of the wicked fhall be fitted for torments, and the bodies of the faints changed in quality, and made glorified bodies, immortal and incorruptible, fitted for heaven, and eternally to love and enjoy God; for which glorious vouchfafement, I will always praise and love my Creator and Redeemer, to whom, with the Holy Spirit, be all honour and glory, world without end. Amen. G A Prayer for Life everlasting. Rant, O Lord, that as I am baptifed into the death of thy bleffed Son our Saviour Jefus Christ, so by continual mortifying my corrupt affections, I may be buried with him, and that through the gate and grave of death, I may pass to a joyful refurrection, for his merits, who died and was buried, and rofe again for us, thy Son Jefus Chrift our Lord. Amen. B Acts of Adoration and Praife. Lefs the Lord, O my foul, O Lord my God, thou art become exceeding glorious, thou art cloathed with majesty and honour ! O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all; the earth is full of thy riches! To the only wife God, our Saviour, be glory and majefty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Be thou exalted, Lord, in thine own ftrength, fo will we fing and praise thy power. Bleffing and honour, glory and power, thanksgiving and praife, be unto him that fitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever. Praife the Lord, O my foul, and all that is within me praise his holy name: praife the Lord, O my foul, and forget not all his benefits. O inagnify the Lord our God, and fall down before his footftool; for he is holy. Bleffed be the God and Father of our Lord Jefus Chrift, which, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope of an inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled, that fadeth not away. Thy righteousness, O God, is very high: great things, Ọ Lord, are they which thou haft done: O God, who is like unto thee! A Prayer to be faid by fuch as are poor and low in the World. O God, I believe that for juft and wise reasons thou hast allotted to mankind very different states and circumftances of life; and that all the temporal evils, which have at any time happened unto me, are defigned by thee for my benefit. Therefore tho' thou hast thought fit to place me in a mean condition, to deprive me of many conveniencies of life, and to exercise me in a state of poverty; yet thou haft hitherto preserved and fupported me by thy good providence, bleffed me with advantages * above many others, who labour under great troubles. O make me thankful for the enjoy *Here recollect the Bleffings you enjoy, ment of the light of thy glorious gospel, and the means of grace, and the opportunity of working out my falvation; whereas many poor fouls are given up to the just punishment of fin, groaning out a fad eternity, under inexpreffible torments. But, O merciful Father, if thou seest fit, bless me with fuch a portion of the comforts and conveniencies of life, that thereby I may be enabled to go on more chearfully in my ftation, to ferve thee better, to love thee more and more, and more admire thy wonderful bounty and loving-kindness; grant me health and strength, and abilities suited to my circumftances, that I may honeftly provide for myself; fupport me, that I fall not into extreme want; lay not more upon me, than thou fhalt enable me to bear with patience, and supply the want of worldly bleffings, by the comfort and fupport of thy good Spirit, whereby I may be made perfect in every good work, become rich in faith, and an heir of thy kingdom. Grant, O Lord, that I may exercise all those christian graces and duties, which my prefent circumstances call for from me; let the fharpness of temporal wants put me upon confidering what mifery muft attend the lofs of my foul: Ď Ꭰ let . let a sense of my poverty ftir up eager defires after the true riches; and the less I have of this world, the more careful let me be to provide for the next; that I may feek an inheritance incorruptible, and that fadeth not away: let bodily hardships convince me of the great evil of fpiritual wants; that I may hunger and thirst after that righteoufnefs, which is through Chrift my Saviour. Infpire me with diligence and induftry in my calling, and when I have done my endeavour, make me to cast all my care upon thee; that neither the contempt, which vain perfons wrongfully caft upon poverty, nor any evil which I may endure, may tempt me to any dishonest ways of living; but let mechufe rather to be poor than wicked, and to want any thing rather than thy bleffing. For which end, cloath me with a meek, and quiet, and humble fpirit, and a thorough contentedness in my prefent circumstances; that I may neither dare to repine at my own condition, nor envy the profperity of others; but poffefs my own foul in