Forms of Prayer for Every Day in the Week, Prayer 5
Tueſday Morning.
GReat and glorious Lord God, who art infinite and incomprehenſible in all perfections, art cloathed with Glory and Majeſty, and dwelleſt in that light that no mortal creature can approach and live, we thine unworthy ſervants, humbly ſenſible of our infinite diſtance as creatures, and our abominable vileneſs as Sinners, are here before thee this morning to offer up our prayers and praiſes in the Name and Mediation of thy Son. In our ſelves we have no confidence to appear before thee, for we are as dry ſtubble, and thou a conſuming fire, but in thy beloved Son, our ever bleſſed Redeemer and Interceſſor we have acceſs with confidence, who hath opened Heb. 10, 19, 20.an entrance into the Holieſt by his Blood, and conſecrated a new and living way to the Throne of thy Grace, through the Veil of his Fleſh, that we coming to thee, in his precious and prevailing Name, Heb. 4. ult.may obtain mercy and find grace to help in our time of need.
We are guilty Sinners and want pardon, we are defiled Sinners and want cleanſing, we are weak Sinners and want ſtrengthning, we are fooliſh Sinners and want to be inſtructed in the ways of thy Word, and wandring Sinners that want to be brought back into them, but though our caſe be all neceſſity,thy glorious attribute is Al-ſufficiency, and thy grace and mercy, thy wiſdom and power, is ready to ſupply all our wants Phil. 4. 19.according to thy riches in glory by Chriſt Jeſus.
We admire with all thankfulneſs, thy great patience and long-ſuffering towards us, that thou haſt hitherto ſpared us, and not ſpeedily brought upon us that puniſhment and miſery that our ſins have righteouſly deſerved, of which we can give no account, but that thou art merciful, becauſe mercy pleaſes thee, and ſheweſt compaſſion, becauſe thou delighteſt in compaſſion: but ſuch is thy goodneſs, thou haſt not only ſpared but bountifully ſupplyed us, and given us all things richly to injoy, that belong to life and godlineſs: thou feedeſt and cloatheſt us, preſerveſt and defendeſt us, haſt ſafely brought us through the darkneſs and the dangers of the laſt night to the light of another day; for theſe and all the bleſſings of this life, we praiſe thee, but we much more magnifie and adore thine inconceiveable goodneſs and love in giving us thy Son to redeem us from wrath and condemnation, and thy holy Goſpel to conduct us in the way to eternal life. And we cannot without confuſion of face, reflect upon the ſhameful and diſingenuous returns we have made of thine abundant and undeſerved kindneſſes, that when thou haſt nouriſhed and brought up children, we have rebelled againſt Iſa. 1. 2.thee.
Thy holy Laws we have broken in ſinful thoughts, words and actions, though thou haſt therein commanded us nothing but what is in it ſelf juſt, and reaſonable, and what is ſutable to our dependance upon thy holy Majeſty, we have not carried our ſelves as it becomes us, to thee, in holineſs and godlineſs; to our neighbours in righteouſneſs and charity; to our ſelves in temperance and ſobriety; but have followed after, and fulfilled the ſenſual appetites and inclinations of our own hearts, and inſtead of ſerving thee, our God, have ſerved divers luſts and pleaſures.
We have known that our vile bodies muſt ere long lye down in the houſe of duſt and rottenneſs, and yet we havepampered them to fulfil the luſts of our fleſh; and that our immortal Souls muſt laſt an Eternity of Happineſs or Miſery, and yet we have neglected laying up in ſtore for them, an Happineſs in the future State▪ Joh. 6. 27.And while we have laboured for the meat that periſhes, we hav… neglected that which endure… unto everlaſting Life. We hav… little conſidered the great en… of our coming into this world▪ and as little laid to heart wha… will become of us when w… ſhall go hence and be no mor… and as though we were to dy… as the Beaſts dye, we have liv… too much as the Beaſts live.
In our ſelves, O Lord, w… have no hope, but in the mu… titude of thy tender mercies w… cannot deſpair, and thoug… we have deſerved wrath and vengeance, and have nothing of our own to plead, why we ſhould eſcape it, we are greatly encouraged to ſue to thine offended Majeſty for pardon and forgiveneſs, by that Proclamation which thou haſt made Exod. 34. 6, 7.of thy glorious Name, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-ſuffering and abundant in goodneſs, and truth, keeping mercy for thouſands, and forgiving iniquity, and tranſgreſſion, and ſin, and becauſe thou haſt ſaid thou wilt not clear the guilty, take away our guilt by a ſincere hearty repentance, and a true and lively faith in the merits, and righteouſneſs of thy Son.
Let all our ſins be more bitter and burthenſom in the review of them, than they have ever been pleaſant and delightful in the commiſſion of them, and grant, gracious Lord, that …e may be ſo ſorrowful for … ſins, as to loath them, ſo … them, as to take up firm Reſolutions againſt them, and ſo reſolve, as that by the powerful aſſiſtance of thy holy Spirit, we may never renew the practice of them, and having done iniquity, Job 34. 32.we may do ſo and offend no more.
