and intercession 6. Lead us not into Temptation but deliver c. O LORD we have no strength against those multitudes of temptations that dayly assault us only our eyes are upon thee O be thou pleased either to restrain them or assist us and in thy faithfulness suffer us not to be tempted above that we are able but in all our temptations make us a way to escape that we be not overcome by them but may when thou shalt call us to it resist even unto blood striving against sin that being faithful unto death thou mayest give us the crown of life For thine is the Kingdom the Power c. HEAR us graciously answer our petitions for thou art the great King over all the earth whose Power is infinite and art able to do for us above all that we can ask or think and to whom belongeth the Glory of all that good thou workest in us or for us Therefore blessing honour glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne to our God for ever and ever Amen Pious EJACULATIONS Taken out of the Book of PSALMS For PARDON of SIN HAVE mercy on me O God after thy great goodness according to the multitude of thy mercies do away mine offences Wash me throughly from my wickedness and cleanse me from my sin Turn thy face from my sins and put out all my misdeeds My misdeeds prevail against me O be thou merciful unto my sins Enter not into judgement with thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified For thy names sake O Lord be merciful unto my sin for it is great Turn thee O Lord and deliver my soul O save me for thy mercies sake For GRACE TEACH me to do the thing that pleaseth thee for thou art my God Teach me thy way O Lord and I will walk in thy truth O knit my heart to thee that I may fear thy name Make me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me O let my heart be sound in thy statutes that I be not ashamed Incline my heart unto thy I estimonies and not to covetousness Turn away mine eyes lest they behold vanity and quicken thou me in thy way I am a stranger upon earth O hide not thy Commandments from me Lord teach me to number my days that I may apply my heart unto wisdom For the LIGHT of Gods COUNTENANCE LORD why abhorrest thou my soul and hidest thy face from me O hide not thou thy face from me nor cast thy servant away in displeasure Thy loving kindness is better then life it self Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me Comfort the Soul of thy servant for unto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul. THANKSGIVING I WILL always give thanks unto the Lord his praise shall ever be in my mouth Thou art my God and I will thank thee thou art my God and I will praise thee I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live I will praise my God whilest I have my being Praised be God which hath not cast out my prayer nor turned his mercy from me Blessed be the Lord God even the God of Israel which only doth wondrous things And blessed be the Name of his Majesty for ever and all the earth shall be filled with his Majesty Amen Amen For DELIVERANCE from TROUBLE BE merciful unto me O Lord be merciful unto me for my Soul trusteth in thee and under the shadow of thy wings shall be my refuge until these calamities be over-past Deliver me O Lord from mine enemies for I flie unto thee to hide me O keep my Soul and deliver me let me not be confounded for I have put my trust in thee Mine eyes are ever looking unto the Lord for he shall pluck my feet out of the net Turn thee unto me and have mercy upon me for I am desolate and in misery The sorrorws of my heart are enlarged O bring thou me out of my troubles For the CHURCH O BE favourable and gracious unto Sion build thou the walls of Jerusalem O God wherefore art thou absent from us so long Why is thy wrath so hot against the sheep of thy pasture O think upon thy Congregation whom thou hast purchased and Redeemed of old Look upon the Tribe of thine Inheritance and Mount Sion where thou hast dwelt It is time for thee Lord. to lay to thy hand for they have destroyed thy Law Arise O God and maintain thine own cause Deliver Israel O God out of all his troubles Brief Heads of Self-Examination especially before the Sacrament Collected out of the fore-going Treatise concerning the breaches of our Duty To GOD. FAITH NOT BELIEVING there is a God Not believing his Word Not believing it practically so as to live according to our belief HOPE Despairing of Gods mercy so as to neglect duty Presuming groundlesly on it whilst we go on in wilful sin LOVE Not Loving God for his own excellencies Not loving him for his goodness to us Not labouring to please him Not desiring to draw neer to him in his Ordinances Not longing to enjoy him in Heaven FEAR Not Fearing God so as to keep from offending him Fearing man above him by committing sin to shun some outward suffering TRUST Not trusting on God in dangers and disiresses Using unlawful means to bring us out of them Not depending on God for supply of our wants Immoderate care for outward things Neglecting to labour and expecting God should support us in our idleness Not looking up to God for a blessing on our honest endeavours HUMILITY Not having a high esteem of God Not submitting obediently to act his will Not patiently suffering it but murmuring at his corrections Not amending by them Not being thankful to him Not acknowledging his wisdome in choosing for us but having eager and impatient desires of our owe. HONOUR Not Honouring God by a reverend usage of the things that relate to him Behaving our selves irreverently in his house Robbing God by taking things that are consecrated to him Profaning Holy times the Lords Day and the Feasts and Fasts of the Church Neglecting to read the Holy Scriptures not marking when we do read Being careless to get knowledge of our duty chusing rather to continue ignorant then put our selves to the pains or shame of learning Placing Religion in hearing of Sermons without practising them Breaking our Vow made at Baptisme By resorting to Witches and Conjurers i. e. to the Devil By loving the pomps and vanities of the world and followlowing its sinful customes By fulfilling the lusts of the flesh Profaning the Lords Supper By comming to it ignorantly without examination contrition and purposes of new life By behaving our selves irreverently at it without devotion and spiritual affection By neglecting to keep the promises made at it Profaning Gods Name by blasphemous thoughts or discourse Giving others occasion to blaspheme him by our vile wicked lives Taking unlawful OATHS Perjury Swearing in
is no matter by what means it came to be so Therefore we see David makes it part of the description of a just man Psa. 15. 4. that he keeps his promise yea though they were made to his own disadvantage and surely he is utterly unfit to ascend to that Holy Hill there spoken of either as that signifies the Church here or Heaven hereafter that does not punctually observe this part of justice To this sort of debt may be reduced the wages of the servant the hire of the labourer and the withholding of these is a great sin and the complaints of those that are thus injured ascend up to God Behold saith S. James the hire of the labourers which have reapâ—d down your fields which is of you kept back by fraud cryeth and the cryes of them that have reaped are entred into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth and Deut. 24. 14. 15. we find a strict command in this matter Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy at his day thou shalt give him his hire neither shall the Sun go down upon it for he is poor and setteth his heart upon it lest he cry against thee to the Lord and it be sin unto thee This is one of those loud clamourous sins which will not cease crying till it bring down Gods vengeance and therefore though thou have no justice to thy poor brother yet have at least so much mercy to thy self as not to pull down judgements on thee by thus wronging him PARTITION XII Of Theft Stealing Of Deceit in Trust in Traffick Of Restitution c. § 1. THE second part of Theft is the taking from our neighbour that which is already in his possession and this may be done either more violently and openly or else more closely and sliely the first is the manner of those that rob on the way or plunder houses where by force they take the goods of their neighbour The other is the way of the pilfering thief that takes away a mans goods unknown to him I shall not dispute which of these is the worst 't is enough that they are both such acts of injustice as make men odious to God unfit for humane society and betray the actors to the greatest mischiefs even in this world death it self being by Law appointed the reward of it and there are few that follow this Trade long but at last meet with that fruit of it I am sure 't is madness for any to believe he shall always steal securely for he is to contend with the industry of all those whom he shall thus injure whose losses will quicken their wits for the finding him out and which is infinitely more he is to struggle with the justice of God which doth usually pursue such men to destruction even in this world witness the many strange discoveries that have been made of the craftiest thieves But however if he were secure from the vengeance here I am sure nothing but repentance and reformation can secure him from the vengeance of it hereafter And now when these dangers are weighed 't will surely appear that the thief makes a pitiful bargain he steals his neighbours money or cattle and in exchange for it he must pay his life or his soul perhaps both and if the whole world be too mean a price for a Soul as he tells us Mark 18. 36. who best knew the value of them having himself bought them what a strange madness is it to barter them away for every petty trifle as many do who have got such a habit of stealing that not the meanest worthless thing can escape their fingers Under this head of theft may be ranked the receivers of stoln goods whether those that take them as partners in the theft or those that buy them when they know or believe they are stoln This many that pretend much to abhor theft are guilty of when they can by it buy the thing a little cheaper then the common rate And here also comes in the concealing of any goods a man finds of his neighbours which whosoever restores not if he know or can learn out the owner is no better then a thief for he withholds from his neighbour that which properly belongs to him and sure 't will not be uncharitable to say that he that will do this would likewise commit the grosser theft were he by that no more in danger of Law then in this he is The third part of injustice is Deceit and in that there may be as many acts as there are occasions of entercourse and dealing between man and man 2. It will be impossible to name the mall but I think they will be contained under these two general deceits in matters of Trust and in matter of Traffick or bargaining unless it be that of Gaming which therefore here by the way I must tell you is as much a fraud and deceit as any of the rest 3. He that deceives a man in any Trust that is committed to him is guilty of a great in ustice and that the most treacherous sort of one it is the joyning of two great sins in one defrauding and promise-breaking for in all trusts there is a promise implyed if not exprest for the very accepting of the trust contains under it a promise of fidelity these trusts are broken sometimes to the living sometimes to the dead to the living there are many ways of doing it according to the several kinds of the trust sometimes a trust is more general like that of Potiphar to Joseph Gen. 39. 