5. An Evening Prayer For A Family
let peace and truth be in our days and be preserved to those that shall come after us.
Be gracious to all our relations, friends, neighbors, and acquaintances, and do them good according as their necessities are. Supply the wants of all your people. Dwell in the families that fear you and call upon your name. Forgive our enemies, and those that hate us; give us a right and charitable frame of spirit towards all men, and all that is theirs.
Visit those that are in affliction, and comfort them, and be to them a very present help. Recover the sick, ease the pained, succor the tempted, relieve the oppressed, and give joy to those that mourn in Zion.
Deal with us and our family according to the tenor of the everlasting covenant, which is well ordered in all things and sure, and which is all our salvation and all our desire; however it pleases
God to deal with us and with our house.
Now blessed be God for all his gifts both of nature and grace, for those that concern this life, and that to come; especially for Jesus
Christ the fountain and foundation of all; Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift.
We humbly beseech you for Christ Jesus' sake to pardon our sins, accept our services, and grant an answer ofpeace to our prayers, even for his sake who died for us and rose again, who hath taught us to pray...
5. AN EVENING PRAYER FOR A FAMILY Most holy and blessed and glorious Lord God, whose we are, and whom we are bound to serve; for because you made us, and not we ourselves, therefore we are not our own but yours, and unto you, O
Lord, do we lift up our souls: Your face, Lord, do we seek; whither shall we go for a happiness but to you from whom we derive our being?
You are the great benefactor of the whole creation: You give to all life and breath, and all things: You are our benefactor; the God that has fed us and kept us all our life long unto this day. Having obtained help of God, we continue hitherto, monuments ofsparing mercy, and witnesses for you that you are gracious, that you are God and not man; for therefore it is that we are not cut off.
One day tells another, and one night certifies to another, that you are good and do good, and never fail those that seek you and trust in you.
You make the outgoings of the morning and of the evening to praise you.
It is through the good hand of our God upon us, that we are brought in safety to the close of another day, and that after the various employments of the day, we come together at night to mention the loving kindness of the Lord, and the praises of our
God, who is good, and whose mercy endures forever.
Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with his benefits, even the God of our salvation; for he that is our God is the God ofsalvation.
We have from you the mercies of the day in its day, according as the necessity of the day requires, though we come far short ofdoing the work of the day in its day, according as the duty of the day
We bless you for the ministration of the good angels about us, the serviceableness of the inferior creatures to us, for our bodily health and ease, comfort in our relations, and a comfortable place of abode, and that you have not made the wilderness our habitation, and the barren land our dwelling; and especially that you continue to us the use of our reason, and the quiet and peace of our consciences.
We bless you for our share in the public tranquility that you have given us good land, in which we dwell safely under our own vines and fig trees.
Above all we bless you for Jesus Christ, and his mediation between God and man, for the covenant ofgrace made with us in him, and all the exceeding great and precious promises and privileges of that covenant, for the throne ofgrace erected for us, to which we may in his name come with humble boldness, and for the hope ofeternal life through him.
We confess we have sinned against you; this daywe have sinned and done foolishly: O God, you knowest our foolishness, and our sins are not hid from you: we misspend our time, we neglect our duty, we follow after lying vanities, and forsake our own mercies. We offend with our tongues: Are we not carnal and walk as men, below
Christians? Who can understand his errors? Cleanse us from our secret faults.
We pray you give us repentance for our sins of daily infirmity, and make us duly sensible of the evil of them, and of our danger by them, and let the blood of Christ your Son, which cleanses from all sin, cleanse us from them, that we may lie down to night at peace with God, and our souls may comfortably return to him, and repose in him as our rest.
And give us grace so to repent every day for the sins of every day, as that when we come to die, we may have the sins but of one day to repent of, and so we may be continually easy.
Do us good by all the providences we are under, merciful or afflictive; give us grace to accommodate ourselves to them, and by all bring us nearer to you, and make us fitter for you.
We commit ourselves to you this night, and desire to dwell in the secret place of the Most High, and to abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Let the Lord be our habitation, and let our souls be at home in him.
Make a hedge ofprotection (we pray you) about us, and about our house, and about all that we have round about, so that no evil may befall us, nor any plague come nigh our dwelling. The Lord be our keeper, who neither slumbers nor sleeps; Lord, be you a sun and a shield to us.
Refresh our bodies (we pray you) with quiet and comfortable rest, not to be disturbed with any distrustful disquieting cares or fears; but especially let our souls be refreshed with your love and the light of your countenance, and your benignity, which is better than life.
When we awake, grant that we may be still with you, and may remember you upon our beds, and meditate upon you in the night watches, and may improve the silence and solitude of our retirements for communing with God and our own hearts; that when we are alone we may not be alone, but God may be with us, and we with him.
Restore us to another day in safety, and prepare us for the duties and events of it; and by all the supports and comforts of this life, let our bodies be fitted to serve our souls in your service, and enable us to glorify you with both, remembering that we are not our own, we are bought witha price.
