FORMS OF PRAYER FOR EVERY Day in the Week, MORNING and EVENING. Composed for the use of PRIVATE FAMILIES. By John Meriton D. D. Rector of St. Michael Cornhill London, and Lecturer at St. Martin's in the Fields. LONDON, Printed by H. H. for Robert Boulter, at the Turks Head in Cornhill, 1682. THE PREFACE. THat all Men are obliged to worship God by praising and praying to him, is so evident by the light of natural Reason, as well as the Revelation of Scripture, that none can question it, but they whose Immoralities and improved Debaucheries, have laid such a foundation of Atheism as makes them inclinable to deny the Being of God, and loath to acknowledge their dependence upon him, lest this should involve them in the dreadful consequence of their being accountable to him. And that men ought daily to pay this Homage and Tribute of Praise and Prayer unto God, as they stand linked in the relations of Families, though all readily grant, that are sensible of the Sins there committed that need his Pardon, of the many Temporal and Spiritual blessings either wanted and to be sought at his Hands, or enjoyed, and to be thankfully acknowledged, yet the too common neglect of Family Prayer is (it's to be feared, and he must have a very easy and credulous charity that can be otherwise minded) not only one of the many instances of the decay of Piety and Religion, but one of the provoking Sins that cry aloud, to Heaven for vengeance. It is no doubt by many totally omitted from an insensible stupidity, & an irreligious, profane disregard of God and their Duty; but by others not a few (as was well and charitably suggested by the Good Man that earnestly pressed me to this undertaking) only from a consciousness of their inabibility decently to perform it. Now that this might be neither a feigned pretence nor a real hindrance: But that they that like Joshua are willing and resolved to serve God with their Families, might have Materials of Devotion ready at hand; As the Water near the Road, offered itself to the Eunuch willing to be Baptised, I have for the help of such as can read, complied with my Friends desire, and composed a Form of Weekly Prayers, Morning and Evening. And though their length will not, I hope, be complained of by any whose leisure may allow, and whose Affections can vigorously attend one quarter of an hours solemn and religious Address to God: Yet in consideration of others multiplicity of Business, and that flatting and depression of Spirits that may follow from it; all the Prayers are printed in many distinct Paragraphs, that some of the Confessions or Petitions or both may easily, and without disturbing their Devotion, be passed over and the Prayer thereby so contracted as to suit their convenience: And I desire they would rather do so than wholly omit the Duty, for better a short Prayer than none at all. Lord's Day Morning. ALmighty, most high and holy, Lord God, who art the glorious Creator, Preserver, and Governor of all things in Heaven and in Earth, and most worthy to be praised, and honoured by all Creatures; And with infinite kindness and compassion hast redeemed lost, and undone Sinners, by thine only beloved Rom. 4. ult. Son, whom thou hast delivered to death for their offences, and raised again for their justification, and so thou art for ever to be loved, and delighted in, obeyed, and worshipped, praised and honoured by thy redeemed ones. We thy poor Creatures and Children are here before thee this Morning, humbly sensible of this our great and bounden duty, and of our own inability, without the assistance of thy Grace to perform it. And in a deep sense both of our duty and insufficiency, we desire to offer up our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to thy Divine Majesty, our mighty Creator, and most merciful Redeemer, and humbly desire that thou wouldst sanctify and prepare both our Souls and Bodies by the Grace of thy Holy Spirit, that we may present unto thee acceptable thank-offerings. We acknowledge, O Lord, that besides the sins of our Callings & common Employments, and even those of the Week last passed, whereby we have greatly offended thee, the sins of our holy duties, and our profanation of this thy holy day, have given thee a just provocation to withdraw the grace of thy good Spirit from us, and leave us to the ignorance and vanity of our own minds, the wander and distractions of our thoughts, the earthliness and sensuality of our affections, the hardness, impenitency and unbelief of our hearts: And then by all the duties of thy Worship and Service we should dishonour thee, and by offering the Sacrifices of Fools, increase our own guilt before thee. But we humbly beseech thee, most merciful Father, forgive us all our past offences, that they may not stand as a partition Wall between thy Majesty and us to hinder either thy Grace from coming down upon us as Rain upon the tender Herb, or our Prayers from coming up before thee as Incense. Fill every one of our hearts with awful thoughts of thee, as a God that searchest hearts, and art throughly acquainted with our most secret imaginations, dispositions and purposes; and because thou art a God of purer Eyes than to behold iniquity, Let us worship thee with an holy worship; so as to fear thy Goodness, and love thy Justice, to delight in thy Mercy, trust and rely upon thy Power and Faithfulness, to admire, praise and imitate thy Holiness. In the public Duties and Services of this thy Day, help us so to join with the Assembly of thy Servants, that our hearts may be inflamed with a love of thee, and delight in thee, and in the vigour and fervency of devout affections, we may together glorify thy holy and great Name, set forward our own edification, and comfort, and advance in those ways of holiness that lead to everlasting happiness: And seeing in great mercy and compassion to our Souls thou art pleased to continue to us thy Sabbaths, and the use of thine ordinances, which by our many and great sins we have long since forfeited, Let us not, like Children sitting in Mat. 11. 16. the Marketplace, trifle away the precious opportunities and means of Grace and Salvation. Help us seriously to consider, when we are in thine House, the Habitation of thine Holiness, Psal. 26. 8. and the place where thine Honour dwelleth, the glorious Majesty, and spotless perfect purity of that God with whom we have to do, and let us behave ourselves in thy sacred and dreadful presence, with that reverence, and holy fear, that humility, and lowliness of mind, that simplicity, and godly sincerity, that heavenly mindedness, and purity of affection, that firm constancy of resolution to devote ourselves to thee, by our hearty obedience to thy Laws, as it becomes dust and ashes, vile Creatures that dwell in houses of Clay, when they worship and do homage to that Sovereign Majesty, the Throne of whose Glory is in the highest heavens. Let us hear thy holy Word, that shall be read and preached to us, as the Oracles of God, and those Divine Messages which thou hast sent us from Heaven to guide us in the ways that lead thither. Let us hearken to it with diligent attention, embrace it with holy and heavenly affections, rejoicing in the Promises, dreading the threaten, loving and practising the commands of it, let us receive it with meekness and mix it with Jam. 1. 21. Faith, that it may be an engrafted Heb. 4. 2. word to the salvation of our Souls. And as the Rain Isa. 55. 10, 11. cometh down, & the Snow from Heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the Earth, and maketh it bring forth Fruit, and bud, that it may give seed to the Sour, and bread to the eater; So let not thy Word, that goeth forth out of thy mouth, return to thee void, but accomplish that which thou pleasest, and prosper in the thing whereto thou hast sent it. Help us to pray in faith and fervency, let all our petitions be addressed to the Throne of thy Grace, in the prevailing name of thy dear Son, and by the efficacy of thy holy Spirit, the Spirit of Supplication: And that the Prayers that we shall this day send up to Heaven may find a gracious acceptance with thee, Let the holy Ghost make intercession Rom. 8. 26. in our hearts, by exciting holy, humble, earnest and hearty desires, and let our blessed Redeemer make intercession in Heaven, and sweeten all the displeasing unsavoriness of our Flesh, with the Perfume Rev. 8. 3. of his Incense. Let us give thanks unto thee with our whole hearts, and let all that is within us magnify and praise thy Name, as for all thy mercies to our Souls and Bodies, for this Life and a better, so especially for our Redemption, by the precious death and Sufferings of thy Son, and finishing that glorious work, by the raising him from the Dead. Raise up our Souls, O Lord, to the highest pitch of hearty thankfulness in the remembrance and sense of those inestimable benefits, that redound to us and thy whole Church from this great and alsufficient Redeemer. And help us so to sing praises to thee and to the Lamb that sits with thee upon thy Throne, that by praising thee on Earth, we may tune and prepare our hearts for those glorious and triumphant Praises, that in Heaven will be the business and happiness of thy Saints, to all Eternity. Let us so carry ourselves this whole day, as remembering thou hast separated and sanctified it to thine own service, and made Religion, which is the great Work of every day, the more proper and peculiar employment of this. Let us therefore make a difference betwixt the thoughts, the words, the practices of other days, and this which thou hast set apart to different purposes, and so sanctify this day of holy Rest, and make it our delight, that we may be sanctified and fitted for that perpetual Rest that remains for thy People, and satisfied with those Rivers of Psa. 16. ult. Pleasures, that are at thy Right Hand for evermore. Bless, we beseech thee, thy whole Church, and that part of it especially which thou hast planted in these Kingdoms. Pardon our many Sins, and remove far away from us whatever may provoke thy displeasure, unsettle our foundations or disturb our peace. Let thy Servant, our Sovereign Lord the King, find favour in thine Eyes, So bless Him in His Person, in His Counsels and Erterprises, that upon his Head His Crown may long flourish, and His Government be a public Blessing to these Kingdoms. Govern those that govern under Him in Church and State, and let all His Subjects in their several Orders and Stations, do what lies in them, to the healing of our wide Breaches, the restoring of Christian Love and Charity, the establishment of Truth and Eph. 4. 3. Righteousness, and keeping the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace. Let all afflicted one's in what kind soever, find thy gracious hand ready for their relief and succour, and by the more immediate working of thy holy Spirit, supply the want of thy public ordinances to all that desire them, and are by Imprisonment, Banishment, Sickness or any other hindrance deprived of them, & let us that by thy special favour, are blessed with the rich and in estimable privilege enjoying them, carefully improve them to a growth in Grace, and the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, to an increase of Faith and all godliness, till we come to the full and perfect happiness of an immediate enjoying thee without them in thy heavenly and everlasting Kingdom, by thy dear Son Jesus Christ our ever blessed Redeemer, through whose Merit and Mediation, and in whose Form of Words, we are bold to call thee Father, saying, Our Father which art in Heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy Will be done in Earth, As it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily Bread. And forgive us our Trespasses, As we forgive them that Trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from Evil: For thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, And the Glory, For ever and ever. Amen. Lord's Day Evening. EVer blessed, and gracious Lord God, and in Jesus Christ our loving and merciful Father, and most liberal and openhanded Benefactor, from whose favour, and kindness, we have all the good things that we receive in this Life, and the hopes of a better to make us everlastingly happy in the next. We thy poor Servants acknowledging our manifold unworthiness of the least of thy mercies, and the guilt of those sins, whereby we have made frequent forfeitures of them, are here before thee, to offer up to thee our Evening Sacrifice of hearty praise and thanksgivings for all those blessings that with a most free and unwearied bounty thou hast been pleased to confer upon us, and continue to us. Thy hand hath form us in the Womb, given us Life, and Breath, and Being, and having brought us into the World, bestowed on us many conveniencies of Life, that have made our Being in the World easy and delightful to us: Thine, O Lord, is our health and strength, our ease and liberty; thine the Air we breath in, and the Earth we tread upon, thine our Food and our Raiment, the Sun that shines to give us Light, and the Rain that falls to give us plenty, thine the use of our Limbs, and thine the exercise of our Understanding and Reason. And we bless thy Name for all those outward and temporal blessings, the multitude whereof, (such is thy goodness) makes us unable to recount them, and whose daily repetition, that should heighten our esteem of them, and thankfulness for them, makes us (such is our folly and weakness) too apt to undervalue them. But above all we adore, and with our highest and heartiest praises, desire to magnify thy rich and free Grace for spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ Jesus our Lord, that tend to the renewing us after thy likeness in this life, and the satisfying of us with it in the life to come. We bless thee for that inestimable gift, the Foundation of all others, the Son of thy dearest love, and everlasting delight, whom in a tender compassion to our Souls, thou hast sent into the world to be our Redeemer and Saviour, that when we had by our sins ruined and undone ourselves, and were so liable to thy severe displeasure and insupportable vengeance, that no creature in Heaven or Earth could deliver us from it, it pleased thee in thine infinite goodness, to find out, and in thy mercy to afford us in him an admirable and unthought of way of recovery. Now, O Lord, we know thou lovest us, and hast a favour and good will towards us, seeing thou hast not withheld thy Son, thine only Son from us. Ever blessed be thy Name, that thy Son, who is God over all, blessed for ever, took upon him our humane Flesh; that while he lived here upon Earth, he instructed us, both by his heavenly doctrine and exemplary life, that he gave himself to Death as the price of our Redemption, that he completed that great work, in his powerful and glorious Resurrection, wherein he conquered and triumphed over all the powers of darkness, and hath begotten us again to a lively hope of an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, 1 Pet. 1. 3, 4. that fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven for us. We praise thee, that, when he had wrought a perfect Righteousness for us upon Earth, he ascended up to Heaven, & sits at thy right hand to represent and plead it on our behalf, by his prevailing intercession; that when he ascended up on high, he led captive those spiritual enemies that held us in captivity, and for the Eph. 4. 11. edification of his Church gave gifts unto Men, Apostles and Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers. That thou hast Psal. 119. 10 given thy holy Word to be a Lamp to our Feet, and a Light to our Paths, and when many Nations sit in Darkness and the Regions of the Shadow of Luk. 1. 78, 79. Death, the day spring from on high hath visited us, to guide our Feet into the way of Peace. We give thee our humble and hearty thanks, that thou still keepest open the doors of thy Sanctuary, that for our unfruitfulness thou mightest have shut and barred against us, and notwithstanding our vile unworthiness, thou graciously admittest us to Communion with thyself in thy public Ordinances, the Reading and Preaching of thy Word; Prayers to and Praises of thy Name, and the participation of thy holy Sacraments, wherein thou dost lively represent the Death of thy Son, and to all worthy Receivers dost firmly assure and convey the precious benefits of it, and bind them to walk answerably to them. And we further thank thee with enlarged hearts, O our heavenly Father, for all the promises of thy Covenant, which thou hast sealed with the Blood of thy Son; and given unto us that we might by them be the more encouraged in an holy 2 Cor. 7. 