The Daily Practice of Devotion, Prayers 3
PRAYERS.
I. O My God,Ezra 9. 6, 7, 15. I am aſhamed and bluſh to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increaſed over our head, and our treſpaſs is grown up unto the Heavens. Since the days of our Fathers have we been in a great treſpaſs unto this day; and for our iniquities have we, our Kings and our Prieſts, been delivered into the hand of the Enemy, to the ſword, to Captivity, and to a Spoil, and to confuſion of face, as it is this day.
O Lord God of Iſrael, thou art righteous: Behold, we are before thee in our treſpaſſes, for we cannot ſtand before thee becauſe of this.
Nevertheleſs,Neh. 9. 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36. for thy great mercies ſake conſume us not utterly, nor forſake us; for thou art a gracious and merciful God.
Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepeſt covenant and mercy, let not all the trouble ſeem little before thee that hath come upon us, on our Kings, on our Princes, and on our Prieſts, and on our Prophets, and on our Fathers, and on all thy People.
Howbeit thou art juſt in all that is brought upon us, for thou haſt done right, but we have done wickedly. Neither have our Kings, our Princes, our Prieſts, nor our Fathers, kept thy Law, nor hearkened unto thy Commandments, and thy Teſtimonies wherewith thou didſt teſtifie againſt them: for they have not ſerved thee in their Kingdom, and in thy great goodneſs that thou gaveſt them, and in the large aud fat Land which thou gaveſt before them; neither turned they from their wicked works.
Behold, we are ſervants this day; and for the Land that thou gaveſt unto our Fathers, to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof, behold, we are ſervants in it.
II. O Lord the great and dreadful God,Dan 9. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. keeping the Covenant and Mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his Commandments, we have ſinned and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments.
Neither have we hearkened unto thy ſervants the Prophets, which ſpake in thy Name to our Kings, our Princes, and our Fathers, and to all the people of the Land.
O Lord, righteouſneſs belongeth unto thee, but unto us confuſion of face as at this day. O Lord, to us belongeth confuſion of face, to our Kings, to our Princes, and to our Fathers, becauſe we have ſinned againſt thee.
To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveneſſes, though we have rebelled againſt him.
Neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his Laws which he hath ſet before us by his ſervants the Prophets: therefore the Curſe is poured upon us, and he hath confirmed his words which he ſpake againſt us, and againſt our Judges that Judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil; for under the whole Heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jeruſalem.
O Lord,Ver. 16, 17, 18, 19. according to all thy righteouſneſs, I beſeech thee let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy holy mountain; becauſe for our ſins, and for the iniquities of our Fathers, thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us.
Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy ſervant, and his ſupplications, and cauſe thy face to ſhine upon thy Sanctuary that is deſolate, for the Lords ſake.
O my God, incline thine ear and hear, open thine eyes and behold our deſolations, and the People which is called by thy Name; for we do not preſent our ſupplications before thee for our righteouſneſs, but for thy great mercies.
O Lord hear, O Lord forgive, O Lord hearken and do: defer not for thine own ſake, O my God; for thy people are called by thy Name.
III O Lord God,Deut. 9. 26, 27, 28, 29. deſtroy not thy People and thine Inheritance, which thou haſt redeemed through thy Greatneſs which thou haſt brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
Look not unto the Stubbornneſs of this People, nor to their Wickedneſs, nor to their Sin; leſt the Land whence thou broughteſt us out to ſay, Becauſe the Lord was not able to bring them into the Land which he promiſed them, and becauſe he hated them, he hath brought them out to flay them in the Wilderneſs.
Yet they are thy People and thine Inheritance, which thou broughteſt out by thy mighty Power, and by thy ſtretched-out Arm.
O my Father,Mat. 26. 39. if it be poſſible let this Cup paſs from us: nevertheleſs not as I will, but as thou wilt.
Abba, Father, all things are poſſible unto thee;Mar. 14. 36. take away this Cup from us: nevertheleſs not ours, but thy will be done. Amen