Prayers Upon Solemn Occasions, Prayer 19
An other Prayer for confession of sinne.
O Eternall GOD, great and fearefull, strong and mighty, yet mercifull, and gratious, long-suffering, abundant in goodnesse, and truth: keeping mercy for thousand, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin: we poore wretches, vilest creatures doe heere humbly cast downe our selves, at the foot of thy great and glorious Majesty, acknowledging from our hearts, that we are most unworthy to come into thy presence, or to call upon thy dreadfull, and Holy Name. For thou art a GOD of infinite Majesty, and glory, and dwellest in light that no man can attaine unto, and we are vile wormes, dust, and ashes, dwelling in houses of flesh, and Tabernacles of clay, wherein we can doe nothing but sin. Thou art a consuming fire, and we are even as stubble before thee, ready to bee devoured by thy fierce wrath, if thou shouldest deale with us, as we have deserved. Thou art a GOD of pure eyes, and canst not behold iniquity, and we are encompassed, and laden with all manner of pollutions and sinfullnesse. Beside that bloudy rebellion with Adam in Paradise, and cursed Leprosy of Originall sin, which hath universally corrupted all the faculties▪ and powers of body and soule, filling them with all Hellish poyson, confusion and pronenesse to ill, The whole world hath beene worse for us, since wee came into it, There is nothing in Heaven or in Earth, but so farre as in us lay, we have polluted, wronged, dishonoured and abused it one way or other.
1. We have villanously stroke at the Apple of thy pure eye; Holy Father, many and many a time, with filthy thoughts, abominable lusts, and fearefull provocations, we have pressed thy mercies, even as a cart is pressed which is full of sheaves, we have shamefully abused the riches of thy goodnesse, forbearance, and long-suffering, leading us to repentance.
2. We have dishonoured thy deare Sonne, by despising him in his Ministery, neglecting his many gratious invitations, persecuting him in his members, and shedding his bloud in the Sacrament.
3. We have grieved thy good Spirit, by putting backe his holy motions, or smoothering them by worldlinesse, lusts, and earthly delights.
4. We have vexed thy blessed Angels, so much as in us lies, besides many other waies, even in this house of thine, with unreverence, drowsinesse, sleepinesse, and the like, where they are beholding with delight the misteries revealed in the Gospell.
5. We have wofully abused all thy creatures, they should have ministred to us continuall matter of heavenly meditation upon thy greatnesse, and goodnesse, power, and providence, &c. but our earthly minds have made no such holy use of them, but wee have covetously and sensually abused them to our owne ends, and carnall contentments.
6. Even this Kingdome, gratious Father, wherein we have beene borne, and bread, and enjoyed many good things, hath beene much worse for us; For we have had our hands LORD thou knowest in pulling downe upon us, this horrible sicknesse of the plague of Pestilence, and other judgements, both temporall, and spirituall: and without true, and timely repentance, are likely enough to hasten the destroying sword, and besome of destruction to make an end of us.
7. We have abused all thy fatherly corrections, and chastisements laid upon us in love, and for our good, they should have brought forth in us the peaceable and glorious fruits of Righteousnesse, but they have rather begot murmuring, impatiency, and discontentment.
8. We have abused thy mercies, which have beene heaped abundantly upon us above measure, and without number, even to increase our security, and presumption and forgetfullnesse of the evill day.
9. We have abused the most gracious, and glorious day of visitation that ever any people enjoyed upon earth: passing over it very unprofitably, like sons, and daughters of confusion, not gathering any such stock and store of grace, against our ending houre as we might plentifully have done.
10. We have abused all thy blessed Ordinances, those heavenly conduits of all spirituall blessings, grace, and comfort: By our unpreparednesse before, irreverence in the use of them, fruitlesnesse, and want of practise afterward.
11. We have wretchedly abused our owne bodies, and soules, by abandoning them to the service of Satan, and making all our members instruments of unrighteousnesse to sin. Fearefully were they infected with Originall sin at first, but we have made them much more sinfull by our actuall transgressions ever since; we have added a great deale of folly in respect of the mystery of CHRIST: every way LORD thou knowest we are become exceeding sinfull.
We humbly intreate thee in the name of the LORD JESVS to illighten our mindes, and open our eyes, to see the length, and breadth, the height, and depth, of this our sinfull misery, for which thou mightest justly bring upon us all the curses in thy booke, and all the torments in hell, and in the meane time plague us with giving us over to more hardnesse of heart, blindnesse of minde, deadnesse of conscience, slavery under our lusts, a reprobate sence, and to be finally sealed up with the spirit of slumber against the day of vengeance, which are farre worse then all the plagues of Egypt.
1. Thou mightest Holy Father even thine owne selfe for our many dishonours, and disobedience against thee draw that sword against us, that would eate flesh and drinke blood: suffer that wrath to be kindled in thy bosome against us, which would burne unto the bottome of Hell: come against us as a Beare robbed of her whelps, and rent the caule of our hearts, and teare us in peeces like a Lyon when there is none to helpe.
2. Thine owne deare Sonne might for ever deny us his pretious bloud, to wash away the least staine from our sinfull soules.
3. Thy Holy Spirit might never more put any motion into our hearts.
4. Thy blessed Angels might take no more charge over us, or be ministring spirits unto us for our good, but leave us as a prey to that roaring Lyon, and his damned Angels.
5. All the Creatures might come justly armed against us, with their severall stings and rage to make an end of us, for rebelling against thee their Creator.
6. This Kingdome wherein we live, might justly fall into the mouth of some horrible confusion, and we inwrapt in the miseries and desolations thereof.
7. All crosses, afflictions, and thine angry visitations upon us, might be unto us the very beginnings of Hellish paines.
8. Thy many mercies unto us which should leade us unto repentance, might onelyonly serve to far us against the day of slaughter.
9. The day of our gratious visitation might end, and the Sun set upon the Prophets.
10. All thy blessed Ordinances might bee unto us the savour of death unto death.
11. Our bodies and soules might bee most justly cast into the bottome of Hell, there to be tormented with the damned for ever and ever.
O LORD our GOD, we humbly beseech thee for the LORD JESUS his sake, let a serious consideration of this our sinfullnesse and cursednesse breake our stony hearts into peeces, make them burst and bleed within us, and good LORD our GOD, we being thus sincerely humbled, let us get faster hold upon the LORD JESVS, with a sound and fruitfull faith then heretofore; by a stedfast looking upon him, and all his sufferings, and satisfactions, from his comming from thy bosome untill his returning unto thy right hand againe: by survaying all the promises of of life sealed with his blood: by cleaving to his sweetest name: which is to forgive iniquity, transgression and sin: and resting our selves with a thankfull, and joyfull acknowledgement upon that blessed mystery of his free grace, which reacheth from everlasting to everlasting, &c.