1. obedience, cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the Flesh and Spirit, and perfecting holiness 2 Pet. 1. 4. in thy fear, be made partakers of the Divine Nature. We can never enough magnify thy mercy and goodness that thou hast made our duty to be a part of our happiness, and that it is not only necessary but best for us to love and fear, trust and serve, obey and honour thee, and that we are not only bound to be sober and temperate, meek and patiented, just and charitable, but much better by being so. And what thanks can we render to thee, who in consideration of our weakness and slugglishness to the performance of our duty, hast not only set before us the lively and encouraging examples of thy Saints and Martyrs, but assisted and enabled us by the grace of thy holy Spirit, that our sufficiency 2 Cor. 3. 5. hath been of thee, who of ourselves have not been sufficient to think a good thought, and for the Reward of those Graces and Duties that are the Fruits of thy Spirit working in us, hast promised such a glory and happiness in the world to come, as surpasses not our desires only, but our thoughts and conceptions? We further glorify thy great Name, O Lord, that thy rich and free Grace hath been the only motive to the bestowing all thy Mercies upon us, guilty and wretched sinners, that our unworthiness hath not hindered the streaming forth of thy goodness, but thy goodness hath born away before it all consideration of our unworthiness; And O how admirable in themselves, and how obliging to us are all those favours and kindnesses, which not only without our merits, but notwithstanding our deserts of wrath and vengeance, thou hast conferred upon us, bold and provoking Rebels! We are, O Lord, as thy Creatures, infinitely below thee, but as Sinners we have foolishly opposed and set ourselves against thee; we have broken thy holy Laws, abused thine abundant Mercies, slighted the tenders of thy Grace, dishonoured and crucified afresh our great and merciful Redeemer, resisted and grieved thy holy Spirit, profaned and polluted thy Sabbaths and Ordinances, that are both the Pledges and means of thy Grace and Favour. And were there no other Sin upon our account, but of these thy days and the holy duties of them, they might for ever fill our Faces with shame, and lay us under thy wrathful displeasure. We have come unprepared to thy solemn worship, and with unhallowed hearts entered the Sanctuary and approached the presence of the most holy God, we have been heedless and unattentive hearers of thy holy Word, remembering little of what we have heard, and practing less of what we have remembered; we have been flat, and unaffected in offering up thy praise, and our hearts have been earthly, dull and distracted in our Prayers, how often have we turned our Backs upon thy holy Table judging, ourselves unworthy of the precious benefits that are there tendered; or if we have not altogether neglected the sacred Ordinance, we have not, as we might have done, grown in the graces and the comforts of thy holy Spirit by it. How seldom have we been seriously exercised in Meditation, and either so recollected thy Mercies, as to become sensible of our obligation by them, or so thought on our ways, as Psal. 119. 59 ●… to turn our feet unto thy Testimonies. Forgive us, O Lord, we pray thee all our past offences, and as the best assurance of our forgiveness, let us not so offend any more. Graciously guide us into the ways of truth and holiness, and that we may always fear thee, let us set ourselves continually in thy presence, and so observe and stand in awe of thine allseeing Eye, that all our evil thoughts, words and actions may be scattered by it. Let us die with Christ in the crucifying of our Flesh, with its affections and lusts, and rise with him to a life of holy and new obedience; that as Christ being raised from the dead Rom. 6. 9 dieth no more, so being risen with him, we may wilfully sin no more, but run the race of thy Commandments, till at length we receive the prize of a glorious and incorruptible inheritance. Extend thy mercy and goodness to all the Sons of Men, and let the Kingdoms of the World, that are ignorant of thee and thy Salvation, behold the light of thy glorious Gospel, and become obedient to the Sceptre of thy Son. Bless thy whole Church, scatter the Mists of Ignorance and Error, heal the breaches of Schism and Division, quench the Wildfire of Strife and Contention; cleanse the Spots of Profaneness, and Superstition that defile and deform it; and make thy Zion the Beauty and the joy of the whole Earth. Be gracious to these sinful Nations, forgive those many and great sins, that have pulled down thy heavy Judgements upon us, and still provoke thee more and more to punish us, and particularly pardon, we pray thee, our wicked and scandalous profanation of this thy day, our unthankfulness for the light of thy blessed Gospel, and walking unsuitably to the principles of that holy Religion that hath been of a long time publicly taught and professed among us. Wash us throughly Psal. 51. 2. from our Iniquities, and cleanse us from our Sins, and grant that by unity, and charity, and holiness of life, we may glorify thy great Name, evidence the truth of our Christianity, and adorn the Gospel of God our Saviour. Continue thy Gospel among us, defeat and overthrow the evil designs of bloody and deceitful Men that would pervert the truth of it, by mixtures of Superstition and Idolatry; and let all that Psal. 40. 16. love thy Salvation, say continually, let the Lord be magnified. Guide and guard, bless and protect thine Anointed Servant our Sovereign Lord, King Charles; let his days be many, his Counsels wise and religious, his erterprises successful, his Reign happy to himself and all his Subjects: Cloth his Enemies with shame, and upon his head Psal. 132. 18. let his Crown flourish, let the Bishops and Pastors of thy Church further the edification of it, by soundness of Doctrine, and holiness of Life; and Magistrates cherish, and defend it by the encouragement of all virtue and goodness, and the punishment and suppression of all vice and ungodliness; and let all men follow after peace and holiness, without which Heb. 12. 14. none shall see the Lord. Refresh and support the Sons and Daughters of Sorrow, and in the multitude of their Psal. 94. 19 thoughts within them, let thy comforts delight their Souls. Be gracious and favourable to us that are here before thee, forgive us all our Sins and remember not against us those iniquities that have this day polluted our holy offerings; defend and protect us this night, from all those dangers and mischiefs that might overtake us, and let us find safety under the shadow of thy wings; refresh our frail Bodies with a quiet and moderate rest, and help us in the renewed strength of it, vigorously to serve thee in a faithful discharge of the duties of the next day; and all our days let us live to thee, that in the end of them we may live with thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who hath taught and commanded us when we Pray, to say; Our Father which art in Heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy Will be done in Earth, As it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily Bread. And forgive us our Trespasses, As we forgive them that Trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from Evil: For thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, And the Glory, For ever and ever. Amen. Monday Morning. O Most mighty, Lord God, and merciful Father, the Author of our Being, both Bodies and Souls, and the Giver of every good Gift, that may tend to the benefit and happiness of both our Souls and Bodies, we thy poor and most, unworthy Servants are here before thee this Morning, thankfully to acknowledge thy great goodness, in all the blessings we enjoy, for this Life and a better, humbly to implore thy mercy in the free pardon of all our Sins, and earnestly to beg the grace of thy holy Spirit, that we may faithfully discharge the duties of pardoned Sinners, and answer the Obligations thou hast laid upon us by thy manifold blessings. We bless thy holy and great Name, as for all Spiritual and Temporal blessings bestowed on us through thy Son, so particularly for all the ordinances of the Gospel and the privileges of thy House yesterday enjoyed, and for the safety and quiet rest, and refreshment of the last Lam. 3. 22. night; acknowledging it to be of thy mercies that we are not consumed, and because thy compassions fail not, for hadst thou rewarded us after our Iniquities, we had long since been incapable of any the least blessing, and had been punished with utmost and everlasting misery. We confess, O Lord, there hath on thy part been nothing wanting that might work in us a Conformity to thy Will, but there hath wanted on ours, a care to please thee and a fear to offend thee, a love and delight in thee, and a steadfast purpose to give up ourselves to the obedience of thy heavenly Laws: And which hath made us more remiss and negligent, we have not firmly believed the excellent and glorious things thou hast promised upon a compliance with thy Will, nor the fearful and insupportable punishments, which thou hast threatened to our disobedience. We have with great folly over desired, over loved, over trusted to, and over delighted in the things of this World, which cannot profit us, nor in the least promote our spiritual interest, or eternal happiness, whilst we have been Mat. 6. 33. careless and negligent in seeking thy Kingdom and righteousness, though for our encouragement to do that in the first place, thou hast graciously promised that all the conveniencies of life shall be added unto us. How have vain transitory profits and pleasures drawn off our hearts from the love of thee, who alone canst make us happy, and from a delight in thy Laws, in the keeping of which there Psal. 19 11. is great reward? We have with too great care pampered our vile bodies and made provision Rom. 13. 14. for our flesh, to fulfil the lusts of it, and with too little provided for our Souls, and secured their happiness in the future state. We have misemployed the Talents entrusted with us, in the service of Sin, and abused to thy dishonour, our time, and opportunity of doing good; our health and strength, our ease, and liberty, our credit and plenty, the members of our Bodies, the faculties of our Souls, which being received from thy bounty, should all have been improved to thy glory; nor have we remembered the great day of reckoning, wherein we must give an account of our Stewardship, and Luk. 16. 2. be no longer Stewards. We acknowledge, O Lord, that we are guilty Sinners, unable to help ourselves, and unworthy that thou shouldst help us; our own consciences condemn us, and thou mightest 1 John. 3. 20 much more condemn us, for thou knowest more by us than we do by ourselves, and art greater than our consciences. But, O God, be merciful to us, and spare us, in the multitude of thy tender compassions: Thou that hast promised pardon and forgiveness to all repenting Sinners, work in us, we beseech thee, a serious and unfeigned repentance, and let us thereby obtain remission of Sins: And by a true and lively faith in our Lord Rom. 3. 24, 25. Jesus Christ, whom thou hast set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, justify us freely by thy Grace, and let not any of our sins be charged upon us to our condemnation. But let us by his Merits and Righteousness be so delivered from the guilt of them, that we may serve thee in righteousness Luk. 1. 75. and holiness before thee, all the days of our life: And grant that as Christ died for us, that were dead in sin, and under a sentence of death for it, we may not henceforth live unto ourselves, but unto him which 2 Cor. 5. 15. died for us and risen again. Guide our Feet into those ways of righteousness and peace, temperance and sobriety, mercy, meekness and charity, that are wellpleasing to thee, and guard us against the temptations of the World, the Devil and our own naughty Hearts, that we never departed from them. Let a continued sense of thine Omnipresence and allseeing Eye, make us upright and sincere, in the discharge of every duty; careful and vigilant for the avoiding of every sin, firm and constant in the resisting every temptation; let us so set thee always before us, that thou being at our right hand, Psal. 16. 8. we may not be moved. Heb. 13. 9 Keep us steadfast in thy truth, and when many are carried about with divers and strange Col. 2. 7. doctrines; let us be more and more rooted and established in the faith, by bringing forth the fruits of righteousness. And 2 Pet. 1. 5, 6, 7. add to our faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity; v. 8. that these things being in us, we may not be barren, and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, but an entrance may be ministered v. 11. unto us abundantly into his everlasting Kingdom. Let the whole race of mankind find favour in thine eyes, and let the glorious light of the Luk. 1. 79. Gospel of Salvation shine upon them that sit in darkness, and the regions of the shadow of death. Let the people praise Psal. 67. 3. thee, O God; let all the people praise thee; call home the Jews, thine ancient people, accomplish the promised fullness of the Gentiles, that the whole Church may be in Christ, as one Sheepfold under one Shepherd. O be gracious and favourable unto Zion, and build up the decayed and ruinous Walls of thy Jerusalem. Free thy Church from all Heresy, Profaneness, Schism, Superstition and Idolatry, and whatever is displeasing in thy sight, and a blemish of the blessed Gospel of God, her Saviour. Keep the Vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, from all its enemies that would pull up the Hedges thereof, and lay it waste; water Isa. 27. 3. it every moment, lest any hurt it, keep it night and day. Bless these Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland, forgive those many and crying Sins that might make us desolate without Inhabitants, and let every one of us that have added to the great weight of wickedness, and made it heavy enough to sink us into utter ruin, turn from the evil of our ways, and by an hearty repentance, and real reformation stand in the gap, and stop those Judgements that are gone forth against us, and entering in at our wide breaches to destroy us: Amend us by thy just severities and merciful salvations, and let both thy punishments and preservations of us, lead us into the ways of righteousness. Bless with thy richest blessings our Sovereign Lord the King, preserve him, as thou hast done wonderfully heretofore, from the malice and subtlety, the mischievous Plots and Combinations of his Enemies, and let him so remember the deep distress out of which thou hast drawn him, and the high authority wherein thou hast placed him, that in all his actions & designs, he may promote thy honour and glory, and all 1 Tim. 2. 2. that are under him may lead quiet and peaceable lives, in all godliness and honesty. Let the Bishops and Pastors of thy Church, further truth and holiness by their life and Doctrine; and civil Magistrates discountenance and suppress all wickedness; and encourage virtue and goodness, and not bear the Sword in vain. And let all from the highest to the lowest, so carry themselves, as that thou mayest be glorified, true Religion advanced, the Gospel of Christ honoured, and Truth and Peace may be established among us. Let all that are Sick, pained, or impoverished, distressed either in Body or Mind, find thy gracious hand to sweeten and sanctify their Afflictions, and in thy good time to deliver from them. Bless us, O our God, that are here before thee, direct, assist and prosper us in all that we this day set our hand unto; and let us not undertake any business, but what thou hast warranted by the rules of Righteousness, and upon which we may desire and expect thy blessing: Guide us by thy Counsel, till Psal. 73. 