God of thy bountiful goodness keep us we beseech thee from all things that may hurt us that we being ready both in Body and Soul may chearfully accomplish those things that thou wouldst have done through Jesus Christ our Lord. ALmighty and Everlasting God give us the increase of Faith Hope and Charity and that we may receive that which thou dost promise make us to love that which thou dost command through Jesus Christ our Lord. GRant to us Lord we beseech thee the Spirit to think and do always such things as be rightful that we who cannot do any thing that is good without thee may by thee be enabled to live according to thy will through Christ our Lord. LOrd of all Power and Might who art the Author and giver of all good things graft in our Hearts the Love of thy Name increase in us true Religion nourish us with all goodness and of thy great mercy keep us in the same through Jesus Christ our Lord. ALmighty God who hast given thine only Son to be unto us 〈◊〉 a Sacrifice for Sin and also an Ensample of Godly Life give us grace that we may always most thankfully receive that his inestimable Benefit and also daily endeavour ourselves to follow the blessed steps of his most holy Life through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. GRant O Lord we beseech thee that the course of this World may be so peaceably ordered by thy governance that thy Church may joyfully serve thee in all godly quietness through Jesus Christ our Lord. ALmighty and Everlasting God who hatest nothing that thou hast made and dost forgive the Sins of all them that are Penitent Create and make 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. WE humbly beseech thee O Father mercifully to look upon our infirmities and for the glory of thy name turn from us all those Evils that we most righteously have deserved and grant that in all our troubles we may put our whole trust and confidence in thy mercy and evermore serve thee in holiness and pureness of living to thy Honour and Glory through our only Mediator and Advocate Jesus Christ our Lord. O God who knowest us to be set in the midst of so many and great dangers that by reason of the frailty of our Nature we cannot always stand upright grant unto us such strength and protection as may support us in all dangers and carry us through all temptations through Jesus Christ our Lord. Our Father which art in Heaven Hallowed be thy Name c. EVENING PRAYERS LIghten our darkness we beseech thee O Lord and by thy great Mercy defend us from all Perils and Dangers of this Night for the love of thy only Son our Saviour Jesus Christ ALmighty and Everlasting God mercifully look upon our infirmities and in all our dangers and necessities stretch forth thy Righthand to help and defend us through Jesus Christ our Lord. ALmighty God who seest that we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our Souls that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the Body and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the Soul through Jesus Christ our Lord. O Lord we beseech thee mercifully 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 Christ our Lord. GRant we beseech thee Almighty God that we who for our evil deeds do worthily deserve to be punished by the comfort of thy grace may mercifully be relieved through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ ALmighty and Everlasting God who dost govern all things in Heaven and Earth mercifully hear the supplications of thy people and grant us thy peace all the days of our Life through Christ our Lord. O Lord who hast taught us that all our doings without Charity are nothing worth send thy Holy Ghost and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of Charity the very bond of Peace and of all virtues without which whosoever liveth is counted dead before thee grant this for thine only Son Jesus Christ's sake O Lord God most Holy O Lord most Mighty O Holy and most merciful Saviour deliver us not into the bitter pains of Eternal Death Thou knowest Lord the secrets of our Hearts shut not thy merciful Ears to our Prayers but spare us Lord most holy O God most mighty O holy and merciful Saviour thou most worthy Judge Eternal suffer us not at our last hour for any pains of Death to fall from thee O God whose blessed Son was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil and make us the Sons of God and Heirs of Eternal Life grant us we beseech thee that having this hope we may purifie our selves even as he is pure that when he shall appear again with power and great Glory we may be made like unto him in his Eternal and Glorious Kingdom where with thee O Father and thee O Holy Ghost he liveth and reigneth ever one God World without end GRant O Lord that as we are Baptized into the Death of thy Blessed Son our Saviour Jesus Christ so by continual mortifying our corrupt affections we may be buried with him and that through the Grave and Gate of Death we may pass to our joyful Resurrection for his Merits who died and was buried and rose again for us thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. O Lord who never failest to help and govern them whom thou dost bring up in thy stedfast fear and love Keep us we beseech thee under the protection of thy good Providence and make us to have a perpetual fear and love of thy holy Name through Jesus Christ our Lord. O Lord we beseech thee let thy continual pity cleanse and defend