Household Prayers, Prayer 21
The one and twentieth Prayer. For the Morning,
O Lord, euen in the morning heare my voice: Earlie in the morning will I direct my praier vntounto thee, and will looke vp. O Lord I crie vntounto thee, and earlie ſhall my praier come before thee. Let my helpe and beginning be in the name of god (Father, Sonne and holi-ghoſt) who hath made heauen and earth.
Pſal. 5. & 88.
O Lord my God eternal and almightie, to whom I owe all glory and obedience, I doe humbly proſtrate my ſelfe before thy face, and lift vp my heart and voice to thee my Father which art in heauen, to ſanctifie thy name, to craue thy mercy, and to giuegive thee thankes for thy benefits. I acknowledge of thy prouidence and benignitie, that hauing paſſed this night vnderunder thy gard and protection, I may yet ſee the light of the day, & in the workes of thy hands, contemplate the greatneſſe of thy power, and here below enioy thoſe temporall benefites that thou powreſt plentifully or largely vppon thy creatures.
But becauſe of thy vnmeaſurable bountie, thou makeſt earthlie things common to all men, and that the effects of the Sonne doe ſtand vsus no ſteede but for the life of the bodie, I beeſeech thee (merciful Father) more and more to raiſe vponupon my heart thy eternall light (our Lord Ieſus Chriſt) and by the vertue of thy ſpirit, ſo to ſcatter the darkeneſſe of my vnderſtanding, and to breake the hardneſſe of my heart, that ſo farre as it may ſuffize for my ſaluation, I may apprehend the glorie of thy Kingdome, and the myſteries of chriſtian faith, together with the dutie of my calling, that I may conſtantly walke in the ſame, in a good conſcience and as before thee, the ſearcher of our harts with all my thoughtes worſhipping and louing thee in ſpirit and trueth according to thy word: louing alſo, in thee, my neighboures as my ſelfe, to pleaſure them ſo farre forth as I may, by thy grace: but becauſe my ignorance and imperfections, doe carrie mee far from ſuch wiſdome, and fulfilling of righteouſneſſe, beeing a poore ſinner, weake in faith, ſlowe in hope, colde in charitie, and polluted with many offences that make mee worthie of death and of hell. I beſeech thee, my God, in thy fatherly louelove to bear with theſe my defects, and to forgiue mee my treſpaſſes, in the name of thy Sonne our Mediator and Sauiour, accepting his ſacrifice as a full ſatisfaction for my ſinnes, and imputing vntounto mee his righteouſneſſe, to life euerlaſting.
Yea and to the ſame end alſo, vouchſafe to encreaſe in my ſoule the giftes of thy Spirite, ſo as I may from better to better, proſecute my life in the path of thine elect, being through thy power freed from the temptations of the Diuell, the worlde, and my owne fleſh, and by thy bleſſing preſerued from the dangers and miſeries of this poore life, alwayes notwithſtanding content with whatſoeuer it ſhall pleaſe thee to beſtow on me.
Sith thou art my Father, I cannot but expect a happy end of all my eſtates hauing alredy receued of thy mercy, the aſſured pledge of ſaluation (forgiueneſſe of ſinnes) But Lord, graunt eſpecially that this thy grace in Ieſus Chriſt, may be vntounto mee a comforte, and light all the dayes of my life, eſpeciallie in the darkeneſſe of my death, to retaine and holde me faſt in the hope of my ſaluation, that with a liuelie faith at my laſt gaſpe I may ſpeake theſe words of my Sauior vponupon the croſſe, (Into thy handes, (O Father) I commend my ſpirite,) whereby my ſoule alſo inwardly may heare the ſame Chriſt ſaying vntounto mee, as vntounto the poore penitent theefe (Sonne, reioyce, this day thou ſhalt be with me in Paradice) ſo that full of peace, by the effects of thy ſpirit, I may cheerfully leaue my body to the earth, aſſured of the reſurrection, and that my ſoule may, by the angels, be guided to the reſt of the bleſſed, and vouchſafe, O Lord, to do the like fauor to all men, euen as I craue theſe thinges, in the prayer which thy Sonne hath taught me. [Our father, which art in heauen, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdome come. Thy will be done, in earth as it is in heauen. GiueGive vsus this daie our dayly bread, and forgiue vsus our treſpaſſes, as wee forgiue them that treſpaſſe againſt vsus. And leade vsus not into temptation, but deliuer vsus from euill. For thine is the Kingdome, the power and the glory, world without end. Amen. Likewiſe (my God) encreaſe in me, faith working euerie good worke, and giuegive me grace conſtantly to perſeuere, and therof to make confeſſion euen to my laſt gaſpe, ſaying. [I beleeue in God the father almightie, maker of heauen and earth. And in Ieſus Christ his only Sonne our Lord, who was conceiued by the holie Ghost, borne of the Virgin Marie, ſuffered vnderunder Ponce Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried, hee deſcended into hell, the third day hee roſe againe, from the dead: he aſcended into heauen, and ſitteth at the right hand of God the Father almightie. From thence hee ſhall come to iudge the quicke and the dead. I beleeue in the Holy-Ghost, the holy Catholike Church. The communion of Saints, the forgiueneſſe of ſinnes. The reſurrection of the fleſh, and the life euerlasting.] This is my faith O Lord, wherin I will liue and die, as alſo in the obſeruation of thy holy commandements, comprized in theſe two (That wee louelove thee with all our hart, with all our ſoule, with all our ſtrength, and with all our thoughtes, and our neighbours as our ſelues. Thus thy grace, O my God and Father, be with me, and thy bleſſing vponupon all the workes of my hands. So be it.