24. thou bring us to thy Glory, by Christ Jesus our only Lord and Saviour, who in compassion to our Infirmities hath taught us thus to pray; Our Father which art in Heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy Will be done in Earth, As it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily Bread. And forgive us our Trespasses, As we forgive them that Trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from Evil: For thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, And the Glory, For ever and ever. Amen. Monday Evening. BLessed and holy Lord, God, who madest all things by thy Power, and rulest all things by thy Providence, and fillest all places by thy presence, art about our Bed, and about Psal. 139. 3. our Path, and spyest out all our Ways; we thy poor Creatures most hearty beseech thee that thou wouldst fill every one of our hearts with an awful sense of thee, and an humble sincerity in our approaches to thee, that laying aside all guile and hypocrisy, we may draw near thee Heb. 10. 22. with a true heart and worship thee, that desirest truth in the in Joh. 4. 24. ward part, in Spirit and in Truth. We thankfully acknowledge our dependence upon thee, and that our lives, and all the comforts of our lives are the effects of thy bounty and goodness thy hands have both made and fashioned us in the Womb, and brought us into the World, and ever since we saw the Light, thou hast all along opened thine hands, and filled us with variety of good things; though for our many and great sins thou mightest have left us naked and miserable, and brought upon us all the punishments, that the threaten of thy holy and righteous Law have made justly due to the Transgressor's of it; and had thy ways been as the ways of a Man are, or thy thoughts towards us like unto our thoughts, we had long since been past the Thank-offering of Praise, the benefit of Prayer and the hope of Pardon; for our transgressions have been multiplied against thee; and our Iniquities have gone over Psal. 38. 4. our Heads, as a burden too heavy for us. The corruption of our nature is opposite to thy holy Law, that requires no less holy principles than holy practices, and by the transgressions of our lives, we have broken it in thought, word and deed. We confess, O Lord, with sorrow and shame, our ignorance of thy will, and in many things our acting contrary to the knowledge we have had of it, our pride, earthliness and hypocrisy; our injustice, uncharitableness and sensuality; our inordinate self-love, eagerness in the pursuit of worldly things, and indifferency in matters of Religion; our impenitency and unbelief, the hardness of our hearts, notwithstanding all the ways and methods thou hast taken to soften them; our unthankfulness for all thy mercies, our incorrigibleness under all thy chastisements, our unfruitfulness under the means of Grace, our unfaithfulness under all our vows and promises, and resolutions of service and obedience. We have sinned against a clear revelation of thy Will, and against the greatest obligations to compliance with it, against the expressions of a tender kindness in thy multiplied mercies, and the evidence of a righteous severity in thy justly deserved chastisements; we have sinned against thine inviting promises and dreadful threaten, against the frequent warnings of thy Word, the renewed motions and powerful convictions of thy Spirit, and the precious blood of thy dear Son; we have sinned against the light of our understandings, against our promises and purposes of obedience, against the checks of our own consciences; we cannot recount the number of our sins, they are so exceeding many, nor set in order the aggravating circumstances, whereby they are become exceeding sinful. But, O Lord, have mercy upon Psal. 51. 1. us, according to thy loving kindness: according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out our transgressions; Help us to forsake our sinful Isa. 55. 7. thoughts and crooked ways, and by unfeigned repentance to return unto thee, that thou mayest have mercy on us and abundantly pardon us. Speak peace to us, most merciful Father, through the death and sufferings of thy dear Son, who gave up himself in Sacrifice to expiate the guilt of our sins, and by that precious ransom to buy off the punishment that was due to our transgressions; O sprinkle our consciences with that blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things Heb. 12. 24. than the blood of Abel; work in us a true and lively faith, that we may be justified and have Rom. 5. 1. peace with thee, through our Lord Jesus Christ: For though we have no righteousness of our own that we dare plead to the strictness of thy Law, and the severity of thy Justice, thou hast treasured up an alsufficient righteousness in thy Son; that believing in him we may be pardoned, and through his stripes be healed. And let thy pardoning mercy be accompanied with thy purifying grace, that we may be both delivered from the guilt and punishment of our sins, and cleansed from the filth, and impurity of them. And as our Lord Christ died unto sin to condemn it in the flesh, let us die unto sin to crucific it in ours, that it may never reign in our mortal bodies, that we Rom. 6. 10, 11, 12. should obey it in the lusts thereof. Help us, heavenly Father, to put off the old man, which is corrupt according to deceitful Eph. 4. 22, 23, 24. lusts, and to put on that new man which is created after thine own image, in righteousness and true holiness, and as by the natural birth, we have in sin and corruption born the image of the first Adam, that was made a living Soul, so let us by the spiritual birth, in sanctification and holiness, bear the image of the second Adam, that was made a quickening Spirit. Give us a new Ezek. 36. 26, 27. heart, and put within us a new Spirit; take away the stony heart out of our flesh, and give us an heart of flesh; put thy Spirit within us, and cause us to walk in thy Statutes, that we may keep thy Judgements and do them. Wean our hearts from an excessive and inordinate love of all the things of this World, and let us never place our happiness in the pomps and pleasures, the profits and honours, or any transitory enjoyments of this Life, where we are told not only in thy Word, but by our own experience, it is not to be found; but let us weep, as though we wept not, and 1 Cor. 7. 30, 31. rejoice as though we rejoiced not, and buy as though we possessed not, and use this World as not abusing it, because the fashion of this World passeth a-away. Let us never adventure upon sin with the foolish and deceitful hopes of getting any thing by it, but let our minds be influenced with the great and certain truth of what our Saviour hath taught us, that the gaining of the whole World, can be 〈◊〉 16. 26. no recompense for the loss of our Souls. Let the great and strict account, that we must ere long make be often in our serious thoughts, and the course of our Lives be thereby so ordered that we may think of it with a joyful expectation, and never allow ourselves to do, to speak or think any thing, that may make the thoughts of the day of Judgement a terror to us. Let us so obey the Laws of our great Lord and Saviour, and follow the steps of his example, that when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, we may lift up our heads with joy, and appear with Col. 3. 4. him in glory. Show forth the favour and loving kindness of a Father, to all the Children of Men, and as thou hast made them capable of eternal life and happiness, make known unto them the way of thy Salvation that leads unto it. Let the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his Mal. 4. 2. Wings, and dispel the darkness of Heathenish and Mahometan Superstition and Idolatry, that the Kingdoms of the Earth may become the Kingdom of thy Son. Bless thy whole Church, and let the company of the Faithful that thou hast incorporated and knit together as one Body in thy Son, by thy Grace be descended, and preserved, enlightened and instructed, ordered and governed, purged and sanctified, and let the Ordinances of Christ be so administered, and his Laws observed, as may become the Spouse and Body of thy Son. Be merciful, O Lord, to the sinsul Nation wherein we live, and let neither our abuse of thy mercies, nor our hardening ourselves under thy Judgements, bring upon us that ruin that they have justly deserved. Lord thou hast been favourable to the Land, in that thou hast often rescued us from the destruction that was due to our Sins, and hast blessed us with the long continuance of thy Gospel, that was no way due to our walking so unworthy of it. Oh let that infinite mercy that hath hitherto spared us, and interposed betwixt us and thy desolating vengeance, forgive our iniquity and turn away the fierceness of thine anger. Heal our back-slidings and heal our breaches, take away Hos. 14. 2. all our iniquity, receive us graciously and love us freely, to us belongeth confusion of Face, Dan. 9 8. 9 but to the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against thee. Continue thy mercies, our peace and our plenty, and above all the truth of thy Gospel and purity of Religion, Cause us to fear thee and thy goodness, and let thine infinite wisdom find out a way to bring us out of those woeful confusions, from which to be delivered is above the contrivances of our wisdom. Bless with the blessings of the right and left hand, of this life, and a better, thine Anointed Servant, and our Sovereign Lord King Charles; let his Reign be religious, peaceable, long and prosperous; so rule his heart in thy faith, fear and love, that he may ever seek thy honour and glory. And let all that are Governors under him, in Church or State, exercise their power for the punishment of 1 Pet. 2. 14. evil doers, and the praise of them that do well. Be merciful to all afflicted ones, to our Friends and Relations, to all that have wronged us; forgive our Enemies, O Lord, and help us to forgive them, as we expect to be forgiven both of them and thee. We humbly commit ourselves to thy merciful protection this night, defend from all danger, our persons, our dwellings, our possessions, refresh us with a quiet and healthful sleep, and with the health and strength of our Bodies, and the vigour of our minds, let us serve thee all our days, till at the end of them we receive the end of our Faith, the salvation of our Souls, through thy dear Son, our alone Saviour, Jesus Christ, in the merit of whose righteousness, and intercession we further pray: Our Father which art in Heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy Will be done in Earth, As it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily Bread. And forgive us our Trespasses, As we forgive them that Trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from Evil: For thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, And the Glory, For ever and ever. Amen. Tuesday Morning. GReat and glorious Lord God, who art infinite and incomprehensible in all perfections, art clothed with Glory and Majesty, and dwellest in that light that no mortal creature can approach and live, we thine unworthy servants, humbly sensible of our infinite distance as creatures, and our abominable vileness as Sinners, are here before thee this morning to offer up our prayers and praises in the Name and Mediation of thy Son. In ourselves we have no confidence to appear before thee, for we are as dry stubble, and thou a consuming fire, but in thy beloved Son, our ever blessed Redeemer and Intercessor we have access with confidence, who hath opened Heb. 10, 19, 20. an entrance into the Holiest by his Blood, and consecrated a new and living way to the Throne of thy Grace, through the Veil of his Flesh, that we coming to thee, in his precious and prevailing Name, Heb. 4. ult. may obtain mercy and find grace to help in our time of need. We are guilty Sinners and want pardon, we are defiled Sinners and want cleansing, we are weak Sinners and want strengthening, we are foolish Sinners and want to be instructed in the ways of thy Word, and wand'ring Sinners that want to be brought back into them, but though our case be all necessity, thy glorious attribute is Al-sufficiency, and thy grace and mercy, thy wisdom and power, is ready to supply all our wants Phil. 4. 19 according to thy riches in glory by Christ Jesus. We admire with all thankfulness, thy great patience and long-suffering towards us, that thou hast hitherto spared us, and not speedily brought upon us that punishment and misery that our sins have righteously deserved, of which we can give no account, but that thou art merciful, because mercy pleases thee, and showest compassion, because thou delightest in compassion: but such is thy goodness, thou hast not only spared but bountifully supplied us, and given us all things richly to enjoy, that belong to life and godliness: thou feedest and cloathest us, preservest and defendest us, hast safely brought us through the darkness and the dangers of the last night to the light of another day; for these and all the blessings of this life, we praise thee, but we much more magnify and adore thine inconceiveable goodness and love in giving us thy Son to redeem us from wrath and condemnation, and thy holy Gospel to conduct us in the way to eternal life. And we cannot without confusion of face, reflect upon the shameful and disingenuous returns we have made of thine abundant and undeserved kindnesses, that when thou hast nourished and brought up children, we have rebelled against Isa. 1. 2. thee. Thy holy Laws we have broken in sinful thoughts, words and actions, though thou hast therein commanded us nothing but what is in itself just, and reasonable, and what is suitable to our dependence upon thy holy Majesty, we have not carried ourselves as it becomes us, to thee, in holiness and godliness; to our neighbours in righteousness and charity; to ourselves in temperance and sobriety; but have followed after, and fulfilled the sensual appetites and inclinations of our own hearts, and instead of serving thee, our God, have served divers lusts and pleasures. We have known that our vile bodies must ere long lie down in the house of dust and rottenness, and yet we have pampered them to fulfil the lusts of our flesh; and that our immortal Souls must last an Eternity of Happiness or Misery, and yet we have neglected laying up in store for them, an Happiness in the future State▪ Joh. 6. 27. And while we have laboured for the meat that perishes, we hav● neglected that which endure● unto everlasting Life. We hav● little considered the great en● of our coming into this world▪ and as little laid to heart wha● will become of us when w● shall go hence and be no mor● and as though we were to dy● as the Beasts die, we have liv●… too much as the Beasts live. In ourselves, O Lord, w● have no hope, but in the multitude of thy tender mercy's w● cannot despair, and though we have deserved wrath and vengeance, and have nothing of our own to plead, why we should escape it, we are greatly encouraged to sue to thine offended Majesty for pardon and forgiveness, by that Proclamation which thou hast made Exod. 34. 6, 7. of thy glorious Name, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness, and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, and forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin, and because thou hast said thou wilt not clear the guilty, take away our guilt by a sincere hearty repentance, and a true and lively faith in the merits, and righteousness of thy Son. Let all our sins be more bitter and burdensome in the review of them, than they have ever been pleasant and delightful in the commission of them, and grant, gracious Lord, that ●e may be so sorrowful for 〈◊〉 sins, as to loathe them, so 〈◊〉 them, as to take up firm Resolutions against them, and so resolve, as that by the powerful assistance of thy holy Spirit, we may never renew the practice of them, and having done iniquity, Job 34. 32. we may do so and offend no more. Wash and cleanse our sinful Souls, from their guilt and filthiness in that fountain of thy dear Sons most precious blood, Zech. 13. 1. which thou hast set open for sin, and uncleanness, and by the grace of thy holy Spirit, subduing and mortifying our sins in us, convince and satisfy us that thou hast pardoned them: create in us clean hearts, O God, Psal. 51. 10. and renew right spirits within us. And as we call thy Son, Jesus Christ, our Saviour, and hope to be for ever happy in the light and enjoyment of him in Heaven, let us make him our example, and purify ourselves even as he is pure. 1 Joh. 3. 