Selected quad for the lemma: soul_n
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A39515
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An Earnest exhortation from a minister to his parishioners to discharge the duty of morning and evening prayer in their families with a collection of prayers suited to those two seasons.
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1700
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Wing E97; ESTC R40391
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8,417
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AN EARNEST EXHORTATION FROM A Minister TO HIS PARISHIONERS To Discharge the DUTY of Morning AND Evening Prayer IN THEIR FAMILIES WITH A Collection of PRAYERS suited to those two SEASONS WORCESTER Printed by S. Bryan An Exhortation to Family PRAYER ALTHO' Prayer in Our Families is a Duty that we owe to Almighty God and is both reasonable in it self and highly advantagious to us yet 'tis to be feared that there are too many Families amongst us who are fallen into such a thoughtless State as to go on in a daily Neglect of it That you may not persevere in this Sin which is the Occasion of many other for want of Arguments to diswade you from it or for want of Helps to enable you to Discharge it as you ought I have put this small Book into your Hand and that God may make it Effectual to perswade and assist you to Discharge this Duty which is so Advantagious to your Souls is the Prayer of him who sincerely and heartily wisheth their Salvation To make you sensible of the Benefit of Praying to God in your Family I desire you to consider First The many Dangers to which we are Exposed and that we cannot by our own Skill or Strength avoid them The Body is liable to a hundred Diseases and many Accidents as Fatal and the Soul to infinite Temptations from the World the Flesh and the Devil and the only Security we have against Dangers is God's Providence and against Temptation the Assistance of his Grace which because we daily want we must daily pray for and 'tis great Encouragement for us to do so 2dly Because Christ hath promised his Presence with us Mat 18. 19 20. Where two or three are gathered together there am I in the midst of them He will be always ready to hear and assist the Prayers of good Men in what Place or at what time soever they are made more especially when they are sent up with united Hearts and Souls A Third Encouragement to Family Prayers is that it promotes Religion in them for no Member thereof can wholly forget God and another World while they are every Day reminded of both in Prayer Children are hereby trained up from their Infancy in a Habit of Devotion and Servants have an Opportunity of serving God their great Master every Day and by this means Parents and Masters Discharge God's strict Command of bringing up their Children and Servants in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord hereby they Plant in their Hearts a true sense of Piety and Devotion and they when they come to be Parents and Masters will teach their Children and Servants the same There is a general Complaint and I would to God there were no reason for it that the Age we now live in is most abominably Wicked that there is not only a Decay of Christian Piety but Mens Hearts are set upon Wickedness and though we may wish and Pray for a Reformation of Manners yet it cannot be expected till we and our Families keep the Lord's-Day more Holy and till we set up in our Families constant Morning and Evening Prayer for by this means the Spirit of Religion will be transmitted at least to the Generations to come 4thly Family-Prayers are a great Check to all the vicious Members in them for they will put them in mind that there is a God and another World and that those who Expect to be happy hereafter must daily beg of God that they may live Holy Lives whilst they are here This is the great End and Design of all our Prayers And although Persons who have long continued in a Habit of Sin may not heartily join with their more pious Brethren yet they will be thereby put in mind that where daily Prayers are continued in a Family it is in order to preserve them from Dangers and Temptations and to secure their everlasting Happiness after the Troubles and Miseries of this Life are ended and they may be brought sometime or other to believe that 'tis not safe for them to continue in those Sins which they hear their Fellow Christians Pray so heartily against every Day that God would deliver them from The Sermons of Ministers are through Prejudice Carelessness and Hardness of Heart soon forgotten But when the Thoughts of God and another World are thus daily renew'd in their daily Prayers they will be some Check to the wicked Inclinations and wicked Courses of desperate Sinners and I question not but many of them have been restrain'd and some reform'd from their Wickedness by living in such Families where daily Prayers have been kept up Fifthly As Family-Prayers are thus useful to reform the bad Members of it so are they an Excellent Means of Confirming those that are good and to cause them to persevere and grow in Grace and so to fit them more and more for Glory The Hearts of Men are generally inclin'd to what is Evil and averse to what is Good they are daily exposed to the Temptations of the World the Flesh and the Devil and too apt to be Overcome by them and therefore God hath made it our constant Work to watch and strive against them For the doing of this Effectually he hath enjoyn'd Reading and Meditating on his Holy Word and more especially daily Prayer for this Duty will be of the greatest Advantage to us as it tends to awaken our Care and Diligence in the Business of Religion and as it does if 'tis sincerely Perform'd effectually engage the Divine Assistance to second our Care and Endeavours and secure them from Miscarriage and without the aid of God's Spirit and his Blessing upon our Endeavours they will be ineffectual and signify nothing and this aid is not to be obtain'd without Prayer 'Tis this which invites this blessed Guest into our Souls and causeth him to enter in and dwell there and to make us more hearty and successful in our Endeavours after that Holiness without which we cannot see God And since our daily Prayers contain in them Confession of our Sins if we pray with Understanding and so as to mind what we are doing they will put us under a Necessity of daily Examination by which our Repentance will keep Pâ—ace with our Transgression we shall have a better Knowledge of our Spiritual State and we shall be better prepar'd to render up our Accounts when God doth call for them Sixthly By keeping up daily Prayers in our Families we shall more readily and more devoutly attend upon the Publick Service in the Church where all good Christians are oblig'd to meet on the Lord's day with united Hearts to render thanks for those Benefits which we have received at his Hands to set forth his most worthy Praise to hear his most holy Word and to ask those things that are requisite and necessary as well for the Body as the Soul For 'tis the same Spirit of Devotion that doth make us fit both for Publick and Private Prayer and happy is that Soul
