have made himself blessed even in this life What is the third Ans. That though the conditions be thus pleasant in their exercise approveable in their own nature and so successefull in their end yet such is naturally the infelicity of man that his whole frame being corrupted and depraved and having in all parts and faculties such a general ineptitude and aversenesse to his owne principall good and so proclive a disposition to all evill to love and pursue it that I say how excellent soever those conditions be yet he is altogether unable to perform them by any power in himself as to accomplish an impossibility Therefore in the third place Christ hath merited that there should be given to man a new principle of life that is by Gods grace an ability to perform those conditions acceptably to God having the mercy to receive of his fulnesse Grace for Grace To cure therefore the erringnesse of our nature the Holy Spirit is sent a Guide to direct into all truth When the darknesse of our depraved understanding impedes the work it is then a spirit of wisdome to enlighten When our infirmities render us unable for the duties of the Gospel then it is a Spirit of might to strengthen us with power in the inner man When our naturall aversenesse to good hinders our comming to Christ the work of mercy is to draw us in unto him And that which summes up all the comforts of this kind in one is this that these and all other spiritual assistances shall not be denied us in our wants when by prayer we seek for Grace to help in time of need especially when our addresses in such cases to God are made by Him who ceaseth not to make intercession for us Quest Is there now after all this a further necessity of another degree of Christs merits and mediation Ans. Yes For though as you even now said the Commandments are not grievous and the spiritual assistance powerful to enable the soule to performe them yet still such is the corruption of nature and the direct opposition of our carnal part to Christ and his government that no man can perform the conditions without innumerable and intolerable imperfections as was also even now intimated Therefore in the fourth place see the exceeding riches of Grace and persuancy of mercy he hath merited that though our obedience be defective yet if it be sincere upon our humiliation for those failings and endeavours to withstand them in future it should be accepted the sins pardoned and the soul delivered from the hell that was the due and proper wages of every one of those sins Quest Though the mercies you have already mentioned reach unto the clouds and by a just acknowledgement of their greatnesse have out stript wonder and silenced even hope it self yet because you mentioned a fifth effect of the merits and mediation of Christ where is the the necessity and blessednesse of that to be discovered Ans. That forasmuch as whatsoever degree of holinesse a soul by Gods grace may arrive unto and how acceptable soever the performancies of a sincere heart may be to that God who will not break the bruised reed nor quench the smoaking flax upon termes of mercy yet cannot that soul by any such holinesse or obedience deserve or merit the least of mercies for its future well-being Woe to the holiest person that ever served Christ if he should have no more comfort to come then what he himself hath merited or could challenge in justice at the hands of God In the last last place therefore Christ hath merited and mediated that so many as shall truly persevere in such faithful and sincere performance of all the conditions and continue their ingagement to him to obey him in all his commands unto their lives ends shall not only be delivered from hell and destruction but shall also O unsearchable treasures of Grace and stupendous love inherit a portion of the greatest felicity which is to see God as he is and to possesse a mansion of immutable rest of his own preparing that mansion to be a Kingdom and that a Kingdom of glory that glory of an exceeding weight where every subject having been here an heir and co-heir with Christ shall be a spirituall King his reign and honour immortal and crown eternall By this discourse I finde my self fully satisfied in all my scruples about the particulars contained in the questions and all my discouragements removed that might hinder the undertaking a life according to those strict rules of holinesse And now as I cannot but glorify God for a work of so infinite a mercy in his servants having made the promises rules and arguments to be religious and consequently blessed as evident as the light and as certain as a demonstration so I cannot but justify him in the condemnation of the wicked That he should make the Gospel to become a milstone to fall upon and grinde them to powder because they despised it and that the case of Sodom and Gomorrah should be more tolerable at the day of judgement then theirs For how shall they escape that have neglected so great salvation Let every evil man therefore that despiseth the grace of God offered in Christ and that chuseth rather to satisfy his vain lusts then to give up his soul to his dominion I say let every such person know that there is no true peace for him in this life nothing but horrour at his dying houre a curse at the great judgment and after that an hell to all eternity And all this justly because he despised so tender a love of a merciful God so dear a suffering of a gracious Jesus so importunate swasions of the holy Spirit and with all these rejected such sweet precepts upon promises of infinite rewards Satisfactions OF DOUBTS About the Visible Profession OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND And its MINISTERY Satisfactions of Doubts about the visible Profession of the