3. Make us as he was, holy and humble, meek and merciful, patiented and charitable, heavenly minded and selfdenying: let's be zealous for thy glory, contented with our present condition, satisfied with all the wise allotments of thy providence, and make it our meat and drink to do the will of our heavenly Father; and in all things wherein he was a most lively and admirable pattern for our imitation, seeing we profess ourselves Christians, and say we abide 1 Joh. 2. 6. in him, let us walk as he also walked. Settle and root in our hearts a stronger and more firm belief of thy holy Gospel, and so fix our thoughts and affections upon that unseen happiness, that our Saviour in our name and place is possessed of; that nothing here below may either allure or affright us from our duty or make us remiss, cold and negligent in it, but we may be zealous of good works, and with fervency of spirit always serve that gracious Lord, from whom we expect the reward of a glorious and immortal inheritance. Fill every one of our hearts with a quick and a constant sense, an humble and awful dread, an ardent and entire love of thee, together with an active and vigorous delight in thee, and a vigilant and circumspect care universally, and in the whole course of our lives, to please and approve ourselves to thee. Let us never adventure to commit any sin, as a little one, because it will offend and dishonour thee, the great and infinite Majesty of Heaven, and deserve the eternal punishment and misery of an immortal Soul. Keep us by thy grace from every evil way; and those sins especially to the which we may be most inclined, and easily prevailed upon by custom or example; the naughtiness and general corruption of the age we live in, our Callings, our company or our constitution, so that laying aside every weight, Heb. 12. 2. and the sins that easily beset us, and running with patience and perseverance the race that thou hast set before us, we may at length obtain that prize of our High Calling, which thou hast prepared and promised in Christ Jesus our Lord. And in his Name we humbly recommend to thy compassion and goodness, all the Sons of Men that dwell upon the Face of the Earth, beseeching thee that thou wouldst make known thy Will to them, and help them to practise according to what they know, and whatever affliction or calamity may lie upon them in mind, body or estate, let them by thy mercy and clemency, be supported under them, and in thy due time be delivered from them. Show favourable regards of care and kindness towards thy Church, engrave her upon the Palms of thine Hands, and let Isa. 49. 16. her Walls be continually before thee. Appoint Salvation for the Walls and Bulwarks of the Nation wherein we live, pardon our many crying sins, avert thy deserved, feared Judgements, heal our back-slidings, and heal our breaches, continue thy Gospel, and grant that we may walk worthy of that inestimable favour. Bless our dread Sovereign with the blessings of thy right and left hand, let his Government be happy and peaceable, long and prosperous, and a public blessing to all that are under it, and grant that all subordinate Governors in Church, in State, may faithfully use their power to the discouragement of Vice and ungodliness, and the promoting and supporting peace and good order, truth, righteousness and holiness: and let all men by a serious repentance and a through reformation of their ways, strive to save the Land from those confusions and miseries, into which they have plunged it by their manifold offences. Comfort all that mourn, give them beauty for ashes, and the garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness, and let all that groan under thy heavy hand triumph in thy salvation. Be with us thy servants, this day, and let that good providence that hath this night preserved and refreshed us, direct, assist and bless us in all our ways, and keep us from the dangers and mischiefs, the sins and offences, the snares and temptations that we might otherwise fall into. Let us be in thy fear all the day long, and so order our lives, as if it were the last day we had to live in this world, that as in the evening we shall be one day nearer our death, we may be nearer eternal life and happiness; grant us all these our requests, most gracious Father, and whatever else thou knowest to be needful for us, for the sake of thy dear Son, in whose Name and Words, by his own direction we further implore thy merciful goodness; Our Father which art in Heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy Will be done in Earth, As it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily Bread. And forgive us our Trespasses, As we forgive them that Trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from Evil: For thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, And the Glory, For ever and ever. Amen. Tuesday Evening. ALmighty and most merciful God and Father, the Maker and Governor of all Creatures in Heaven and Earth, and exalted in thy glorious perfections, above the thoughts and services, the praises and acknowledgements of the highest and best of them, thine understanding is infinite, and thou seest the hearts and ways of all the sons of men, thy holiness is infinite, and thou hatest all the sin and iniquity thou espiest in them, thy power infinite, & thou canst easily punish them for the sins that provoke and displease thee, and 〈◊〉 yet thine infinite mercies thou pardonest the sins of all that by sincere repentance, and a through amendment of their ways return to thee. We thy poor Servants in a deep sense of our guilt and wretchedness, and the strong encouragements of thy declared mercy and goodness, humble our Souls at thy Footstool, beseeching thee to have mercy upon us, and through the righteousness of thy dear Son, whom thou hast given to be a propitiation, and price of redemptition for us, to pardon our many and great transgressions, whereof we are guilty before thy Majesty, in thought, and word, and deed, and whereby we have deserved to be punished with overlasting destruction, from thy presence, by thy glorious power. Hadst thou, O Lord, taken advantages against us, or been forward to pour out that wrath and vengeance that we have been forward to provoke, we had not now been begging thy mercy, or cherished with the hopes of it, but had in vain lamented the bloody and severe effects of thine incensed Justice. We are not only by Nature the Children of Wrath, but have in the course of our Lives actuated the sinful, corrupt principles of our Nature, and gone astray from thy holy, just and good Laws, that thou hast given to be the rule and measure of our actions: and though both as thy Creatures, thy Servants, and thy Children, thou hast laid upon us the greatest obligations to obedience, and a dutyful compliance with thy Will, yet have we in the eager and violent pursuit of our lusts Psal. 2. 3. broken thy bonds asunder, and cast away thy cords from us. We have professed the pure and holy Religion of thy Son, but have shamefully dishonoured him and his Religion, by impure and unholy practices, and 2 Tim. 2. 19 naming the Name of Christ, we have not departed from iniquity: we have given up our Names to him in Baptism, and solemnly vowed obedience to the Laws of his holy Gospel, but we have started aside, like broken Bows, and walked in the imaginations of our own hearts, and fulfilled our vile and foolish lusts, as if there were no God to be served, no Soul to be saved, no Hell to be feared, no Heaven to be expected, and as if the Name of Christians would have carried us to Heaven, we have done those things that many Heathens would have blushed at and been ashamed to have practised; so that this might be our condemnation, which of all other is the most grievous and insupportable, that Light is come into the World, and we have loved Darkness rather than Light, Joh. 3. 19 because our deeds have been evil. So many, and undeserved, have been thy mercies towards us, so kind and unwearied the expressions of thy bounty, that all our disobedience is by a shameful and odious ingratitude become exceeding sinful, and we cannot without sorrow of heart and confusion of Face, reflect upon our wearying thee with our sins, when thou hast loaded us with thy benefits. But we beseech thee, O most merciful Father, in the tenderest compassions of thy sounding bowels, look down upon us, and for thy Names sake (the most powerful argument and such as uses to prevail) O Lord hear, O Lord spare, O Lord forgive: by a serious and hearty repentance, and a true and lively Faith in thy Son, make us fit partakers of thy pardoning mercy. Though our deserts are thine indignation and vengeance, the merit of his righteousness is remission and forgiveness, though we have affronted thy Justice, he hath satisfied it, though we have incensed thy wrath, he hath appeased it; the chastisement of Isa. 53. 5. our peace was upon him; O let the merit of his righteousness be upon us. And because the holy Jesus, together with the guilt and punishment of sin, always delivers from the power of it, and they that are Christ's, crucify the Gal. 5. 24. flesh with its affections and lusts, by the subduing and mortification of our sins, convince and comfortably satisfy us that thou hast pardoned them, and by thy sanctifying grace, help us to cleanse ourselves from 2 Cor. 7. 1. all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, and to perfect holiness in thy fear: sanctify us wholly, 1 Thes. 5. 23. and let our whole spirit, and soul, and body be preserved blameless, unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Quicken us, holy Father by the spirit of life and holiness, to run the ways of thy Commandments, and as thou hast given our blessed Saviour to be Head of thy Church, and anointed him with an unmeasured fullness of thy Spirit, that he might communicate and impart it to the Members of his Body, let some drops of that holy Oil fall down upon us, that was so plentifully poured upon the Head of our High Priest, and out of his fullness, let us receive Joh. 1. 16. Grace for Grace; and so renew the Image of his Holiness in our Souls, that as his true Children we may show forth all the Features and Lineaments of our heavenly Father. And because we are not sufficient of ourselves, to avoid any evil, or perform any good, be graciously present with us to preserve us from the one, and assist us in the other. Make us perfect in every good work, to do thy will, working in us that which is well pleasing in Heb. 13. 21. thy sight through Jesus Christ. Make us wise to Salvation, and seeing our days are very few and uncertain, and repentance both necessary and out of our own power, let us not put it off till to morrow, not knowing what a day may bring forth, nor deceive ourselves with vain purposes of parting with our Sins hereafter, when this very night our Souls may be Luk. 12. 20. taken from us; But seeing the Heavens and the Earth at 2. Pet. 3. 15. length, and ourselves ere long, must be dissolved, let us be diligent, that we may be found of thee in peace, without spot, and blameless. Bless thy whole Church scattered far and near over the Face of the Earth; pour out upon it the Spirit of Truth and Holiness, and grant that all that confess thy holy Name, may agree in the truth of thy holy Word, and live in unity and godly love; be thou that art the Lord and Lawgiver of thy Church and People, their Protector and Saviour from all their Enemies, thou art our Psal. 44. 4. King, O God, command deliverances for Jacob. Be gracious and favourable to these Nations, many and heinous are the sins whereby we have provoked thy Majesty, great and heavy the Judgements that hang over us for those Sins; pardon we most humbly beseech thee our Sins, and avert those Judgements, thou that sittest between the Cherubims shine forth; before England, Scotland and Ireland, stir up thy Psal. 80. 1, 2. strength, and come and save us. And though we of this Nation have deserved to be overthrown with an utter destruction; and for ever cast out of thy sight, as a loathsome and abominable thing; for thy goodness, O Lord, pardon and spare, reform and amend, compose and settle, heal and establish us, in the multitude of thy tender mercies. Give us not up to the mischiefs and desolations that we have deserved, and thine and our Enemies have designed, nor suffer those that hate us proudly to insult and triumph over us. Bless with all blessings of this life and the next, thine anointed Servant our Sovereign Lord the King; direct him in such ways as are pleasing to thee, and protect him from all dangers that may at any time threaten him. Let all subordinate Ministers Ecclesiastical and Civil, be so assisted by thy Grace and holy Spirit, that Religion and Godliness, Peace and Order, Love and Unity, Truth and Righteousness may be established and encouraged 1 Pet. 2. 1. among us, and let all sorts of men, laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, keep the unity Eph. 4. 3. of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace. Comfort the afflicted and distressed in Mind, Body or Estate, recompense the kindnesses of our Friends seven fold into their Bosoms, forgive our Enemies, and help us so to forgive them, that we may comfortably hope for our own forgiveness. Keep us, O Lord, from the evils and dangers, that, without thy protection might this night befall us, refresh and strengthen our frail Bodies with a moderate, quiet and peaceable rest, and let the strength of this nights healthful repose, be returned to thee in the next days faithful service, that as every day we are nearer our death; we may be nearer an immortal Crown of Life and Glory, which thou hast prepared and promised to them that Love and Fear thee, through Jesus Christ, who, by his Righteousness and Intercession, hath given us the liberty and confidence to say. Our Father which art in Heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy Will be done in Earth, As it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily Bread. And forgive us our Trespasses, As we forgive them that Trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from Evil: For thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, And the Glory, For ever and ever. Amen. Wednesday Morning. HOly and heavenly Father, thou art infinite in Power and Wisdom, in Holiness, Truth and Goodness, abundant in Mercy to all that call upon thee in truth, all thy Works in Heaven and Earth show forth thy praise; the glorious Angels, and the glorified Spirits of just Men, being themselves honoured in the honouring of thee, everlastingly triumph in the celebration of thy divine & incomprehensible perfections; to praise and magnify thy great and holy Name, is both the duty and privilege of the Sons of Men, to whom thou hast given understandings in some measure to conceive thy glorious excellencies, and tongues to declare them. We thy poor and unworthy Servants, humbly offer up to thy divine Majesty, the tribute of our hearty praises, and adorations of thine infinite Power and Justice, Wisdom and Holiness, Truth and Faithfulness, and bless thee with our whole Souls, for all those blessings for our Souls and Bodies, our present and future happiness, which are the effects of thy bounty and goodness. We thank thee, O Lord, for our health and strength, our liberty and peace, the Bread we eat and the Raiment we put on, that thou hast delivered us from Pains and Sicknesses, and those grievous pressures and calamities, wherewith others, better than ourselves, are sorely afflicted, that thou hast the last night preserved us from dangers and refreshed us with sleep, and bestowest upon us all the supports and conveniencies of Life, and above all, that thou hast redeemed us from Hell and Damnation, by the precious Blood of thy dear Son, that by his Gospel thou hast brought to light life and immortality, and encouraged our hopes of them, by thy precious and faithful promises. Lord what is Man that thou art so mindful of him? What are Sinners that thou showest such favour unto them? Thy mercies conferred upon us are admirable, as we are thy Creatures that can no way oblige our Almighty and Independent Creator, and much more so as we are Sinners, that have offended and provoked our most righteous Sovereign Lord and Lawgiver. Ever since we came into the World, we have been overspread with a contagious Leprosy and loathsome Disease, and have added the iniquities of practice to our natural pollution, and more defiled ourselves by choosing our own crooked ways, and fulfilling the imaginations of our naughty hearts. We have many times given scandal to others, by our open and observed miscarriages, and cast a blemish and reproach upon that holy Religion whereof we have made profession; so as to have made it worse thought on by its Enemies, and with great folly we have sometimes adventured to commit those Sins in our private retirements, which we would have been ashamed that men should have taken notice of, though we have well known that the Psal. 139. 