thy Church and because it cannot continue in safety without thy succour preserve it evermore by thy help and goodness through Christ our Lord. UNto God's gracious mercy and protection we commit our selves The Lord bless us and keep us The Lord make his face to shine upon us and be gracions unto us The Lord lift up his Countenance upon us and give us peace both now and evermore Our Father which art in Heaven hallowed be thy name c. Short PRAYERS fit to be learn'd by Heart and to be used by single Persons at any time LOrd have mercy upon me O God make clean my Heart within me And take not thy holy Spirit from me O Lamb of God that takest away the Sins of the World grant me thy Peace O Lord deal not with me after my Sins Neither reward me after mine iniquities Lord have mercy upon me and incline my Heart to keep thy Laws Grant that all Carnal affections may die in me and
things carry their own light with them and it must needs be the greatest stupidity to be wanting to our selves in a case where there are so many strict and weighty obligations 3. Besides these Works of Providence which relate mostly to this Life we are to consider the stupendious Work of Redemption whereby the great Lover of Souls hath done all that was on his part to do to prepare us for a Life Eternal And one would think this to be work enough for us all our days to Bless and Praise and Adore God for his unspeakable and infinite Love to lost Mankind in sending the Son of his Love the Lord Jesus into the World that whosoever believeth in him should not Perish The exemplary Holiness of Christ's Life his Death and Sufferings his Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven his sending the Apostles to preach the Gospel unto all Nations and the wonderful effusion of the Holy Spirit to render their Ministry successful and to be with the Church to the Worlds end these were glorious Methods whereby God carried on the great work of Redemption And as we ought with the most Devout Hearts to offer unto God daily our Sacrifices of Praise for these inestimable Blessings so should we Beg the continual Assistance and Increment of his Grace that we may make a due use of them lest the Death of Christ and the Preaching of his Gospel be all in vain to us and lest we make our selves Reprobates and Sons of Perdition at the last In the next Life there will be an end of Christ's Oeconomy He will deliver up this his Kingdom to the Father and then the state of every Man whether it be in Bliss or in Misery will be unalterable And how can we think of another World and not Pray unto God to Deliver us in the hour of Death and in the day of Judgment We cannot be such Fools as to think we shall live here for ever All of us must dye in our turns though Men are apt to put the Day of their Dissolution far from them yet sooner or later it will certainly come for it is appointed unto Man once to die and after that to be judged Heb. 9. 27. And how can we expect any happiness another day if either we do not think there is such a thing or do not think it worth our Prayers It will be most just for God to deny us that which we would not so much as ask for That certainly is the easiest and least thing we can do and if our Salvation be of such vast concernment that we must work it out with fear and trembling it must needs be the greatest folly in the World to expect it if we will not take no not such little pains for it as the Lifting up of the Heart and the labour of ones Lips amounts to 2. Having thus considered those Motives unto Prayer which are taken from God's Perfections and Works let us now proceed to those which may be drawn from the thing it self Prayer is a necessary and due acknowledgment of God's Sovereignty over all He knoweth all our Necessities whether we ask him or no He is privy to the very secrets of our Hearts though we pour not out our Complaints before him He understandeth our thoughts afar off and therefore he doth not stand in any need of our Supplications He hath appointed us to Pray to him that thereby we may admire him the Lord Paramount and that we may testifie our inward sense that our whole dependence is upon him that whatever we have we receive at his hands that he hath the supreme Propriety in all that we enjoy that the whole Earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof and for that Reason we are bound to do him Homage all people must fall down before him and all Nations must pay him service Prayer is the greatest Priviledge we poor Creatures have in this World That Dust and Ashes can speak freely to the God of Comfort that we can repair to him in all our Straits and most melancholy Circumstances that we can with confidence and safety open our very Hearts to him and acquaint him with our Condition that we can come with boldness to the Throne of Grace and that we can beg of God with a full assurance that we shall receive of him what we would have or that which is much better Prayer is a direct Instrument of Virtue and Holiness When we are at our Prayers we are or ought to be very serious and when we are so many serious thoughts are apt to fall in touching Death and Judgment touching Heaven and Hell touching the Purity and Omniscience of that Infinite Being we are speaking to and touching the vain and uncertain Condition of this World By this means our Hearts by degres come to be weaned from this World and to long for a Better our Minds are kept in continual Awe lest we offend God whose mercy and goodness is to bring us to it our Lusts cool and we are led to Repentance the Remembrance of our Sins and Follies becomes bitter Humility Charity and Meekness take possession of our Souls and we learn to be Patient to resign our selves up into the hands of God and to submit to his Heavenly will in all cases But nothing can be a greater Motive unto Prayer than the Power and Usefulness of it in the returns it makes us The effectual fervent Prayer of a righteous Man availeth much Jam. 5. 