Church of England and its MINISTERY FOrasmuch as there be many outward differing professions of Christianity in the world and as many if not more in this nation as in all the world besides so that many pious spirits may stand amazed and doubtfull which way to take in such various and inconsistent tracts and by that amazement are discouraged to adjoyn themselves to any and unconfident in that way they have assumed I have thought it necessary thou shouldst account some short directions proportionable to the businesse in hand that may best establish and quiet the revolutions and doubts of thy mind the more cheerfully to undertake a religious life and to confirme thee in the profession in which thou standest What therefore are such directions Ans. First to beware of such a Profession and Religion that hath no other ground but the pretence of the light and immediate gifts and
immoderately of them more then is consistent with the severity of a sober and Christian carriage much more not to pull another mans sin upon me by tempting or urging him to drink Quest What other seasonable advice may be given to prevent a compliance with this intemperate age Ans. Besides that no drunkard shall inherit the Kingdom of heaven drunkennesse is a sin that is attended with a complication of evils and infelicities every one of which were enough to make it as odious to men as it is to God Quest Now because we have with this direction arrived at the last period of our discourse name some of them though you digresse to a little disproportion to the brevity of the method Ans. It is a sin which as it certainly makes a man to be no good man so it maketh him to be no man at all and by its debauchery gives not a man the honour to be so sensible as a beast It fills the mad society with the shame of every mans infirmity it makes it a scene of apish gestures brawls murders oaths cursings and susts It makes a man a fatall governour a loathsome husband a shamefull parent a disobedient child a carelesse servant and an untrusty friend It turns a mans body to a deluge and marsh of humours and an hospital of diseases it shortens his dayes he dies and his soul that he drowned in his life sinks into a lake of fire where one drop will not be allowed to alleviate his eternall thirst Thus thou hast finished the third and last Condition of the Gospel with the whole course of a Christians life in which he ought to walk if ever he intend to be accepted to salvation in Christ the Lord give thee an heart to desire power to perform it Now unto him that is able to do exceeâ—ing abundantly above all that we are able to ask or think according to the power that worketh in us unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jâ—sus â—hroughout all ages world without end Amen Satisfactions About the DOCTRINE OF GRACE In order to the clearing some doubts which may hinder the Purposes and Attempts of obeying the GOSPEL Satisfactions About the DOCTRINE OF Grace AFter these Directions to a strict and severe profession of Christian holinesse some unhappy yet too commonly received principles have made it necessary to adjoyn some other Considerations to remove many possible scruples which being collected from those principles do naturally impede the chearfull undertaking this attempt of holy living Now these Considerations will be of two sorts ' First such as concern the doctrine of Grace Secondly such as concern an outward Profession in some visible Church Quest As to the first it is fit to enquire lest thou be discouraged in the beginning whence thou mayest expect ability to perform these conditions of the Gospel-Covenant being of thy self unable to think a good thought of or for thy self Ans. Onely from the assistance of the Grace of God who worketh in me to will and to do of his free mercy which grace is sufficient for me in all parts of holinesse so that though I can do nothing of my self yet I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me Quest What assurance hast thou that God will vouchsafe to thee such assistance of his Grace Answ. I have so much assurance of it as that Christ dieâ— for me which is as sure as I am a son of Adam in Adam all dye in Christ are all made alive as sure as he that hath given me Christ will together with him give me all things besides necessary to my salvation as sure as I have an honourable belief that that God which gave me a condition for salvation will not deny me a sufficient power to perform it Quest How dost thou expect or believe that God will be pleased to work this Grace in thee Ans. Ordinarily by making the internall office of the Holy Ghost the outward administrations of the Word and Sacraments and oftentimes by othersweet overtures of his visible providence to be instrumentall to the working of it though besides them I believe God exercises other wayes means and instruments known onely to himself as mens present needs and other individuall circumstances are seen by his wisdome to be fitting opportunities of mercy But in what manner that is in what proportions or order whether in this or that degree or whether this Grace or that hath the priority it is distributed or whether he gives it by irresistable impulsion or by resistable swasion whether by a Physicall or a morall impression and many such like unedifying curiosities I altogether lay them aside humbly conceiving the work of Grace in the will of man a mystery not to be unfolded and a point as to such enquiries indeterminable so I account such Controversies about them not onely very unnecessary and impertinent but very occasionall to the making of parties and factions among the learned and of creating troubles and discouragements to the pious of all sorts in their purposes and attempts of living according to