When I look back upon all the parts of my past life Ah how do I find it defil'd and polluted by negligence and folly by wilfulness and presumption Ah how often hast thou called and I have refused how often have I set at nought thy counsel and would none of thy reproof Ah how long have I resisted thy Spirit slighted thy Promises and hardned my self against all the terrours of God Ah how often have I broke my solemn Vows and Covenant and returned to the same pollutions which I had before endeavoured to wash off by tears and prayers Lord when I call to mind Here mention your particular sin such especially as are most provoking my heart would fail me and I should sink under the weight of shame and despair did not thy Gospel raise and revive me I believe thy mercy infinite as thy Majesty O extend that mercy to me a miserable sinner who stand in need of mercy not less then infinite I believe that thine only Son the Son of thy bosom offered up himself a Sacrifice for sin O let my Soul be cleansed by his most precious Blood and let not my sins be imputed to me I repent O my God and do heartily wish that these my sins had never been committed But ah that cannot be I am ready therefore to do all that I can and this is that thou hast promised to accept through our Mediator to be sorry for and renounce my sin To thee belongs the glory of mercy and forgiveness to me belongs humility and sorrow And O! may this be my business and my delight too during the time of my pilgrimage I will no more hereafter seek my profit or my pleasure my ease or my revenge poverty of spirit meekness purity of heart mourning for sin hunger and thirst after righteousness charity and self-denial these are the things I will follow after practise and delight in this is that I will account my blessedness And whatever I have done to any by word or deed by example or any other way if there remain yet any restitution or reparation to be made I am ready and willing O my God to do it the business of my following life shall be by all the ways and means I can to blot out the remembrance of my past Offences and to advance the glory of God and the good of Man and after all I desire to glory only in the Lord to be clothed with humility and acknowledge my self an unprofitable servant and great sinner and O do thou pardon and deliver me from my sins and confirm and strengthen me in all goodness and bring me to everlasting Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. On Saturday be very careful of your Conversation that you quench not the Spirit by vain pleasures or too much wordly care Be much in singing Psalms at your work with devout Meditations If you go to Market come home as soon as you can possibly and be sure not to loose your time in an Ale-house If you work at home leave off two hours sooner then you are wont to do spend that time in reading and prayer for the assistance of God's grace and holy Spirit to enable you to subdue your sins and perfect your graces especially those you find most defective and that you may be led unto the ways of holiness and eternal happiness also that you may be a worthy partaker of the holy Sacrament and that God would make it effectual to those ends Then look over your Examination and if you find your Conscience troubled go to the Minister or some pious Friend and rest not under Doubts that may be so easily cured A Prayer for Grace according to the foregoing Heads O Eternal God the giver of all spiritual grace and the Author of everlasting life thou art pleased to call and invite me by thy Word and by thy Ministers to the Communion of the most holy and comfortable Sacrament of the Body and Blood of my dear Lord I come therefore but I come with reverence and humility not trusting in my own righteousness but thy mercy I am unworthy of any Temporal blessing how much more of the gift of thy Son and thy Spirit but 't is thy good will 't is thy free bounty to bestow grace and everlasting life upon all those that seek it through the merits and mediation of thy Son Jesus grant therefore to me most gracious God that I may be made partaker of all the benefits of his Passion let me be strengthned in Faith let my love of thee and of my dear Lord be inlarged and let the love of my Neighbour dwell plentifully in me give me humility and patience enable me more and more to mortifie all the remains of my Corruption and make me more fervent and stedfast in thy Service Especially grant that I may diligently labour after Here mention such particular Vertues as you need above others and never give over till I find my Soul possessed by them and transformed from glory And O blessed God who has begun a good work in me do thou finish and compleat it and preserve me by thy power through faith unto salvation that I cleaving constantly unto thee and never stray from the faith and obedience of the Gospel unto my lives end may be filled with peace and joy in the holy Ghost and at last obtain remission of my sins and an inheritance of glory with all those that are sanctified through faith in Jesus All which I beg through the Agonies and Passion through the Merits and Intercession of our Eternal High Priest Christ Jesus On Sunday rise as early or earlier then on other days add to your usual or private Prayers Petitions for the Spirit of God spiritual union and communion with Christ a new Nature and sincere Obedience Read