16. It hath wrought Miracles and though Miracles are ceased long ago yet God heareth still and never do we go away from the Throne of Grace empty if we pray as we should Many times God hears our Prayers and we are not sensible of it because we do not presently receive the very thing we desire But the request is Granted though it may not be actually Fulfilled at our own time and in our own way For wise and good reasons God doth defer the bestowing of the matter we crave for and sometimes exchangeth it and gives us a Better thing in lieu of it No Prayers miscarry if they be rightly Qualified or if they who offer them be rightly Disposed II And this brings me to that which we are to consider in the next place viz. After what way and manner this great and soâ—â—â—◠〈◊〉 of Religion ought to be perâ—â—â—â—â—â— I. And First When we are going to our Prayers we must be very careful to go with Souls purified from Sin by sincere Repentance For God heareth not Sinners John 9. 31. If I regard Iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me Psal 66. 18. He that turneth away his Ear from hearing the Law even his Prayer shall be abomination Prov. 28. 9. I will that men pray every where lifting up holy hands 1 Tim. 2. 8. where the Apostle alludes to a custom among the Jews instituted by God himself and observed anciently by most Nations of washing before Prayer Exod. 40. 32. A Mystical Rite
then in our Secular Affairs there be frequent occasions for Meditation there must needs be frequent opportunities for Prayer too at lest for Mental Devotion And how easie a matter is it for any man at the business of his Vocation to lift up his heart with some such Ejaculations as these O Lord dispose the way of thy Servant towards the attainment of everlasting salvation O Lord direct sanctifie and govern both my heart and body in the ways of thy laws and in the works of thy commandments Prevent me O Lord in all my doings with thy most gracious favour and further me with thy continual help I humbly beseech thee O Father mercifully to look upon my infirmities O Lord grant me such strength and protection as may support me in all dangers and carry me through all temptations O Lord create and make in me a new and contrite heart O Lord keep me both outwardly in my body and inwardly in my soul O Lord give unto me the increase of Faith Hope and Charity O God mercifully grant that thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule my heart We have a great number of such useful and holy Petitions in our Liturgy which if people would take but a little pains to fix in their Memories their hearts would be always ready ready for God ready with Sweet Incense to offer up to him so ready provided that honest Tradesmen in their very Shops painful Husbandmen at the Plough and the poorest Servants at the Mill would not be at a loss for some Godly Prayers to send to the Throne of Grace at every turn to be united to the intercessions of the Lord Jesus for us all III. But the best way to strengthen and increase in us a spirit of Devotion is constantly to attend the Publick Assemblies and to bear our parts in them at the House of God For this reason God loveth the Gates of Sion more than all the Dwellings or Private Houses of Jacob because at the Sanctuary the Prayers of his Saints are most fervent Thither we go to sing aloud unto God our strength to make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. There we meet together to offer up all our praises with one Heart and with one Lip There our Joynt Devotion conglomerates in its right Center There every one helpeth to inflame his own Zeal and his Brethrens also There spark mixeth with spark and all serves to set fire to the Sacrifice This therefore is the chief thing I would recommend to your Christian care and practice to attend with all possible diligence the publick and solemn service of God What a shame is it that the ways of Sion should mourn for want of comers to the Temple That the fire and the wood should be in a readiness and the Lambs be missing Men little think of those severe times when the Primitive Christians were wont rather than fail to rise up at Midnight and to steal and creep away into Holes and Caves to Pray and sing Praises together How joyful were all Pious Hearts in those peaceable times following when they saw Christian Churches erected and the Doors of them open so that they might without fear or danger enter in to worship God in the Beauty of Holiness What Multitudes thronged in to offer violence to the Kingdom of God in this sense and as Tertullian speaks to Beleaguer Heaven with a great Army And with Alacrity and Zeal did they send up their joynt Prayers when as St. Jerom tells us their Amen was like the noise of Thunder And how can we reflect on those happy Ages without lamenting the great Degeneracy of this when it is so hard a matter to