4. a man commits to another all that he hath and thus Guardians of children and sometimes stewards are intrusted sometimes again it is more limited and restrained to some one special thing A man intrusts another to bargain or deal for him in such a particular or he puts some one thing into his hands to manage and dispose Thus among servants it is usual for one to be intrusted with one part of the Masters goods and another with another part of them Now in all these and the like cases whosoever acts not for him that intrusts him with the same faithfulness that he would for himself but shall either carelesly loose or prodigally imbezel the things committed to him or else convert them to his own use he is guilty of this great sin of betraying a trust to the living In like manner he that being intrusted with the execution of a dead mans Testament acts not according to the known intention of the dead man but enriches himself by what is assigned to others he is guilty of this sin in respect of the dead which is so much the greater by how much the dead hath no means of remedy and redress as the living may have It is a kind of robbing of graves which is a theft of which men naturally have such a horrour that he must be a very hardned thief that can attempt it But either of these frauds
leave our stings in others put them to some present trouble but that compared with the hurt redounds to our selves by it is no more then that inconsiderable pain is to death Nay not so much because the mischiefs that we bring upon our selves are eternal to which no finite thing can bear any proportion Remember then whensoever thou art contriving plotting a revenge that thou quite mistakest the mark thou thinkest to hit thy enemy and alas thou woundest thy self to death And let no man speak peace to himself or think that these are vaâ—n terrors that he may obtain pardon from God though he give none to his brethren For he that is truth it self has assured us the contrary Mat. 6. 15. If ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will your Father forgive your trespasses And least we should forget the necessity of this duty he has inserted it into our daily Prayers where we make it the condition on which we beg pardon from God Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass againâ—t us What a heavy curse then does every revengful person lay upon himself when he sayes this Prayer he does in effect beg God not to forgive him and 't is too sure that part of his prayer will be heard he shall be forgiven just as he forgives that is not at all This is yet farther set out to us in the parable of the Lord and the Servant Matth. 18. the servant had obtained of his Lord the forgiveness of a vast debt ten thousand talents yet was so cruel to his fellow servant as to exact a poor trifling sum of an hundred pence upon which his Lord recalls his former forgiveness and charges him again with the whole debt and this Christ applies to our present purpose ver 35. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do unto you if ye from your hearts forgive not every man his brother their trespasses One such act of uncharitableness is able to forfeit us the pardon God hath granted us and then all our sins return again upon us and sink us to utter ruine I suppose it needless to heap up more testimonies of Scripture for the truth of this these are so clear as may surely serve to perswade any man that acknowledges Scripture of the great and fearful danger of this sin of uncharitableness The Lord possess all our hearts with such a just sense of it as may make us avoid it The last consideration I shall mention is that of Gratitude God has shewed wonderful mercies to us Christ has suffered heavy things to bring us into a capacity of that mercy and pardon from God And shall we not then think our selves obliged to some returnes of thankfulness If we will take the Apostles judgment he tells us 2 Cor. 5. 15. That since Christ dyed for us all 't is but reasonable that we should not henceforth live unto our selves but unto him that dyed for us Indeed were every moment of our life consecrated to his immediate Service 't were no more then common gratitude requires far less then such inestimable benefits deserve what a shameful unthankfulness is it then to deny him so poor a satisfaction as this the forgiving our brethren Supose a man that were ransomed either from death or slavery by the bounty and sufferings of another should upon his release be charged by him that so freed him in return of that kindness of his to forgive some slight debt which was owing him by some third person would you not think him the unthankfullest wretch in the world that should refuse this to so great a benefactor yet such a wretch and much worse is every revengful person Christ hath bought us out of eternal slavery and that not with corruptible things as silver and gold 1 Pet. 1. 8. But with his ownâ—most precious blood and hath earnestly recommended to us the love of our brethren and that with the most moving arguments drawn from the greatness of his love to us and if we shall obstinately refuse him in so just so moderate a demand how unspeakable a vileness is it and yet this we do downright if we keep any malice or grudg to any person whatsoever Nay farther this is not barely an unthankfulness but there is also joyned with it a horrible contempt and despising of him This Peace unity of brethren was a thing so much prized valued by him that when he was to leave the world he thought it the most pretious thing he could bequeath and therefore left it by way of legacy to his Disciples Jo. 14. 27. Peace I leave with you we use to set a great value on the slightest bequests of our dead friends to be exceeding careful not to lose them and therefore if we wilfully bangle away this so pretious a Legacy of Christ 't is a plain sign we want that Love and esteem of him which we have of our earthly friends and that we despise him as well as his Legacy The great prevailing of this sin of uncharitableness has made me stand thus long on these considerations for the subduing it God grant they may make such impression on the Reader as may be available to that purpose I shall add only this one advice that these or whatsoever other remedies against this sin must be used timely 'T is oftimes the frustrating of bodily medicines the applying them too late and 't is much oftner so in spiritual therefore if it be possible let these the like considerations be so constantly habitually fixt in thy heart that they may frame it to such meekness as may prevent all risings of rancour or revenge in thee for it is much better they should serve as armour to prevent then as balsome to cure the wound But if this passion be not yet so subdued in thee but that there will be some stirrings of it yet then be sure to take it at the very first rise and let not thy fancy chew as it were upon the injury by often rolling it in thy mind but remember betimeâ— the foregoing considerations and withal that this is a time and season of tryal to thee wherein thou mayest shew how thou hast profited in Christs School there now being an opportunity offered thee either of obeying and pleasing God by passing by this offence of thy brother or else of obeying and pleaseing Satan that lover of discord by nourishing hatred against him Remember this I say lâ—otimes before thou be enflamed for if this fire be throughly kindled it will cast such a smoak as will blind thy reason and make thee unfit to judge even in this so very plain case whet her it be better by obeying God to purchase to thy self eternally bliss or by obeying Satan eternall torments Whereas if thou put the question to thy self before this commotion and disturbance of mind 't is impossible but thy understanding must pronounce for God And then unless thy will be so perverse
Sacrifice acceptable to thee by Jesus Christ. A THANKSGIVING O Gracious Lord whose mercies endure for e-ever I thy unworthy servant who have so deeply tasted of them desire to render thee the tribute of my humblest praises for them In thee O Lord I live and move and have my being thou first madest me to be and then that I might not be miserable but happy thou sendest thy Son out of thy bosâ—me to redeem me from the power of my sins by his Grace and from the punishment of them by his Blood and by both to bring me to his glory Thou hast by thy mercy caused me to be born within thy peculiar fold the Christian Church where I was early consecrated to thee in Baptism and have been partaker of all those spiritual helps which might aid me to perform that Vow I there made to thee and when by my own wilfulness or negligence I have failed to do it yet thou in thy manifold mercies hast not forsaken me but hast graciously invited me to repentance afforded me all means both outward and inward for it and with much patience hast attended and not cut me off in the acts of those many damning sins I have committed as I have most justly deserved It is O Lord thy restraining grace alone by which I have been kept back from any the greatest sins and it is thy inciting and assisting grace alone by which I have been enabled to do any the least good therefore not unto me not unto me but unto thy name be the praises For these and all other thy spiritual blessings my soul doth magnifie the Lord and all that is within me praise his holy Name I likewise praise thee for those many outward blessings I enjoy as health friends food and raiment the comforts as well as the necessaries of this life for those continual protections of thy hand by which I and mine are kept from dangers and those gracious deliverances thou hast often afforded out of such as have befallen me and for that mercy of thine whereby thou hast sweetned and allâ—yed those troubles thou hast not seen sit wholly to remove for thy particular preservation of me this night and all other thy goodness towards me Lord grant that I may render thee not only the fruit of my lips but the obedience of my life that so these blessings here may be an earnest of those richer blessings thou hast prepared for those that love thee and that for his sake whom thou hast made the Author of Eternal Salvation to all that obey him even Jesus Christ. A CONFESSION O Righteous Lord who hatest iniquity I thy sinful creature cast my self at thy feet acknowledging that I most justly deserve to be utterly abhorred and forsaken by thee for I have drunk iniquity like water gone on in a continued course of sin and rebellion against thee dayly committing those things thou forbiddest and leaving undone those things thou commandest mine heart which should be an habitation for thy spirit is become a cage of unclean birds of foul and disordered affections and out of this abundance of the heart my mouth speaketh my hands act so that in thought word and deed I