the beginning of my days and the progress of my sins; that thou didst give me time to repent and amend my life; that thou didst restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free Spirit. Good Lord, forgive me the great waste of my precious time in the days and years which are already past, and the many opportunities of doing good which I have irrecoverably lost, and grant me grace that for the time to come I may be truly wise, that I may consider my latter end, and work out my salvation with fear and trembling; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. An Evening Prayer. OUR Father, who art in heaven, &c. ET my prayer O Lord, be set forth in thy sight as the incense, and let the lifting up of my hands be as an evening sacrifice. Let my heart be filled with gratitude for thy mercies, and my tongue break forth with praise. O Lord God, what shall I render unto thee for all thy benefits? Thou art my Creator and my Father, my Guardian and Protector. Through Thee have I been holden up ever since I was born. Thou hast fed me and clothed me, given me friends and blessed them, granted me many days of health and happiness, free from the sickness and sorrows with which many of thy faithful servants and saints have been afflicted and grieved. And in the days of darkness, thou hast refreshed me in my sorrows and comforted me in my distress. And though I have broken thy righteous laws, indulged in vanity and folly, and been dead in trespasses and sins; yet thou didst pity me in my miseries, thou didst awaken me to repentance, and wouldst not suffer me to perish in my guilt. Impress me O Lord, with such a deep sense of my obligations to thee for life and health, for grace and salvation, that religion may be my delight as well as my duty. O bountiful Lord and Master, who hast provided for all my wants and necessities to this day, grant that no anxious thoughts and fears for the future, and no spirit of infidelity may ever tempt me to distrust thy providence or to better and secure my condition by any unworthy means; nor let any doubt of thy goodness keep me back from thy throne of grace, whenever I shall stand in need of thy mercy and help. But that I may serve thee O Lord with a quiet mind, forgive me those things whereof my conscience is afraid, and turn from me the judgments which I have most justly deserved. Remember not the offences of my youth and in mercy blot out those of my riper years. Pardon my sins of the day past and of my life past, and grant that they may never rise up in judgment against me. Give me a dread of the weakness and treachery of my own heart, and make me sensible that without thee the frailty of man cannot but fall; that in all my temptations I may fly unto thee for succour, and in all my dangers I may find help and deliverance. O God, the Preserver and Defender of all who put their trust in thee, take me, my family, my relations, benefactors and friends, I beseech thee, under thy gracious protection; give thy holy angels charge concerning us, preserve us from the prince and powers of darkness, and from the dangers of the night, and keep us in perpetual peace and safety, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. THE grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, &c. Another Morning Prayer. OUR Father, who art in Heaven, &c. LORD God, the Creator and Preserver of all mankind, blessed be thy name that thou hast brought me safely to the beginning of another day, and that I am yet of the number of those who have time and space for repentance. Make me truly sensible of this mercy, and give me grace to consider how short and how uncertain my time is; that there is one day more of a transitory life passed over my head, and that I am so much nearer eternity. Grant that I may in good ear nest think of another life, and be so prepared for it, as that death may not overtake me unawares. I Lord pardon all my misspent time, and make me more diligent and careful to redeem it for the future; that when I come to the end of my days may look back with comfort on those which are past. Grant that I may begin this day with new resolutions of serving thee more faithfully, and if through negligence or infirmity I forget these good purposes, awaken me I beseech thee, to a sense of my danger. My heart is in thy hands O God, as well as my time. O make me wise unto salvation, that I may consider in this my day the things, that belong unto my peace, and that truly repenting of the errors of my life past, my sins may be forgiven and my pardon sealed in heaven before I go hence and be no more seen. Grant O God, that amidst all the difficulties and discouragements, the dangers and trials, the distress and darkness of this mortal life, I may depend upon thy mercy and help, and never sink down into gloominess and despair. Give me O Lord, the eyes of faith, that I may see the world just as it is, the vanity of its promises, the folly of its pleasures, the unprofitableness of its rewards, the multitude of its snares and the danger of its temptations; and enable me to rise above it and to crucify it with its affections and lusts. Perfect O God, the good work which thou hast begun in me, and let me feel the effects of thy grace in the constancy of my devotions, in the care for my soul, in the faithful discharge of my duty, and in all those acts of righteousness, and piety, and charity, which I owe to thee and my fellow-men; that I may pass the time of my sojourning here in the comfortable hope of a blessed eternity, and may at last be found worthy of a part in the resurrection of the just, through my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen. Another Evening Prayer. OUR Father, who art in heaven, &c. A LMIGHTY and most merciful Father, I thy unworthy servant, come before thee in all lowliness and humility, beseeching thee to look down upon me with pity and compassion, and to pardon my manifold transgressions of thy righteous laws. Forgive me O Lord, the sins of my youth and the sins of my age, the sins of my soul and the sins of my body, the secret sins which I have striven to hide from others, and the presumptuous sins which I have boldly committed in the face of the world. It is of thy mercies O Lord, that I am not consumed. In my creation, my preservation, and the innumerable blessings of this life, and above all in my redemption from sin and eternal death by the precious blood of thy dear |