12 light and darkness are both alike to thee, and that no secrecy can hid from thine allseeing Eye. We have been too careless of avoiding temptations to Sin, and have run into those snares, that by taking heed to our feet, we might have avoided; we have neglected the means of mortifying our Lusts, watchfulness, Prayer and Fasting, which through thy blessing might have been effectual to that blessed purpose, and instead of strongly and resolutely opposing we have cowardly and treacherously complied with, furnished and animated thine and our Enemies, making provision for Rom. 13. 14. our Flesh, to fulfil the Lusts thereof: and though we have been well assured that our lives and all our present earthly enjoyments that support and sweeten them, are but of a short and momentany continuance, we have laboured & been solicitous Joh. 6. 27. for the meat that perishes and neglected that which endures to everlasting Life. How often have we deafened our Ear to the calls of thy Gospel? And made light of both the invitations of thy gracious promises, and the terrors of thy dreadful threaten? How often have we hardened our hearts against the motions of thy holy Spirit? How often to satisfy our lustful appetites, have we broken through the convictions of our own consciences? And to violate thy holy and good Laws, have offered violence to the dictates of our own minds? We judge ourselves, O Lord, and acknowledge we have justly deserved all that wrath that might make us everlastingly miserable, and made ourselves liable to those threatened punishments, which we can neither escape nor endure; but O our merciful Father, do not thou condemn us, we are ashamed and confounded in the sense and remembrance of our transgressions, comfort us, O Lord, we beseech thee, with a sense of thy pardoning mercy, in our blessed and all-sufficient Redeemer. Help us by a sincere and hearty repentance, to return to thee, from whom in our own crooked and perverse ways we have gone astray; Let the time passed of our lives suffice us to have 1 Pet. 4. 3. wrought the wills of the flesh, and seeing we have already by the frequent commissions of sin too much offended thee, and endangered our Souls, let us not by the repeated and continued practice of it, heighten the offence and add to our guiltiness. Let the Blood of thy dear 1 Joh. 1. 7. Son Jesus Christ cleanse us from all sin, and through his precious Sacrifice and meritorious sufferings, that was pure and perfectly innocent, discharge and acquit us that have been foul offenders. Let thy holy Spirit sanctify and renew us after thine own Image, in righteousness and true holiness, and as we hope to be pardoned, by the precious death of Christ, grant that crucifying our Lusts upon his Cross; we may follow the example of his holy Life, and in all holiness and humility, meekness and charity, zeal for thy Glory and submission to thy Will, patience, heavenly mindedness and self-denial, contentment and the contempt of this World, we may walk as Christ walked, and be filled with all Phil. 1. 11. the fruits of righteousness, which are through him unto thy praise and glory. Help us to live by faith in thy promises, in all varieties of thy providence, let this be our great support and comfort, that thou hast said thou wilt never Heb. 13. 5. leave us nor forsake us, and in all difficulties and temptations, let this be our great care, that we do not leave nor forsake thee, But sanctify the Lord God 1 Pet. 3. 15. in our hearts, and with a zealous faithfulness endeavour to please and approve ourselves to thee in all our ways; and seeing we call on the Father, who, without respect of persons judges according to every man's work, let us pass the time of our sojourning here in fear: 1 Pet. 1. 17. And give diligence to make our calling and election sure, that 2 Pet. 1. 10, 11. we may never fall either into scandalous sins or insupportable miseries, but an entrance may be ministered to us abundantly, into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour, Col. 3. 4. and when Christ who is our life shall appear, we may also appear with him in glory. Show thy favour and goodness to all mankind, and grant, O Lord, we beseech thee, that the course of this world may be so peaceably ordered by thy governance, that thy Church may joysully serve thee in all godly quietness, and being delivered from the Plots and Combinations, the Oppositions and Persecutions of its Enemies, may always walk before thee in truth and holiness, and all that profess the Gospel of our Lord Jesus, may hold fast his pure and heavenly Doctrines, and express the power of them in their lives. Bless this sinful and provoking Nation, wherein we live, pardon our many great and crying sins, heal our wide breaches, unite our divisions, compose our distractions, and remove from us whatever may provoke the Eyes of thy Jealousy and Glory, and deprive us of thy long continued temporal and spiritual blessings, and lay us open to thy dreadful and desolating Judgements. Send thy blessed Spirit into our hearts, a spirit of wisdom and knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord, a spirit of truth and holiness, of peace and unity, of righteousness, moderation, meekness and charity, and instead of loading one another with slanders and scandals, foul reproaches and bitter censures, help us to bear one another's Gal. 6. 2. burdens, and so fulfil the Law of Christ. Bless our Sovereign Lord King Charles with the choicest of thy blessings, fill his heart with wisdom and piety, with a mighty sense of the great Trust thou hast committed to him, and the great obligations thou hast laid upon him, with courage and resolution to support and promote Righteousness and true Religion. And grant that all in places of Power and Authority may exert, and use it for the punishment of evil doers, and the praise of them that do well, as it becomes them that have received their Power from thee, and are accountable for it unto thee. Order all public Affairs to thy glory, and the comfort and encouragement of all that fear thee. Support and comfort all those whom thou hast fed with the Bread of Tears and mingled their drink with weeping. And we humbly beseech thee for a blessing upon ourselves, as thou hast preserved us this night, direct, assist, and prosper us in all the affairs and erterprises of this day, and let us all the day long be in thy fear, remembering thou observest, and thou wilt judge us: and let a sense of this preserve us from all sin, and quicken us to the doing of whatever may be pleasing in thy sight, through our blessed Redeemer, who, when we pray, hath taught and commanded us to say; Our Father which art in Heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy Will be done in Earth, As it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily Bread. And forgive us our Trespasses, As we forgive them that Trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from Evil: For thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, And the Glory, For ever and ever. Amen. Wednesday Evening. BLessed Lord God, the high and lofty One, that inhabitest Isai. 57 15. eternity, whose Name is Holy, who dwellest in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble Spirit. We wretched and miserable sinners, most humbly beseech thee to look down upon us from the habitation of thy Holiness, and glory in the multitude of thy tender mercies; and work in us that humble and contrite Spirit, that is so pleasing and acceptable in thy sight, that our hearts, hardened by the deceitfulness of Sin, may be softened by the effectual working of thy Grace. By commanding us to call upon thee, thou hast made Prayer our Duty, and by promising to hear us when we Pray, thou hast made it no less our privilege: in obedience to thy command, and in the encouragement of thy Promise, we are here before thee, to offer up our Evening Sacrifice of Prayer, desiring thee both to prepare our Hearts to Pray, and bow down thine ear to hear. We are not of ourselves sufficient to perform any duty, to bear any burden, to resist any temptation, to mortify any lust, 2. Cor. 3. 5. To think one good thought, but all our sufficiency is of thee: thou, O Lord, canst pardon our Sins, supply our wants, heal our distempers, enlighten our blindness, soften our hardness, strengthen our weakness, we have not whither to go but unto thee, nor can we come to thee but in thine own Power: into such a wretched condition have our Sins, brought us, that we are both unable to help ourselves, and unworthy that thou shouldst help us; but our comfort is, that thy Grace doth not use to find Sinners worthy, but make them so, nor dost thou show favour and kindness to them, because they please thee, but because thou art pleased with thine own Mercy and Goodness. Our Iniquities, we acknowledge, have been many and great, a sinful nature, as a corrupt Fountain, hath sent forth polluted streams in the thoughts, words and actions of our Lives, and we have often offended against thy holy Laws, and expressed the enmity of our carnal minds. Though all thy Laws are in themselves most equal, just and good, and thou hast both encouraged our obedience by the gracious promises of thy favourable acceptance, and an eternal recompense; and affrighted from sin by threatening it with everlasting punishment, yet lightly esteeming thy Promises and contemning thy threaten, we have trodden thy holy Laws under our Feet, and broken through the restraints, wherewith ●…ou hast hedged us in from finding our own ways. Our pride and earthliness, our unbelief & unthankfulness, our hypocrisy, sensuality and hardness of heart, witness against us to our faces, and give us great cause to blush and be confounded, to mourn and grieve in the sense of them. Who of us hath had that due sense of thy holiness, power and goodness, thine omnipresence and allseeing Eye, as to be thereby driven from our Sins, or quickened to the exercise of Virtue and Godliness? Who of us hath been so affected with that Grace that hath appeared bringing Salvation, as to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and make it our study and business to please and approve ourselves to thee? Who of us hath so felt the burden, and tasted the bitterness of our sins, as to loath and leave them with dislike and abhorrency? Who of us hath been so delighted in thy love, as to return thee our hearty love in a sincere and uniform obedience? Who of us hath so firmly believed the rewards and punishments of the future state, as to press toward the mark for the obtaining the prize, and make haste to escape and flee from the bottomless Pit and burning Lake? The zeal and earnestness that we should have shown in matters of Religion, we have expressed in following our worldly interests, and that coldness and indifferency that would have been well bestowed upon the little and short lived benefits of the present Life, hath attended the performance of our holy duties. We have in some measure known our Master's Will, and yet have done our own, and to please our corrupt and fleshly Appetites, have done what we have well understood to be displeasing in thy sight. Though thou hast often commanded us to repent, and turn from our evil ways, and we have been convinced that to hear thy Voice to day, is both our duty and our wisdom, we have demurred by lingering delays, and not cast off our Sins by a speedy repentance. We are ashamed, O Lord, of this our folly, and beseech thee so to awaken and assist us by thy Grace, that we may not receive it in vain, nor longer delude our own Souls with the deceitful purposes of a future repentance, but let us make haste to hearken to thy loud and earnest 2 Cor. 6. 2. Calls, now while it is the accepted time, and the day of Salvation. And let thy pardoning mercy freely forgive all our Sins, thy Grace having by true repentance made us meet partakers of that inestimable benefit: So set them before our face, as that we may mark and consider them, mourn for and confess, loath and forsake them; and so cast them behind thy back, as not to observe them with a wrathful countenance, or punish them with a justly deserved vengeance. By the precious blood of thy dear Son, that immaculate Lamb, that was offered to take away the Sins of the World, Psal. 51. 2. Wash us throughly from our Iniquities, and cleanse us from our Sins, and through his perfect righteousness let the free gift come upon us unto justification Rom. 5. 18. of Life. Deliver us, we pray thee, as from the guilt and damnation of Sin by his precious Sacrifice so from its power and dominion by his sanctifying Spirit, and though like a leprosy in the Walls of an infected house, Sin will remain in us while we are in the world, let it not reign Rom. 6. 12. in our mortal Body, that we should obey it in the lusts thereof. But as the Flesh in us lusteth against the Spirit, let thy Gal. 3. 17. Spirit in us resist and subdue the lusts of the Flesh. Let not an inordinate love of the allurements, and intangling vanities of this World quench or weaken in our Souls that entire and most hearty love that is due to thee and heavenly things, nor distracting cares for the conveniencies of the Body, eat out and destroy the care of our Souls, nor hinder a timely provision for their future and eternal happiness. But for as much as our stay here below is very short, and the time of our departure hence into an everlasting state very uncertain, let us with fear and trembling, earnestness and diligence, work out our own Salvation, and carry ourselves with upright and inoffensive Consciences toward thee and all men whilst we are in the World, as we shall wish to have done when we come to leave it. Help us to run the race of holy obedience, meekness and patience, charity, contentment, constancy and perseverance, to fight a good fight, finish our course, and keep the faith, that we may receive a Crown of righteousness, which the righteous Judge shall at the last day 2 Tim. 4. 7. 8. give unto all them that love his appearing: And let the contemplation of that glory and happiness, and the well-grounded hope of our attaining it, make us diligent and faithful in the discharge of our duty, watchful against all fleshly defilements, patiented and cheerful under all crosses and troubles, cold and indifferent to all the profits and pleasures of this Life, and let our whole conversation on Earth be such as may become the Heirs of an heavenly, glorious and eternal inheritance: that when our earthly 2 Cor. 5. 1. house of this tabernacle shall be dissolved, we may have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens, and be found meet to be Col. 1. 12. partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in Light. Look in mercy upon all the Sons of Men, and cause the light of thy Gospel to guide their feet into the way of peace, that are wand'ring in the darkness of sensuality, profaneness, superstition and idolatry, and show them thy Salvation. Bless thy whole Church throughout the World; preserve it from the offences and reproachful scandals of its professed Friends, and from the oppressions and persecutions of its open and declared Enemies: Let thy continual care keep and cleanse thy Vineyard, that it may abound in the Fruits of Righteousness. Be merciful to this Nation where we live, pardon the Sins that cry aloud for vengeance, heal the breaches that threaten its ruin, and avert those dreadful Judgements that hang over our heads; and as thou hast all along often saved us from the destructions & miseries that our daring wickednesses might have pulled down upon our heads, give us cause more and more to magnify thy mercy, and triumph in thy Salvation. Bless our Lord the King with Wisdom and Courage, a zeal for thy glory, and a continual care of promoting Righteousness and true Religion; and let all under him in places of Civil and Ecclesiastical Government, make it their business to further Righteousness and Peace, and the good of Souls: and let all sorts of men follow after peace, without which they cannot see happiness on Earth, and holiness, without which they shall not see thy Face in Heaven. Be thou a present help for the relief and succour of all that are in a suffering condition, and let that good providence that hath defended, directed and assisted us in the dangers, the occurrences and businesses of the day, so protect and refresh us with sleep this night, that in the morning we may be more fit to serve thee, and live to thy praise in Christ Jesus our Lord, through whom, we beseech thee to accept our persons, pardon our sins and hear our Prayers, when we say, Our Father which art in Heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy Will be done in Earth, As it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily Bread. And forgive us our Trespasses, As we forgive them that Trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from Evil: For thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, And the Glory, For ever and ever. Amen. Thursday Morning. MOst gracious God, and merciful Father in Jesus Christ, the Author of our Being, and the Fountain of all those good things that may make us happy in this World and that which is to come, we thy poor Creatures, vile and provoking Sinners, in the sense of our own guilt fly to thy mercy to pardon us; in the sense of our weakness fly to thy might to strengthen us; in the sense of our own ignorance and folly, fly to thy wisdom to instruct and counsel us; in the sense of our manifold wants and necessities, fly to thy fullness and all-sufficiency to supply us. We acknowledge, O Lord, that our nature is not only corrupt and sinful, overspread with a Leprosy and loathsome Disease, that might make us for ever abominable in thy pure Eyes; but our practices have been contrary to thy holy and righteous Laws, both in the doing what thou hast forbidden us, and the leaving undone what thou hast commanded us; we have followed after and fulfilled our own Lusts, and yielded to them a vile and slavish subjection, as to our Lords and Lawgivers, whilst we have refused and been weary of thy Service, as a slavery, which is perfect freedom. We have forgotten thee, our God, and turning aside to lying vanities, have sinned against thee in every state and condition of our lives; in our health we have seldom thought how soon we might be cast upon a sick Bed, and in our sickness have been unprepared for death, that might have been the issue of it; in our prosperity we have been secure and sensual, wanton, proud and unthankful, and in our adversity we have repined and murmured with impatience and discontentment, and when our folly hath perverted our ways, our hearts Pro. 19 3. have fretted against the Lord. We have suffered ourselves to be prevailed upon by the pleasures and profits of this Life, those deceitful baits of the Flesh, that having for a while gratified our sensual inclination, have left the sharp and wounding hook of fear and disquiet in our consciences: And though thou hast graciously forewarned us, that our most pleasant Lusts will be bitterness in the latter end, and the wages of Sin Rom. 6. 23. is nothing less than death, and eternal misery, yet by our unbelief and carnal affections, and the present seeming advantages of Sin, we have been drawn into Sin; and not frighted from it by its future mischiefs and punishments. Thou hast sent thy Son into the World to redeem and save us from our Sins, to make known thy Will, and publish to us his holy and good Laws, that we should govern our thoughts, our words and actions by them; but we have by our disobedience, vilely cast away his Sceptre, and disowned the authority of his Laws; notwithstanding our professions to Tit. 1. 16. know and believe him, we have by wicked works denied him, and naming the Name of Christ, 2 Tim. 2. 19 we have not departed from Iniquity. We have so resisted and grieved thy holy Spirit, who hath earnestly pleaded with us to cast off our Sins, and return to our Duty, that he might in displeasure withdraw from us, and forbearing his blessed motions, and leaving us destitute of his gracious assistance, might give us up to the blindness of our own minds, the unbelief and impenitent hardness of our hearts, and suffer us to go on in our own ways, till our condition were wholly hopeless, and without possibility of recovery, we had sinned ourselves into eternal misery. Awaken, O Lord, we pray thee, our sleepy Consciences, and so throughly convince us of the great evil of Sin, and those fearful punishments that follow it, that we may in good earnest and without the least delay, flee from it, by a most serious and hearty repentance; and return unto the Lord our God, from Hos. 14. 1. whom we have fallen, and gone astray by our Iniquities. Through the sufferings and precious death of thy Son, be reconciled and speak peace to us, though our offences are very foul and heinous, and our best righteousness cannot encourage us to look up with confidence to thine offended Majesty, yet in the righteousness of our blessed Mediator, we both pray and hope to be forgiven, being by thyself assured, that thou hast given him a great and all-sufficient Redeemer for the Atonement of great Transgressor's, and exalted him Acts 5. 31. to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance and remission of Sins. For our sakes, and in our stead, he endured the punishments that himself had not deserved, he Isa. 53. 5. was wounded for our Transgressions, and the chastisement of our peace was upon him, O let us through his Stripes be healed. Help us, being delivered from wrath and condemnation, Matt. 22. 37, 39 to love thee the Lord our God, with all our heart, and our Neighbour as ourselves, and let's evidence our love to thee by keeping thy Commandments, 1 Joh. 5. 3. and our love to our Neighbour by forbearing and forgiving reproving and admonishing, counselling, comforting and relieving him, and performing all acts of charity and kindness to him. Let us herein exercise our Acts 24. 16. selves to have always a conscience void of offence toward thee, and toward men: enlighten our understandings with the knowledge of thy Will, inflame our affections with a delightful love of it, and so conform our wills unto thine, that we may readily do what thou wouldst have us do, and cheerfully suffer what thou wouldst have us suffer. Give us that Jam. 3. 17. wisdom which is from above, that is first pure, to fit us for the happiness of another life, and then peaceable, to give a relish to the enjoyments of this: and let us so employ ourselves in the affairs and businesses of this World, as to make Religion our great business, and present Rom. 12. 1. our Bodies and Souls a living Sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto thee, which is our reasonable Service. Help us to subdue our inordinate desires, and all sinful passions, and when at any time we are tempted to the breach of thy Laws, with courage to resist the temptation, not daring to sin against thee our gracious Father and righteous Judge; and whatever Talents thou intrustest to our management, health, strength or credit, our time, Estates, the seasons of Grace, and opportunities of doing good, let us husband and improve them with that wisdom and faithfulness that become them, that must ere long give an account of their Stewardship. And because through the weakness of our mortal nature, we can do no good thing without thee, grant us the help of thy Grace, that in keeping thy Commandments, we may please thee both in will and deed, and in our several Callings, whether they be public or private; our several Conditions, whether of prosperity or adversity; our several Relations, whether of Husbands or Wives, Parents or Children, Masters or Servants, Neighbours and Friends, we may perform the Duties that those Callings, Conditions and Relations require of us: And Mat. 5. 16 let our light so shine before Men, that they seeing our good Works, may glorify thee, our Father which art in Heaven. Whilst we are in the way let us quickly agree with our Mat. 5. 25. Adversary, and give diligence that by a sincere repentance, and an upright universal obedience we may be found of thee in peace, and prepared to appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ, when he shall sit upon the Throne of his Glory, and weighing our thoughts, words and actions, in impartial Balances, shall render to us according to our works: and let the consideration of that account leave such awful impressions in our hearts, as both to hinder the doing of whatever may make the thoughts of it terrible to us, and cause us to wait for our Lord with our Loins Luk. 12. 35. girt, and our Lamps burning, that at his return we may enter with him into everlasting habitations. Let thy merciful hands be opened toward all the Sons of Men, whom thy hands have made; and with a more especial kindness be gracious and favourable to Zion; keep thy Church and Household, continually in thy true Religion, and leaning upon the hope of thy heavenly Grace, let them evermore be defended by thy mighty Power. Bless this sinful and unworthy Nation; pardon all our Sins that cry aloud in thine Ears for vengeance, purely purge away Isa. 1. 25. our dross, and take away all our Tin; deliver us from the destructions we have deserved, and perpetuate thy Gospel and true Religion among us, from generation to generation. Let the Life and Health, the peace, honour and safety of our Sovereign Lord, be precious in thy sight, and let all that govern under Him in Church and State, maintain and encourage Truth and Peace, Religion, Righteousness and all goodness: and grant that all under their Authority may lead quiet and ● Tim. 2. 2. peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty. Succour and relieve all in any suffering condition, recompense the kindnesses of our Friends and Benefactors sevenfold into their Bosom; forgive and help us hearty to forgive all that may have offered injury and unkindness to us. Look down upon us in mercy that are here lifting up our hands and hearts to thee; we bless thee for the peace, safety and refreshment of the last night, beseeching thee, so to guard us through the hazards, and guide us through the affairs of this day, that we may glorify thee, grow in Grace, and go forward in the way that leads to everlasting Life and happiness, through our Lord Jesus Christ, according to whose directions and command we further pray; Our Father which art in Heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy Will be done in Earth, As it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily Bread. And forgive us our Trespasses, As we forgive them that Trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from Evil: For thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, And the Glory, For ever and ever. Amen. Thursday Evening. ALmighty and everlasting God, the wise and righteous Governor of all things in Heaven and Earth, who dost whatsoever thou pleasest, and whatever thou dost is well and wisely done, because thou dost it: we thine unworthy Servants, whom thy hands have made, and ever since supported and supplied, beseech thee in mercy to look down upon us, that in a sense of our own vileness are here humbling ourselves at thy Footstool acknowledging it thy mercy and long-suffering, that we are entrusted with one opportunity more, to implore thy pardon and forgiveness. Thou mightst have destroyed us, the polluted Offspring of disobedient Parents, as soon as ever we came into the world, and ever since we were capable of breaking thy Laws, we have added sin unto sin, and heaped transgression upon transgression. We have trifled away that time, that thou hast allotted us to make provision for an happy Eternity, in the pursuit of pleasure and profit, transient and momentany vanities, and have waged and maintained War against thee in those seasons of Grace, thou hast afforded us for the making our peace: thy patience and long-suffering that should have led us to repentance, we have perverted to fleshly purposes, and a more presumptuous and impenitent progress in Sin. We have over-cared for, over-loved, over-desired and over-delighted in the good things of this World, and inordinately placed our affections upon earthly and temporary enjoyments, which thou hast fitted to such things as have in them an heavenly, spiritual and everlasting excellency: How grievously and how justly mightst thou plague us with the desires of our own hearts, and punish us by giving us our portion in this Life? As thou hast multiplied thy Blessings we have multiplied our Inquities, and transgressed those holy and good Laws which thou hast given us as the rule of our carriage towards thee, ourselves and others, and wherein thou hast commanded us nothing but what tends to the perfection of our nature, and the promoting of our happiness. We have little regarded thy design in sending us into this World, which was that we should serve and please, obey and honour thee, our great Creator and gracious Benefactor, and as little laid to heart the strict account that we must shortly render of all our ways and works, before thy exact and impartial Tribunal, when we shall go hence and be here no more. We have turned a deaf ear to thy counsels, quenched the motions of thy Spirit, misimproved thy mercies to make them the materials of pride, and a wanton sensuality, rejected the tenders of thy Grace, and hardened our hearts under the correction of thy Rod; And if thou, Lord, shouldst mark our Iniquities, who of us, Psal. 130. 3. O Lord, could stand? How justly mightst thou deprive us of all the blessings that we have forfeited? And make us feel the smart and severity of that vengeance that thou hast threatened? Thou mightst inflict pains and diseases in our Bodies, and pursue us with terrors, and the fearful foretastes of wrath in our consciences; thou mightst remove thy Gospel, which we have abused, and withdraw thy Spirit whom we have grieved; thou mightst give us up to the lusts of our 〈◊〉 81. 12. own hearts, that we should walk in our own counsels, till we had filled up the measure of our Sins, and ripened ourselves to be cut down for everlasting punishment. But with thee there is mercy Psal. 130. 4. and forgiveness that thou mayst be feared, and we may be pardoned: work in us we beseech thee, that deep contrition and through repentance, which wherever it is wrought, is followed by forgiveness, and through faith in the blood of thy dear Son, who hath made peace by the blood of his Cross; let us be justified and reconciled, and rejoice in thee, having Rom. 5. 11. received the Atonement. Sanctify us in Soul, Spirit and Body to thy Service, enlighten our minds with the knowledge of thy Will, incline our wills to the obedience of it, purify our affections to a love and delight in it, purge our consciences from dead Heb. 9 14. works to serve thee the living God, and as we have yielded our Members Servants of unrighteousness unto Iniquity, let us yield them the Servants of Rom. 6. 19 Righteousness unto Holiness. And because we are in this World beset with many Snares and Temptations; let us be sober 1 Pet. 5. 8. and vigilant, and walk circumspectly, Eph. 5. 15. not as Fools but as Wise, shunning all appearance of evil, and avoiding whatever may be an occasion to the Flesh, suffer us not at any time so to be led into temptation, as that the solicitations of Satan, the Allurements of this vain World, or the suggestions of our own carnal and treacherous hearts, should draw us into those sinful ways that are displeasing to thee, and destructive to our Souls, but being always sensible of how great importance and necessity it is, to work out our Phil. 2. 12. Salvation with fear and trembling, how short a time is allotted to us: How many and powerful Enemies are combined to hinder us: How glorious the Reward is that is promised: And how dreadful and insupportable the punishment that is threatened, Let us make haste to escape the wrath to come, and with all our might endeavour to lay hold of eternal Life, pressing toward the mark for Phil. 3. 14. the prize of the high Calling of God in Christ Jesus. 1 Pet. 1. 