continually transgress against thee Here mention the greatest of thy sins Nay O Lord I have despised that goodness of thine which should lead me to Repentance hardning my heart against all those means thou hast used for my amendment And now Lord what can I expect from thee but judgment and fiery indignation that is indeed the due reward of my sins But O Lord there is mercy with thee that thou may est be feared O fit me for that mercy by giving me a deep and hearty Repentance and then according to thy goodness let thy anger and thy wrath be turned away from me look upon me in thy Son my blessed Saviour and for the merit of his sufferings pardon all my sins And Lord I beseech thee by the power of thy grace so to renew and purifie my heart that I may become a new creature utterly forsaking every evil way and living in constant sincere universal obedience to thee all the rest of my days that behaving my self as a good and faithful servant I may by thy mercy at the last be received into the joy of my Lord Grant this for Jesus Christ his sake A PRAYER for GRACE O Most gracious God from whom every good and perfect gift cometh I wretched creature that am not able of my self so much as to think a good thought beseech thee to work in me both to will and do according to thy good pleasure inlighten â—◠〈◊〉 that I may know thee and let me not be barren or unfruitful in that knowledg Lord work in my heart a true faith a purifying hope and an unfeigned love towards thee give me a full trust on thee zeal for thee reverence of all things that relate to thee make me fearful to offend thee thankful for thy mercies humble under thy corrections devout in thy service sorrowful for my sins and grant that in all things I may behave my self so as befits a creature to his Creator a servant to his Lord enable me likewise to perform that duty I owe to my self give me that meekness humility and contentedness whereby I may always possess my soul in patience and thankfulness make me diligent in all my duties watchful against all temptations perfectly pure and temperate and so moderate in my most lawful injoyments that they never become a snare to me make me also O Lord to be so affected towards my neighbour that I never transgress that royal Law of thine of loving him as my self grant me exactly to perform all parts of justice yielding to all whatsoever by any kinde of right becomes their due and give me such bowels of mercy and compassion that I may never fail to do all acts of charity to all men whether friends or enemies according to thy command and example Finally I beseech thee O Lord to sanctifie me throughout that my whole spirit and soul and body may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be all honour and glory for ever Amen INTERCESSION OBlessed Lord whose mercy is over all thy works I beseech thee to have mercy upon all men and grant that the precious ransome which was paid by thy Son for all may be effectuall to the saving of all Give thy inlightning grace to those that are in darkness and thy converting grace to those that are in sin look with thy tenderest compassions upon the Universal Church O be favourable and gracious unto Sion build thou the walls of Jerusalem unite all those that profess thy Name to thee by Purity and Holiness and to each other by Brotherly love Have mercy on this desolate Church and sinful Nation thou hast moved the Land and divided it heal the sores thereof for it shaketh make us so truly to repent
vanities hath seized it and like a strong man armed keeps possession O thou who art stronger come upon him and take this unworthy heart of mine as thine own spoil refine it with that purifying fire of thy love that it may be a fit habitation for thy Spirit Lord if thou see it fit be pleased to let me taste of those joys those ravishments of thy love wherewith thy Saints have been so transported But if in this I know not what I ask if I may not chuse my place in thy Kingdom yet O Lord deny me not to drink of thy cup let me have such a sincerity degree of love as may make me endure any thing for thy sake such a perfect love as may cast out all fear all sloth too that nothing may seem to me too grievous to suffer or too difficult to do in obedience to thee that so expressing my loue by keeping thy Commandments I may by thy mercy at last obtain that Crown of life which thou hast promised to those that love thee through Jesus Christ our Lord. For SINCERITY O Holy Lord who requirest truth in the inward parts I humbly beseech thee to purge me from all hypocrisie and unsincerity The heart O Lord is deceitful above all things and my heart is deceitful above all hearts O thou who searchest the heart and reins try me and seek the ground of my heart and suffer not any accursed thing to lurk within me but purifie me even with fire so thou consume my dross O Lord I cannot deceive thee but I may most easily deceive my self I beseech thee let me not rest in any such deceit but bring me to a sight and hatred of my most hidden corruptions that I may not cherish any darling lust but make an utter destruction of every Amalekite O suffer me not to speak peace to my self when there is no peace but grant I may judge of my self as thou judgest of me that I may never be at peace with my self till I am at perfect peace with thee and by purity of heart be qualified to see thee in thy Kingdom through Jesus Christ. For DEVOTION in PRAYER O Gracious Lord God who not only permittest but invitest us miserable and needy creatures to present our petitions to thee grant I beseech thee that the frequency of my prayer may be some what proportionable to those continual needs I have of thy mercy Lord I confess it is the greatest honour and greatest advantage thus to be allowed access to thee yet so sottish and stupid is my profane heart that it shuns or frustrates the opportunities of it My Soul O Lord is possest with a spirit of infirmity it is bowed together and can in no wise lift up it self to thee O be thou pleased to cure this sad this miserable disease to inspirit and inliven this earthy drosly heart that it may freely mount towards thee that I may set a true value on this most valuable priviledge and take delight in approaching to thee and that my approaches may be with a reverence some way answerable to that awful Majesty I come before with an importunity and earnestness answerable to those pressing wants I have to be supplied and with such a fixedness and attention of mind as no wandring thoughts may interrupt that I may no more incur the guilt of drawing neer to thee with my lips when my heart is far from thee or have my prayers turned into sin but may so ask that I may receive seek that I may finde knock that it may be opened unto me that from praying to thee here I may be translated to the praising thee eternally in thy glory through the merits and intercession of Jesus Christ. For HUMILITY O Thou High and Lofty one that inhabitest Eternity yet art pleased to dwell with the humble spirit pour into my heart I beseech thee that excellent grace of Humility which may utterly work out all those vain conceits I have of my self Lord convince me powerfully of my own wretchedness make me to see that I am miserable and poor and blinde and naked and not only dust but sin that so in all thy dispensations towards me I may lay my hand upon my mouth and heartily acknowledge that I am less then the least of thy mercies and greater then the greatest of thy judgements And O Lord grant me not only to walk humbly with my God but even with men also that I may not only submit my self to thy rebukes but even to those of my fellow Christians and with weekness receive and obey their admonitions And make me so to behave my self towards all that I never do any thing through strife or vain glory and to that end grant that in low liness of mind I may esteem every other man better then my self and be wiling that others should esteem them so also that I neither nourish any high opinion of my self nor covet one among others but that despising the vain praise of men I may seek that praise which cometh from thee onely That so in stead of those mean servile Arts I have used to recommend me to the esteem of men I may now imploy all my industry and care to approve my self to thee who resistest the proud and givest grace to the humble grant this O Lord for his sake who humbled himself unto the death of the Cross Jesus Christ. For the FEAR of GOD. O Glorious Majesty who only art high and to be feared possess my soul with a Holy awe and reverence of thee that I may give thee the honour due unto thy Name and may bear such a respect to all things which relate to thee that I may never prophane any Holy thing or sacrilegiously invade what thou hast set apart to thy self And O Lord since thou art a God that wilt not clear the guilty let the dread of thy justice make me tremble to provoke thee in any thing O let me not so misplace my fear as to be afraid of a man that shall die and of the Son of man who shall be made as grass and forget the Lord my Maker but replenish my Soul with that fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom which may be as a bridle to all my brutish appetites and keep me in a constant conformity to thy Holy will Hear me O Lord I beseech thee and put this fear in my heart that I may not depart from thee but may with fear and trembling work out my own Salvation through Jesus Christ. For TRUST on GOD. O Almighty Lord who never failest them that must on thee give me grace I beseech thee in all my difficulties and distresses to have recourse to thee to rest and depend on thee thou shalt keep him O Lord in perfect peace whose mind is staid on thee O let me always rest on this firm Pâ—llar and never exchange it for the broken â—eeds of worldly succours suffer not my heart to be overcharged with the
