not rescuing or not preserving those whom we could and ought to have preserved, our embittering the spirit of our neighbour, our unpeaceable dispositions, our tempting and betraying, our wounding and killing our own souls and the souls of our brethren, whom we ought to have snatched from the fire, and, according to our powers, withheld from the everlasting burning. O take away our iniquities from us, and remember our sins no more. 15. O God of mercy, pardon our gluttony and drunkenness, the disorders of our diet and the disorders of our passion, our wanton thoughts and wandering eyes, our impure desires, and all our actions of uncleanness, our lascivious dressings and idle consumptions of our time, our making provisions for the flesh to fulfil the lusts of it, the dishonourings of our body, and the pollutions of our spirit, our making the members of Christ be the members of a harlot, and defiling the temples of the Holy Ghost by unnatural actions and desires, not to be named, and much less to be entertained, our softness and effeminacy, our sensualities and studies of the flesh, and all the excesses and irregularities within that state which thou hast blessed and sanctified: but we are unclean, we are unclean. O cleanse our souls from sin; take away our iniquities, and thou shalt find none. 15. O God of mercy, pardon our injustices and rapines, our open invasion and secret underminings of the rights of others, our greedy desires and fierce pursuances of money, our love of wealth and our hastiness to be rich, our arts of unequal bargaining and deceitful words, our unjust lawsuits and the vexatious prosecutions of just or unjust, our detaining the wages of the hireling and our defalking of his dues; our pressing upon the necessities of the poor, and raising prices for their need; our hard and oppressive contracts, our rigours of justice and varieties of injustice, our want of charity and tenacious retaining our money, our reception or retention of unjust purchases; our sacrilege and simony, our entering into the fields of the fatherless, wronging the helpless widow, who is thy care; our forwardness to run into debt, and our carelessness to come out of it: our improvident conduct of our estates and our foolish mispendings, our causing diminution to the goods of others, and the avaricious increasing of our own. Wash us thoroughly from our iniquity, and cleanse us from our sin. 17. O God of mercy, forgive us our breach of promise to men, and of our holy vows made to thee our God: our wilful or careless lying, our false accusation or false witnessing, our perverting righteous judgment by bribery or false information, and causing the innocent to suffer; our leading the blind out of his way; our accusing others, and justifying ourselves, our false excuses and feigned pretences, our causeless affirmings and denyings, our jealousies and suspicions, and all the iniquity of our hearts and tongues. Hide thy face from our sins, and blot out all our transgressions. 18. O God of mercy, pardon our envy and our discontented hearts, our ambitions and curiosities, our rejoicings in the evil of our neighbours, and our repining and displeasure at his advancement, our violent and distracting carefulness for the things of this world, our affrightments in every sad accident, and all our covetous thoughts and degenerous and unworthy practices. Lord Jesu, be merciful to us miserable, but penitent and returning sinners. O that our head were waters, and our eyes a fountain of tears, that we might weep day and night, till thou wert reconciled to thy people! Thy congregation is an assembly of adulterous and treacherous men. We have bent our tongues like a bow for lies, but we are not valiant for the truth upon earth; we have proceeded from evil to evil, and we have not known thee. Every one deceives his neighbour, and weary themselves to commit iniquity: for these things thou hast visited us in anger, thou hast fed us with wormwood, and given us water of gall to drink. Thou hast sent the sword upon us to consume us, and the spirit of division to scatter us abroad. But in thee, O Lord, is our confidence and our glory; for thou dost exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth; for in these things thou dost delight. O Lord, therefore correct us, but with judgment, not in thine anger, lest thou bring us to nothing: we pray not against sorrow; but pray thee to multiply our penitential sorrows upon us; that we may truly mourn for our offences against thee, and may, with great caution, take care we may no more offend thee, and redeem the time which we have spent in vanity; and employ the remaining portion of our days in the ways of peace and righteousness, of wisdom and the fear of God; that when thou shalt send thy angels to gather the wheat into thy granary, we may be bound up in the bundle of life, and dwell in the house of God for ever, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Καὶ σοι τὴν δόξαν ἀναπέμπομεν Τῷ Πατρὶ, Καὶ Τῷ Υἱῷ, Καὶ Τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι, Νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. *Αμήν. THE WORTHY COMMUNICANT; OR, A DISCOURSE OF THE NATURE, EFFECTS, AND BLESSINGS, CONSEQUENT TO THE WORTHY RECEIVING OF THE LORD'S SUPPER, AND OF ALL THE DUTIES REQUIRED IN ORDER TO A WORTHY PREPARATION: TOGETHER WITH THE CASES OF CONSCIENCE OCCURRING IN THE DUTY OF HIM THAT MINISTERS, AND OF HIM THAT COMMUNICATES; AS ALSO DEVOTIONS FITTED TO EVERY PART OF THE MINISTRATION. |