Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

A Prayer for Saturday Noon, or any Intermediate Time of the Day.

I

Adore thee, O thou infinitely great and good God, Maker and Lord of Heaven and Earth; worthy art thou to receive all Honour, Glory, and Power, for thou haft created all Things, and for thy Pleasure they are and were created.

Send down thy Holy Spirit, O most merciful Father, upon me thy Servant ; and fo fill me with thy heavenly Grace and Benediction, that I may become a living Temple, fanctified, and devoted to thy Honour and Service, and fuch wherein thou mayeft delight to dwell, and make the Place of thy Reft and Abode both now and for ever.

And to this End, O Lord, give me Grace ferioufly to confider, that thou art a God greatly to be feared, for thy Power and Juftice; greatly to be beloved, for thine infinite Perfection and Goodness; and greatly to be praised, for thy liberal Bounty and Loving-kindnefs: That thou art both the Author and the End of my Being; my true and only Good; the Caufe of all my Joy and Happiness; and the great Center and Stay of thy whole Creation.

Give

Give me 'Grace also seriously to confider what I myself am; that I am a Creature, a poor, empty, weak, and imperfect Being; that I have nothing but what I receive from thee; that I can do nothing but what I do by thee; nor know any thing but in thee, and thy Light; that in thee I have my Life, my Motion, my Being, my Happinefs, and my All.

Grant, O Lord, that I may also seriously confider, that I am not only a Creature, but a finful one; A Creature acting against the End of his Creation, against the Laws of his Creator, against the Dignity of his Nature, and against his true and beft Intereft both here and hereafter: That I have not loved thee as I ought, with my whole Heart, Soul, and Strength; nor as I might, according to the Measures of thy Grace, and the Abilities which thou haft given me ; nor indeed, as I have loved this World, and the Vanities of it; having been a Lover of Pleasure, more than a Lover of God.

And lastly, O Lord, give me Grace feriously to confider what I ought to be, both towards thee, my Neighbour, and myfelf; that I ought to be holy, juft, charitable, and temperate; that I ought not to live carelefly and at Random, as thofe that have

Senfe of thee, nor of their Duty, and

who

who believe neither Heaven nor Hell; but as one who now lives in thy Prefence, and must hereafter give thee an Account, and be either eternally happy, or eternally miserable, according as I demean myself in this fhort Time of Trial; and that therefore denying all Ungodlinefs and worldly Lufts, I ought to live foberly, righteously, and godly in this present World; looking for that bleffed Hope, and the glorious Appearing of the great God, and of our Saviour Jefus Chrift.

Fix, O Lord, thefe Confiderations in my Mind, and let them fink fo deep into my Heart, that they may bring forth in me the Fruits of good Living; that fo my Spirit may be pure and right within me, my Life may be holy, my Death comfortable, my Refurrection joyful, and my eternal State happy and glorious with thee, my God, for ever and ever. Amen.

O

A Prayer for Saturday Evening..

Eternal Being! Father, Son, and Holy Ghoft, one God bleffed for evermore; I thy unworthy Servant adore thy glorious Majefty, acknowledging my Dependence

upon.

upon thee, and that all I have, proceeds from thine infinite Bounty and Goodnefs.

Thou haft fhewn thyfelf a moft kind and indulgent Father: but alas! I have been an undutiful and difobedient Child, and have made very ungrateful Returns for thofe innumerable Mercies and Favours, which thou haft beftowed upon me.

O Lord, my Confcience accuses me of having done many Things contrary to thy bleffed Will; of having acted foolishly and wickedly, contrary to my beft and greatest Intereft.

I am fenfible, O Lord, that the greatest Concernments of this World are as nothing, when compared with Eternity; and yet, how apt am I to grow careless and remifs, in the great and important Work of my Salvation, and to fuffer my Affections to be carried away after the Things of this Life.

O Lord, the Wages, and Defert, and Punishment of Sin, is Death; but thou art infinite in Mercy, and willeft not the Death of a Sinner; remember then, I befeech thee, thy tender Mercies; and for the Sake and Merits of my dear Redeemer, have Mercy upon me, and be not angry with me for ever. Accept of that full, perfect, and fficient Sacrifice, which thy beloved Son red upon the Crofs; and through the

Merit of his bitter Death and Paffion, pardon all my Sins ;→→→→ particularly thofe which I have this Day committed. O Lord, give me an Intereft in the Blood of that. immaculate Lamb Jefus Chrift; and grant that I may never render thofe Sufferings which he underwent for Sinners, ineffectual to the Salvation of my Soul.

Give me Grace seriously to consider that it is my indifpenfible Duty to forfake every' evil Way. Poffefs my Soul with just and lively Apprehenfions of the infinite Difproportion there is between this World and the next; that I may make a right Ufe and Im provement of all thofe gracious Opportunities which thou art pleased to give me, of working out my Salvation, and fecuring an Inheritance in that Kingdom, which is to laft for ever.

Let no Temptations or Allurements divert me from fecuring the Interest of my precious Soul; whatever elfe I leave undone, let that be my great Care and Concern, the first and last of all my Thoughts, and the chief Bufinefs and Employment of my whole Life.

O Lord! fuffer not the Affairs and Bufinefs which I am engaged in, to draw my Affections from Heaven and heavenly Things; but grant, that I may fo pafs

through

« AnteriorContinuar »