Folly and sin have taken up my time. I am ashamed to look back upon the years which I have spent, and to think of the temptations which I have yielded to. Alas! what trifles have enticed me from God! How little have I had for the holy pleasures which I have lost! Like Esau, I have profanely sold my birthright for one morsel. To please my fancy, my appetite, and my lust, I have set light by all the joys of heaven: I have unkindly despised the goodness of my Maker; I have slighted the love and grace of my Redeemer: I have resisted thy Holy Spirit, silenced my own conscience, and grieved thy ministers and my most faithful friends, and have brought myself into this woful case, wherein I am a shame and burden to myself, and God is my terror, who should be my only hope and joy. Thou knowest my secret sins, which are unknown to men: thou knowest all their aggravations. My sins, O Lord, have found me out; my fears and sorrows overwhelm me. If I look behind me, I see my wickedness pursue my soul, as an army ready to overtake me and devour me: if I look before me, I see thy just and dreadful judgment, and I know that thou wilt not acquit the guilty: if I look within me, I see a dark defiled heart if I look without me, I see a world still offering fresh temptations to deceive me if I look above me, I see thine offended, dreadful Majesty. And if I look beneath me, I see the place of endless torment, and the company with which I deserve to suffer. I am afraid to live, and more afraid to die.

But yet when I look to thine abundant mercy, and to thy Son, and to thy covenant, I have hope. Thy goodness is equal to thy greatness. Thou art love itself, and thy mercy is over all thy works. So wonderfully hath thy Son condescended unto sinners, and done and suffered so much for their salvation, that if yet I should question thy willingness to forgive, I should but add to all my sins, by dishonouring that matchless mercy. which thou dost design to glorify. Yea, more: I find upon record in thy word, that through Christ thou hast made a covenant of grace, an act of oblivion, in which thou hast already conditionally, but freely, pardoned all, granting them the forgiveness of all their sins, without any exception, whenever, by unfeigned faith and repentance, they turn to thee by Jesus Christ. And thy present mercy doth increase my hope, in that thou hast not cut me off, nor utterly left me to the hardness of my heart, but showeth me my sin and danger before I am past remedy.

O, therefore, behold this prostrate sinner, which, with the publican, smiteth on his breast, and is ashamed to look up towards heaven. O God, be merciful to me a sinner! I confess not only my original sin, but the follies and fury of my youth, my manifold sins of ignorance and knowledge, of negligence and wilfulness, of omission and commission, against the law of nature, and against the grace and Gospel of thy Son. Forgive and save me, O my God, for thy abundant mercy, and for the sacrifice and merit of thy Son, and for the promise of forgiveness which thou hast made through him; for in these alone is all my trust. Condemn me not, who condemn myself. O Thou that hast opened so precious a fountain for sin and uncleanness, wash me thoroughly from my wickedness, and cleanse me from my sin. Though thy justice might send me presently to hell, let thy mercy triumph in my salvation. Thou hast no pleasure in the death of sinners, but rather that they repent and live. If my repentance be not such as thou requirest, O soften this hardened, flinty heart, and give me repentance unto life. Turn me to thyself, O God of my salvation, and cause thy face to shine upon me. Create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me. Meet not this poor returning prodigal in thy wrath, but with the embracements of thy tender mercies. Cast me not away from thy presence, and sentence me not to depart from thee with the workers of iniquity: thou who didst patiently endure me when I despised thee, refuse me not now [ seek unto thee, and here in the dust implore thy mercy. Thou didst convert and pardon a wicked Manasseh, and a persecuting Saul, and there are multitudes in heaven who were once thine enemies. Glorify also thy superabounding grace in the forgiveness of my abounding sins.

I ask not for liberty to sin again, but for deliverance from this sinning nature. O give me the renewing Spirit of thy Son, which may sanctify all the powers of my soul. Let me have the new and heavenly birth and nature, and the spirit of adoption to reform me to thine image, that I'may be holy as thou art holy. Illuminate me with the saving knowledge of thyself, and thy Son, Jesus Christ. O fill me with thy love, that my heart may be wholly set upon thee, and the remembrance of thee may be my chief delight. Let the freest and sweetest of my thoughts run after thee, and the freest and sweetest of my discourse be of thee, and of thy glory and kingdom, and of thy word and ways. O let my treasure be laid up in heaven, and there let me daily and

delightfully converse. Make it the great and daily business of my devoted soul to please thee and to honour thee, to promote thy kingdom, and to do thy will. Put thy fear into my heart, that I may never depart from thee: this world hath had too much of my heart already. Let it now be crucified to me, and I to it, by the cross of Christ. Let me not love it, nor the things which are therein, but, having food and raiment, cause me therewith to be content. Destroy in me all fleshly lusts, that I may not walk after the flesh, but the Spirit. Keep me from the snares of wicked company, and from the counsel and ways of the ungodly. Bless me with the helpful communion of the saints, and with all the means which thou hast appointed to further our sanctification and salvation. O that my ways were so directed that I might keep thy statutes! Let me never return again to folly, nor forget the covenant of iny God. Help me to quench the first motions of sin, and to abhor all sinful desires and thoughts; and let thy Spirit strengthen me against all temptations, that I may conquer and endure to the end. Prepare me for sufferings, and for death, and judgment, that when I must leave this sinful world, I may yield up my departing soul with joy into the faithful hands of my dear Redeemer; that I be not numbered with the ungodly who die in their unpardoned sin, and pass into everlasting misery, but may be found in Christ, having the righteousness which is of God by faith, and may attain to the resurrection of the just. That so the remembrance of the sin and iniseries from which thou hast delivered me, may further my perpetual thanks and praise to thee, my Creator, my Redeemer, and my Sanctifier.