perswade some people to repair though it be but once a day to the solemnities of God's Worship For God's-sake and your own Souls-sake let me at last perswade you What is Priest and Parish but one large Family and why should we not meet once aday especially I wish it might be oftner to pray unto God our Father to be Merciful and Gracious and provident for us all And where can we meet so properly so decently so conveniently as in our common Fathers House who hath called us all unto Hope and unto one Business Are our Families so little that we cannot spare so much as one out of an House to be Advocate and Intercessor for the rest Is the distance from the Church so great that you should count it more tedious then a Sabbaths Days journey Are our Sins so few and inconsiderable that there is no need of our Prayers for Pardon Is our business so urgent that we cannot spare a few minutes for the Honour of God and for the good of our Souls Have we lost no time that is necessary for us to redeem Our own safety and preservation and the Blessing of God upon all our Labours and the prosperity of the whole Kingdom are these such trifling things that we should not think it worth our while to step over our Thresholds to meet together at Prayer for them For God's sake let us in time lay to heart the things which thus manifestly belong to our Peace If nothing else can make us serious and thoughtful a Death-Bed will and then it may be too late because we may not be serious to good purpose Whether we shall be then true Penitents or truly Devout is a thing uncertain For it depends altogether upon the Grace of God and Men may Sin their time of Grace away Our safest course is to provide for Eternity betimes and not to harden our hearts but to hear the voice of God and to answer it with an Eccho of Prayers and Praises while it is yet called to Day And as many as walk according to this rule Peace be on them and Mercy and upon the whole Israel of God Amen Forms of PRAYER which may be used at Home every Morning and Evening daily MORNING PRAYERS O Lord our Heavenly Father Almighty and Everlasting God who hast safely brought us to the beginning of this day Defend us in the same with thy mighty power and grant that this day we fall into no Sin neither run into any kind of Danger but that all our doings may be ordered by thy governance to do always that which is righteous in thy sight through Jesus Christ our Lord. O Almighty Lord and Everlasting God vouchsafe we beseech thee to direct sanctify and govern both our Hearts and Bodies in the ways of thy Laws and in the works of thy Commandments that through thy mighty Protection both here and ever we may be preserved in Body and Soul through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ PRevent us O Lord in all our doings with thy most gracious favour and further us with thy continual help that in all our works begun continued and ended in thee we may glorifie thy Holy Name and finally by thy Mercy may obtain Everlasting Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. O Almighty and most Merciful
IMPRIMâ—â—â—â— October 24. 1692. A Practical Discourse UPON PRAYER By EDWARD PELLING D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to Their Majesties and Rector of Petworth in Sussex LONDON Printed by Edw. Jones for William Crooke at the Green-Dragon without Temple-Bar 1693. A Practical Discourse UPON PRAYER THere is not any one act of Religion which carries with it a more beautiful Lustre or which is of greater use to us in all manner of of respects or which is more strictly required by the Laws of God or better recommended to us by the practise of God's Saints especially by the most holy Example of our Blessed Saviour himself than that of Prayer And for this reason I think I cannot do a more becoming or better office than to discourse upon this Subject after a plain practical manner as fully and yet as briefly as I can By Prayer I mean now not only Supplication to God or the Asking and Begging at his hands all such things as we want both for our Souls and Bodies but in the largest sense of the word the Praising and Blessing of his Holy Name also and the giving him thanks for all those Benefits which we have already received from him And in discoursing upon this subject I shall proceed after this easie instructive method I. First I shall consider the Motives which serve to kindle and increase in us a Spirit of Devotion II. And then Secondly For the due performance of this great thing I shall shew the way and manner after which it is to be done Now there are several Motives unto Prayer which may be taken 1. Partly from the Consideration of God's Nature and Works and 2. Partly too from the Consideration of Prayer it self I. First The Greatness and Majesty of God is so infinite and he is so infinitely exalted above all things else that he deserves and is highly worthy of all manner of Adoration by reason of the Perfections and Glories of his Nature All worship is founded upon the real or at least supposed Dignity of the Object and the very blindest People in every Nation pay it because they believe that there is something above them and that the Being they worship is better and Greater than themselves We therefore to whom the true and ever-blessed God hath been pleased to reveal himself so plainly from Heaven should never fail in this part of our Duty to him because we know him to be the most Excellent Being in the World Higher than all that are in the Earth exalted far above all Gods or above the Highest Dignities Psal 97. 