who takes care to keep it up and will not suffer it to fall and languish as most certainly it will do for want of daily Exercise This is too evident amongst the poorer sort of People who having stupidly omitted the Duty of Prayer in their own House proceed at last to a total Neglect of it in God's Nor hath this Neglect of Family-Prayer only had this unlucky Influence on the Poor as to make them neglect Publick Prayer but it hath had almost as bad a one upon those who are of better understanding and better ability for some of them being strangers to the devout Performance of Prayers in their Families upon week days they do not perform it with that Spirit which they ought upon Sundays for their Hearts are cold and their thoughts as well as their Eyes are wandering Seventhâ—y In order to promote Prayers in your Families let me desire you to consider that dreadful imprecation upon those Families which are Prayerless Jer. 10 25. Pour out thy fury upon the Heathen that know thee not and upon the Families that have not called upon thy Name This Curse hath entred in a visible manner upon many Prayerless Families whom God in his Judgment hath given up to a reprobate Sense and vile Affections to commit all Uncleanness with greediness and fall from one Wickedness to another without any stop or restraint O let the dread of this Judgment prevail with you to set up Prayers in your Families that so you may prevent its falling on them Lastly Let us consider that there are terrible Days which will come and altho' our Prayers cannot prevent them yet by the constant and devout Exercise of Prayer we shall be better prepar'd for them and therefore our blessed Saviour doth most earnestly exhort his Disciples to this holy Exercise Luke 21. 34 35 36. Take heed to your least at any time your hearts be overcharged with Surfeitings and Drunkenness and the cares of this Life and so that Day come upon you unawares for as a snare shall it come upon all them that dwell on the face of the Earth watch ye therefore and Pray always that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of man So that watching and praying are the best Preparation against all evil Days that may come but more especially our greatest Support at those most terrible Days of Death and Judgment which certainly will come There are two Excuses which Men generally make for their omitting this Duty which I shall shew the Weakness and Insufficiency of First The want of Time Secondly The want of Ability to perform it First As for the want of time to perform it I beg you to consider whether 'tis not very unmannerly as well as very sinful to answer God when he calls you to Prayers I will come when I have nothing else to do And how would you take such an Answer from your Child or your Servant 〈◊〉 Besides you cannot spend any part of your Time better than in Prayer because that time which is thus spent will turn to your greatest Advantage both in respect of this Life and another For as it procures Gods Blessing upon you it will be a means of making you prosper in the World more than all your other Labours can without it and as it will promote the good of your Souls in the several respects before-mention'd 'twill turn to your highest and most unspeakable benefit hereafter Besides the Prayers that are here recommended to you will take up so very little time that it cannot be any considerable hind rance to those that work hardest and have most Business to do And I am sure no Man ought so to imploy his time for the Service of his Body as utterly to neglect his Soul And I am afraid there are many who every day spend more time than this Duty does require much worse And I earnestly beg you to consider how little this Excuse can avail with God Almighty when at the same time you make it your own Consciences must tell you that 'tis not true As for the Second hind rance of this Duty of Prayer that you want Ability to perform it as you ought I have for your assistance collected the following Prayers out of the Common-Prayer Book and the Prayer for Grace out of the whole Duty of Man and if you offer them up to God as our Church directs with an humble lowly penitent and obedient heart they will be an acceptable Morning and Evening Sacrifice to Him May all those for whose use this short Exhortation to Family-Prayer is Printed read it often and consider it seriously as a matter that Concerns the Good of their Souls and may as many as have not set up this Godly Practice in their Families put on a Resolution to begin it this Day and not any longer neglect that Duty which conduceth so much to promote the Glory of God and the Salvation of their Children and Servants Souls as well as of their own Prayers for MORNING LOrd we know not what to pray for as we ought O let thy blessed Spirit help our Infirmities and keep us from all cold desires and wandering Thoughts from Impenitence Uncharitableness and hardness of Heart and whatsoever may make them unacceptable to thee through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen ALmighty and everlasting God who hatest nothing that thou hast made and dost forgive the sins of all them that are penitent create in us new and contrite Hearts that we worthily lamenting our Sins and acknowledging our Wretchedness may obtain of thee the God of all Mercy perfect remission and forgiveness through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen ALmighty and most merciful Father we have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts We have offended against thy holy laws We have left undone those things which we ought to have done And we have done those things which we ought not to have done And there is no health in us But thou O Lord have mercy upon us miserable Sinners Spare thou them O God which confess their faults Restore thou them that are penitent According to thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord. And Grant O most merciful Father for his sake That we may hereafter live a godly righteous and sober life to the glory of thy holy Name Amen O Lord we beseech thee to hear our Prayers and spare all those who confess their Sins unto thee That they whose Consciences by Sin are accused by thy merciful Pardon may be absolved through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen O God who art the Author of Peace and Lover of Concord in Knowledge of whom standeth our eternal Life whose Service is perfect Freedom Defend us thy humble Servants in all Assaults of our Enemies that we surely trusting in thy Defence may not fear the Power of any Adversaries