Gospel-conditions I say passing by such riddles of dispute it is a sufficient argument and ground to support and incourage my soul in all religious enterprises that I am ascertained whatsoever the manner or method of Gods working his grace in me be that he will not be wanting to afford me such a proportion of it as shall be sufficient to begin pursue and finish the work of salvation in me Quest But some Texts of Scripture seems to weaken this your assurance as that God will blind some mens eyes and harden their hearts that they shall not see with their eyes nor understand with their heart And that whom he will he hardeneth and there be some on whom he will not have mercy What may be said of such like Texts and inferences from Scripture that may administer comfort Ans. That such acts of Gods justice in taking away or denying grace in reprobating and casting off are only subsequent to the despising and neglecting the foregoing offers of his grace and visitations of mercy This truth is fully evidenced in many instances of Scripture As first St. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans affirmes that it was because when They knew God they worshipped him not as God c. Therefore he gave them up c. And because they changed the truth of God into a lye c. Therefore he gave them up to a reprobate mind c. In another place he writes that the power of Antichrist shall become effectual to the destruction of many and that they should believe a lye c. But it is of such as before received not the love of the truth that they might be saved St. Peter tells us that they to whom Christ should become a stumbling-block and a Rock of offence are
Thanksgiving O merciful Father after all thy mecies to me in the whole course of my life my soul hath this day further seen and tasted how good the Lord is in many significations of mercie and loving kindness to me I bless thee O Lord for the great work of mercie in Iesus Christ For that I have a time to repent me of those sins for which I might even now have been suffering in an eternal punishment I praise thee that I am not roating in a torment languishing in a disease pining in a prison nor a poor vagrant nor a disconsolate captive But on the contrary O my Lord thou hast given me a residence a protâ—ction a plenty a sound mind an healthful body and liberty But most especially that thou hast offered me sweet testimonies of thy present grace and a blessed hope of future glory Now O my Lord for every of these and for all other the blessed evidences of thy love and goodness to me I do from my soul acknowledg thy mercie and bless praise and magnity thy great and glorious Name for ever and ever And O Lord keep me this night under the same protection and let the mercy of my God so preserve me that neither sin nor danger may make me miserable through the might of Iesus Christ my ever blessed Saviour Amen Vse the same intercession that is set for the Morning Service THE Largest Forme FOR Private Exercise Morning PRAYER When thou addressest thy self to thy morning service first frame thy mind to meditate of the glorious excellencies and presence of God and worship him in this or the like manner Our Father which art c. O Most glorious and incomprehensible Lord God of heaven and earth whose immense essence and infinite perfections no tongue can express nor heart conceive Before whose Dreadful Majesty the holy Angels vaile their faces and the glorified Spirits cast their crowns Thou O Lord art only worthy to receive Glory Honour and Power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created Therefore being sensible of my miserable nothing poverty and dependency and admiring thy absolute and infinite excellencies do throw my self my soul and body at the foot of thy Majesty and do adore and worship thy divine presence acknowledging that blessing honour and power is due unto thee for ever and ever Amen A Confession O Lord my God who art a God of purity and holiness and hatest the wayes of iniquity Though thou hast sentenced sin to a wages of death and an eternal punishment and hast declared a dislike of all wicked persons and their performances yet O Lord wretch that I am I have not ceased to do evill in thy sight and to depart from all thy holy wayes For I have yeelded my self too much to satisfy the vanity of my corrupt mind and my unholy lusts not considering their inconsistencie with the Kingdom of Christ I have inclined my affections desires and designes too much to present enjoyments and suffered my heart to be betrayed by them to a forgetfulness or thee and departure from thee O Lord I have either altogether omitted the duties of thy service and worship or performed them too loosely and subordinately or with too much hypocrisie or confidence in them I confesse I have every way lived unanswerably to the infinite mercies and strict commandments of the Gospel too much neglecting the great salvation and the excellencies of the peace of Christ O Lord my God when I consider the iniquities I have committed in my mind with evill thoughts in my tongue in sinfull words and how much all parts and faculties have concurred as instruments of sin how I have offended against the motions of thy Spirit and my own purposes against all thy lawes and all thy providences in all my actions and employments and in every part of my life my sins become an heavy burthen too heavy for me to bear Here open thy soul to God in particulars so that for them and all other my sins I have justly deserved thy wrath and indignation to afflict me in this life with signal punishments and in the life to come with eternall torments Petition for Pardon But O Lord my God give me a true and sincere repentance such as thou shalt please to accept in Christ O teach mine