cares of this life taking thought what I shall eat or drink or wherewithal I shall be clothed but grant that having by honest labour and industry done my part I may cheerfully commit my self to thy providence casting all my care upon thee and being careful for nothing but to be of the number of those whom thou ownest and carest for even such as keep thy Testimonies and think upon thy Commandments to do them That seeking first thy Kingdom and the righteousness thereof all these outward things may be added unto me in such a measure as thy wisdom knowes best for me grant this O Lord for Jesus Christ his sake For THANKFULNES O Most Gracious and Bountiful Lord who fillest all things living with good and expectest no other return but praise and thanksgiving let me O Lord never defraud thee of that so easie tribute but let my heart be ever filled with the sense and my mouth with the acknowledgement of thy mercies It is a joyful and a pleasant thing to be thankful O suffer me not I beseech thee to loose my part in that Divine pleasure but grant that as I dayly receive blessings from thee so I may dayly from an affectionate and devout heart offer up thanks to thee and grant that not only my lips but my life may shew forth thy praise by consecrating my self to thy service and walking in Holiness and Righteousness before thee all the days of my life through Jesus Christ my Lord and blessed Saviour For CONTRITION O Holy Lord who art a merciful embracer of true penitents but yet a consuming fire towards obstinate sinners how shall I approach thee who have so many provoking sins to inflame thy wrath and so little sincere repentance to incline thy mercy O be thou pleased to soften and melt this hard obdurate heart of mine that I may heartily bewail the iniquities of my life strike this rock O Lord that the waters may flow out even floods of tears to wash my polluted conscience my drowzy Soul hath too long slept securely in sin Lord awake it though it be with thunder and let me rather â—â—â—â— thy terrors then not feel my sin Thou sentest thy blessed Son to heal the broken hearted but Lord what will that avail me if my heart be whole O break it that it may be capable of his healing virtue and grant I beseech thee that having once tasted the bitterness of sin I may flie from it as from the face of a Serpent and bring forth fruits of repentance in amendment of life to the praise and glory of thy grace in Jesus Christ our blessed Redeemer For MEEKNES O Blessed Jesu who wast led as a sheep to the slaughter let I beseech thee that admirable example of Meekness quench in me all sparks of anger and revenge and work in me such a gentleness and calmness of Spirit as no provocations may ever be able to disturb Lord grant I may be so far from offering the least injury that I may never return the greatest any otherwise then with prayers and kindness that I who have so many talents to be forgiven by thee may never exact pence of my brethren but that putting on bowels of mercy meekness long-suffering thy peace may rule in my heart and make it an acceptable habitation to thee who art the Prince of peace to whom with the Father and holy Spirit be all honour and glory for ever For CHASTITY O Holy and Immaculate Jesus whose first descent was into the Virgins womb and who dost still love to inhabit only in pure and virgin hearts I beseech thee send thy Spirit of purity to cleanse me from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit my body O Lord is the Temple of the Holy Ghost O let me never pollute that Temple with any uncleanness And because out of the heart proceed the things that defile the man Lord grant me to keep my heart with all diligence that no impure or foul thoughts be harboured there but enable me I beseech thee to keep both body and soul pure and undefiled that so I may glorifie thee here both in my body and spirit and be glorified in both with thee hereafter For TEMPERANCE O Gracious Lord who hast in thy bounty to mankind afforded us the use of thy good creatures for our corporal refreshment grant that I may always use this liberty with thankfulness and moderation O let me never be so enslaved to that brutish pleasure of taste that my Table become a snare to me but give me I beseech thee a perfect abhorrence of all degrees of excess and let me eat and drink only for those ends and according to those measures which thou hast assigned me for health and not for luxury And Lord grant that my pursuits may be not after the meat that perisheth but after that which endureth to everlasting life that hungring and thirsting after righteousness I may be filled with thy grace here and thy glory hereafter through Jesus Christ. For CONTENTEDNES O Merciful God thy wisdom is infinite to choose thy love forward to dispence good things to us O let me always fully and intirely resign my self to thy disposals have no desires of mine own but a perfect satisfaction in thy choices for me that so in whatsoever estate I am I may be therein content Lord grant I may never look with murmuring on my own condition nor with envy on other mens And to that end I beseech thee purge my heart of all covetous affections O let me never yield up any corner of my Soul to Mammon but give me such a contempt of these fading riches that whether they increase or decrease I may never set my heart upon them but that all my care may be to be rich towards God to lay up my treasure in heaven that I may so set my affections on things above that when Christ who is my life shall appear I may also appear with him in glory Grant this O Lord for the merits of the same Jesus Christ. For DILIGENCE O Lord who hast in thy wisdom ordained that man should be born to labour suffer me not to resist that design of thine by giving my self up to sloth and idleness but grant I may so imploy my time and all other talents thou hast intrusted me with that I may not fall under the sentence of the slothful and wicked servant Lord if it be thy will make me some way useful to others that I may not live an unprofitable part of mankind but however O Lord let me not be useless to my self but grant I may give all diligence to make my calling and election sure My soul is beset with many and vigilant adversaries O let me not fold my hands to sleep in the midst of so great dangers but watch and pray that I enter not into temptation enduring hardness as a good souldier of Jesus Christ till at the last from this state of warfare thou translate me to the
hear me and grant I may now approach thee with such humility and contrition love devotion that thou mayest vouch safe to come unto me abide with me communicating to me thy self all the merits of thy Passion And then O Lord let no accusations of Satan or my own conscience amaze or distract me but having peace with thee let me also have peace in my self that this Wine may make glad this Bread of life may strengthen my heart enable me chearfully to run the way of thy Commandments Grant this merciful Saviour for thine own bowels compassions sake EJACULATIONS to be used at the LORDS TABLE LORD I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof I have sinned What shall I do unto thee O thou preserver of men Here recollect some of thy greatest sins If thou Lord shouldst be extream to mark what is done amiss O Lord who may abide it But with the Lord there is mercy and with him is plenteous Redemption Behold O Lord thy beloved Son in whom thou art well pleased Hearken to the cry of his blood which speaketh better things then that of Abel By his Agony and bloody Sweat by his Cross and Passion good Lord deliver me O Lamb of God which takest away the sins of the world grant me thy Peace O Lamb of God which takest away the sins of the world have mercy upon me Immediately before Receiving THOU hast said That he that eateth thy flesh and drinketh thy blood hath eternal life Behold the servant of the Lord be it unto me according to thy word At the Receiving of the Bread BY thy Crucified body deliver me from this body of death At the receiving of the Cup. O LET this blood of thine purge my conscience from dead works to serve the living God Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean O touch me and say I will be thou clean After Receiving WHAT shall I render unto the Lord for all the benefits he hath done unto me I will take the Cup of Salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing Therefore blessing honour glory and power be to him that sitteth upon the Throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever Amen I have sworn and am stedfastly purposed to keep thy righteous judgements O hold thou up my goings in thy paths that my footsteps slip not A Thanksgiving after the Receiving of the Sacrament O Thou fountain of all goodness from whom every good and perfect gift cometh and to whom all honour and glory should be returned I desire with all the most fervent and inflamed affections of a grateful heart to bless and praise thee for those inestimable mercies thou hast vouchsafed me Lord what is man that thou shouldst so regard him as to send thy beloved Son to suffer such bitter things for him But Lord what am I the worst of men that I should have any part in this attonement who have so oft despised him and his sufferings O the height and depth of this mercy of thine that art pleased to admit me to the renewing of that Covenant with thee which I have so often and so perversly broken that I who am not worthy of that dayly bread which sustains the body should be made partaker of this bread of life which nourisheth the soul and that the God of all purity should vouchsafe to unite himself to so polluted a wretch O my God suffer me no more I bâ—seech thee to turn thy grace into wantonness to make thy mercy an occasion of security but let this unspeakable love of thine constrain me to obedience that since my blessed Lord hath died for me I may no longer live unto my self but to him O Lord I know there is no concord between Christ and Belial therefore since he hath now been pleased to enter my heart O let me never permit any lust to chace him thence but let him that hath so dearly bought me still keep possession of me and let nothing ever take me out of his hand To this end be thou graciously pleased to watch over me and defend me from all assaults of my spiritual enemies but especially deliver me from my self from the treachery of my own heart which is too willing to yield it self a prey And where thou seest I am either by nature or custome most weak there do thou I beseech thee magnifie thy power in my preservation Here mention thy most dangerous temptations And Lord let my Saviours sufferings for my sins and the Vows I have now made against them never depart from my minde but let the remembrance of the one enable me to perform the other that I may never make truce with those lusts which nailed his hands pierced his side and made his soul heavy to the death But that having now anew listed my self under his banner I may fight manfully and follow the Captain of my Salvation even through a sea of blood Lord lift up my hands that hang down and my feeble knees that I faint not in this warfare O be thou my strength who am not able of my self to struggle with the slightest temptations How often have I turned my back in the day of battel How many of these Sacramental vows have I violated And Lord I have still the same unconstant deceitful heart to betray me to the breach of this O thou who art Yea and Amen in whom there is no shadow of change communicate to me I beseech thee such a stability of minde that I may no more thus start aside like a broken bow but that having my heart whole with thee I may continue stedfast in thy Covenant that not one good purpose which thy Spirit hath raised in me this day may vanish as so many have formerly done but that they may bring forth fruit unto life eternal Grant this O merciful father through the merits and mediation of my Cruâ—ified Saviour A Prayer of Intercession to be used either before or after the receiving of the Sacrament O MOST gracious Lord who so tenderly lovedst mankind as to give thy dear Son out of thy Bosome to be a propitiation for the sins of the whole word grant that the effect of this Redemption may be as universal as the design of it that it may be to the salvation of all O let no person by impenitence and wilful sin forfeit his part in it but by the power of thy grace bring all even the most obstinate sinners to repentance Inlighten all that sit in darkness all Jews Turks Infidels and Hereticks take from them all blindness hardness of heart and contempt of thy Word and so fetch them home blessed Lord unto thy fold that they may be saved among the number of the true Israelites And for all those upon whom the Name of thy Son is called grant O Lord that their conversations may