And forasmuch as we are now brought one day nearer our end, Lord, enable us so to number our days, as that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom: Let us be minded by our putting off our clothes, and going to sleep in our beds, of putting off the body, sleeping the sleep ofdeath, and ofmaking our bed in the darkness shortly, that we may be dying daily in expectation of and preparation for our change, that when we come to die indeed, it may be no surprise or terror to us, but we may with comfort put off the body, and resign the spirit, knowing whom we have trusted.
Lord, let our family be blessed in him, in whom all the families of the earth are blessed, blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things by Christ Jesus, and with temporal blessings as far as you see good for us: Give us health and prosperity, but especially let our souls prosper and be in health, and let all that belong to us belong to Christ, that we who live in a house together on earth, may be together for ever with the Lord.
Look with pity upon a lost world, we beseech you, and set up Christ's throne there where Satan's seat is; send the gospel where it is not, make it successful where it is; let it be mighty through God to the pulling down of the strong holds of sin.
Let the church of Christ greatly flourish in all places; and make it to appear that it is built upon a rock, and that the gates of hell cannot prevail against it; and suffer not the rod of the wicked anywhere to rest upon the lot of the righteous.
Let the land of our nativity be still the particular care of your good providence, that in the peace thereofwe may have peace. Let glory dwell in our land, and upon all the glory let there be a defense.
Rule in the hearts of our rulers: We pray you continue the queen's life and government long a public blessing; make all that are in places ofpublic trust faithful to the public interest; and all that bear the sworda terror to evil doers, and a protection and praise to them that do well. Own your ministers in their work and give them skill and will to help souls to heaven.
Be gracious to all that are dear to us: Let the rising generation be such as you will own and do you more and better service in their day than this has done.
Comfort and relieve all that are in sorrow and affliction, lay no more upon them than you will enable them to bear, and enable them to bear what you dost lay upon them.
Do for us, we pray you, abundantly above what we are able to ask or think, for the sake of our blessed Savior Jesus Christ, who is the Lord our Righteousness. To him with the Father and the eternal
Spirit be glory and praise now and forever. Amen.
A FAMILY PRAYER FOR THE LORD'S DAY MORNING Most gracious God, and our Father in our Lord Jesus Christ: It is good for us to draw near to you; the nearer the better, and it will be best of all when we come to be nearest of all in the kingdom of glory.
You have your Being ofyourself, and your happiness in yourself, we therefore adore you as the great Jehovah: We have our being from you, and our happiness in you, and therefore it is both our duty and our interest to seek to you, to implore your favor, and to give unto you the glory due to your name.
We bless you for the return of the morning light, and that you cause the dayspring to know its place and time. O let the dayspring from on high visit our dark souls, and the Sun ofrighteousness arise with healing under his wings.
We bless you that the light we see is the Lord's: That this is the day which the Lord hath made, hath made for man, hath made for himself, we will rejoice and be glad in it. That you have revealed unto us your holy sabbaths, and that we were betimes taught to put a difference between this day and other days, and that we live in a land, in all parts ofwhich God is publicly and solemnly worshipped on this day.
We bless you that sabbath liberties and opportunities are continued to us; and that we are not wishing in vain for these days of the Son of man; that our candlestick is not removed out of its place, as justly it might have been, because we have left our first love.
Now we bid this sabbath welcome: Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest. O that we may be in the Spirit on this Lord's Day; That this may be the sabbath of the Lord in our dwelling; in our hearts, a sabbath of rest from sin, and a sabbath ofrest in God. Enable us, we pray you, so to sanctify this sabbath, as that it may be sanctified to us, and be a means of our sanctification: That by resting to day from our worldly employments, our hearts may be more and more taken offfrom present things, and prepared to leave them; and that by employing our time to day in the worship of God, we may be led into a more experimental acquaintance with the workofheaven, and be made more meet for that blessed world.
We confess we are utterly unworthy of the honor, and unable for the work ofcommunion with you; but we come to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is worthy, and depend upon the assistances of your blessed Spirit to work all our works in us, and so to ordain peace for us.
We keep this day holy to the honor of God the Father Almighty, the Maker of heaven and earth, in remembrance of the work of creation, that work of wonder, in which you made all things out of nothing, by the word of your power, and all very good; and they continue to this day according to your ordinance, for all are your servants. You are worthy to receive blessing and honorand glory and power, for you have created all things, and for your pleasure they are and were created. O you who at first didst command the light to shine out of darkness, who said on the first day of the first week, Let there be light, and there was light; we pray you shine this day into our hearts, and give us more and more of the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ; and let us be your workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works; a kind of first fruits of your creatures.
