Forms of Prayer for Every Day in the Week, Prayer 8
Wedneſday Evening.
BLeſſed Lord God, the high and lofty One, that inhabiteſt Iſai. 57. 15.eternity, whoſe Name is Holy, who dwelleſt in the high and holy place, with him alſo that is of a contrite and humble Spirit. We wretched and miſerable ſinners, moſt humbly beſeech thee to look down upon us from the habitation of thy Holineſs, and glory in the multitude of thy tender mercies; and work in us that humble and contrite Spirit, that is ſo pleaſing and acceptable in thy ſight, that our hearts, hardned by the deceitfulneſs of Sin, may be ſoftned by the effectual working of thy Grace.
By commanding us to call upon thee, thou haſt made Prayer our Duty, and by promiſing to hear us when we Pray, thou haſt made it no leſs our priviledge: in obedience to thy command, and in the incouragement of thy Promiſe, we are here before thee, to offer up our Evening Sacrifice of Prayer, deſiring thee both to prepare our Hearts to Pray, and bow down thine ear to hear.
We are not of our ſelves ſufficient to perform any duty, to bear any burden, to reſiſt any temptation, to mortifie any luſt, 2. Cor. 3. 5.To think one good thought, but all our ſufficiency is of thee: thou, O Lord, canſt pardon our Sins, ſupply our wants, heal our diſtempers, enlighten our blindneſs, ſoften our hardneſs,ſtrengthen our weakneſs, we have no whither to go but unto thee, nor can we come to thee but in thine own Power: into ſuch a wretched condition have our Sins, brought us, that we are both unable to help our ſelves, and unworthy that thou ſhouldſt help us; but our comfort is, that thy Grace doth not uſe to find Sinners worthy, but make them ſo, nor doſt thou ſhew favour and kindneſs to them, becauſe they pleaſe thee, but becauſe thou art pleaſed with thine own Mercy and Goodneſs.
Our Iniquities, we acknowledge, have been many and great, a ſinful nature, as a corrupt Fountain, hath ſent forth polluted ſtreams in the thoughts, words and actions of our Lives,and we have often offended againſt thy holy Laws, and expreſſed the enmity of our carnal minds. Though all thy Laws are in themſelves moſt equal, juſt and good, and thou haſt both encouraged our obedience by the gracious promiſes of thy favourable acceptance, and an eternal recompence; and affrighted from ſin by threatning it with everlaſting puniſhment, yet lightly eſteeming thy Promiſes and contemning thy threatnings, we have trodd…n thy holy Laws under our Feet, and broken through the reſtraints, wherewith …ou haſt hedged us in from finding our own ways.
Our pride and earthlineſs, our unbelief & unthankfulneſs, our hypocriſie, ſenſuality andhardneſs of heart, witneſs againſt us to our faces, and give us great cauſe to bluſh and be confounded, to mourn and grieve in the ſenſe of them.
Who of us hath had that due ſenſe of thy holineſs, power and goodneſs, thine omnipreſence and all-ſeeing Eye, as to be thereby driven from our Sins, or quickned to the exerciſe of Virtue and Godlineſs? Who of us hath been ſo affected with that Grace that hath appeared bringing Salvation, as to deny ungodlineſs and worldly luſts, and make it our ſtudy and buſineſs to pleaſe and approve our ſelves to thee? Who of us hath ſo felt the burthen, and taſted the bitterneſs of our ſins, as to loath and leave them with diſlike and abhorrency? Who of us hath been ſo delighted in thy love, as to return thee our hearty love in a ſincere and uniform obedience? Who of us hath ſo firmly believed the rewards and puniſhments of the future ſtate, as to preſs toward the mark for the obtaining the prize, and make haſt to eſcape and flee from the bottomleſs Pit and burning Lake?
The zeal and earneſtneſs that we ſhould have ſhewn in matters of Religion, we have expreſſed in following our worldly intereſts, and that coldneſs and indifferency that would have been well beſtowed upon the little and ſhort lived benefits of the preſent Life, hath attended the performance of our holy duties.
We have in ſome meaſureknown our Maſters Will, and yet have done our own, and to pleaſe our corrupt and fleſhly Appetites, have done what we have well underſtood to be diſpleaſing in thy ſight. Though thou haſt often commanded us to repent, and turn from our evil ways, and we have been convinced that to hear thy Voice to day, is both our duty and our wiſdom, we have demurred by lingring delays, and not caſt off our Sins by a ſpeedy repentance.
We are aſhamed, O Lord, of this our folly, and beſeech thee ſo to awaken and aſſiſt us by thy Grace, that we may not receive it in vain, nor longer delude our own Souls with the deceitful purpoſes of a future repentance, but let us make haſteto hearken to thy loud and earneſt 2 Cor. 6. 2.Calls, now while it is the accepted time, and the day of Salvation.