thy blessed will be done I cast my self O Lord at thy feet do with me what thou pleasest Try me as silver is tried so thou bring me out purified And Lord make even my flesh also to subscribe to this resignation that there may be nothing in me that may rebel against thy hand but that having perfectly supprest all repining thoughts I may cheerfully drink of this cup. And how bitter soever thou shalt please to make it Lord let it prove medicinal and cure all the diseases of my soul that it may bring forth in me the peaceable fruit of righteousness That so these light afflictions which are but for a moment may work for me a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory through Jesus Christ. A Thanks giving for Deliverance O BLESSED Lord who art gracious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and repentest thee of the evil I thankfully acknowledge before thee that thou hast not dealt with me after my sins nor rewarded me according to my iniquities My rebellions O Lord deserve to be scourged with Scorpions and thou hast corrected them only with a gentle and fatherly Rod neither hast thou suffered me to lie long under that but hast given me a timely and a grcaious issue out of my late distresses O Lord I will be glad and rejoyce in thy mercy for thou hast considered my trouble and hast known my soul in adversity Thou hast smitten and thou hast healed me O let these various methods of thine have their proper effects upon my soul that I who have felt the smart of thy chastisements may stand in awe and not sin and that I who have likewise felt the sweet refreshings of thy mercy may have my heart ravished with it and knit to thee in the firmest bands of love and that by both I may be preserved in a constant entire obedience to thee all my days through Jesus Christ. Directions for the time of Sickness WHEN thou findest thy self visited with Sickness thou art immediately to remember that it is God which with rebukes doth chasten man for sin And therefore let thy first care be to find out what it is that provokes him to smite thee and to that purpose Examine thine own heart search diligently what guilts lie there confess them humbly and penitently to God and for the greater security renew thy Repentance for all the old sins of thy former life beg most earnestly and importunately his mercy and pardon in Christ Jesus and put on sincere and zealous resolutions of forsaking every evil way for the rest of that time which God shall spare thee And that thy own heart deceive thee not in this so weighty a business it will be wisdome to send for some godly Divine not only to assist thee with his prayers but with his counsel also And to that purpose open thy heart so freely to him that he may be able to judge whether thy Repentance be such as may give thee confidence to appear before Gods dreadful Tribunal and that if it be not he may help thee what he can towards the making it so And when thou hast thus provided for thy better part thy Soul then consider thy Body also and as the Wise man saith Eccluâ— 38. 12. Give place to the Physician for the Lord hath created him Use such means as may be most likely to recover thy health but always remember that the success of them must come from God and beware of Asa's sin who sought to the Physicians and not to the Lord 2 Chro. 6. 12. Dispose also betimes of thy temporal affairs by making thy Will and setting all things in such order as thou meanest finally to leave them in and defer it not till thy sickness grow more violent for then perhaps thou shalt not have such use of thy Reason as may fit thee for it or if thou have it will be then much more seasonable to imploy thy thoughts on higher things on the world thou art going to rather then that thou art about to leave we cannot carry the things of this world with us when we go hence and it is not fit we should carry the thoughts of them Therefore let those be early dispatched that they may not disturb thee at last A Prayer for a sick Person O MERCIFUL and Righteous Lord the God of health and of sickness of life and of death I most unfeignedly acknowledg that my great abuse of those many days of strength and welfare which thou hast afforded me hath most justly deserved thy present visitation I desire O Lord humbly to accept of this punishment of mine iniquity and to bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him And O thou merciful Father who designest not the ruine but the amendment of those whom thou scourgest I beseech thee by thy grace so to sanctifie this correction of thine to me that this sickness of my body may be a means of health to my soul make me diligent to search my heart and do thou O Lord enable me to discover every accursed thing how closely soever concealed there that by the removal thereof I may make way for the removal of this punishment Heal my soul O Lord which hath sinned against thee and then if it be thy blessed will heal my body also restore the voice of joy health unto my dwelling that I may live to praise thee and to bring forth fruits of repentance But if in thy wisdom thou hast otherwise disposed if thou have determined that this sickness shall be unto death I beseech thee to fit prepare me for it give me that sincere and earnest repentance to which thou hast promised mercy and pardon wean my heart from the world and all its fading vanities and make me to gasp and pant after those more excellent and durable joys which are at thy right hand for ever Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me and in all the pains of my body in all the agonies of my spirit let thy comforts refresh my soul and enable me patiently to wait till my change come And grant O Lord that when my earthly house of this Tabernacle is dissolved I may have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens And that for his sake who by his precious blood hath purchased it for me even Jesus Christ. A THANKSGIVING for RECOVERY O GRACIOUS Lord the God of the spirits of all flesh in whose hand my time is I praise and magnifie thee that thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption and restored me to health again it is thou alone O Lord that hast preserved my life from destruction thou hast chastned and corrected me but thou hast not given me over unto death O let this life which thou hast thus graciously spared be wholy consecrated to thee Behold O Lord I am by thy mercy made whole O make me strictly careful
to sin no more least a worse thing come unto me Lord let not this reprieve thou hast now given me make me secure as thinking that my Lord delayeth his coming but grant me I beseech thee to make a right use of this long suffering of thine and so to imploy every minute of that time thou shalt allow me that when thou shalt appear I may have confidence and not be ashamed before thee at thy coming Lord I have found by this approach towards death how dreadful a thing it is to be taken unprepared O let it be a perpetual admonition to me to watch for my Masters Coming And when the pleasures of sin shall present themselves to entice me O make me to remember how bitter they will be at the last O Lord hear me and as thou hast in much mercy afforded me time so grant me also grace to work out my own salvation to provide oil in my lamp that when the Bridegroom cometh I may go in with him to the marriage Grant this I beseech thee for thy dear Sons sake A Prayer at the approach of Death O ETERNAL and everliving God who first breathedst into man the breath of life and when thou takest away that breath he dies and is turned again to his dust look with compassion on me thy poor creature who am now drawing near the gates of death and which is infinitely more terrible the bar of Judgement Lord my own heart condemns me and thou art infinitely greater then my heart and knowest all things The sins I know and remember fill me with horrour but there are also multitudes of others which I either observed not at the time or have since carelesly forgot which are all present to thee Thou settest my misdeeds before thee and my secret sins in the light of thy countenance and to what a mountainous heap must the minutely provocations of so many years arise How shall one so ungodly stand in thy Judgement or such a sinner in the Congregation of the Righteous And to adde yet more to my terrour my very repentance I fear will not abide the trial my frequent relapses heretofore have sufficiently witnessed the unsincerity of my past resolutions And then O Lord what can secure me that my present dislikes of my sins are not rather the effects of my amazing danger then of any real change And O Lord I know thou art not mocked nor wilt accept of any thing that is not perfectly sincere O Lord when I consider this fearfulness and trembling comes upon me and an horrible dread overwhelmeth me my flesh trembleth for fear of thee and my heart is wounded within me But O Lord one deep calleth upon another the depth of my misery upon the depth of thy mercy Lord save now or I perish eternally O thou who willest not that any should perish but that all should come to repentance bring me I beseech thee though thus late to a sincere Repentance such as thou wilt accept who triest the heart Create in me O God a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me Lord one day is with thee as a thousand years O let thy mighty Spirit work in me now in this my last day whatsoever thou seest wanting to fit me for thy mercy and acceptation Give me a perfect and entire hatred of my sins and enable me to present thee with that sacrifice of a broken and contrite heart which thou hast promised not to despise that by this I may be made capable of that attonement which thy dear Son hath by the more excellent oblation of himself made for all repenting sinners He is the propitiation for our sins he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was on him O heal me by his stripes and let the cry of his blood drown the clamour of my sins I am indeed a childe of wrath but he is the Son of thy loue for his sake spare me O Lord spare thy creature whom he hath redeemed with his most precious blood and be not angry with me for ever In his wounds O Lord I take Sanctuary O let not thy vengeance pursue me to this city of refuge my Soul hangeth upon him O let me not perish with a Jesus with a Saviour in my arms But by his Agony and bloody Sweat by his Cross and Passion by all that he did and suffered for sinners good Lord deliver me deliver me I beseech thee from the wages of my sins thy wrath and everlasting damnation in this time of my tribulation in the hour of death and in the day of Judgement Hear me O Lord hear me and do not now repay my former neglects of thy calls by refusing to answer me in this time of my greatest need Lord there is but a step between me and death O let not my sun go down upon thy wrath but seal my pard on before I go hence and be no more seen Thy loving kindness is better then the life it self O let me have that in exchange and I shall most gladly lay down this mortal life Lord thou knowest all my desire and my groaning is not hid from thee deal thou with me O Lord according to thy Name for sweet is thy mercy take away the sting of death the guilt of my sins and then though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil I will lay me down in peace and Lord when I awake up let me be satisfied with thy presence in thy glory Grant this merciful God for his sake who is both the Redeemer and Mediator of sinners even Jesus Christ. PSALMS PUT me not to rebuke O Lord in thine anger neither chasten me in thy heavy displeasure There is no health in my flesh because of thy displeasure neither is there any rest in my bones by reason of my sins For my wickednesses are gone over my head and are a sore burden too heavy for me to bear My wounds stink and are corrupt through my foolishness Therefore is my spirit vexed within me and my heart within me is desolate My sins have taken such hold upon me that I am not able to look up yea they are more in number then the hairs of my head and my heart hath failed me But thou O Lord God art full of compassion and mercy long-suffering plenteous in goodness and truth Turn thee unto me and have mercy upon me for I am desolate and in misery If thou Lord shouldst be extream to mark what is done amiss O Lord who may abide it O remember not the sins and offences of my youth but according to thy mercy think thou upon me for thy goodness Look upon my adversity and misery and forgive me all my sin Hide not thy face from thy servant for I am in trouble O haste thee and hear me Out of the deep do I call unto thee Lord hear my voice Turn thee O Lord and deliver my