eyes to weep my heart to break my soul to mourn for all my sins O let my understanding alwayes perceive and be convinced of their filthinesse and deadliness even as when thou beholdest sinnes to punish them or as when thou requiredst the blood of my Saviour to satisfie thy justice for them Lord help me to purpose against them and truly to depart from them as if the shame and unprofitablenesse the curse and the hell of them were alwayes before me And O Lord I beseech thee for thy tender mercies and bowels of compassion sake who canst not delight in the death of a sinner to pitty my poor soul lying under the burthen of my sins O my dear Iesus let these wounds of my soul be healed by thy stripes and the divine justice that I have offended be satisfied by thy dear sufferings And since thou hast paid a price for my sins and still intercedest for the pardon of them O deliver me from the guilt and burthen of them an unpeaceable conscience and a miserable eternity the just wages of them Through the merits of my dear Iesus my Lord and Saviour Amen Petition for Grace O my most gracious God I being sensible of my spiritual poverty and inabilitie to understand desire or think of the things of my peace without thy assistance do beseech thee in thy tender mercies not to leave my soule to the guidance of my sinful nature nor to give me over to my own vile affections but rather grant me power through thy holy Spirit to crucify my lusts and to deny my self in all things that are inconsistent with thee O strengthen me to encounter with the temptations of the world and let not the seeming satisfactions of any outward enjoyment betray my soul to forget thee or to decline my obedience to thee Lord grant me the compleat armour of thy grace that I may alwayes prevent the wiles of the devil and overcome the powers and rulers of darkness in their temptations Give me a disposedness in all parts and faculties of soul and body to exercise their offices in obedience to Christ Enlighten my understanding to mind heavenly things draw my will after thee and command all my affections to thee Fill me O Lord with every grace of the Gospel whose exercise thou requirest of me as a disciple of Christ O make me able to live godly to thee in all parts of thy worship righteously to men by the strict rules of justice and soberly to my self in all temperance and chastity Lord make me humble sincere meek patient and peaceable and give me strength to obey the whole will of Christ in all his
Confession O Lord our God who art infinite in thy glories and perfections incomprehensible in thy power and Majesty before the brightnesse of whose holy presence the Angels vail their faces and at the foot of whose Majesty the gloâ—ified Spirits cast their crownes How much more unworthy are we poor sinful dust and ashes to appear in the presence of so holy a God whom we have so heinously offended in thought word and deed through the whole course of our lives For O Lord we confess that though thou hast declared how displeasing all sin is in thy sight and hast manifested thy displeasure by the fearful punishments of wicked men yet miserable wretches that we are what little regard have we had to fulfill thy will or to depart from the ways of sin We have still suffered our base lusts too much to prevail upon us and the pleasures profits of the world to surprize and carry away our hearts And when we have found our selves industrious and exact in the pursuit of worldly things how faint and imperfect have we been in doing the work of Christ So that shouldest thou O Lord condemn us for these our sins and for the breach of all thy holy laws in our loose and vain thoughts in our sinful words uttered in passions merriments and other impertinent discourses and in all our actions against piety justice charity and sobriety how justly mightest thou execute thy displeasure against us and make this day a day of vengeance to us to deprive us of all present comforts and to scal us up to everlasting torments Petition for pardon of sins and grace But O must gracious preserver of men who hast not appointed us for wrath nor wouldest that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance Create in us O Lord by thy holy Spirit a true and sincere repentance speedily and faithfully to turn from all our evill wayes And do thou fully forgive us the sins we have committed even for thy fatherly mercies sake even for thy Jesus sake who hath satisfied thy justice for them O Lord we beseech thee to deliver us from the burthen and guilt of them from thy vengeance and the sad effects of them in temporal and eternal punishments And now O Lord we humbly acknowledge that we are unable to do any thing of our selves that may please thee without the assistance of thy grace and thy Christ strengthening us O blessed Lord give us thy grace O dear Jesus afford us thy strength that we may be able to perform to thee all our duties as thy disciples and yeeld obedience to all thy Commandments Raise up our thoughts desires and designes unto thee secure our affections to heavenly things and let our souls stand alwayes ingaged to do the will of Christ Lord help us to watch over our selves that neither the lust of the flesh the love of the world nor the temptation of the devil may take us off from our love to thee desire of thee nor faithful obedience to thee and that we may ever hereafter live a podly righteous and sober life to the Glory of thy Name the present and eternal peace of our soules through the precious merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour Here I desire that the Master of the family or who is concerned in the performance of the service for the family would here interpose some of Davids Psalmes and if he think fit a Chapter also