patience; acknowledging thy right and foveraignty over me, who art juft, and wife, and merciful in all thy difpenfations towards the children of men. Raife up my heart ito look unto Jefus, the author and finisher of our faith; who, to reconcile us to a state of poverty, chose to be born, and live in a mean condition, enduring hunger, and thirft, and cold, and not having where to lay his head: that by his example I may be encouraged to contemn the world; and more and more delight myfelf in thy love, and in the practice of true religion and virtue; that through faith and patience having finifhed the race which thou haft fet before me, I may be received into the joy of my Lord, for the fake of my Redeemer, thy -ever. bieffed Son Jefus Chrift our Lord and Saviour. Amen. Players for the Holy Communion. The Reader, that would be fatisfied concerning the Nature, Defign and End of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, is referred to Chap. VII. Sect. I, II, III, IV and V, in this Book. A Prayer A Prayer for a worthy receiving of the Lord's Supper, to be faid immediately after Sermon, and which may be added to our Morning and Evening Prayers, any time in the Week before we communicate. Merciful God, by whofe grace I am difpofed to ap proach thy holy table, which is fo neceffary to my eternal happiness; I acknowledge it to be thy infinite mercy which hath provided fuch aremedy to ftrengthen and refresh my body and foul, that I may not perish in my own corruption: therefore, O Lord, grant that I may be always thankful for this pledge of thy love, and that I may fo worthily receive the fame, that Chrift may live in me, and I in him, all the days of my life. Wherefore, I beseech thee, O Lord, fo to compofe my mind to great seriousness and devotion, that the things of this world may not interrupt me in my attendance on thy fervice; but that I may have fuch a deep sense of thy infinite mercy, and my neceffary dependance upon thee; fuch an apprehenfion of thy unfpeakable goodness to poor, miferable finful creatures in this holy facrament, that I may be awed into a becoming reverence, and confirmed against all disturbances and diftractions of mind, which I beg thee to enlighten with the rays of the fun of righteousness; and to inflame my cold heart with thy holy love, that I may be fervent in what I ask; and to raise my mind, by a lively faith, and a confirmed hope, that I may have an affured expectation of all neceffary fupplies, from thy goodness and mercy; and give me fuch a true understanding of all that is eternal, that I may at all times remember how much it is my intereft, that my foul should be ever longing after it, and that I should defire it with an earnestness above all that belongs to earthly things, and always pray for those helps that are neceffary to bring me to the unchangeable poffeffion of thee, my God, through the merits of Jefus Chrift thy Son our Lord, Redeemer and Advocate. Amen. A Prayer when we offer our Alms. Merciful Lord, by whofe goodness and providence I am both willing and enabled to relieve the neceffities of my poor brethren: I beseech thee to accept of this teftimony of my love and gratitude, and to make me truly thankful for all thofe happy opportunities thou giveft me of doing good, in the name of that perfect pattern of all goodness, thy Son Jefus Chrift my only Saviour. Amen. A Prayer immediately after the Bread and Wine are confecrated. Now, my mighty and OW, my mighty and gracious Lord, who fo lovedft the world, that thou gavest thine only begotten Son to humble himself to the death of the cross, that I might be redeemed from a state of fin and mifery: I remember, and with all thankfulness adore this thy wonderful work of my falvation, in remembrance of which we offer up this christian sacrifice, which the fame thy Son did provide for us, to convey to us the benefits of that all-fufficient oblation of himself once offered for the fins of all mankind. Therefore I humbly implore, that the power of it may ftrengthen my weakness against all temptations; that the wifdom of it may cure my ignorance; and that the purity of it may fanctify me throughout in body, fouland fpirit; and this I beg for the all-fufficient merits of Jefus Christ our Lord and Saviour. Amen. I A Prayer before receiving the confecrated Bread. my Acknowledge my tranfgreffions, and fin is ever be. fore me, and with all humility I confess that I am not worthy that thy Son fhould enter under my roof. For the devil, and my own fears do fo magnify the horror of my fins, that they would fink me into dejection of fpirit, and defpair of thy mercy, if I had not a fure truft and confidence in thy infinite goodness, manifested in the death of thy beloved Son for me. For whose fake, and merits of his death, I befeech |