of my heart and my portion for ever I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is far better Lord I gâ—oan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with that house from heaven I desire to put off this my tabernacle O be pleased to receive me into everlasting habitations Bring my soul out of prison that I may give thanks unto thy name Lord I am here to wrestle not only with flesh and blood but with principalities and powers spiritual wickedness O take me from these tents of Kedar into the heavenly Jerusalem where Satan shall be utterly trodden under my feet I cannot here attend one minute to thy service without distraction O take me up â—o stand before thy Throne where I shall serve thee day and night I am here in heaviness through many tribulations O receive me into that place of rest where all tears shall be wiped from my eyes where there shall be no more death nor sorrow nor crying nor pain I am here in a state of banishment and absence from the Lord O take me where I shall for ever behold thy face and follow the Lamb whither soever he goeth I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness OBlessed Jesu who hast loved me and washed me from my sins in thine own blood receive my soul. Into thy hands I commend my Spirit for thou hast redeemed me O Lord thou God of truth Come Lord Jesu come quickly PRAYERS for their use who Mourn in secret for the PUBLICK CALAMITIES c. Psalm 74. O God wherefore art thou absent from us so long why is thy wrath so hot against the sheep of thy pasture c. Psal. 79. O God the Heathen are come into thine inheritance thy holy temple have they defiled and made Jerusalem an heap of stones c. Psal. 80. Hear O thou shepherd of Israel thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep shew thy self also thou that sittest upon the Cherubims c. A Prayer to be used in these times of Calamity O Lord God to whom vengeance belongeth I desire humbly to confess before thee both on my own behalf and that of this Nation that these many years of calamity we have groaned under are but the just yea mild returns of those many more years of our provocations against thee and that thy present which is but the due punishment of thy abused mercy O Lord thou hast formerly abounded to us in blessings above all people of the earth Thy candle shined upon our heads and we delighted our selves in thy great goodness peace was within our walls and plenteousness within our palaces there was no decay no leading into captivity and no complaining in our streets but we turned this grace into wantonness we abused our peace to security our plenty to riot and Luxury and made those good things which should have endeared our hearts to thee the occasions of estranging them from thee Nay O Lord thou gavest us yet more precious mercies thou wert pleased thy self to pitch thy Tabernacle with us to establish a pure and glorious Church among us and give us thy word to be a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our paths but O Lord we have made no other use of that light then to conduct us to the chambers of death we have dealt proudly and not hearkened to thy comandments and by rebelling against the light have purchased to our selves so much the heavier portion in the outer darkness And now O Lord had the overflowings of thy vengeance been answerable to that of our sin we had long since been swept away with a swift destruction and there had been none of us alive at this day to implore thy mercy But thou art a gracious God slow to anger and hast proceeded with us with much patience and long-suffering thou hast sent thy judgements to awake us to repentance and hast also allowed us space for it But alas we have perverted this mercy of thine beyond all the former we return not to him that smiteth us neither do we seek the Lord we are slidden back by a perpetual backfliding no man repenteth him of his wickedness or â—aith what have I done 'T is true indeed we fear the rod we dread every suffering so that we are ready to buy it off with the foulest sin but we fear not him that hath appointed it but by a wretched obstinacy harden our necks against thee and refuse to return And now O God what balm is there in Gilead that can cure us who when thou wouldest heal us will not be healed we know thou hast pronounced that there is no peace to the wicked and how shall we then pray for peace that still retain our wickedness This this O Lord is our sorest disease O Give us Medicines to heal this sickness heal our souls and then we know thou canst soon heal our land Lord thou hast long spoken by thy word to our ears by thy judgments even to all our senses but unless thou speak by thy Spirit to our hearts all other calls will still be uneffectual O send out this voice and that a mighty voice such as may awake us out of this Lethargy thou that didst call Lazarus out of the grave O be pleased to call us who are dead yea putrified in trespasses and sins and make us to awake to righteousness And though O Lord our frequent resistances even of those inward calls have justly provoked thee to give us up to the lusts of our own heart yet O thou boundless ocean of mercy who art good not only beyond what we can deserve but what we can wish do not withdraw the influence of thy grace and take not thy holy spirit from us Thou wert found of those that sought thee not O let that act of mercy be repeated to us who are so desperately yet so insensibly sick that we cannot so much as look after the Physitian and by how much our case is the more dangerous so much the more sovereign remedies do thou apply Lord help us and consider not so much our unworthiness of thy aid as our irremediable ruine if we want it save Lord or we perish eternally To this end dispense to us in our temporal interest what thou seest may best secure our spiritual if a greater degree of outward misery will tend to the curing our inward Lord spare not thy rod but strike yet more sharply cast out this devil though with never so much foaming tearing But if thou seest that some return of mercy may be most likely to melt us O be pleased so far to condescend to our wretchedness as to afford us that and whether by thy sharper or thy gentler methods bring us home to thy self And then O Lord we know thy hand is not shortned that it cannot save when thou hast delivered us from our sins thou canst and wilt deliver
the Apostle saith Rom. 1. 31. We do not only do the things but take pleasure in them that do them and therefore intice and draw as many as we can into the same sins with us Then it is risen to the highest step of wickedness and is to be look't on as the utmost degree both of sin and danger Thus you see how you are to examine your selves concerning your sins in each of which you are to consider how many of these heightning circumstances there have been that so you may aright measure the hainousness of them 7. Now the end of this Examination is to bring you to such a sight of your sins as may truly humble you make you sensible of your own danger that have provoked so great a Majesty who is able so sadly to revenge himself upon you And that will surely even to the most carnal heart appear a reasonable ground of sorrow But that is not all it must likewise bring you to a sense and abhorrence of your basenesse and ingratitude that have thus offended so good and graecious a God that have made such unworthy and unkind returnes to those tender and rich mercies of his And this consideration especially must melt your hearts into a deep sorrow and contrition the degree whereof must be in some measure answerable to the degree of your sinnes And the greater it is provided it be not such as shuts up the hope of Gods Mercy the more acceptable it is to God who hath promised not to despise a broken and contriâ—e heart Psalm 51. 17. And the more likely it will be also to bring us to amendment For if we have once felt what the smart of a wounded Spirit is wee shall have the lesse minde to venture upon sin again 8. For when wee are tempted with any of the short pleasures of sinne wee may then out of our owne experience set against them the sharp pains and terrors of an accusing conscience which will to any that hath felt them be able infinitely to outweigh them Endeavour therefore to bring your souls to this melting temper to this deep unfeigned sorrow and that not only for the danger you have brought upon your self for though that be a consideration which may ought to work sadnesse in us yet where that alone is the motive of our sorrow it is not that sorrow which will avail us for pardon and the reason of it is clear for that sorrow proceeds only from the love of our selves we are sorry because we are like to smart But the sorrow of a true penitent must be joyned also with the love of God and that will make us grieve for having offended him though there were no punishment to fall upon our selves The way then to stir up this sorrow in us is first to stir up our love of God by repeating to our selves the many gracious acts of his mercy towards us particularly that of his sparing us and not cutting us off in our sins Consider with thy self how many and how great provocations thou hast offered him perhaps in a continued course of many years wilful disobedience for which thou mightest with perfect justice have been ere this sent quick into hell Nay possibly thou hast before thee many examples of less sinners then thou art who have been suddenly snatcht away in the midst of their sins And what cause canst thou give why thou hast thus long escaped but only because his eye hath spared thee And what cause of that sparing but his tender compassions towards thee his unwillingness that thou should'st perish This consideration if it be prest home upon thy soul cannot chuse if thy heart be not as hard as the nether Milstone but awake somewhat of love in thee towards this gracious this long suffering God and that love will certainly make it appear to thee that it is an evil thing and bitter that thou hast forsaken the Lord Jer. 2. 