AN Evening Sacrifice OR PRAYER FOR A FAMILY; Necessary for these calamitous Times.  
Printed in the year. 1643.   

AN Evening SACRIFICE OR PRAYER for a FAMILY; Necessary for these calamitous times.  
O Lord God Almighty, protector, and preserver of all thy Creatures, thy glory covereth the Heavens, and the Earth is full of thy praise; than art gracious, and of great mercy in pardoning those who confess, and forsake their sins; but dreadful in the execution of thy judgements on all those who hid them, and obsturately go on in their rebellions against thy sacred Majesty: their judgement sleepeth n●●, and the day hasteth on wherein the Heavens shall 
2 Pet. 3. 10.  pass away with a noise, the Elements melt with heat, and the Earth with all the works therein, shall be burnt up, and Christ the judge of the living and the dead, shall show himself from Heaven, with millions of Angels in flaming fire, to render vengeance to the wicked, and to recompense every man according to his deservings. Remembering the terror of that day, the severity of thy justice, how impossible it is to fly from thee, how dreadful to fall into thine hands when thou art angry; and finding no ground of comfort out of thee, and thy Christ no way to escape thy justice, but by flying to thy free grace; we appeal from thy tribunal of judgement, unto the sanctuary of thy Mercy, let open unto us in that only living way thy Son our Saviour jesus Christ, humbly acknowledging, that so many and so grievous have our sins, and transgressions continually been, in the contempt of thy Word, careless neglect of our souls health, impious pursuance of our own vile desires, omission of holy duties, for the prosecution of our own vain and sinful purposes, as that never durst we lift up an eye to Heaven, nor could we an heart to Prayer; didst not thou whose mercy pulleth us like brands out of the fire, help our infirmities by thy holy Spirit, indite our Petitions when we know not what 
Rom. 8. Matth. 11. Psal. 50. 15. Zeph. 1. 12.  to pray, as we ought, and invite us to call upon thee by promising to hear and help us. We know O Lord, that if thou who searchedst jerusalem with lights, and punishedst them who settled on their lees, shouldst now examine our lives and conversations in our customary living, nakedness, and destitution of grace, we could not but be ashamed and confounded at thy presence, having no excuse for our vileness, no pretence for our justification left us: Thou hast nourished and brought up children, but we have continually rebelled against thee, and followed our own unhappy ways; thou hast revealed thy will concerning our salvation, but we have prodigally spent that portion of knowledge, wherewith thou hast not once, but continually furnished us by thy Word preached to beget faith and obedience in us, and to open unto us the inestimable riches of thy grace and mercy in Christ jesus; thou hast ever been a tender and gracious Father unto us, but we have sinned against Heaven and against thee, and are no more worthy to be called thy sons: we have consulted shame to our families, and confusion to our own souls, and if we would hid our iniquities, the 
Hab. 2. 11.  stone should cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber witness against it: if thou whose allseeing eve of justice runneth to and fro through the whole Earth, shall be extreme to mark what is done amiss, thou needest no witness, because the evidence of every fact cryeth unto thee, nor further examination of the Book of Remembrance, then concerning the sins of this day sufficient to condemn us, to make our houses desolation, and our souls examples of thy just judgements on transgressors: we have by our hardness of heart, and secure impenitency stored up to ourselves, wrath against the day of thy fierce wrath, and revelation of thy righteous judgements: O Lord we confess, that we deserve to be smitten with blasting and mildews in all the labours of our hands; that the Heavens over us should either pour down drowning floods, or be stayed from dew, and the Earth from her fruit, and that after this dreadful execution of thy wrath, by the spirit of division sent amongst us, and the sword in mutual slaughters, drunken with the native blood of this Lands Inhabitants, thou shouldst also call for a foreign enemy, or a famine and pestilence to consume the residue: But O Lord, our wounds are already dolorous, our afflictions grievous, and our cries doleful from Dan to Beersheba, from one end of the Land to the other, such as may move an enemy to pity, such as do make us a wonder and astonishment, not only to those neighbouring Nations (who have lately envied our happy peace and plenty) but also to ourselves, for as much as this whole destruction is of ourselves, who sufficiently feel the judgement, and yet cannot stay our own wretched hands from a desperate pursuit and execution thereof upon ourselves. Yet when we consider our many provocations of thy justice by our unthankfulness for all thy blessings, abase of thy good Creatures, wilful stopping our ears to thy Prophets, whose messages we have not laid to heart, nor harkened to them when they cried to us to turn from our evil ways, our vain confidence in the counsels of men, and in arm of flesh, we cannot so much wonder at the present curse which is upon us, and that thou hast been sore displeased with us, as that thou didst not long since destroy us, or dost not utterly now; seeing we have not yet profited by thy fatherly corrections, 