in a judicious order And after either or both let the whole company joyn in one profession of the faith sayng I beleeve in God the Father Almighty c. After which let this short Petition be used as was taught in the former private Form O Lord preserve our soules in this faith let us not depart from it through any temptations Give us grace constantly to continue in the profession of it all the days of our life Through Jesus Christ our Saviour Amen But when the employments of the Family be such as there is not time for these interpositions then go on directly to the Thanksgiving O Blessed Lord God the giver of all goodnesse and the fountain of Comfort who art pleased to engage a particular providence to the governing and disposing of every creature we humbly acknowledge our necessary dependence upon thee and that every comfort we enjoy is but what we have received from thee O what shall we render unto the Lord for those innumerable mercies we have received in all parts of our lives We blesse thee for the summe of all metcies the redemption of our soules by the blood of Christ and for the particular work of thy grace upon us We praise thee for all thy temporal blessings our health plenty peace that thou hast kept us this night past from all troubles and sad accidents and that we are here together in a condition to blesse thee in an universal safety this morning when justly for out sins we might have set down in ashes bewayling some great infelicity And since O Lord thou hast put our soules and bodies and all that we have in thine own hand to dispose of as it pleaseth thee O keep them gracious God according to thy tender mercies from every evil to which sin and a miserable nature have exposed them every moment O keep our soules that we may not be surprised nor overpowered by any temptation to sin against thee this day Lord give us wisdom to balance every action by its concernment to us at our dying hour and enable us to be doing something that may make out account comfortable at the great day of Christ Draw our affections nearer to heavenly things and increase in us a greater care diligence and earnestnesse in doing the will of Christ that we may this day live acceptably to thee and after a constant perseverance in well-doing to our lives end we may obtain a portion in thy eternall glories through thy free grace and undeserved mercy in Iesus Christ Amen The intercession O most merciful Father thou hast tyed us by the charity of the Gospel to pray for all men O be merciful to the Nations that sit in darkness and to thy ancient people the Iewes let the Sun of righteousness with healing in his wings rise upon them that they may see acknowledge the things of their peace in Christ Preserve thy universal Church from all the enemies of the faith of Christ and from the sad effects of its own differencies and distractions Protect these Churches from their present dangers and great distempers every where Bless O Lord our Parents children friendr and relations Comfort all in affliction and trouble Bring them into the way of truth that are in errour forgive and bless all our enemies Gather us altogether to the resting place of thy Glory through the merits of Iesus Christ our Saviour Amen THe Grace of our Lord Iesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the holy Ghost be with us all evermore Amen
given them immortal soules so he hath not left them without a meanes of being proportionably blessed nor made them for destruction nor appointed them to wrath Quest What assurance hast thou that those promises do oblige to thy particular interest in them Ans. Because they are general and conditional Quest It is well said For the promises being general thou art secured God hath not passed upon thee an irreversible decree to an hopelesse dissertion and being conditional thou art encouraged to undertake the task Christ hath appointed whatsoever it is But name to me some Texts that signify a proof that they are generall Ans. Saint Paul saith God would have all men come to the knowledge of his truth and be saved S. Peter saith that he would not that any should perish but that all should come to repentance And his oath confirms me in a beleef That he willeth not nor delighteth in the death of a sinner Quest Forasmuch then that all men shall not be saved it followes necessarily that the promises are conditional that is that eternal life shall certainly be given to all them and none but them that perform the conditions What therefore are they Ans. To beleeve to repent and to obey the Commandments of Christ Quest How doth it appear to thee that eternal life is promised on those conditions Ans. For the first Saint John saith He that believeth in him shall not perish but have life everlasting For the second our Saviour saith except we repent we shall all likewise perish and St. Iohn saith If we confess our sins God is just and faithfull to forgive them For the third Saint Pâ—ul saith that Christ became an Authour of salvation to all them that obey him and the reason of the condemnation of the wicked shall be that they obeyed not the Gospel of Jesus Christ CHAP. II. Quest NOw conceiving thou considerest the necesary concernment of these conditions to salvation and that without or besides them there be no other declared conditions by which to hope for mercy It is requisit thou shouldst understand them fully and apart And first what is faith Ans. It is a cleare assent of the understanding to the whole word of God and to all things contained therein especially to the whole doctrine of Christ and in that to all the promises to be relyed upon and the commands to be obeyed Quest God as he is represented to us in his word being the primary object of Faith What art thou to believe concerning