FORMS OF PRAYER,

AND

OFFICES OF DEVOTION,

FOR FAMILIES

OR

PRIVATE PERSONS,

UPON VARIOUS SUBJECTS AND OCCASIONS.

For a Person in Trade upon sustaining some great Loss

410

For a Person when Affairs of some great Importance to him are in

For a Person under the Pressure of some heavy Affliction

412

FORMS OF PRAYER, &c.

PRAYER I.*

FOR A DUE KNOWLEDGE OF THE WORTH OF THE SOUL.

GLORY be to Thee, thou Father of the spirits of all flesh, for creating man in thine own likeness; for breathing into him a soul capable of the knowledge of thy wondrous works, and thy infinite perfections.

Glory be to thee, for so plainly revealing the worth of our souls in thy sight: for giving thine only Son to redeem them, when lost by the fall of our first parents: for his opening a new and living way through his flesh, whereby our guilty souls can have access to thee with confidence; be acquitted, purified, and exalted to dwell eternally in thy blessed presence.

Glory be to thee, who didst promise and hast sent down from Heaven thy Holy Spirit, to enlighten, guide, and sanctify the souls of those who come to thee by Christ Jesus.

We return thee, O God, our unfeigned thanks for thy repeated promises of glory, reserved in heaven for every soul which departeth this life in the true faith and fear of thy name. We desire also to adore thy tender mercies towards us, in laying hell as it were open before our eyes; that, fully apprized of that dreadful place of torment, the prison of lost souls, we may ever labour to escape it. We bless thee for all thy compassionate calls, warnings, and exhortations, both in thy word and providence, designed to lead us to regard above every thing the salvation of our souls

*The Fourteen Prayers which are placed first, are adapted to the principal Subjects of the preceding Treatise, and are intended to be used after the respective Chapters to which they are suited. But they may also be used as Family Prayers, and will thus afford an agreeable and profitable Variety in Family Devotion.

And now, O gracious Father! crown, we humbly beseech thee, all this thy goodness, by making it, through thy grace, effectual to work in us a lively and perpetual concern for the salvation of our immortal souls.

Deliver us, O God! from that gross ignorance, stupidity, and contempt of spiritual blessings, in which we are naturally involved. O! rescue us from the prevailing power of things present and striking to our senses; from the abuse of bodily health and strength; from the enchantments of the pleasures of sin, or of any earthly comforts whatsoever: from anxious care concerning the body or things of this world; which all act in confederacy against us, both to prevent and to extinguish a due solicitude to save our souls alive. Keep us also, O God of all power and grace! from neglecting our souls through the infectious example of the multitude, or through fear of being had in derision for labouring fervently in the means of saving them. Wherever we are, whatever is our employ, still sound, O God! in our ears, that momentous question, "What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? and what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Continually do thou dispose our hearts to avoid every thing that would prove hurtful to our souls, to watch unto prayer for their preservation, and to obtain sure and certain proofs, that they shall be saved in the day of the Lord.

Finally, O God! we beseech thee to have compassion on the great multitude who set at nought their neverdying souls; who are secure and at ease, though on the point of being eternally lost: cause, O Lord! the scales to fall from their eyes; take away from them all their hardness of heart, contempt of thy word, and cruelty towards themselves: that they at last may inherit thy great salvation, prepared for the souls of the faithful in Christ Jesus. For his sake alone we beseech thee to hear us; and in him we trust, as our Mediator and Redeemer. Amen.

PRAYER II.

FOR THE RIGHT KNOWLEDGE OF GOD.

O GOD! whom no man knoweth naturally, or can discover by his own understanding; command, we humbly beseech thee, the light of the knowledge of thy glory to shine into our hearts. May we conceive of thee, O everblessed God! as thou hast described thyself in thy word. Teach us to think of thee as the God who inhabitest eternity; who hast made all things by the breath of thy mouth, who upholdest all things by the word of thy power, who fillest all things by thy presence, and hast created them for thy own glory. May we ever look up to thee as seated on the throne of the universe, ordaining health and sickness, making rich and poor, killing and giving life, as seemeth best in thy sight, doing whatsoever thou pleasest in the armies of heaven, and amongst the inhabitants of the earth. Raise our grovelling ideas of thy glorious perfections, and help us daily to adore what is beyond the power of created minds to comprehend.

Teach us also, O blessed God; to understand that as is thy majesty and might, so is thy knowledge and wisdom; that known unto thee, from the beginning, are all thy works, in all places of thy dominion; that our most secret purposes, desires, and thoughts, are more open to thy all-seeing eye, than even to the notice of our own minds. Enlarge our conceptions of thy wisdom, which ordains and governs all things for the brightest display of thine own excellency. And in the view of our inability to judge what it is fit for thee to command or to do, may we bow down before every revelation of thy will with the lowest reverence, and to every appointment of thy providence respecting us and our fellow-creatures with the readiest submission.

O Lord! open our eyes, and cause thy goodness to pass before us. May we behold thee pouring out the blessings of health and strength, of food and raiment; and exercising forbearance and long-suffering, even to the most evil and unthankful. Above all, we beseech thee to grant us