Imágenes de página
PDF
ePub

mercy: thou spakest by thy prophets, and saidst, “I will help by one that is mighty;" and, in the fulness of time, spakest to us by thy Son, by whom thou didst make both the worlds, who, by the word of his power, sustains all things in heaven and earth; who thought it no robbery to be equal to the Father; who, being before all time, was pleased to be born in time, to converse with men, to be incarnate of a holy Virgin he emptied himself of all his glories, took on him the form of a servant, in all things being made like unto us, in a soul of passions and discourse, in a body of humility and sorrow, but in all things innocent, and in all things afflicted; and suffered death for us, that we by him might live, and be partakers of his nature and his glories, of his body and of his Spirit, of the blessings of earth, and of immortal felicities in heaven.

"O that men would therefore praise the Lord," &c.

For thou, O holy and immortal God, O sweetest Saviour Jesus, wert made under the law to condemn sin in the flesh: thou, who knewest no sin, wert made sin for us: thou gavest to us righteous commandments, and madest known to us all thy Father's will: thou didst redeem us from our vain conversation, and from the vanity of idols, false principles, and foolish confidences, and broughtest us to the knowledge of the true and only God and our Father, and hast made us to thyself a peculiar people, of thy own purchase, a royal priesthood, a holy nation: thou hast washed our souls in the laver of regeneration, the sacrament of baptism: thou hast reconciled us by thy death, justified us by thy resurrection, sanctified us by thy Spirit, sending him upon thy church in visible forms, and giving him in powers and miracles and mighty signs, and continuing this incomparable favour in gifts and sanctifying graces, and promising that he shall abide with us for ever: thou hast fed us with thine own broken body, and given drink to our souls out of thine own heart, and hast ascended up on high, and hast overcome all the powers of death and hell, and redeemed us from the miseries of a sad eternity; and sittest at the right hand of God, making intercession for us with a never-ceasing charity.

"O that men would therefore praise the Lord," &c.

The grave could not hold thee long, O holy and eternal

:

Jesus thy body could not see corruption, neither could thy soul be left in hell: thou wert free among the dead, and thou breakest the iron gates of death, and the bars and chains of the lower prisons. Thou broughtest comfort to the souls of the patriarchs, who waited for thy coming, who longed for the redemption of man, and the revelation of thy day. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saw thy day, and rejoiced: and when thou didst arise from thy bed of darkness, and leftest the grave-clothes behind thee, and didst put on a robe of glory (over which for forty days thou didst wear a veil), and then enteredst into a cloud, and then into glory, then the powers of hell were confounded, then death lost its power and was swallowed up into victory: and though death is not quite destroyed, yet it is made harmless and without a sting, and the condition of human nature is made an entrance to eternal glory; and art become the prince of life, the first-fruits of the resurrection, the first-born from the dead, having made the way plain before our faces, that we may also arise again in the resurrection of the last day, when thou shalt come again unto us, to render to every man according to his works.

"O that men would therefore praise the Lord," &c.

O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is gracious, and his mercy endureth for ever.

O all ye angels of the Lord, praise ye the Lord; praise him and magnify him for ever.

O ye spirits and souls of the righteous, praise ye the Lord; praise him and magnify him for ever.

And now, O Lord God, what shall I render to thy Divine Majesty for all the benefits, thou hast done unto thy servant my personal capacity?

in

Thou art my Creator and my Father, my Protector and my Guardian: thou hast brought me from my mother's womb : thou hast told all my joints, and in thy book were all my members written: thou hast given me a comely body, Christian and careful parents, holy education: thou hast been my guide and my teacher all my days: thou hast given me ready faculties, an unloosed tongue, a cheerful spirit, straight limbs, a good reputation, and liberty of person, a quiet life, and a tender conscience, [a loving wife or husband, and hopeful children]. Thou wert my hope from my youth, through thee have I been holden up, ever since I was born. Thou hast clothed

me and fed me, given me friends and blessed them: given me many days of comfort, and health, free from those sad infirmities with which many of thy saints and dearest servants are afflicted. Thou hast sent thy angel to snatch me from the violence of fire and water, to prevent precipices, fracture of bones, to rescue me from thunder and lightning, plague and pestilential diseases, murder and robbery, violence of chance and enemies, and all the spirits of darkness: and in the days of sorrow thou hast refreshed me; in the destitution of provisions thou hast taken care of me, and thou hast said unto me, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."

"I will give thanks unto the Lord with my whole heart, secretly among the faithful, and in the congregation."

