Forms of Prayer for Every Day in the Week, Prayer 13
Saturday Morning.
O Eternal Lord God, the great Creator and Preſerver of Heaven and of Earth, and our moſt merciful Father in Chriſt Jeſus, Look down, we beſeech thee, from Heaven, upon us vile Duſt and Aſhes, and grant that when we call upon thee with our Lips, our Hearts may not be far from thee.
We do humbly acknowledge the great ſinfulneſs and corruption of our Natures; the blindneſs of our Minds, the perverſneſs of our Wills, the diſorder and depravedneſs of our affections, and the vanity of our thoughts. We acknowledge that we are by nature the Children of Wrath, and that there is no ſound or clean part in us.
We do farther confeſs, that we have by many actual ſins made our ſelves more the Children of Wrath than we were by Nature. We confeſs our ſins of omiſſion as well as commiſſion, our ſins againſt Thee, our Brother and our own Souls. We have many ways offended thee in thought, word and deed: And if thou ſhouldſt mark Iniquities, we were not able to ſtand before thee.
We have ſinned againſt light and knowledge, after the greateſt of thy Mercies, under ſufficient means of Grace, after many and ſolemn Vows of better obedience. We have not been awakened out of our ſinful andcareleſs Life by the greateſt of thy Judgments; but have ſinned after the convictions of our own Conſciences, and the experience of the evil of departing from thee, after many confeſſions and many repetitions. We have grieved thy Spirit, defaced thy Image, miſpent our precious time, trifled in the great concernments of Eternity, and in great meaſure received the grace of thee our God in vain. We humble our ſelves before thee, O God, and deſire to be vile in our own Eyes, as we have made our ſelves ſo in thine. Enter not into Judgment with thy Servants, O Lord, for no Fleſh ſhall be juſtified in thy ſight.
Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us for Jeſus Chriſt's ſake, who is the Propitiation for our Sins, and ever lives to make interceſſion for thoſe who come unto God by him.
Grant that he may not be an empty Name and Title to us, but that he may bleſs us in turning us from our Iniquities, and may give us Repentance as well as forgiveneſs of Sins.
And we moſt humbly beſeech thee to give us thy holy Spirit; puriſie and cleanſe our Hearts, and help us that we may fear, love and deſire thee above all things. Make us like unto thee, and help us that we may chearfully do and ſuffer thy whole Will. Supply all our wants, ſanctifie all thy dealings to us, direct us in our difficulties and enable us againſt our Sins.
Deliver us, O Lord, from every evil thing, from hardneſs of Heart, and contempt of thy Word: keep us from being tempted above what we are able, and enable us by thy Grace againſt the aſſaults of the Devil, the Temptations of the World and the Fleſh, and make us at the laſt partakers of Everlaſting Life.
Be merciful, we pray thee, to the whole World: enlarge the Kingdom of Chriſt, and let the whole World be filled with the knowledge of thee, and of thy Son, as the Waters cover the Sea.
Bleſs thy whole Church: reform whatever is amiſs in the belief or lives of Chriſtians: Grant that all who name the Name of Chriſt may depart from all Iniquity.
Be gracious to theſe Kingdoms. Pardon our Sins, pity our Diſtractions, heal our Breaches, unite us to one another, reconcile us all to thy Divine Majeſty, and defend us againſt our Enemies.
Eſpecially we pray thee to bleſs the King: endue his Heart with all the Graces of thy holy Spirit, defend Him againſt all His Enemies; bleſs Him in His Royal Relations, and teach His Senators wiſdom.
Bleſs all the Governours and Inſtructors of thy Church, and grant they may all in their ſeveral places anſwer the end of their Inſtitution and Appointment.
Pity all that are afflicted. Comfort them that mourn, viſit the Sick and Weak, havecompaſſion on them who lye a dying, and take them not out of this Life before they are fitted for a better Life than this.
Bleſs all our Friends with all the Bleſſings of this and of a better Life. Forgive our Enemies, convert and turn their hearts.
We bleſs thee for all thy Mercies to us, both of this and a better Life: above all we bleſs thee for Jeſus Chriſt, humbly beſeeching thee, ſo to affect our hearts with the ſenſe of thy Mercies, that thy goodneſs may lead us to Repentance: And all we beg for Chriſt his ſake, who hath taught us, when we pray, to ſay;
OƲr Father which art in Heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy Will be done in Earth, As it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily Bread. And forgive us our Treſpaſſes, As we forgive them that Treſpaſs againſt us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from Evil: For thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, And the Glory, For ever and ever. Amen.