affection not in a formal careless manner Do not grudge the time you give to God for he can and will repay you nor think it longer then it is The Devotion here prescribed both publick and private will not take up half an hour You or your Wife must also take care that your Children must say every own their Prayers which you must teach them early When they can say the words of some short Prayer instruct them in the meaning of it the same do for those Servants that are ignorant For others put them in mind of their Duty and encourage them in doing it This done cheerfully begin your days labour every one imploying themselves in what belongs to their places which the more diligent they are in the more acceptable it will be to God 1 Thess 4.11 12. 2 Thess 3.11 12. Prov. 18.19 21.17 28.19 6.9 10 11. Ephes 4.28 At the beginning of your Work dedicate it to God in some such Ejaculation as this O Lord thy most wise Providence has placed me in this state to eat my bread in the swet of my brows I believe it is best for me because it is thy will for thou art a loving Father to all that obey thee and wilt do what is best for them I submit to thy good pleasure desiring thou shouldst choose for me I rejoyce in my Labour and that I have health and limbs to perform it I will be as diligent and do it as I am able in all things endeavouring perfection for in so doing I am faithful to my Calling and shall best please thee and advance my own happiness I desire to do all things for the love of my God and in obedience to thy Commands I dedicate all to thy glory which ought to be the end of all I do Or you may meditate on the Example of Christ who submitted to work at a mean Trade Shall I not rather submit to his Will and rejoyce in his Dispensation and do my duty cheerfully and as perfectly as I can for his Honour O Lord Jesus let the Merit of thy Humiliation sanctifie my labour and suffer not the business of my hands to indispose my heart for the acts of thy Worship and Service suffer me not to indulge my Body by ease and slothfulness but use that strength and health thou hast given me to thy glory and honest provision for my Family You may also some times sing such Psalms as you have by heart or entertain your self with any other pious thoughts or if you work with your Servants or Children or honest Neighbours put them on singing Psalms or some good Discourse to encourage one the other in the Service of Almighty God Would you but be perswaded to try this method with devout and honest Minds you cannot imagine how it would sweeten your Labour making you cheerful and content though poor and God would comfort and direct you with his holy Spirit whose delight is in the Man of an humble heart And thus to have all Places sound with God's praise would make a sort of Heaven on Earth and fit us for the Employment of Heaven it self Besides It will much farther your labour for when one that has no farther aim then profit and pleasure is tempted to murmur at every disappointment and seeks for diversion in riotous Company and merry Meetings which instead of mending his Condition makes it worse the honest poor Man's design in his labour is to please God he works in obedience to his Commands and so endures patiently all the inconveniency of cold and heat weariness and pain with humble submission to his Providence offers his Sufferings to God as endured for his sake for though they are not altogether voluntary certainly it is more acceptable cheerfully and willingly to submit to those Troubles allotted us by God then enduring any other of our own choosing for a poor Man works to pay his Rent because it is just and he has promised so to do He looks on his Wife and Children or Servants as those for whom he is obliged to take care in obedience to God as well as by the ties of Nature and is the more careful that he may by his Industry gain time both for himself and them to serve God and be better able to breed his Children to reading or such other learning as is necessary for those honest Imployments he designs them for These and the like Considerations are sufficient to make a good Man cheerful and diligent in his Labour I am sure they are much more powerful than any that either Covetousness or Pride can produce and if all the honest Man's pains does not succeed as to the World it is only for the trial of his Patience and submission to God which will be rewarded a thousand fold in heavenly glory and it may be to his Posterity in the world after his Decease When you come home to Dinner 1 Tim. 4.4 5. 1. Cor. 10.13 Col. 3.17 Eccles 10.17 1 Cor 9.27 Prov. 23.20 21. Luke 21.34 with reverence say Grace and eat your Meat with a cheerful thankful heart considering your own unworthiness of the least of God's Mercies and his bounty in supplying your Necessities Be not intemperate in your Meat and Drink but use both to support your health and strength not to impair them If you have Children let one of them read a Chapter or Psalm and the next day another Child every one taking their turns this will take up so little time that it can be no ways inconvenient and it is only want of love to Piety that can occasion their not doing it for besides that you will keep your Childrens reading and see how they improve It will increase both your and their Knowledge in the Scripture Of singing Psalms Ephes 5.18 19. Col. 3.16 Jam. 5.13 Psal 119.97 Matth. 12.35 15.19 20. Psal 119.59 which you must above all things attend and observe as containing the whole Will of God both what you are to believe and do and what you are to avoid and by which you must be judged at the last day When Dinner is done return Thanks with Devotion and a sense that all you have is from the gift of God go to your Labour as in the Morning and support your self in it by singing Psalms good Thoughts Meditations and the like Neither would I by any means be understood to forbid innocent and cheerful Discourse nor what is useful to your Business for the Service of God was not designed to be our burthen but for our comfort and support in all Conditions In the Evening or some time before you go to bed be sure to forecast time for your Devotion your Family reading a Chapter in the Bible or small part of a Catechism with its Explication then say a short Prayer this that follows or what you like better An Evening Family PRAYER O Almighty God the Father of Mercies and the Fountain of all good Gifts for from thee