We likewise sanctify this day to the honor of our Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, and our exalted Redeemer, in remembrance of his resurrection from the dead on the first day of the week, by which he was declared to be the Son of God with power. We bless you that having laid down his life to make atonement for sin, he rose again for our justification, that he might bring in an everlasting righteousness. That the stone which the builders refused, the same is become the headstone of the corner; this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. We bless you that he is risen from the dead as the first fruits of them that slept, that he might be the resurrection and the life to us. Now we pray that while we are celebrating the memorial of his resurrection with joy and triumph, we may experience in our souls the power and virtue of his resurrection, that we may rise with him, may rise from the death of sin, to the life ofrighteousness, from the dust of this world to a holy, heavenly, spiritual and divine life. O that we maybe planted togetherin the likeness of Christ's resurrection, that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life.
We sanctify this day also to the honor of the eternal Spirit, that blessed Spirit ofgrace the Comforter, rejoicing at the remembrance of the descent of the Spirit upon the apostles on the day of Pentecost, the first day of the week likewise. We bless you that when Jesus was glorified, the Holy Ghost was given to make up the want of his bodily presence, to carry on his undertaking, and to ripen things for his second coming; and that we have a promise that he shall abide with us forever. And now we pray that the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead, may dwell and rule in every one ofus, to make us partakers ofa new and divine nature. Come, O blessed Spirit ofgrace, and breathe upon these dry bones, these dead hearts of ours, that they may live, and be in us a spirit of faith and love and holiness, a spirit ofpower and of a sound mind.
O Lord, we bless you for your holy word, which is a light to our feet, and a lamp to our paths, and which was written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope: That the scriptures are preserved pure and entire to us, and that we have them in a language that we understand. We beg that we may not receive the grace of God herein in vain. We bless you that our eyes see the joyful light, and our ears hear the joyful sound of a Redeemer and a Savior, and of redemption and salvation by him; that life and immortality are brought to light by the gospel. Glory be to God in the highest, for in and through Jesus
Christ there is on earth peace, and good-will towards men.
We bless you for the great gospel record, That God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Lord, we receive it as a faithful saying, and well worthy of all acceptations; we will venture our immortal souls upon it; and we are encouraged by it to come to you, to beg for an interest in the mediation of your Son. O let him be made of God to us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption; let us be effectually called into fellowship with him, and by faith be united to him, so that Christ may live in us, and we may grow up into him in all things who is the head; that we may bring forth fruit in him, and whatever we do in word or deed, we may do all in his name. O let us have the Spirit of Christ, that thereby it may appear we are his. And through him we pray that we may have eternal life, that we may none of us come short of it but may all ofus have the first fruits and earnests of it abiding in us.
We bless you for the new covenant made with us in Jesus Christ; thatwhen the covenant ofinnocence was irreparablybroken, so that it was become impossible for us to get to heaven by that covenant, you were then pleased to deal with us upon new terms, that we are under grace and not under the law; that this covenant is established upon better promises in the hand of a mediator. Lord, we fly for refuge to it, we take hold of it as the hope set before us. O receive us graciously into the bond of this covenant, and make us accepted in the beloved, according to the tenor of the covenant. You have declared concerning the Lord Jesus, that he is your beloved Son in whom you are well pleased, and we humbly profess that he is our beloved Savior, in whom we are well pleased: Lord, be well pleased with us in him.
O that our hearts may be filled this day with pleasing thoughts of Christ, and his love to us, that great love wherewith he loved us. O the admirable dimensions of that love, the height, and depth, and length, and breadth of the love of Christ, which passes knowledge:
Let this love constrain us to love him and live to him, who died for us and rose again. O that it may be a pleasure and mighty satisfaction to us to think, that while we are here praying at the footstool of the throne of grace, our blessed Savior is sitting at the right hand of the throne ofglory interceding for us: We earnestly beg that through him we may find favor with you our God and may be taken into covenant and communion with you.
We humbly pray you for his sake forgive all our sins, known and unknown, in thought, word, and deed: Through him let us be acquitted from guilt, and accepted as righteous in your sight: Let us not come into condemnation, as we have deserved; let our iniquity be taken away, and our sin covered; and let us be clothed with the spotless robe of Christ's righteousness, that the shame of our nakedness may not appear. O let there be no cloud of guilt to interpose between us and our God this day, and to intercept our comfortable communion with him. And let our lusts be mortified and subdued, that our own corruptions may not be as a clog to us, to hinder the ascent of our soul's heaven-wards.
We pray you assist us in all the religious services of this your own holy day: Go along with us to the solemn assembly; for if your presence goes not up with us, wherefore should we go up? Give us to draw nigh to you with a true heart, witha free heart, with a fixed heart, and in full assurance of faith. Meet us with a blessing: Grace your own ordinances with your presence, that special presence of yours which you have promised there where two or three are gathered together in your name. Help us against our manifold infirmities, and the sins that do most easily beset us in our attendance upon you: Let your word come with life and power to our souls, and be as good seed sown in good soil, taking root, and bringing forth fruit to your praise: And let our prayers and praises