Thou, O my dearest Lord and Father, hast taken care of my soul, hast pitied my miseries, sustained my infirmities, relieved and instructed my ignorances; and though I have broken thy righteous laws and commandments, run passionately after vanities, and was in love with death, and was dead in sin, and was exposed to thousands of temptations, and fell foully, and continued in it, and loved to have it so; and hated to be reformed; yet thou didst call me with the checks of conscience, with daily sermons and precepts of holiness, with fear and shame, with benefits and the admonitions of thy most Holy Spirit, by the counsel of my friends, by the example of good persons, with holy books and thousands of excellent arts, and would not suffer me to perish in my folly, but didst force me to attend to thy gracious calling, and hast put me into a state of repentance, and possibilities of pardon, being infinitely desirous I should live, and recover, and make use of thy grace, and partake of thy glories.

"I will give thanks unto the Lord with my whole heart, secretly among the faithful, and in the congregation. For salvation belongeth unto the Lord, and thy blessing is upon thy servant. But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercies, and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple. For of thee, and in thee, and through and for thee, are all things. Blessed be the name of God, from generation to generation." Amen.

A short form of Thanksgiving to be said upon any special deliverance, as from Childbirth, from Sickness, from Battle, or imminent Danger at Sea or Land, &c.

O most merciful and gracious God, thou fountain of all mercy and blessing, thou hast opened the hand of thy mercy to fill me with blessings, and the sweet effects of thy lovingkindness: thou feedest us like a shepherd, thou governest us as a king, thou bearest us in thy arms like a nurse, thou dost cover us under the shadow of thy wings and shelter us like a hen; thou (O dearest Lord !) wakest for us as a watchman, thou providest for us like a husband, thou lovest us as a friend, and thinkest on us perpetually, as a careful mother on her helpless babe, and art exceeding merciful to all that fear thee. And now, O Lord, thou hast added this great blessing of deliverance from my late danger [here name the blessing]; it was thy hand and the help of thy mercy that relieved me; the waters of affliction had drowned me, and the stream had gone over my soul, if the Spirit of the Lord had not moved upon these waters. Thou, O Lord, didst revoke thy angry sentence, which I had deserved, and which was gone out against me. Unto thee, O Lord, I ascribe the praise and honour of my redemption. I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy, for thou hast considered my trouble, and hast known my soul in adversity. As thou hast spread thy hand upon me for a covering, so also enlarge my heart with thankfulness, and fill my mouth with praises, that my duty and returns to thee may be great as my needs of mercy are: and let thy gracious favours and loving-kindness endure for ever and ever upon thy servant; and grant that what thou hast sown in mercy, may spring up in duty: and let thy grace so strengthen my purposes, that I may sin no more, lest thy threatening return upon me in anger, and thy anger break me into pieces: but let me walk in the light of thy favour, and in the paths of thy commandments: that I, living here to the glory of thy name, may at last enter into the glory of my Lord, to spend a whole eternity in giving praise to thy exalted and ever-glorious name. Amen.

"We praise thee, O God, we acknowledge thee to be the Lord. All the earth doth worship thee, the Father everlasting. To thee all angels cry aloud, the heavens and all the

powers therein. To thee cherubim and seraphim continually do cry, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth; heaven and earth are full of the majesty of thy glory. The glorious company of the apostles praise thee. The goodly fellowship of the prophets praise thee. The noble army of martyrs praise thee. The holy church throughout all the world doth acknowledge thee, the Father of an infinite majesty; thine honourable, true, and only Son; also the Holy Ghost the Comforter. Thou art the king of glory, O Christ: thou art the everlasting Son of the Father. When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man, thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb. When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to all believers. Thou sittest at the right hand of God in the glory of the Father. We believe, that thou shalt come to be our judge. We therefore pray thee, help thy servants, whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood. Make them to be numbered with thy saints in glory everlasting. O Lord, save thy people, and bless thine heritage. Govern them, and lift them up for ever. Day by day we magnify thee, and we worship thy name ever world without end. Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin. O Lord, have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us. O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us, as our trust is in thee. O Lord, in thee have I trusted: let me never be confounded." Amen.

A Prayer of Thanksgiving after the receiving of some great Blessing, as the Birth of an Heir, the Success of an honest Design, a Victory, a good Harvest, &c.

O Lord God, Father of mercies, the fountain of comfort and blessing, of life and peace, of plenty and pardon, who fillest heaven with thy glory, and earth with thy goodness; I give thee the most earnest, most humble, and most enlarged returns of my glad and thankful heart, for thou hast refreshed me with thy comforts, and enlarged me with thy blessing: thou hast made my flesh and my bones to rejoice: for besides the blessings of all mankind, the blessings of nature and the blessings of grace, the support of every minute, and the comforts of every day, thou hast opened thy bosom, and at this time hast poured out an excellent expression of thy

« AnteriorContinuar »