God Ans. That there is one only God who is an infinite spiritual essence omnipotent omniscient omnipresent and everlasting who by the word of his power made and by his providence governeth and disposeth all things both in heaven and earth Quest In what further mystery is God propounded in the Scriptures to our belief Ans. That there be three distinct persons of and which are the same One God distinguished by the names of Father Son and Holy Ghost which are all coequal coessential and coeternal The first so called as he is Father of the Lord Iesus Christ by an eternal and therefore unconceivable generation The second person called God the Son as so begotten of the Father The third God the Holy Ghost as proceeding from the Father and the Son Quest God represented to us in Christ as to the work of Redemption being chiefly in the Gospel propounded to our faith What doest thou beleeve concerning that Ans. That after the fall of Adam in Paradise by which himself and his posterity fell into a state of death from which they could never have been recovered by any possible satisfaction of Gods justice that was offended Christ being the promised seed God sent in the fulnesse of time and gave to be a Redeemer for them that by his sufferings he might satisfy his justice that all they which should accept such conditions as he hath propounded might partake of that redemption be delivered from death reconciled to God and live for ever Quest In what manner did or doth Christ work that redemption Ans. By the exercise of his three offices as a Prophet a Priest and a King The first he performed by preaching the Gospel and therein the condition of salvation The second by offering up himself a sacrifice upon the Crosse and now at the right hand of God by making intercession for us And the last by his dominion over and government of his Church subduing his enemies and protecting his Saints and servants Quest There being a more particular faith required of Gospel-beleevers such as shall be imputed to them for righteousnesse and accepted to a condition of justification as was the faith of Abraham What is that faith Ans. A particular reliance upon the promises of Christ without wavering with a clear resignation of the heart to obey Christ in all his commands which faith being tryed and approved by God to be sincere by following acts of such relyance and obedience as was Abrahams it s then accounted through Gods free mercy in Christ for righteousnesse and accepted as a condition of justification excluding the works of the law as circumcision and other legal performances but â—â—cluding the good works of the Gospel to a holy life such as make and evidence beleevers to be truly faithful and their Faith to have been true and sincere Quest Is not a particular confidence in thy self and a present assurance that thou art accepted in Christ to a justification and infallible salvation the very Gospel-faith Ans. No for as there is no promise that God will grant any such assurance in this life by any direct act of faith nor any degree of perswasion otherwise then may be collected from the performance of the conditions so it necessarily follows that whatsoever degree of assurance we may have of our present safeestate towards God is but an effect of faith and our holy walking with God in all the conditions Now forasmuch as most of Gods servants are very defective when they come to proportion their particular estates by the strict rules of Gospel-holinesse though they may be in a very safe condition towards God may yet through an humble sense of their own failings more or lesse want such applications of certitude The assurances which the Gospel mentions signify the infallibility of the object that is the promises to be infallibly certain upon such conditions and not a necessity of a perpetual application of them with such certitude as to the subject our selves Though we must always be endeavouring to make those promises sure to us by our universal obedience to all Gospel-commands But when such assurances are upon any other ground ordinarily pretended they may justly be suspected to be but vain presumptions and unreasonable confidenciâ—s Quest
commaudments That having run the race that is set before me I may obtain through thy undeserved mercie in Christ the perfect peace of thy presence for evermore Amen The Thanksgiving O Lord of Glory and Power whose eye of providence runneth through the world to guide govern and provide for all things in whom alone I live move and have my being and from whom I have received whatsoever comfort I enjoy O Lord my soul acknowledgeth thou hast done gracious things for me and hast given me a large portion of thy fatherly mercies every way I blesse thee that when thou formedst me in my mothers womb I received no signal defect in body or mind and that thou hast since kept them both from all fearful changes and deformities And that when the sentence of death was upon me in the common fall of Mankinde Lord thou gavest me thy dear Son to redeem my soul to a possibility of life I thank thee for every grace and good work that may evidence thy Spirit in me and for that I have not committed every grosse wickednesse to which nature and temptation have made me subject I praise thy Name O Lord for all the comforts I enjoy that concern this life my health peace liberty friends and livelihood and for the safety of my soul and body this night under the protection of thy sweet providence Keep me this day by the same fatherly goodnesse secure me from all sad accidents that attend upon my frail estate and most especially keep me from all offences to thy divine Majesty O let no temptation prevaile upon me nor let my soul give way to any occasion of evill Give me grace to perform