Household Prayers, Prayer 3
The third Praier. VponUpon the Decalogue, or ten Commaundements.
[God ſpake all theſe words, ſaying, Heare O Iſrael: I am the Lord thy god, that hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the houſe of bondage: Thou ſhalt hauehave none other Gods before me, &c.
Exod. 20.]
O Lord GOD Almightie, the Author of all righteouſneſſe, and perfection of life; Yea euen thou that arte eſſentially Iuſtice, perfection and life. I doe truly know, that man created righteous & perfect, and by cleauing to thee, bleſſed (but free and mutable) hath, through ſin, turned from thee, plunging himſelfe headlong into the ſinke of vnrighteouſneſſe, imperfection and death. The which hath depriued him of all power to obey the Law, and conſequently beereaued him of the reward of eternall bleſſedneſſe. And albeit of eſpeciall grace thou dooſt call vsus, by the Goſpel, to the free righteouſnes of Chriſt, to the end, that beleeuing in him, wee might confeſſe him, for the obtayning of ſaluation; Yet are we neuertheleſſe ſo much inclined to diſtruſt, corruption, and diſorder, that hardly we are entred into the waie of his vocation, but we retyre immediatly, ſtraying out of that courſe which might purchaſe vntounto vsus the prize; and ſo through our workes, denie our faith, and our profeſſion. Now as the firſt & principal manner of thy honour (O onelyonly true GOD) conſiſteth in beleeuing, & repoſing our whole confidence in thee alone: ſo the ſecond and inſeperable from true faith, reſteth in obedience to thy holy and good will. For we muſt be doers of that which thy holie worde teacheth vsus, and not hearers only, deceiuing our ſelues. Thou haſt choſen and adopted vsus to be thy Children: but it is vponupon this condition, that wee ſhould be reformed to the Image of Ieſus Chriſt, the firſt borne, & inheritour of all things. Thou haſt choſen vsus to be his Temple: now his habitation cannot be but holy: for thy ſpirit dwelleth therein. Thou haſt redeemed vsus with the price of his blood, and that to the ende thou maiſt bee glorified, both in our bodies and ſoules. Thou haſt freed vsus from ſinne, euen to the ende we might be ſeruants to righteouſnes. Thou haſt giuen vsus the Sauiour of the World, to be our iuſtification: but to the end alſo that we poſſeſſe him in ſanctification. Thou wouldeſt that he ſhould die for all men, euen to make him liue in thy elect, and they in him. And this is the reaſon wherfore the inſtitution of our faith, together with the ſpirituall conſolations that ſupport the ſame, is accompanied with the ten precepts of thy law, the certaine and aſſured meanes to honor and ſerue thee, in liuing religiouſly to thy glory, & vprightly to the profit of our neighbours. For albeit in the Goſpel wee be free from the rigor & puniſhment of the Law, yet neuertheles, the rule of pietie and holie life contained in the Decalogue, abideth with vsus, as a perpetuall patterne, whereby to frame our temporall courſe of life. And accordingly we do alſo conſider of it in two partes, according as it pleaſed thee, O Lord, to write it with thy finger, and to deliuer it vntounto Moſes, in two tables of ſtone, for thy people, whereof the firſt containeth foure Commandements, of our duetie towardes thee, and the ſecond, ſixe, of that which wee owe to our neighbors: Alſo the ſumme & fulfilling of all theſe holy precepts importeth that wee louelove thee, (O onelyonly true GOD) with our whole heart, ſoule, and thought, and then all other men, (eſpecially the houſhold of faith) as our ſelues. But O Lord, ſuch is the weakeneſſe of all fleſh, that there is no man able to attain to the perfection of thy Law: and yet thou willeſt, that here in, thy children ſhoulde comfort themſelues, that there is left vntounto them, ſome meaſure to approach thervnto, and ſo to bee acceptable vntounto thee; namely when with their whole ſtrength, preuented by thy grace, they ſtudie to attaine the end of thy word, walking & going forward by the ſteps thereof, & ſtill with ſighing for their infirmities. For al the faithfull may ſo belieue, that with thee their Father there is mercy for them, in thy welbeloued ſonne Ieſus Chriſt. I beſeech thee therfore, O my God, to caſt vponupon me, the eye of thy clemencie, and goodnes, therby throgh th'effects of thy ſpirit, to reſtore in my ſoule, the breaches of ſinne, to illuminate my vnderſtanding, and to poſſeſſe my hart with the louelove of thy truth, to the end that in all knowledge and obedience of faith, I may conſtantly walke in the paths of thy lawe; ſo that I may worſhip, ſcare, & louelove thee, as the Lord, to whome I wholy owe my ſelfe: for thou haſt created mee, and which is more, redeemed mee from eternall death, whence I do alſo learne to louelove all men in thee, & for thy ſake, becauſe they beare thy image, ſo that perſeuering thus in the duty of my vocation, I may ſo much the rather feele thy peace in my conſcience, and thy bleſſing vppon all the workes of my hands; that filled with dayes, I leaue my life, to enioy reſt eternally. Amen.