And let thy pardoning mercy freely forgive all our Sins, thy Grace having by true repentance made us meet partakers of that ineſtimable benefit: So ſet them before our face, as that we may mark and conſider them, mourn for and confeſs, loath and forſake them; and ſo caſt them behind thy back, as not to obſerve them with a wrathful countenance, or puniſh them with a juſtly deſerved vengeance.
By the precious blood of thy dear Son, that immaculate Lamb, that was offered to take away the Sins of the World, Pſal. 51. 2.Waſh us throughly from our Iniquities, and cleanſe us from our Sins, and through his perfect righteouſneſs let the free gift come upon us unto juſtification Rom. 5. 18.of Life.
Deliver us, we pray thee, as from the guilt and damnation of Sin by his precious Sacrifice ſo from its power and dominion by his ſanctifying Spirit, and though like a Leprofie in the Walls of an infected houſe, Sin will remain in us while we are in the world, let it not reign Rom. 6. 12.in our mortal Body, that we ſhould obey it in the luſts thereof. But as the Fleſh in us luſteth againſt the Spirit, let thy Gal. 3. 17.Spirit in us reſiſt and ſubdue the luſts of the Fleſh.
Let not an inordinate love of the allurements, and intangling vanities of this World quenchor weaken in our Souls that entire and moſt hearty love that is due to thee and heavenly things, nor diſtracting cares for the conveniencies of the Body, eat out and deſtroy the care of our Souls, nor hinder a timely proviſion for their future and eternal happineſs. But for as much as our ſtay here below is very ſhort, and the time of our departure hence into an everlaſting ſtate very uncertain, let us with fear and trembling, earneſtneſs and diligence, work out our own Salvation, and carry our ſelves with upright and inoffenſive Conſciences toward thee and all men whilſt we are in the World, as we ſhall wiſh to have done when we come to leave it.
Help us to run the race ofholy obedience, meekneſs and patience, charity, contentment, conſtancy and perſeverance, to fight a good fight, finiſh our courſe, and keep the faith, that we may receive a Crown of righteouſneſs, which the righteous Judge ſhall at the laſt day 2 Tim. 4. 7. 8.give unto all them that love his appearing: And let the contemplation of that glory and happineſs, and the well-grounded hope of our attaining it, make us diligent and faithful in the diſcharge of our duty, watchful againſt all fleſhly defilements, patient and cheerful under all croſſes and troubles, cold and indifferent to all the profits and pleaſures of this Life, and let our whole converſation on Earth be ſuch as may become the Heirs of an heavenly,glorious and eternal inheritance: that when our earthly 2 Cor. 5. 1.houſe of this tabernacle ſhall be diſſolved, we may have a building of God, an houſe not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens, and be found meet to be Col. 1. 12.partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in Light.
Look in mercy upon all the Sons of Men, and cauſe the light of thy Goſpel to guide their feet into the way of peace, that are wandring in the darkneſs of ſenſuality, profaneneſs, ſuperſtition and idolatry, and ſhew them thy Salvation.
Bleſs thy whole Church throughout the World; preſerve it from the offences and reproachful ſcandals of its profeſſed Friends, and from the oppreſſions and perſecutions of itsopen and declared Enemies: Let thy continual care keep and cleanſe thy Vineyard, that it may abound in the Fruits of Righteouſneſs.
Be merciful to this Nation where we live, pardon the Sins that cry aloud for vengeance, heal the breaches that threaten its ruine, and avert thoſe dreadful Judgments that hang over our heads; and as thou haſt all along often ſaved us from the deſtructions & miſeries that our daring wickedneſſes might have pull'd down upon our heads, give us cauſe more and more to magnifie thy mercy, and triumph in thy Salvation.
Bleſs our Lord the King with Wiſdom and Courage, a zeal for thy glory, and a continual care of promoting Righteouſneſs and true Religion; and let all under him in places of Civil and Eccleſiaſtical Government, make it their buſineſs to further Righteouſneſs and Peace, and the good of Souls: and let all ſorts of men follow after peace, without which they cannot ſee happineſs on Earth, and holineſs, without which they ſhall not ſee thy Face in Heaven.
Be thou a preſent help for the relief and ſuccour of all that are in a ſuffering condition, and let that good providence that hath defended, directed and aſſiſted us in the dangers, the occurrences and buſineſſes of the day, ſo protect and refreſh us with ſleep this night, that in the morning we may be more fit to ſerve thee, and live to thy praiſe in Chriſt Jeſus ourLord, through whom, we beſeech thee to accept our perſons, pardon our ſins and hear our Prayers, when we 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.