19. That thou hast made such wretched requitals of so great mercy it will make thee both ashamed and angry at thy self that thou hast been such an unthankful creature But if the consideration of this one sort of mercy Gods forbearance onely be such an engagement and help to this godly sorrow what will then be the multitude of those other mercies which every man is able to reckon up to himself and therefore let every man be as particular in it as he can call to minde as many of them as he is able that so he may attain to the greater degree of true contrition 9. And to all these endeavours must be added earnest prayers to God that he by his holy Spirit would shew you your sins and soften your hearts that you may throughly bewail and lament them 10. To this must be joyned an humble consession of sins to God and that not only in general but also in particular as far as your memory of them will reach and that with all those heightning circumstances of them which you have by the forementioned examination discovered Yea even secret and forgotten sins must in general be acknowledged for it is certain there are multitudes of such so that it is necessary for every one of us to say with David Psal. 19. 12. Who can understand his errors cleanse thou me from my secret faulâ—s When you have thus confest your sins with this hearty sorrow and sincere hatred of them you may then and not before be concluded to feel so much of your disease that it will be seasonable to apply the remedy 11. In the next place therefore you are to look on him whom God hath set forth to be the propitiation of our sins Rom. 3. 25. Even Jesus Christ that Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world John 1. 29. And earnestly beg of God that by his most precious blood your sins may be washed away and that God would for his sake be reconciled to you And this you are to believe will surely be done if you do for the rest of your time forsake your sins and give your selves up sincerely to obey God in all his commands But without that it is vain to hope any benefit from Christ or his sufferings And therefore the next part of your preparation must be the setting those resolutions of obedience which I told you was the third thing you were to examine your selves of before your approach to the holy Sacrament 12. Concerning the particulars of this resolution I need say no more but that it must answer every part and branch of our duty that is we must not only in general resolve that wee will observe Gods Commandments but we must resolve it for every Commandment by itself and especially where we have found our selves most to have failed heretofore there especially to renew our resolutions And herein it neerly concerns us to look that these resolutions be sincere and unfeigned and not only such slight ones as people use
mouth let it be an occasion of raising up thy thoughts to him But by no means permit thy self to use it in idle by-words or the like If thou doest accustome thy self to pay this reverence to the bare mention of his name it will be an excellent fence against the prophaning it in oaths 14. A fifth means is a diligent and constant watch over thy self that thou thus offend not with thy tongue without which all the former will come to nothing And the last means is prayer which must be added to all thy endeavours therefore pray earnestly that God will enable thee to overcome this wicked custom say with the Psalmist Set a watch O Lord over my mouth and keep the door of my lips and if thou doest sincerely set thy self to the use of means for it thou mayest be assured God will not be wanting in his assistance I have been the longer on this because it is so reigning a sin God in his mercy give all that are guilty of it a true sight of the hainousness of it 15. By these several ways of dishonouring Gods Name you may understand what is the duty of honouring it viz. A strict abstaining from every one of these and that abstinence founded on an awful respect and reverence to that sacred Name which is Great Wonderful and Holy Psa. 99. 3. I have now past through the several branches of that great duty of Honouring of God PARTITION V. Of WORSHIP due to Gods Name Of PRAYER and its several parts Of publick Prayers in the CHURCH in the FAMILY Of PRIVATE PRAYER Of REPENTANCE c. Of FASTING § 1. THe Eighth Duty we owe to God is WORSHIP This is that great duty by which especially we acknowledge his Godhead Worship being proper only to God and therefore it is to be lookt on as a most weighty duty This is to be performed first by our Souls secondly by our Bodies The Souls part is Praying Now prayer is a speaking to God and there are divers parts of it according to the different things about which we speak 2. As first There is Confession that is the acknowledging our sins to God And this may be either general or particular the general is when we only confess in gross that we are sinful the particular when we mention the several sorts and acts of our sins The former is necessary to be always a part of our solemn prayers whether publick or private The latter is proper for private prayer and there the oftner it is used the better yea even in our daily private prayer it will be fit constantly to remember some of our greatest and foulest sins though never so long since past For such we should never think sufficiently confest and bewailed And this bewailing must always go along with Confession we must be heartily sorry for the sins we confess and from our souls acknowledge our own great unworthiness in having committed them For our confession is not intended to instruct God who knows our sins much better then our selves do but it is to humble our selves and therefore we must not think we have confest aright till that be done 3. The second part of prayer is Petition that is the begging of God whatsoever we want either for our Souls or Bodies For our Souls we must first beg pardon of sins and that for the sake of Jesus Christ who shed his blood to obtain it Then we must also beg the grace and assistance of Gods Spirit to enable us to forsake our sins and to walk in obedience to him And herein it will be needful particularly to beg all the several vertues as Faith Love Zeal Purity Repentance and the like but especially those which thou most wantest And therefore observe what thy wants are and if thou beest proud be most instant in praying for humility if lustful for chastity and so for all other Graces according as thou findest thy needs And in all these things that concern thy Soul be very earnest and importunate take no denial from God nor give over though thou do not presently obtain what thou suest for But if thou hast never so long prayed for a grace and yet findest it not do not grow weary of praying but rather search what the cause may be which makes thy prayer so ineffectual see if thou do not thy self hinder them perhaps thou prayest to God to enable thee to conquer some sin and yet never goest about to fight against it never makest any resistance but yieldest to it as often as it comes nay puttest thy self in its way in the road of all temptations If it be thus no wonder though thy prayers avail not for thou wilt not let them Therefore amend this and set to the doing of thy part sincerely and then thou needest not fear but God will do his 4. Secondly We are to petition also for our bodies that is we are to ask of God such necessaries of life as are needful to us while we live here But these only in such a degree and measure as his wisdom sees best for us we must not presume to be our own carvers and pray for all that wealth or greatness which our own vain hearts may perhaps desire but only for such a condition in respect of outward things as he sees may most tend to those great ends of our living here the gloryfying him and the saving of our own Souls 5. A third part of Prayer is Deprecation that is when we pray to God to turn away some evil from us Now this evil may be either the evil of sin or the evil of punishment The evil of sin is that we are especially to pray against most earnestly begging of God That he will by the power of his grace preserve us from falling into sin And whatever sins they are to which thou knowest thy self most inclined there be particularly earnest with God to preserve thee from them This is to be done daily but then more especially when we are under any present temptation and in danger of falling into any sin in which case we have reason to cry out as S. Peter did when he found himself sinking Save Lord or I perish humbly beseeching him either to withdraw the temptation or strengthen us to withstand it neither of which we can do for our selves 6. Secondly We are likewise to Pray against the evil of Punishment but principally against Spiritual punishments as the anger of God the withdrawing of his grace and eternal damnation Against these we can never pray with too much earnestness But we may also pray against temporal punishments that is any outward affliction but this with submission to Gods will according to the example of Christ Mat. 26. 39. Not as I will but as thou wilt 7. A Fourth part of Prayer is Intercession that is praying for others This in general we are to do for all mankind as well