to thee all that thou hast commanded me and all the good thou hast put in my power O let me so live this day as if this night following were to be my last sleep and to morrow the last judgement Through the might of Jesus Christ my Saviour Amen The intercâ—ssions are put after the evening prayer being to be used both after morning and evening exercises Evening PRAYER The addresse to God by way of worship in the morning Prayer the supplicant if he please may now use also Our Father which art in heaven c. The Confession MOst glorious Lord God that inhabitest eternity and art cloathed with Majesty and power I that am but dust and ashes and thy poor creature desire to fall low at the footstool of thy Glories magnifying thine excellencies and acknowledging my unworthiness to lift up mine eyes to heaven against which I have sinned or to appeal to those mercies which I have so much neglected and abused For Lord when I consider my self I am nothing but a masse of corruption and sin to which I have made all the faculties of my soul and members of my body which were created for good works and thy glory to become instrumental And all those excellent lawes which thou hast set before me to be the rule of my obedience I have both lightly regarded and wilfully transgressed in the whole course of my life Such O Lord as concern thy self and thy immediate worship I have either altogether omitted or carelesly perform'd in my dealings with men I have not so strictly as I should observed that rule of Christ to do to all men as I would they should do unto me neither have I been so carefull to observe the holy lawes of Christ concerning my self as I should in a temperate chaste and sober conversation And as I have contracted a heavie burthen upon my soul by the sinfulnesse of my whole life so have I this day in particular added much to my former wretched account For I have not restrained my thoughts from vain imaginations nor set a strict watch before the door of my lips to prevent sinful and impertinent discourses Lord I have been too dull remiss in thy service too negligent in the duties of my calling too carelesse of the opportunities of doing good to others And though thou hast given me this day as another day of grace yet I have made in it little ot no progress in the way of my salvation that shouldest thou deal with me according to the carriage of my soul this day before thee thou mightest justly deny me another day of mercie and leave me to my selfe and to the said wages of my sins for evermore For Pardon But O Lord my God whose mercies are over all thy works and hast graciously promised to forgive and to accept a poor penitent soul returning to thee in sorrow and true repentance have mercie upon me have mercie upon me O hide not thy face from me nor cast thy servant away in thy displeasure Remember not my sins and offences but think thou upon me according to thy great goodnesse And though I come to thee with a weak faith and an imperfect sorrow even with such a repentance as ought to be repented of yet Lord accept of me for I come in the plea of my Saviours blood that satisfied thy justice for all my sins Deny me not therefore O Lord the benefits of his blessed death and passion let my soul have a portion in the rich price of that blood by which I may have peace and reconciliation with thee my God for evermore Amen For Grace O merciful Father in the humble sense of my own insufficiencie not only not to do but not to think of any thing in concernment to my salvation without thy grace I do humbly beseech thee in thy tender compassions to help me with thy divine assistance that I may be able to live conformably to the example of Christ and the strict holinesse of the Gospel O convince my judgement that there is no peace nor profit in the wayes of sin and incline my will and ingage all my affections to the pursuit of spirituall things as the chiefest good Let not O Lord my carnal lusts and affections nor any thing that is desirable in the vaine world nor the policie of the devil deceive my soul to neglect my dutie to Christ or the things of my eternal peace Lord make me sincere and exemplarie in thy worship and service diligent in my calling and just in all my actions make me charitable to my power to all that want me and strictly sober chaste and temperate in my self and in the use of all thy creatures Lord help me to be such as I may please thee in all thy wayes and as I may comfortably appeare before thee when I come to death or judgement Through the might of Iesus Christ my blessed Saviour Amen Thanksgiving O Glorious Lord who art my good God and gracious Father thou hast from time to time given me large expressions of thy love and goodnesse even when for my rebellions against thee and forgetfulnes of thee I might before this time have been cast off from thy protection and made a spectacle of thy justice to others in some signal punishments O Lord how great
