though I now see him not, yet believing, let me rejoice with unspeakable glorious joy. For it is thy gracious promise, Lord, to blot out thy people's transgressions, for thine own sake, and to heal their backslidings, and not remember their sins, nor let sin have dominion over them; yea, to have mercy even upon the wicked and the unrighteous man, forsaking his way and his thoughts, and abundantly to pardon; to give to thy servants the heart of flesh; a new heart, and a new spirit; to teach them, and quicken them: to put thy Spirit within them, and cause them to walk in thy statutes, and to keep thy judgments, and to do them: to perform the good work in them; and though they fall, to uphold them with thy hand, and let none pluck them out of it; yea, to put thy fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from thee, and to preserve them to thy heavenly kingdom and give unto them eternal life. O exceeding great and precious pro. mises! such cordials to poor fainting souls! But they are not too great to be made good: For faithful is he that has promised, who also will do it. It is ratified in heaven: and not one jot or tittle of thy word, Lord, shall pass away, till all be fulfilled. O let me believe that I, even I, shall see it. What time I am afraid, let me trust in thee: and give glory to God, in believing thy gracious promises, though I know how unworthy I am to have them accomplished upon me. Let me lay up thy kind words of promise, O my Father, as the richest treasure; and confide in them as the surest tenure: counting nothing so firm as what God hath said; and despising all the wealth and honours, and pleasures of the world, in comparison of thyself, and thy Son, and thy Spirit, thy love, and thy grace and glory; which I earnestly beg of thy bountiful hands, for Jesus Christ, his sake. Amen. A Prayer for the Divine Assistance. LORD God Almighty, who givest power to the faint, and increasest strength to them that have no might! Without thee I can do nothing; not so much as will or think any good, nor keep myself from any evil; but by thy gracious assistance it is that I am enabled for the performance of every duty laying upon me and my help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth: and thou art able to keep us from falling, and to make us perfect in every good work, to do thy will, working in us that which is well-pleasing in thy sight through Jesus Christ. Yea, thou hast encouraged us to come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Lord of power and love! I come, trusting in thy almighty strength, and thy infinite goodness, and thy gracious promise; to beg from thee what is wanting in myself; even that grace which shall help me such to be, and so to do, as thou wouldst have me. O my God! let thy grace be sufficient for me and ever present with me'; and let thy good Spirit help my infirmities, and strengthen me with might in the inner man, so to enable me against my sins, and for thy service, that I may be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might; and do all things as I ought, through Christ strengthening me. O thou that hast shewed thyself still graciously on my behalf, and brought me on hitherto, never cast me off, I beseech thee, nor abandon me over to myself, who am a reed shaken with the wind, a leaf driven to and fro; but let me still experience thy help at hand, and my God performing all things for me. I will go forth in the strength of the Lord God, and trust in the Lord Jehovah, in whom is everlasting strength. O my Lord! come unto my succour, and be thou my helper, to carry me on beyond my own strength, and to make all that I think, and speak, and do, acceptable in thy sight. O may I both put forth myself, to stir up the grace of God that is in me; and also find such fresh supplies of grace, that I may see my desires accomplished, and my endeavours brought to good effect and so rejoice in the Lord and glory in thy holy name through Jesus Christ our strength and our Redeemer. Amen. A Prayer for Sincerity. : MY Lord, the only wise God, whose understanding is infinite, and from whom no thought can be withholden! Thou fillest the whole world with thy presence, and hast all things ever naked and open before thine eyes. Thou that teachest man all his knowledge, shalt not thou know? O Lord, thou searchest the heart, and hast even the secretest of our sins in the light of thy countenance; and thou chiefly callest for our hearts; and requirest truth in the inward parts; and wilt bring every work into judgment, and every secret thing, whether good or evil. My God, I acknowledge and bewail here before thee, the guile and deceitfulness of my heart; that I have been so unmindful of thy all-seeing eye, ever intent upon me; and that I have made so bold with thy glorious Majesty, still present with me. For which I confess, O Lord, thou mightest long since have cut me off, and appointed me my portion with hypocrites. But as thou hast spared me, so humble me, I beseech thee, and pardon me for all such hypocrisy, and treacherous dealing, whereof I have been guilty. And thou that speakest to the heart, and canst order it, even as thou wilt, O make my heart right with God, and without any allowed guile in thy sight; so found in thy statutes, that I may not be ashamed; nor be found wanting of what I profess myself to be, when thou shalt come to take an account of me. O let thy all-seeing eye, and not the eye of the world be the star to steer my course by; And let thy blessed favour, more than the liking of any sinful men, be ever my study and delight. Search me, O God, and try me; and whatever unpardoned guilt, or unrepented wickedness, whatever unknown error, or countenanced lust lies in my soul, O help me to see it, and of thy mercy, deliver me from it: and let me not regard iniquity in my heart: let no presumptuous sins have dominion over me. Let me not allow myself in any way of wickedness; nor go on in formality and hypocrisy to serve thee; but walk before thee with an upright heart, and do all sincerely and heartily, as to the Lord. O let me not be only almost, but altogether a Christian; obeying from the heart all thy will delivered to us, to be done by us; and not so much concerned to seem religious and good, as such to be in deed and in truth. Make me willing to part with the dearest sins, and to perform the hardest duties, for the sake of my Lord; who parted with the highest glory, and underwent the sorest misery, for the sake of my soul. O make me true to my own convictions, and faithful in exerting my own endeavours: yea, make me ever jealous over my heart, and conscientious in all my thoughts, and words, and ways. That I may not go self-condemned, for walking in a disguise, and only shewing to be what I am not; that my praise may not be of men, but of God; and that I may have continual rejoicing in the testimony of con science and that peace of God which passeth all understanding. O my Father, who seest in secret! let the pleasing of thy holy will, and the honouring of thy blessed name, and the enjoying of thy gracious favour, be the great end which I design and aim at, in all my actions and undertakings: that thou, the great and good God, mayest in all things be glorified by me through Jesus Christ. Amen. A Prayer for Humility. MOST High God, infinitely glorious above all our expressions, or our thoughts! Thou sittest on the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers: yea, before thee, all nations are as nothing, and counted to thee less than nothing and vanity. O what is man that thou shouldest be so mindful of him! yea, that he should be so unmindful of his own vileness and sinfulness, to exalt and lift up himself, and to swell with the conceit of his own worth and excellence! I desire, O Lord, to humble myself, that I have been no more humble; but have thought more highly of myself than I ought to think; and vain-gloriously set off myself before men, when I deserve only to be despised, and nothing but confusion to be my portion. O thou that resisteth the proud, and givest grace to the humble, give me the grace of humility, and make me mean and vile in my own eyes, that I may be accepted in thy sight. Make me, Lord, of the number of those poor in spirit, those humble and contrite ones, to whom thou wilt look, and with whom thou wilt dwell. O set my sins in order before me, and make me to know my transgressions, that I may not flatter myself in my own eyes, but carry it as becomes poor sinful dust and ashes, who deserve to be trod |