And O that thou wouldest call and convert the miserable nations of idolaters and infidels, and the multitudes of ungodly hypocrites who have the name of Christians, and not the truth, and power, and life. O send forth labourers into thy harvest, and let not Satan hinder them! Prosper thy Gospel, and the kingdom of thy Son; then sinners may more abundantly be converted to thee, and this earth may be made liker unto heaven; that when thou hast gathered us all into unity in Christ, we may all with perfect love and joy ascribe to thee the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

VIII. Prayer and Praise for the Lord's Day.

GLORIOUS Jehovah, thou art infinitely above the praise of angels; much more of such sinful worms as we are: far be it

from us to think that thou needest any thing that we can do, or that all our praise can add unto thy blessedness! But thy love and mercy hath advanced us to this honour, and made our own felicity our duty for all that are far from thee shall perish; but it is good for us to draw near to thee. And lest the vanities and business of this world should hinder us, thou hast appointed us this thy special day, that our composed minds might be taken up with thy love and praise, and might attend upon thee without distraction, and might foretaste our everlasting rest. O be thou now to thy servants' souls the Spirit of life, the Spirit of light, and love, and power, that the heavenly life may quicken us to this holy and heavenly work; that by faith we may see thee in thy own communicated light; and that our love may rise with fervour and delight through the sweet communication of thy love; and that all within us which doth resist, may be overpowered by thy strength, which is manifested in our weakness; that so the sacrifice of our persons and of our praises, which we humbly offer at thy command, may be such as are fit for thine acceptance, through Jesus Christ.

Thou, and thou alone, art God, the immortal and invisible Spirit; eternal and infinite in being and perfections! Before the forming of the world, from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. Thy understanding is infinite. Thou perfectly knowest thyself and all things; but art comprehended by none. Thy will is good, yea, goodness itself, and perfect love; loving thyself and all thy works. Thou art the Almighty, and nothing is too hard for thee. Thou art the Creator of all the world: thou broughtest all things out of nothing! Thou spakest the word, and they were made. Thou gavest their being to the glorious angels, and all the intellectual spirits! All the heavens were made by thee. Thou saidst let there be light, and there was light. Thou madest the sun and all the stars: thou gavest them their wonderful powers, and their offices; that by their light, and heat, and motion, they might be for life and action, and for times and seasons here below. How glorious art thou, O God, in these thy wondrous works! the greatness, the glory, and the virtues whereof are so far beyond our dark apprehensions. The higher spirits who better know them, and possess the high and glorious mansions, do better praise thee, the great Creator, whose word did form that noble frame, when the morning stars did sing together, and all the sons of God did shout for joy. Thou madest the earth, the land and sea, and

all the creatures that dwell therein. All fowls, and fishes, beasts and plants; in wonderful variety, beauty, and virtue hast thou made them all. The air and clouds, the thunder and lightning, rain and snow, the winds and earthquakes, the marvellous motions of the sea, are all thy great unsearchable works. The smallest worm or flower doth far surpass our knowledge. How, then, should mortals comprehend the greatness and harmonious order of the world? how thou hast founded the earth upon nothing; and what is in the depths thereof: how thou movest, and maintainest, and preservest the order of the universal frame, and causest the sweet and powerful influences of the fiery and celestial parts, upon the things below: how thou shuttest up the sea with sandy doors, and makest the clouds to be its garments, and the darkness as its swaddling-bands, and sayest, hitherto, and no further shalt thou come. How great, O Lord, and manifold are thy works! In perfect wisdom, goodness, and power thou hast made them all.

But it is man whom thou hast made the noblest inhabitant of this lower world. Thou breathest into his body the breath of life, and he became a living soul. Thou madest him little lower than the angels, that thou mightest crown him with glory and honour. Thou gavest him dominion over the works of thy hands; and hast put all things below us under his feet. Thou madest him in thine image, with an understanding mind, and an unforced will, and executive power, to know, and love, and serve thee, his most wise, and good, and great Creator. Thou placest him in this lower world, that he might pass through it to the blessed presence of thy glory. Thou becamest a Father to him, being his Owner, his Ruler, and his chiefest Good; even his great Benefactor, and his ultimate End; that he might live in absolute resignation, subjection, and love to thee. Thou gavest him in nature, and in thy precept, a law which was holy, just and good, that, by following thy conduct, he might please thee, and attain to full felicity. Thou didst furnish him with all things necessary to his obedience, and oblige him thereto by the abundance of thy blessings. But he quickly fell from his innocency and honour, by turning from his God. He believed the false and envious tempter, even when he accused thee of falsehood and envy, as if all thy wondrous works and mercies, had not proved thee to be true and good. Thus did man foolishly requite the Lord, and forsook the rock of his salvation. And by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin. But