9. God hath so manifested himself in times past by his Prophets and in the last days by the Eternal Son of his Bosom that if People would but look upon him by Faith and with attentive Minds contemplate those admirable Glories wherewith he shines it would naturally move them to prostrate themselves before him and to offer up the affections of their Souls to him For the Reasons of our Devotions are in his own most perfect Nature and those perfections which we discover there do cast such a powerful infiueuce upon our Minds that they set the Faculties of the Soul presently on work and after a most kindly manner excite us to such acts of Adoration as are suitable to those apprehensions we have of the Divine Being As for instance The Notions we have of God are that he is Eternal Self-existent absolutely Perfect infinitely Happy full of Majesty Glorious in Holiness and that Heaven is his Throne and the Earth is his Footstool And if we would rightly consider this and consider withal what our own condition is what needy frail despicable and wretched things we are this alone would powerfully move us to fall down upon our Knees before him to praise and magnifie his Name to extol his Greatness and to worship him with all suitable Awe and Reverence Again We have this notion of God that he is about our Paths and about our Beds and understandeth all our ways that he seeth in Secret that he maketh manifest the Counsels of the Heart and that where two or three are gathered together in his Name there he is in the midst of them And how naturally doth the consideration of God's Omnipresence and Omniscience move us to pray every where unto him To pour out our Hearts before him in all our necessities and circumstances to call upon him and to speak to him with that sincerity of Heart with that attention of Mind with that fervency of Affection and with that modest humble and reverent Behaviour which becomes those who are under the Eye and in the presence and hearing of that infinite Being who searcheth the very Heart and Reins This Notion we have of God too that whatsoever he pleaseth that he doeth in Heaven and in Earth that he ordereth all things according to the Counsel of his own will and that he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy So that if any Man be more excellent than his Neighbour whether it be in Spiritual or in Temporal and Worldly respects it is God that makes the difference of his own good pleasure And doth not this lay very strict obligations upon us to seek his face evermore To be constant Supplicants at the Throne of Grace And to give the Lord most humble and hearty thanks for the Benefits and Blessings he is pleased to bestow upon us Again The notion of God signifies a Being infinitely wise that knows all our wants and what is best and most convenient for us infinitely Powerful that is able to answer all our necessities and infinitely Good that extendeth his mercies to all his Works and is particularly gracious to all that call upon him to all that call upon him faithfully And if we seriously consider that we depend upon his good Providence every moment of our Lives it would powerfully move us to have recourse unto him continually to open our hearts to him to lay our necessities before him importunately beseeching him to take us under his care and to supply us with all things needful both for Soul and Body Above all it would charm us into Devotion did we but consider how God loves every Soul which he hath created that as he is happy in himself so he desires that we too may be perfectly happy in him that all his Dipensations are in order to this great end that the very Duties he exacteth at our hands are intended to fit and prepare us for it that the very afflictions he lays upon us are to discipline us for Heaven and that all things work together for good to them that love him These considerations are enough to kindle in our hearts the most ardent affections towards him And where affection is there will be all chearful Obedience and there our Love of God will make us with readiness and zeal and pleasure of Mind express the sense we have of his great Goodness by the most devout Adorations It is for want of
a true sense of God that People are so seldom at Prayer so hardly drawn to it so cold and careless and as it were unconcerned at it Right apprehensions of his Nature and Perfections do naturally cast such an influence upon the mind as would soon set the Powers and Faculties of the Soul on motion if we would dispose our selves so as to be capable of those Divine impressions and if we would duly consider what God is in himself And for that purpose we should look every day for him in the Scriptures and contemplate those Beauties and Glories under which he is represented to us in the Scriptures for there we have a true Revelation of his Essence and Attributes there he is represented as a Being so Great and Holy so Immense and Glorious so Omnipotent and Omniscient so Wise and Powerful so Communicative Kind and Beneficent and in every respect so Amiable and Adorable that were there no other considerations this alone touching the transcendent Excellence of his Nature would be a strong Argument to move us to worship him daily in the beauty of Holiness II. If besides this we consider God