17. And seeing we call on the Father, who without respect of persons, judges according to every man's work, let us pass the time of our sojourning here in fear, and never allow ourselves the commissions of any known Sin, nor the omission or neglect of any known Duty. Enable us by thy holy Spirit to subdue and govern our unruly passions, to resist and crush the first motions of Sin in our earthly members, faithfully to trade the several Talents thou putst into our hands, regularly to fill up all the relations wherein thou hast placed us, patiently to bear all our burdens, cheerfully to enjoy all our blessings, and thankfully to return them to thee in thy service and praise, and so wisely to improve all thy providences, both of bounty and severity, that in our lowest adversity we be not dejected with anxiety and unbelief, and in our highest prosperity, our hearts be not lifted up with pride to forget thee the Lord our God, but in all things the glory of thy great Name may be advanced, and the spiritual profit of our Souls, and their growth in grace may be promoted and furthered. Cherish and increase in us all sincere, though feeble motions towards a more perfect and uniform obedience to thy Will, and having begun a good work in any of us, complete and finish Phil. 1. 6. it until the day of Jesus Christ: help us to love thee more entirely, to serve thee more diligently, to trust in thee more fully, to live to thee more exactly, to please thee more abundantly than we have hitherto done, that in a dying hour our Sins and Follies may not strike us with horror and perplexity, but our Souls may be filled with sweet and comfortable reflections upon those ways that have been pleasing to thee, that our God, & our Consciences may smile upon us, and speak kindly to us, when all the things of this World are forsaking us, and we are passing into an eternal state. Use us, O Lord, whilst we live, as Instruments of thy Glory in all holiness, and as Vessels of Glory, fill us when we die, with everlasting happiness. Let all the Sons of Men whom thou hast made capable of thy grace and favour be made partakers of it: Relieve them that are any way distressed, and enlighten them with the knowledge of thy Gospel that sit in darkness. Beautify Mount Zion the joy of the whole Earth, with thy Salvation, deliver thy Church from ignorance and error, pride and hypocrisy, strife and contention, schism, profaneness, tyranny, superstition and idolatry, and let there be none to offend or oppress in thy Holy Mountain. Be gracious and merciful to this sinful and divided Nation, though our Sins be as scarlet, let them be white as Snow, though Isai. 1. 18. they be red like crimson, let them be as Wool: Establish thy Religion in the truth and purity of it, and let it be made beautiful by the religious lives and practices of them that profess it. Let the King joy in thy Psal. 21. 1. strength, O Lord, and exceedingly rejoice in thy Salvation, bless him with length of days and safety from dangers, direct him by wise Counsels to just, honourable and successful Erterprises; let all subordinate Authority be exercised to the beating down of Vice, and the exaltation of Religion and Righteousness, and dispose all that are under Authority to a pious obedience unto thee, a peaceable subjection to them that thou hast set over them, not only for wrath, but for conscience Rom. 13. 5. sake, and to mutual kindness and a brotherly love of one another. We come unto thee, holy Father, for a blessing upon ourselves, beseeching thee to take our Bodies and Souls, our Habitation and Possessions, into the safe custody of thy watchful Providence, that no evil befall Psal. 91. 10. us, nor any plague come nigh our dwelling, repair the decays of our frail Bodies by a quiet and refreshing rest, and let us lay out our strength and vigour in thy service, to thy praise and honour, and the giving up our account with joy, at the appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, in whom, as the High Priest of our Profession, we offer up all our Prayers and Praises, and through whom alone we hope to be heard and accepted, when praying, we say; Our Father which art in Heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy Will be done in Earth, As it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily Bread. And forgive us our Trespasses, As we forgive them that Trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from Evil: For thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, And the Glory, For ever and ever. Amen. Friday Morning. O Lord, the great and holy Dan. 9 4. God, that keepest Covenant and Mercy, to them that Psal. 145. 18. love thee, and art nigh to all that call upon thee in truth and sincerity, though thou hast thousands of holy and blessed Spirits, and ten thousand times ten thousands daily Ministering about thy Throne, and art not at all bettered by their pure and spotless Services, yet thou hast gracious and compassionate regards to the Prayers of weak and sinful Creatures, that dwell in Houses of Clay, thou openest thine Eyes to take knowledge of their condition, bowest thine Ear to hearken to their Cries, movest thy Bowels to pity their infirmities, and stretchest forth thine hand to relieve their wants. We poor Creatures and guilty Sinners are here fallen down at thy Footstool, adoring thine infinite perfections of holiness and wisdom, power, truth and goodness, and beseeching thee mercifully to look upon our follies and frailties, to supply our bodily and spiritual necessities, to lift up the light of thy countenance upon us, and turn away thy Face from our deserts of vengeance, to answer 〈◊〉 which purposes, we have none in Heaven Psal. 73. 25. but thee, none in Earth that our Souls can desire in comparison of thee. We dare not, we confess, look up to Heaven with any confidence of being accepted for our own worthiness, as being conscious that we have grievously offended that holy, just, and Almighty Majesty that is there seated on the Throne of his Glory; nor are we worthy to tread upon the Earth, or enjoy the fruits and benefits of it, where we have acted our wickednesses in the sight of Heaven. We were not only conceived in Sin, and brought forth in Iniquity, but we have conceived Sin, and brought forth Iniquity, Num. 32. 14 and are risen up in our Father's stead a generation of sinful men; to kindle and in crease the anger of the Lord against us. We have followed after our own imaginations, and fulfilled the motions of our own Wills which have been opposite and contrary to the declarations of thine, though there hath been the greatest reason we should receive Law from thy Mouth as our Almighty Creator, Sovereign Lord, and merciful Redeemer. How barren and unfruitful have we been in thy Vineyard, though thou hast caused the Clouds to drop down their moisture upon us, and watered us with the plentiful showers of thy Word, and the fructifying dew of thy holy Spirit, that should have made us fruitful in all good works? How have we neglected the Seasons of Grace? And when thou hast called us to a speedy and present repentance, the answer of our hearts hath been, we will repent to morrow, as if we could live as long as we listed, and had power in ourselves to turn to thee when we listed. We bewail, before thee, the blindness of our understandings, the stubbornness of our wills, the vanity of our thoughts, the earthliness of our affections, we have hated what thou lovest, and loved what thou hatest, and the good things which thou hast allowed us to love moderately, and in subordination to thee, we have followed with eager and unbounded appetites, and embraced with our highest and best love: we have not carried ourselves as it becomes those that are Strangers and Pilgrims upon the Earth, and profess to seek a better heavenly Country, but lived as if we were at home, and expected nothing better than what is to be here enjoyed, as if the happiness of this Life would never end, and that of the next would never begin. O Lord, be merciful to us, and in the multitude of thy tender mercies be reconciled to us through thy Son, and blot out all our Iniquities: give us hearty to repent of all our forepast Sins and Follies, and so to receive Christ Jesus the Lord, as Col. 2. 6. to walk in him: And whatever thou deniest us, grant us a full pardon through our dear and all-sufficient Redeemer, whom thou hast set forth to be a Propitiation Rom. 3. 25. through Faith in his Blood. And let the time passed of our 1 Pet. 4. 3. Lives suffice to have wrought the wills of the flesh, judging that Christ died for us, that we 2 Cor. 5. 15. should not henceforth live unto ourselves, but unto him which died for us, and risen again: Col. 1. 10. help us to walk worthy of thee unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; give us we pray thee a Psal. 111. 10 good understanding, not only to know, but to do thy Commandments, and by growing 2 Pet. 3. 18. in Grace, let us increase the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Phil. 4. 8. Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, let us think on, and follow these things, and never be slothful in the weighty matters of thine honour, and the everlasting interest and happiness of our Souls, but diligently follow those that have been followers of thee, and have Heb. 6. 12. through faith and patience inherited the promises. And because we are weak in ourselves, and insufficient to perform our duty, to subdue our lusts, to improve our blessings, or bear our burdens, to resist and conquer our spiritual enemies, to stand our ground in the fight, or recover ourselves from our falls, let thy grace and holy spirit strengthen Eph. 3. 16. us with might in our inward man, and make us more than Rom. 8. 37. conquerors through him that hath loved us. Cause us in the first place to Mat. 6. 33. seek thy Kingdom and righteousness, and as those that are Col. 3. 1. risen with Christ, to seek the things that are above, not looking at the things that are seen, 2 Cor. 4. 18. for they are temporal; but at the things which are not seen, for they are eternal: Let our Mat. 6. 20. treasure be laid up in Heaven, where Moth and Rust corrupt not, and where Thiefs break not through, nor Steal, and let our hearts be where our treasure is. Guide us continually in all the ways of wisdom and righteousness, and defend us against all temptations that might withdraw us from them; help us to go on our way rejoicing, and working righteousness, and perform our several duties to thee and all men, with such cheerfulness and constancy, as not to be weary of well-doing, but by a religious abstinence, and moderate use of bodily refreshments, let our flesh be so subdued to the Spirit, that we may ever obey thy godly motions, and in a course of righteousness and true holiness run to the end of the race which thou hast set before us, and be made partakers of that glorious prize which thou hast promised to all them that by a patiented continuance in well-doing seek for Rom. 2. 7. glory and honour, and immortality. And let the prospect and blessed hope of thy heavenly Kingdom, make us upright and faithful, active and diligent, contented and cheerful in every condition of life, humble and patiented, steadfast and resolved, selfdenying, and heavenly minded, till thou bringest us to the possession of those inconceiveable joys, and makest us to drink of the Rivers of Pleasure, that are at thy right hand for evermore. Do good with us, we pray thee, to the whole world, and let all that bear the image of thy power and wisdom be made partakers of thy favour and kindness, let the Nations that know thee not, be delivered from the power of darkness, Col. 1. 13. and translated into the Kingdom of thy dear Son. Be gracious in an especial manner to all whom thou hast called to the knowledge and obedience of his Gospel, forgive, gracious Father, and shower down thy blessings upon the inhabitants of this sinful Land; let us prepare to meet thee by an hearty and universal repentance, and so prevent those judgements that seem to be arrayed, and marching forward to our destruction. Give Salvation to our King, Psai. 144. 10 and preserve thy Servant from hidden Treacheries and the hurtful Sword; direct all public Counsels to thine honour, the promoting of true Religion, the establishment of Righteousness and Peace, and the comfort of all them that hearty love and fear thee, and let all that love thy Salvation, say Psal. 40. 16. continually, the Lord be magnified. Comfort all that in any kind suffer adversity, let thy holy Spirit refresh them as with new Wine, whom thou hast given Tears to drink in great measure, and let that good providence that hath been our protection and repose this night, defend us from all the dangers and temptations, direct and prosper us in all the designs and enterprises of this day, and by a faithful discharge of our duty, bring us nearer to the glorious reward of Eternal Life, which thou hast promised in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whose Name and Words, we further commend ourselves and others to thy grace and mercy, saying. Our Father which art in Heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy Will be done in Earth, As it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily Bread. And forgive us our Trespasses, As we forgive them that Trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from Evil: For thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, And the Glory, For ever and ever. Amen. Friday Evening. MOst blessed Lord God, the Father of Mercies, our hope and present help, our strength and our Salvation, the overflowing and inexhaustible Fountain of all Good, we thy poor Servants, in an humble and thankful sense of thy great goodness, and emboldened by the invitation of thy gracious promises, present ourselves before the Throne of thy Grace, to offer up our supplications, and thanksgivings through the Mediation of thy dear Son, in whom thou hast given us access Eph. 3. 12. with confidence, through the Faith of him. We are most unworthy in ourselves to receive blessings, or offer praises, but worthy art thou, O Lord, to receive honour and glory, and blessing, and thanksgiving, as for thy divine perfections which we cannot comprehend, so for thine abundant kindnesses towards us, which we can neither deserve nor number. Thou didst frame and fashion us in the Womb, by thy wisdom and power, and hast maintained and provided for us by thy goodness and bounty, ever since thou hast brought us into life and being; giving us richly all things to enjoy, not only the necessaries, but conveniencies of Life, whereby it hath been made easy and pleasant to us. But above all from the bottom of our hearts we praise, a door and magnify thy transcendent wisdom & superlative love in that inestimable benefit of our Redemption, by the bitter sufferings and bloody Death of thy dear Son, that when we had lost and undone ourselves, were liable to wrath and eternal misery, when we lay weltering in our own blood, and there was no Eye to pity, no Hand to relieve us, thou redeemedst us in such a way as no creature had wisdom to contrive, worthiness to undertake, or power to effect. We praise thee O Lord, that thou hast in thy Gospel manifested this great and admirable Salvation, made thy goodness to pass before us, and fully and plainly instructed us in our duty; that in performing the one we might be made partakers of the other; that thou hast afforded us the means of Grace, thy Word and Sacraments, opportunities of thy public Worship, the motions and assistances of thy holy Spirit, that thou hast quickened our obedience by the hopes of a glorious recompense. Give us, we pray thee, a due sense of all thy mercies, and withdraw not thy loving kindness from us; if our worthiness had been to procure these mercies, they had never been put into our hands and if any thing but thy goodness were to continue them, we could never hold them; our own wickedness might correct us, and our Jer. 2. 19 back-slidings reprove us, for we have sinned and done very foolishly. We have perverted and polluted our ways, and professing Tit. 1. 16. to know thee, have in our works denied thee, we have called thee our Father, but have not loved and honoured thee, as Children, our Master, but have not feared and obeyed thee as Servants, our Friend and Benefactor, but have expressed our enmity against thee in wicked works; we have 2 Tim. 2. 