Would you not think it pitty a pardon should be cast away upon so wretchless a creature And sure it will be as unreasonable to expect that God should attend and grant those suits of ours which we do not at all consider our selves 20. This wandring in Prayer is a thing we are much concerned to arm our selves against it being that to which we are naturally wonderful prone To that end it will be necessary first to possess our hearts at our coming to Prayers with the greatness of that Majesty we are to approach that so we may dread to be vain and trifling in his presence Secondly We are to consider the great concernment of the things we are to ask some whereof are such that if we should not be heard we were of all creatures the most miserable and yet this wandring is the way to keep us from being heard Thirdly We are to beg Gods aid in this particular And therefore when thou settest to Prayer let thy first petition be for this grace of attention 21. Lastly Be as watchful as is possible over thy heart in time of prayer to keep out all wandring thoughts or if any have gotten in let them not find entertainment but as soon as ever thou discernest them suffer them not to abide one moment but cast them out with indignation and beg Gods pardon for them And if th ou dost thus sincerely and diligently strive against them either God will enable thee in some measure to overcome or he will in his mercy pardon thee what thou canst not prevent But if it be through thy own negligence thou art to expect neither so long as that negligence continues 22. In the fourth place we must look our Prayers be with Zeal and Earnestness it is not enough that we so far attend them as barely to know what it is we say but we must put forth all the affection and devotion of our souls and that according to the several parts of prayer before mentioned It is not the cold faint request that will ever obtain from God We see it will not from our selves for if a beggar should ask relief from us and do it in such a scornful manner that he seemed indifferent whether he had it or no we should think he had either little want or great pride and so have no heart to give him Now surely the things we ask from God are so much above the rate of an ordinary Alms that we can never expect they should be given to slight and heartless petitions No more in like manner will our Sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving ever be accepted by him if it be not offered from a heart truly affected with the sense of his mercies it 's but a kind of formal complementing which will never be approved by him who requires the heart and not the lips only And the like may be said of all the other parts of Prayer Therefore be careful when thou drawest nigh to God in Prayer to raise up thy soul to the highest pitch of zeal and earnestness thou art able And because of thy self alone thou art not able to do any thing beseech God that he will inflame thy heart with this heavenly fire of Devotion and when thou hast obtained it beware that thou neither quench it by any wilful sin nor let it go out again for want of stirring it up and imploying it 23. Fifthly We must Pray with Purity I mean we must purge our hearts from all affections to sin This is surely the meaning of the Apostle 1 Tim. 2. 8. when he commands men to lift up holy hands in Prayer and he there instances in one special sort of sin wrath and doubting where by doubting is meant those unkind disputes and contentions which are so common amongst men And surely he that cherishes that or any other sin in his heart can never lift up those holy hands which are required in this duty And then sure his prayers be they never so many or earnest will little avail him The Psalmist will tell him he shall not be heard Psal. 66. 18. If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me Nay Solomon will tell him yet worse that his prayers are not onely vain but abominable Prov. 15. 8. The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord. And thus to have our prayers turned into sin is one of the heaviest things can befal any man we see it is set down in that sad Catalogue of curses Psal. 109. 7. Therefore let us not be so cruel to our selves as to pull it upon our own heads which we certainly do if we offer up prayers from an impure heart 24. In the last place we must direct our prayers to right ends And that either in respect of the prayer it self or the things we pray for First we must pray not to gain the praise of devotion amongst men like those hypocrites Mat. 6. 5. Nor yet onely for company or fashion sake to do as others do But we must do it first as an act of worship to God secondly as an acknowledgment that he is that great spring from whence alone we expect all good things And thirdly to gain a supply of our own or others needs Then in respect of the Things prayed for we must be sure to have no ill aimes upon them we must not ask that we may consume it upon our lusts Jam. 4. 3. as those do who pray for wealth that they may live in riot and excess and for power that they may be able to mischief their enemies and the like But our end in all must be Gods glory first and next that our own and others Salvation and all other things must be taken in onely as they tend to those which they can never do if we abuse them to sin I have now done with that first part of worship that of the Soul 25. The other is that of the Body and that is nothing else but such humble and reverent gestures in our approaches to God as may both express the inward reverence of our Souls and may also pay him some tribute from our very Bodies with which the Apostle commands us to glorisie God as well as with our souls and good reason since he hath created and redeemed the one as well as the other whensoever therefore thou offerest thy prayers unto God let it be with all lowliness as well of body as of mind according to that of the Psalmist Psal. 95. 6. O come let us worship let us fall down and kneel before the Lord our maker 26. The Ninth DUTY to God is REPENTANCE That this is a duty to God we are taught by the Apostle Act. 20. 21. where speaking of repentance he stiles it repentance towards God And there is good reason this should be a duty to him since there is no sin we commit but is either mediately or immediately against him
of those sins which have provoked thy Judgements that thou also mayest turn and repent and leave a blessing behinde thee Bless those whom thou hast appointed our Governours whether in Church or State so rule their hearts and strengthen their hands that they may neither want will nor power to punish wickedness and vice and to maintain Gods true Religion and Vertue Have pity O Lord on all that are in affliction be a Father to the fatherless and plead the cause of the widow comfort the feeble minded support the weak heal the sick relieve the needy defend the oppressed and administer to every one according to their several necessities let thy blessings rest upon all that are near and dear to me and grant them whatsoever thou seest necessary either to their bodies or their Souls Here name thy neerest Relations Reward all those that have done me good and pardon all those that have done or wisht me evil and work in them and me all that good which may make us acceptable in thy sight through Jesus Christ. For PRESERVATION OMerciful God by whose bounty alone it is that I have this day added to my life I beseech thee so to guide me in it by thy grace that I may do nothing which may dishonour thee or wound my own soul but that I may deligently apply my self to do all such good works as thou hast prepared for me to walk in and Lord I beseech thee give thy Angels charge over me to keep me in all my wayes that no evil happen unto me nor any plague come nigh my dwelling but that I and mine may be safe under thy gracious protection through Jesus Christ. O Lord pardon the wandrings and coldness of these petitions and dâ—al with me not according either to my prayers or deserts but according to my needs and thine own rich mercies in Jesus Christ in whose blessed Name and Words I conclude these my imperfect Prayers saying Our Father c. DIRECTIONS for NIGHT. AT NIGHT when it draws towards the time of rest bethink thy self how thou hast passed the day examine thine own heart what sin either of Thought Word or Deed thou hast committed what opportunity of doing good thou hast omitted and what soever thou sindest to accuse thy self of confess humbly and penitently to God renew thy purposes and resolutions of amendment and beg his pardon in Christ and this not slightly and only as of course but with all devout earnestness and heartiness as thou wouldest do if thou were sure thy death were as near approaching as thy sleep which for ought thou knowest may be so indeed and therefore thou shouldest no more venture to sleep unreconciled to God then thou wouldest dare to die so In the next place consider what special and extraordinary mercies thou hast that day received as if thou hast had any great deliverance either in thy inward man from some dangerous temptations or in thy outward from any great and apparent danger and offer to God thy hearty and devout praise for the same or if nothing extraordinary have so happened and thou hast been kept even from the approach of danger thou hast not the less but the greater cause to magnifie God who hath by his protection so guarded thee that not so much as the fear of evil hath assaulted thee And therefore omit not to pay him the tribute of humble thankfulness as well for his usual and dayly preservations as his more extraordinary deliverances And above all endeavour still by the considerations of his mercies to have thy heart the more closely knit to him remembring that every favour received from him is a new engagement upon thee to love and obey him PRAYERS for NIGHT. O Holy blessed and glorious Trinity three persons and one God have mercy upon me a miserable sinner Lord I know not what to pray for as I ought O let thy Spirit help my infirmities and enable me to offer up a spiritual Sacrifice acceptable unto thee by Jesus Christ. A CONFESSION O MOST Holy Lord God who art of purer eyes then to behold iniquity how shall I abominable wretch dare to appear before thee who am nothing but pollution I am defiled in my very nature having a backwardness to all good and a readiness to all evil but I have defiled my self yet much worse by my own actual sins and wicked customes I have transgrest my duty to thee my neighbour and my self and that both in thought in word in deed by doing those things which thou hast expresly forbidden and by neglecting to do those things thou hast commanded me And this not only through ignorance and frailty but knowingly and wilfully against the motions of thy Spirit and the checks of my own conscience to the contrary And to make all these out of measure sinful I have gone on in a dayly course of repeating these provocations against thee notwithstanding all thy calls to and my own purposes and vows of amendment yea this very day I have not ceased to adde new sins to all my former guilts Here name the Particulars And now O Lord what shall I say or how shall I open my mouth seeing I have done these things I know that the wages of these sins is death but O thou who willest not the death of a sinner have mercy upon me work in me I beseech thee a sincere contrition and a perfect hatred of my sins and let me not dayly confess and yet as dayly renew them but grant O Lord that from this instant I may give a bill of Divorce to all my most beloved lusts and then be thou pleased to marry me to thy self in truth in righteousness and holiness And for all my past sins O Lord receive a reconciliation accept of that ransome thy blessed Son hath paid for me and for his sake whom thou hast set forth as a propitiation pardon all my offences and receive me to thy favour And when thou hast thus spoken peace to my soul Lord keep me that I turn not any more to folly but so establish me with thy grace that no temptation of the world the Divel or my own flesh may ever draw me to offend thee that being made free from sin and becoming a servant unto God I may have my fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Lord. A THANKSGIVING O Thou Father of Mercies who art kind even to the unthankful I acknowledge my self to have abundantly experimented that gracious propertie of thine for notwithstanding my dayly provocations against thee thou still heapest mercy and loving kindness upon me All my contempts and despisings of thy spiritual favours have not yet made thee withdraw them but in the riches of thy goodness and long suffering thou still continuest to me the offers of grace and life in thy Son And all my abuses of thy temporal blessings thou hast not punished with an utter deprivation of them but art still pleased to afford me