Evening PRAYER for a Family Our Father c. Confession O Most infinite and Glorious Majesty Lord God of heaven and earth who hast granted us poor creatures and wretched sinners the mercy to appeal unto thee as unto a merciful and Gracious Father who might justly for our sins stand now confounded at thy presence as before the face of an angry Judge For Lord who have ever provoked thee to anger if we have not who were ever justly accounted sinful if we are not For if thou accountest our sins by our time what moment is it in which we have not offended thee if by the instruments of action what faculty of the mind affections of the heart what sense or member of the body have not been employed to sin against thee if thou numbrest our sins by thy holy lawes which of them that concern either our duties to thee our God our righteous carriage to others or the sober use of our selves or thy blessings have we not transgressed So that there appears a numberless number of sins before us such as become an heavie burthen too heavie for us to bear And yet O Lord as if it had not been enough to have thus offended thee in the former part of our lives we have this day added to the sad account by many sinful imaginations which we have given our mindes leave to multiply by many offensive sinful words by many omissions of serving thee and doing good to others and by many acts that cannot but displease thee That shouldst thou deal with us accordingly thou mightest justly cast us off from thy protection deprive us of our present comforts and sweet enjoyments and make us miserable by the effects of thy wrath here and eternally Petition for Pardon and grace But O Lord of mercy though thou hatest sin in it self and wicked men that continue in it yet are thy armes alwayes open to accept and thy mercies ready to pardon all them that acknowledge and forsake their sins We beseech thee therefore O Lord enable us truly to repent us of all our sins that we may sorrow for them and sincerely abhorre them that we may have real purposes against them and faithfully forsake them all the dayes of our lives And then O Lord be graciously pleased to forgive all those our sins unto us acquit us of the guilt unload us of the burthen of them and do thou accept of the blood of Christ in full satisfaction for them O Lord impute them not unto us either to punish us for them in this world with miseries and sad accidents or in the world to come with eternal torments And Lord do thou help us for the time to come with thy grace or we yet perish O enlighten our understandings and judgements with all spiritual wisdom that we may know and approve the things that are excellent incline our wills to pursue them and ingage all our affections to them Wean us from the love of the world and let our soules hunger and thirst after righteousnesse Grant that we employ our selves in all our worldly labor cares for the things of this life with affections so subordinate to spiritual things that we may first seek the Kingdom of God and its righteusnesse and use the world as if we used it not Lord keep us intire in our obedience to Christ that we may upon no temptation depart from the strict holiness of the Gospel Lord make us humble meek peaceable just and charitable make us zealous for thy glory and truth careful of doing good to others and of keeping our selves undefiled members of Christ to our last end Through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour Amen Here I also desire the supplicant may interpose the reading of Psalmes a Chapter and the Beleef as in the Morning Service The Thanksgiving O most blessed Lord God who art the fountain of blessing and Father of mercies who by thy providence orderest all our particular conditions for us in which we every where observe great evidences of thy love and goodnesse to us We humbly acknowledge our necessary dependence upon thee and do confess to thy Glory that every comfort we enjoy is of thy free gift and bounty We desire therefore according to our bounden duty to offer up unto thee this evening sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving for all thy mercies and sweet providences to us Especially our souls magnify thy divine love that thou hast given us thy Son our Iesus to pay the price of his blood to satisfy thy justice for all our sins That thou hast engaged us by being born and living under the meanes of Grace to make profession of the faith of Christ and that thou hast not set us in the region and shadow of death We bless thee O Lord that thou hast given us power in any measure to love or fear thee to desire and intend heavenly things and that thou hast not given us up to a reprobate mind nor to be led away with the errour of the wicked to fall from our stedfastness We praise thy Name for the blessings of this life for the present estate and condition in which thou hast placed us and therein for our portion of health peace friends and provisions to live all which before this time thou mightest have justly taken from us for our manifold provocations Blessed be thy providence for the mercies of this day past thou hast given us hearts in any measure to serve thee and hast sweetened our affaires and enjoyments with any proportion of peace and contentment That we have been delivered from all fearful accidents such as might have made us to sit down in wo and filled our souls with amazement and sorrow Lord place us this night also under thy divine protection and providence Free us from all terrors and affrightments and the sudden surprise of any danger or accident and when we awake and rise grant O Lord that we may proceed in the way of good living and so persevere in it all the dayes of our lives that when we come to our last sleep and period of our time we may rest in and with thee to all eternity through thy infinite mercies in Iesus Chhrist our Saviour Amen Let the intercession be the same that is used in the morning Service The lesser CATECHISM FOR CHILDREN BY VV. SMYTH THE Lesser CATECHISME for Children QUESTION VVHat is the best thing to be desired and laboured for ANSWER To be saved Quest How is it to be obtained Ans. By the free gift of God in Christ Quest To whom will he give so great an happinesse Ans. To all them that perform the conditions of the Gospel-Covenant Quest What are those conditions Ans. These three to Beleeve Repent and Obey the Commandments of Christ Qu. Thousaidst thou must believe And what are the Articles of thy Christian faith as they are contracted into one summe called the Apostles Creed Ans. I beleeve in God the Father Almighty Maker