in his Works and as he stands related to us under the notion of a Being in whom we Live and Move and have our own Being and to whom we owe all that we have all that we are and all that we expect and hope to be we shall find what a just Right Title and Claim he hath to our daily Devotion These Works of God are of three sorts 1. First His Creating and Forming of us in the Womb. By Virtue hereof he doth justly challenge and require all possible services from us as his peculiar Right and Due and it was for this end that he fashioned the several Members of our Bodies and endued us with Rational Souls that we should Glorifie him with our Bodies and with our Spirits And what can be more reasonable then that he who gave us Hearts should have them That he who Formed our Lips should be praised and magnified with them That we should Worship and Fall down and Kneel before that infinite Being which is our Maker I will praise thee O Lord saith the Holy Psalmist for this reason because I am fearfully and wonderfully made Ps 139. 14. And would to God every Man would seriously consider before he goes out of the World for what end and purpose he came into it 'T will be a very dismal thing in that day when the terrors of Death are about him to have the Torments of an Evil Conscience too and to remember with anguish and bitterness how many blessed Opportunities of Devotion he hath despised how much time he has thrown away upon Wicked or upon vain Employments which God sent him into the World to spend upon offices of Religion and for how many years together he hath dishonoured the Majesty of Heaven with those Faculties which were made to serve and Glorifie and Adore him Think often I beseech you of the Day of your dissolntion when the Dust shall return to the Earth as it was and the Spirit shall return unto God who gave it Lay up betimes a good treasure against that day Put not off Devotion as a work proper only for a Death-bed God alone knoweth how you will be disposed at that time They have not cryed unto me with their heart when they howled upon their Bed saith God Hosea 7. 14. Your Hearts may deceive you at your last Hour though you think your selves sure of them now A Life of Piety and Devotion cannot possibly deceive you It must needs save you many Tears and Groans and bitter Thoughts of Heart but it cannot cost you any to consider that you have remember'd the Creator from the days of your Youth 2. Another work of God by Virtue whereof he hath a just right to our Prayers and Praises is his Providence Hereby God preserves that Being which he first gave us supports our Faculties and supplies us with all things that are necessary and suitable to our Natures The Measures of God's Providence are not all equal or alike but it differs in its proportion according as things differ in Degree and Dignity It is general over all things and shews it self by conserving and sustaining every part of the Universe It is particular and special over Men who are the principal part of the sublunary World and as they are Evil or Good so doth God adapt and suit his Providence to them according to their respective conditions He tenders his Grace and Mercy even to the Wicked is Patient and Long-suffering towards them that the sense of his Goodness may lead them to Repentance Upon their sincere Repentance he Pardons them but if instead of hearkning to his Calls they continue obstinate and go on still in their Wickedness then he doth Punish and Plague them oftentimes makes them visible Examples of his Wrath and Vengeance even in this World and sometimes too delivers them up to a Reprobate mind which is the heaviest and forest Plague of all To such as make a due use of his Grace he giveth more These he Nurtureth and Loves as a Father doth his Children and indeed with much more tenderness and compassion He taketh a most especial care of them the very Hairs of their Heads are all numbred they want no manner of thing that is really good for them and though he doth suffer them sometimes to be evil intreated and hardly used here yet he never lets them go out of his hands but compensates their sufferings abundantly and makes all things work together for their good nor can any thing in this World be able to separate them from his Love And doth not all this make it Necessary for us to be conversant daily at the Throne of Grace Is it God that upholdeth us and are not we concerned to beseech him not to withdraw his arm from under us Is it of his meer Compassion and Mercy that we are not utterly consumed and shall we not Praise and Adore him for it Is it at his hands that we must receive every good and perfect gift and shall we not repair to him in all our Necessities Is the Sword Famine and Pestilence every calamity we feel and every Judgment we are afraid of are all these sent from God and are we not deeply concerned to deprecate his Vengeance Is it God alone that can forgive Sin and is it not our duty to Beg it upon our Knees Or have we not Sins to ask his Pardon for Have we no other wants to be supplyed Are there no Mercies that we stand in need of Have we no Souls nor Bodies to be provided for Are there no Evils we desire to be delivered from Are there no Dangers we would avoid Is not God's Protection Day and Night necessary to be desired Is not his special Grace and Favour to be Implored Or have we not received any Favours and Blessings to return him our Thanks for These