19 named the Name of Christ, but not departed from Iniquity, vowed allegiance to thee in our Baptism, but have broken thy Bonds asunder, and cast away thy Cords from us, and as if the temptations of the World and the Devil would not have enough prevailed to defile and destroy us, we have tempted ourselves, and been drawn away of our own lust and enticed. Jam. 1. 14. We have not had that sense of thy Love, as to love thee with all our hearts; that sense of thy Mercies, as with those Cords of kindness to be drawn to thy Service; that sense of thy displeasure, as to fear offending thee; that sense of Sins filthiness and deformity, as to hate and flee from it with our whole Souls; nor have we had that belief of Heaven's Glory and Happiness, as by a fruitfulness in good works to press toward it with all our might; that active and vigorous diligence that should have been used to promote the spiritual good of our Souls, and secure their immortal interest, we have with great folly misemployed in pursuing the pleasures and profits of this World, and in assuring those fickle and slippery vanities, that are not capable of a long, or certain continuance. O Lord have mercy upon us, miserable offenders, and help us so to repent of all the Sins we have committed, as never more to commit the Sins of which we have repent, and work in us a true and a lively faith in thy dear Son, our blessed Redeemer, who is both God and Man, that God and Man may be reconciled, and through the blood of his Cross, grant us repentance and remission of Sins, and by that precious Blood, sprinkled upon our Consciences, Heb. 9 14. purge them from dead Works, to serve thee the living God. Wash our hearts from wickedness Jer. 4. 14. that we may be saved, and let not vain thoughts lodge within us, help us so to govern our Tongue, that unruly Member, that no corrupt communication may at any time proceed out of our Mouth, but that Eph. 4. 29. which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers: and let all our actions be directed by thy Word, and designed to thy Glory. That delight and satisfaction that we might vainly, and to no purpose seek, in sensual pleasures, and the impure gratifications of the Flesh, let us seek and find in the ways of holiness, and a dutiful compliance with thy Will, that in loving and keeping Psal. 119. 165. thy Law, we may have great peace, and nothing may offend us: and in the midst of all the troubles and confusions of the World, we may rejoice in our reconciliation with thee, and in the harmony and peaceful reports of our own consciences. Bless us in our Callings and Employments, that we may neither Pro. 30. 8. 9 abound in Riches, lest we be full and deny thee, nor be pinched with extreme want, lest we be tempted to the evils that attend an impoverished State, but in thy wise and good providence, carve out to us such a convenient share of worldly good things, health and strength, riches and reputation, that we may faithfully serve thee, and be cheerfully helpful to our brethren. Let thy love and holy fear so intermix with and sweeten all our earthly enjoyments, that we may eat our Eccl. 9 7. Bread with joy, and drink our Wine with a merry heart, because thou acceptest our works. In every condition of Life be thou our Guide, and our Support, help us to love and rejoice in thee above our highest and best comforts, and under our crosses, with patience and cheerfulness to resign up ourselves to thy wise and righteous providence, and with a steadfast faith to rely upon thy gracious and faithful promises. Let our conversation be without Heb. 13. 5. covetousness, and make us content with such things as we have, because thou hast said, thou wilt never leave us, nor forsake us: by all the changes we meet with in this World, prepare us, O Lord, for our last and great change, when we shall leave it; that death our last Enemy may be to us neither dangerous nor dreadful, but a sweet and passage to a blessed, and glorious immortality. And in these our Prayers we commend (allied by a common Brotherhood) all Mankind to thy Grace and Favour, heal the Sick, ease the pained, relieve the Oppressed, supply the Impoverished, feed the Hungry, cloth the Naked, comfort the Disconsolate, cause them that are disquieted in Conscience to Rejoice, spread forth the knowledge of thy Son into all the dark corners of the World, that Isai. 49. 6. he may be thy Light and thy Salvation unto the end of the Earth. 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. O be gracious and favourable to the Land of our Nativity, forgive all our crying Sins, avert thy threatened and approaching Judgements, cleanse our defilements, heal our divisions, establish us in truth, righteousness and peace, perpetuate thy Gospel and Ordinances, the pledges of thy love and kindness, and grant that we may always walk worthy of those inestimable benefits. Bless, preserve, direct and prosper our Sovereign Lord the King, in all his thoughts, words and works, let him ever seek thy honour and glory, and study to preserve thy People committed to his charge, in wealth, peace and godliness. Let the Bishops and Pastors of thy Church by their heavenly Doctrine and exemplary Lives, their diligent labours, vigilant care, and prudent carriage, adorn the Gospel, silence gainsayers, and win many to righteousness: and let Magistrates by an equal and indifferent administration of Justice, uphold Religion and Virtue, and suppress Vice and Ungodliness; and grant that all under Authority may follow after Peace and Holiness, obeying those that are over them for conscience sake, loving and forbearing one another, leading quiet and peaceable Lives in all godliness and honesty. Fellow us with thy mercy and loving kindness this night, and let thy good providence, that neither slumbers nor sleeps, defend and protect us, that no danger or disturbance in the intermission of our own thoughts, care and reason, harm or annoy us: And so repair our decaying spirits by a quiet and peaceful rest, that we may serve thee with healthful bodies and cheerful minds, the next day, and all our days, till thou bringest us to that blessed state where eating, and drinking, and sleeping shall be no more, but we shall be eternally happy in praising and enjoying thee through thy dear Son, our ever blessed Redeemer, through whose Merits alone we hope to be heard, and in whose words we further pray; Our Father which art in Heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy Will be done in Earth, As it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily Bread. And forgive us our Trespasses, As we forgive them that Trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from Evil: For thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, And the Glory, For ever and ever. Amen. Saturday Morning. O Eternal Lord God, the great Creator and Preserver of Heaven and of Earth, and our most merciful Father in Christ Jesus, Look down, we beseech thee, from Heaven, upon us vile Dust and Ashes, and grant that when we call upon thee with our Lips, our Hearts may not be far from thee. We do humbly acknowledge the great sinfulness and corruption of our Natures; the blindness of our Minds, the perverseness of our Wills, the disorder and depravedness of our affections, and the vanity of our thoughts. We acknowledge that we are by nature the Children of Wrath, and that there is no sound or clean part in us. We do farther confess, that we have by many actual sins made ourselves more the Children of Wrath than we were by Nature. We confess our sins of omission as well as commission, our sins against Thee, our Brother and our own Souls. We have many ways offended thee in thought, word and deed: And if thou shouldst mark Iniquities, we were not able to stand before thee. We have sinned against light and knowledge, after the greatest of thy Mercies, under sufficient means of Grace, after many and solemn Vows of better obedience. We have not been awakened out of our sinful and careless Life by the greatest of thy Judgements; but have sinned after the convictions of our own Consciences, and the experience of the evil of departing from thee, after many confessions and many repetitions. We have grieved thy Spirit, defaced thy Image, misspent our precious time, trifled in the great concernments of Eternity, and in great measure received the grace of thee our God in vain. We humble ourselves before thee, O God, and desire to be vile in our own Eyes, as we have made ourselves so in thine. Enter not into Judgement with thy Servants, O Lord, for no Flesh shall be justified in thy sight. Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us for Jesus Christ's sake, who is the Propitiation for our Sins, and ever lives to make intercession for those who come unto God by him. Grant that he may not be an empty Name and Title to us, but that he may bless us in turning us from our Iniquities, and may give us Repentance as well as forgiveness of Sins. And we most humbly beseech thee to give us thy holy Spirit; purify and cleanse our Hearts, and help us that we may fear, love and desire thee above all things. Make us like unto thee, and help us that we may cheerfully do and suffer thy whole Will. Supply all our wants, sanctify all thy deal to us, direct us in our difficulties and enable us against our Sins. Deliver us, O Lord, from every evil thing, from hardness of Heart, and contempt of thy Word: keep us from being tempted above what we are able, and enable us by thy Grace against the assaults of the Devil, the Temptations of the World and the Flesh, and make us at the last partakers of Everlasting Life. Be merciful, we pray thee, to the whole World: enlarge the Kingdom of Christ, and let the whole World be filled with the knowledge of thee, and of thy Son, as the Waters cover the Sea. Bless thy whole Church: reform whatever is amiss in the belief or lives of Christians: Grant that all who name the Name of Christ may departed from all Iniquity. Be gracious to these Kingdoms. Pardon our Sins, pity our Distractions, heal our Breaches, unite us to one another, reconcile us all to thy Divine Majesty, and defend us against our Enemies. Especially we pray thee to bless the King: endue his Heart with all the Graces of thy holy Spirit, defend Him against all His Enemies; bless Him in His Royal Relations, and teach His Senator's wisdom. Bless all the Governors and Instructors of thy Church, and grant they may all in their several places answer the end of their Institution and Appointment. Pity all that are afflicted. Comfort them that mourn, visit the Sick and Weak, have compassion on them who lie a dying, and take them not out of this Life before they are fitted for a better Life than this. Bless all our Friends with all the Blessings of this and of a better Life. Forgive our Enemies, convert and turn their hearts. We bless thee for all thy Mercies to us, both of this and a better Life: above all we bless thee for Jesus Christ, humbly beseeching thee, so to affect our hearts with the sense of thy Mercies, that thy goodness may lead us to Repentance: And all we beg for Christ his sake, who hath taught us, when we pray, to say; Our Father which art in Heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy Will be done in Earth, As it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily Bread. And forgive us our Trespasses, As we forgive them that Trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from Evil: For thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, And the Glory, For ever and ever. Amen. Saturday Evening. MOst gracious and ever blessed Lord God, and our most merciful Father in Christ Jesus, we that are less than the least of thy mercies, desire in all humility to come into thy presence, and beseech thee for Christ's sake, to have a regard unto us. We do acknowledge before thee, our lost and undone condition without thy great mercy towards us: we have grievously offended thee in thought, word and deed: been unthankful for thy Mercies, incorrigible under thy Judgements, and very unprofitable under the means of Grace. We humble ourselves before thee for the Sins of our whole Life; and particularly for the Sins of this day, with all the circumstances of aggravation, with which they have been attended. Pardon us, O Lord, we humbly pray thee, for the sake of Jesus Christ who came into the World, to seek and to save that which was lost. Give us a true faith in him, and work in us a sincere and hearty repentance never to be repent of. And, we pray thee, assist us by thy Grace, that we may for the time to come, walk before thee in newness of Life. Enlighten our Minds, rectify our Wills, sanctify our Affections and purify all the thoughts & intentions of our Hearts. Make us fit Temples for thy holy Spirit to dwell in, and grant that he who is in us may be greater than he who is in the World. Be with us under all our Trials and Temptations, and prepare us for all events of things. Sanctify all thy dispensations to us, and give us Wisdom and a saving Knowledge of thee and of thy Son. Make us humble and lowly, heavenly minded and pure in heart, patiented under every trouble, contented in every condition, and resigned to thy holy and heavenly Will. And because the way of Man is not in himself, we humbly pray thee to direct and guide us in the way that we should go. Take care of our Affairs, prosper all our Undertake which are agreeable to thy heavenly Will; help us that we may live Righteously, So berly and Godly in this present World. Cast out of our mind every thing that is displeasing to thee: discharge our Hearts of all Pride, Ambition, Covetousness, Malice, Vain Conceit of ourselves. And grant that we may not be overcome by the Temptations of the Devil, the World and the Flesh: And that we may not go out of this World with false hopes and expectations about us. Prepare us, we pray thee, for our latter end. When our Heart and Flesh shall fail us, be thou the strength of our Heart and our Portion for ever: And suffer us not at our last hour for any Pains or Agonies of Death to fall away from thee: make us willing and ready to leave this World, whensoever it shall please thee to call us hence. Be merciful to the whole race of Mankind: Advance the Kingdom of Christ in the World; Let the People praise thee, O God, let all the People praise thee. Especially be merciful to thy whole Church; Bless these Kingdoms, and settle us upon the Foundations of Righteousness, of Truth and Peace. Bless with the choicest of thy Blessings, our Sovereign Lord the King. Protect His Royal Person, bless His Government, let His days be many and His Reign prosperous. And bless His Royal Relations, and succeed His Counsellors, and all in Authority under Him, and grant that under Him we may live quiet and peaceable Lives, in all godliness and honesty. Bless all that minister in holy things, and grant they may gain many unto Righteousness. Have compassion upon the Afflicted, upon the Oppressed and the Poor, upon Widows and Fatherless, upon all that are persecuted for Righteousness sake, upon the Sick and the Weak, upon all that are troubled in mind, and at the point of Death: Be merciful to them all according to their several necessities. We beseech thee to be merciful to our Friends and to forgive all our Enemies. We bless thy holy Name for all thy mercies to us and to all the World; for thy preservation of us this day, for the means of Grace and the hope of Glory. We bless thee above all for Jesus Christ, we praise thee for the clear revelation of thy Will the Promise of thy Spirit, the time and space of Repentance which thou art pleased to continue to us; for any measure of Health and Strength, the many Mercies which we enjoy, and which others want, and which we have been unthankful for. Writ a Law of thankfulness upon our Hearts, we humbly pray thee, and grant that we may be bettered by all thy Mercies. Take us, we pray thee, into thy protection this night, sanctify and prepare our Hearts for all the solemn Duties and Services of the next Day, and grant all our Requests for Christ's sake, in whose words we further call upon thee. Our Father which art in Heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy Will be done in Earth, As it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily Bread. And forgive us our Trespasses, As we forgive them that Trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from Evil: For thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, And the Glory, For ever and ever. Amen. FINIS.