Nehem. 1. 6, 7.  nor turned to the Hand that smiteth us. But O Lord, who can stand before thine indignation and endure the fierceness of thine anger? Spare us, good Lord, miserable Creatures, but the work of thine own hands: who is God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by transgression? Have mercy on us, wretched sinners, but the people whom thou hast redeemed: Lord retain not thine anger for ever: thou who delightest in mercy, turn again, and have compassion on us: subdue our iniquities, cast all our sins into the depth of the Sea, that they may no more appear in judgement against us, to provoke thine anger to our destruction: perform thy truth, and thy mercy to us: revive thy work, and in judgement show mercy: thou delightest not in the misery, nor desirest the death of wretched sinners, but that they may be converted and live: O Lord, it is too much misery to be sinners, let not thy justice press upon the wounds of our afflicted soul, nor follow us with the bitter fruits of our sins, the guilt and dreadful punishment due to the same in the final desolation which now threatneth this Land: Lord consider to whom thou hast done this; thou hast given us the Seals of thy Covenant, whereby we are called thine: Lord destroy not the work of thine own mercy; thou reconciledst us when we were enemies; cast us not away, seeing thou hast made us thy Sons: though thou afflict us with grief, and fill us with bitterness, to make us consider our waves, and to return unto thee; yet thou hast not forgotten to be gracious, nor is thy mercy come to an end for ever: Therefore have compassion on us: we have rebelled, and thou hast not spared: fear and snare, destruction and desolation are come upon us: we hope, and attain not, we cry unto thee, but yet, O holy one of Israel, it appeareth not that thou hearest us: yet we believe (Lord help our unbelief) and are assured of the truth of thy promise once to hear us: But Lord how long shall we mourn, and find no comfort in our souls? We know we cannot be deceived in our confidence, for thou hast never failed them that trust in thee: Lord try us not above that patience which thou wilt give us, and so thy holy will be done: Reject us not finally, and so give us patience to expect thy saving health: Blessed jesus, who after many sharp repulses, gavest a gracious answer to that importunate Canaanites intercession, now at last answer our Petitions with comfort: Lord look down from Heaven, and behold how we labour and have no rest: Where our Prayers want fervency, pour out upon us thy Spirit of grace and supplications: where our sins hinder thy mercy, in mercy turn us unto thee, and we shall be turned: where our hardness of heart holdeth us in impenitency, take away our stony hearts, and give us hearts of flesh: give us unfeigned repentance, who will assuredly show mercy to the penitent: renew our days as of old: thou art our portion, give us not over unto the will of our destroyers: we resign ourselves wholly into thy hands, O Lord our Maker, make us such as thou wouldst have be, that thou mayst be pleased to show mercy unto us in our deliverance: give us rest from our days of trouble, that we may again rejoice in thee, before we go hence into the silent grave, where none can praise thee: let the end of all our sufferings be thy glory, and our amendment, not our destruction.  
Neither are we mindful of ourselves alone, but we humbly pray thee also for thy universal Church: Lord bless her with the Spirit of Truth and Unity: Suppress all those unhappy Schisms, Heresies, and Factions, which any ways, or any where, distract, or disquiet thy little flock: Lord God of Unity, grant that all we who profess one truth of the Gospel of jesus Christ may by our mutual love approve ourselves his Disciples; and being united by his good Spirit, may all hold that unity in the hand of peace, to the glory of thy great Name, who art the God of peace; to the adorning of the Gospel, which is the doctrine of peace: to the good example of our Brethren who are the sons of peace: to the silencing them who are the enemies of peace, and to the endless peace, and comfort of our souls and consciences, through jesus Christ our Lord.  
Bless our Sovereign Lord the King; save and defend Him, that He may defend the Faith and faithful People: Keep Him from all Treasons and Conspiracies, confound the Counsels of all mischievous Ahithophels': give Him the Spirit of Wisdom and Counsel to govern this people in peace and godliness: Bless Him with abundance of peace, a prosperous Reign, Faithful subjection of His People, length of days, and eternal happiness in the world to come. Bless the Queen, and the Royal Issue: Lord so season their tender years, with grace and truth, that in their riper Age, they may become nursing Fathers, and nursing Mothers to thy Church: Bless all the Counsellors, judges, and Ministers of State, with Wisdom, Fidelity, and Equity: be with them in the Cause, and direct them in the sentence so, as that they may Council prudently, and judge equally, ever remembering that themselves must ere long stand before thy more dreadful tribunal, where there is no respect of Persons: Bless all the faithful Ministers of thy holy Word and Sacraments, with sincerity of life, and soundness of doctrine, that they may faithfully and powerfully dispense thy saving Mysteries, and lead thy People in the straight paths of Life everlasting: show thy mercy on all the afflicted Servants of Christ jesus: apply thy Comforts to them according to their several wants and necessities: speak peace unto their souls, and assure them of thy saving health, that they faint not under their burden.  
Bless and keep this Family, and all that thou hast given us: set thy fear in every one of our hearts, and make us all thy faithful Servants: preserve us from all noisome contagion and infection of bodies and souls from all the snares of sin, Satan, the World, and the Flesh; from the power of the adversary; from robbers, spoilers, and oppressions, and from all dangers, spiritual or temporal; forgive us all our neglects, and failings this day past.  
And now that the night and darkness are upon us, wherein thou hast appointed that we shall rest; we humbly pray thee, whose providence, neither sleepeth, nor can be prevented by any sudden evil, to watch over us, and preserve us so, as that our sleep may be comfortable for the refreshidg our weary bodies, that our souls resting in thee, we may awake enabled to thy service, and the works of our callings: Into thy hands, O Lord, we commend, and commit ourselves, bodies, and souls, and all that which thou hast given us, and made near and dear unto us, whether we sleep or wake, live, or die, have us ever in thy gracious keeping this night, and ever more. Amen.  
FINIS.