not aw'd me nor has the love of thee moved me nor thy great and precious promises prevailed upon me but I have broke through all to gratifie my own vile affections Ah how have I wandered from the paths of Truth and Life here repeat the sins of the day past And now O holy and just God what shall I say unto thee shall I lye down in my wickedness and either through despair of thy mercy or presumption upon it continue to commit it Ah no! for then if Death surprize me and what reason have I to fear it may I must be miserable for ever everlasting remorse of Conscience and everlasting burnings in the company of Devils must be my portion for ever therefore O God thou God of mercy I come to thee though ashamed and confounded though my guilt will not suffer me to look up towards thee I come to weep to condemn my self before thee O hear me thou that delightest not in the death but the conversion of a sinner O hear me thou that hast given thine own Son to be a Propitiation for our sins O thou that delightest to hear Prayers and forgive the Penitent have mercy upon me pardon and deliver me from my sins make me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me and O never suffer me to be at rest 'till I have subdued my corruptions and rooted out every habitual sin 'till I feel the power of Religion in and change of my heart and reformation of my life and find the Kingdom of Heaven established within me in righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost And here O my God I once more dedicate my self to thee and vow a perpetual War against those Lusts by which I have been thus wretchedly misled and betrayed into the paths of darkness and death Here particularly resolve against that sin or sins which thou hast been guilty of the day past or finds thy self most prone too And thou O God by whose mighty power the blind received their sight the lame walked the Lepers were cleansed and the dead raised O thou who didst call quicken by thy grace the Gentiles when dead in trespasses and sins vouchsafe me the assistance of the same Spirit that I may continue stedfast and unmovable in these Resolutions and abound more and more in the works of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. An Evening private Prayer when upon Examination of the past day your Conscience acquits you from wilful wickedness O Gracious God and heavenly Father I thy poor Servant frail of my self and lying open to many Temptations do bless and praise thy Name that thou hast preserved me this day from presumptuous sin beseeching thee to blot out the remembrance of whatever has formerly displeased thee in my life past and pardon the defects and infirmities of my present state strengthen my faith increase my hope and let my breast be more and more inflam'd with a Divine love and O may my love abound more and more in knowledge and in all judgment that I may approve the things that are excellent and may be sincere and without offence 'till the day of Christ being filled with all the fruits of Righteousness through Jesus Christ unto the praise and glory of thee my God Preserve and bless me in my honest Labours let me never want things necessary for me and mine nor moderation humility and thankfulness in the use of them Keep me in safety and refresh me with sleep this night and when I awake let my thoughts be upon thee and upon the happiness of those that fear thee and trust in thee so shall I abide in thy love unto my lives end and be at last carried from this state of labour and watchfulness and trial into one of peace and security and triumph which grant O merciful Father for thy dear Son's sake Amen Amen And so much for your daily Devotion where for the circumstances of Time and Persons you may alter what agrees not with your condition and business if so be you are careful not to wholly omit the Duties of Family and private Prayer which you are as a Christian obliged to and is the surest way to make you happy here and hereafter SECT I. Of the Lords Day FOR your profitable Observation and hollowing the Lord's Day Exod. 28.8 9 10 11. Neh. 13.19 Isa 50.13 Acts. 27.7 20.7 1 Cor. 16. Rev. 1.10 Psal 118 24. Ezek 23.38 Amos 8.4 it will be of great use so to contrive your Affairs on Saturday that you may have as little as possible of them to perform on the Lord's Day CHAP. II. A Morning Prayer for the Lord's Day WE adore and worship thee O God the Creator of Heaven and Earth for thou speakest the word and all things were made thou commandedst and they were created in thee we live and move and have our being and when thou pleasest we die and return again unto our dust blessed be thy Name that thou hast made us rational Creatures and hast continued us in the Land of the living to this day and blessed be thou the God of Hope because thou hast so loved the World when dead in trespasses and sins and in a state of enmity against thee that thou gavest thy only begotten Son to the end that all that believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life Lord we believe help thou our unbelief we believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God we believe that the words he spoke are the words of everlasting Life we believe that he died for our sins that we might escape the wrath due to them we believe that he rose again for our justification that he might be a Prince and Saviour to all those who believe and obey him And now O Lord let this Faith we beseech thee have its due influence upon our hearts and lives that the grace of God which bringeth Salvation and hath appeared unto all men teach us to deny ungodliness and worldy Lusts and to live righteously soberly and godlily in this present world looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Christ Jesus Particularly assist us we beseech thee in the duties of the day that we may offer up unto thee pure and fervent Prayers and praise thee with unspeakable joy and gratitude Make us to hear thy Word with a holy fear and devout thirst and grant that we may be not only hearers but doers of thy Word that so being quickned by thy Word and Spirit we may be cleansed from our guilt by the Blood of Jesus and be made partakers of his Resurrection and Kingdom through the same our dear Lord and Saviour Amen After your Morning Prayer such business as can't be dispensed with as milking and ordering of Cattel must be done but no more at which Imployments you may sing Psalms have good thoughts or discourse with those with you After which let all get ready for Church and