Waſh and cleanſe our ſinful Souls, from their guilt and filthineſs in that fountain of thy dear Sons moſt precious blood, Zech. 13. 1.which thou haſt ſet open for ſin, and uncleanneſs, and by the grace of thy holy Spirit, ſubduing and mortifying our ſins in us, convince and ſatisfie us that thou haſt pardoned them: create in us clean hearts, O God, Pſal. 51. 10.and renew right ſpirits within us.
And as we call thy Son, Jeſus Chriſt, our Saviour, and hope to be for ever happy in the light and injoyment of him in Heaven, let us make him our example, and purifie our ſelves even as he is pure. 1 Joh. 3. 3.Make us as he was, holy and humble, meek and merciful, patient and charitable, heavenly minded and ſelf-denying: let's be zealous for thy glory, contented with our preſent condition, ſatisfied with all the wiſe allotments of thy providence, and make it our meat and drink to do the will of our heavenly Father; and in all things wherein he was a moſt lively and admirable pattern for our imitation, ſeeing we profeſs our ſelves Chriſtians, and ſay we abide 1 Joh. 2. 6.in him, let us walk as he alſo walked.
Settle and root in our hearts a ſtronger and more firm belief of thy holy Goſpel, and ſo fix our thoughts and affections upon that unſeen happineſs, that our Saviour in our name and place is poſſeſſed of; that nothing here below may either allure or affright us from our duty or make us remiſs, cold and negligent in it, but we may be zealous of good works, and with fervency of ſpirit alway ſerve that gracious Lord, from whom we expect the reward of a glorious and immortal inheritance.
Fill every one of our heartswith a quick and a conſtant ſenſe, an humble and awful dread, an ardent and intire love of thee, together with an active and vigorous delight in thee, and a vigilant and circumſpect care univerſally, and in the whole courſe of our lives, to pleaſe and approve our ſelves to thee. Let us never adventure to commit any ſin, as a little one, becauſe it will offend and diſhonour thee, the great and infinite Majeſty of Heaven, and deſerve the eternal puniſhment and miſery of an immortal Soul.
Keep us by thy grace from every evil way; and thoſe ſins eſpecially to the which we may be moſt inclined, and eaſily prevailed upon by cuſtom or example; the naughtineſs and generalcorruption of the age we live in, our Callings, our company or our conſtitution, ſo that laying aſide every weight, Heb. 12. 2.and the ſins that eaſily beſet us, and running with patience and perſeverance the race that thou haſt ſet before us, we may at length obtain that prize of our High Calling, which thou haſt prepared and promiſed in Chriſt Jeſus our Lord.
And in his Name we humbly recommend to thy compaſſion and goodneſs, all the Sons of Men that dwell upon the Face of the Earth, beſeeching thee that thou wouldſt make known thy Will to them, and help them to practiſe according to what they know, and whatever affliction or calamity may lye upon them in mind, body oreſtate, let them by thy mercy and clemency, be ſupported under them, and in thy due time be delivered from them.
Shew favourable regards of care and kindneſs towards thy Church, engrave her upon the Palms of thine Hands, and let Iſa. 49. 16.her Walls be continually before thee.
Appoint Salvation for the Walls and Bulwarks of the Nation wherein we live, pardon our many crying ſins, avert thy deſerved, feared Judgments, heal our back-ſlidings, and heal our breaches, continue thy Goſpel, and grant that we may walk worthy of that ineſtimable favour.
Bleſs our dread Sovereign with the bleſſings of thy right and left hand, let his Governmentbe happy and peaceable, long and proſperous, and a publick bleſſing to all that are under it, and grant that all ſubordinate Governours in Church, in State, may faithfully uſe their power to the diſcouragement of Vice and ungodlineſs, and the promoting and ſupporting peace and good order, truth, righteouſneſs and holineſs: and let all men by a ſerious repentance and a through reformation of their ways, ſtrive to ſave the Land from thoſe confuſions and miſeries, into which they have plunged it by their manifold offences. Comfort all that mourn, give them beauty for aſhes, and the garments of praiſe for the ſpirit of heavineſs, and let all that groan under thy heavy hand triumph in thy ſalvation.
Be with us thy ſervants, this day, and let that good providence that hath this night preſerved and refreſhed us, direct, aſſiſt and bleſs us in all our ways, and keep us from the dangers and miſchiefs, the ſins and offences, the ſnares and temptations that we might otherwiſe fall into. Let us be in thy fear all the day long, and ſo order our lives, as if it were the laſt day we had to live in this world, that as in the evening we ſhall be one day nearer our death, we may be nearer eternal life and happineſs; grant us all theſe our requeſts, moſt gracious Father, and whatever elſe thou knoweſt to be needful for us, for the ſake of thy dear Son, in whoſe Name and Words, by his own directionwe further implore thy merciful goodneſs;
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.