The Puritans' Prayers

A COLLOQUY ON REJOICING

REMEMBER, O MY SOUL,
It is thy duty and privilege to rejoice in God:
He requires it of thee for all his favours of grace.
Rejoice then in the giver and his goodness,
Be happy in him, O my heart, and in nothing but God,
for whatever a man trusts in,
from that he expects happiness.
He who is the ground of thy faith
shouuld be the substance of thy joy.
Whence then come heaviness and dejection,
when joy is sown in thee,
promised by the Father,
bestowed by the Son,
inwrought by the Holy Spirit,
thine by grace,
thy birthright in believing?
Art thou seeking to rejoice in thyself
from an evil motive of pride and self reputation?
Thou hast nothing of thine own but sin,
nothing to move God to be gracious,
or to continue his grace toward thee.
If thou forget this thou wilt lose thy joy.
Art thou grieving under a sense of indwelling sin?
Let godly sorrow work repentance,
as the true spirit which the Lord blesses,
and which creates fullest joy;
Sorrow for self opens rejoicing in God,
Self-loathing draws down divine delights.
Hast thou sought joys in some creature comfort?
Look not below God for happiness;
fall not asleep in Delilah's lap.
Let God be all in all to thee,
all joy in the fountain that is always full.

EVENING RENEWAL
MY FATHER,
If thy mercy had bounds, where would be my refuge from just wrath?
But thy love in Christ is without measure.
Thus, I present myself to thee
with sins of commission and omission,
against thee, my Father,
against thee, adorable redeemer,
against thee and thy strivings, O Holy Spirit,
against the dictates of my conscience,
against the precepts of thy Word,
against my neighbours and myself.
Enter not into judgment with me,
For I plead no righteousness of my own,
and have no cloak for iniquity.
Pardon my day dark with evil.
This night I renew my penitence.
Every morning I vow to love thee more fervently,
to serve thee more sincerely,
to be more devoted in my life,
to be wholly thine;
Yet I soon stumble, backslide,
and have to confess my weakness, misery and sin.
But I bless thee that the finished work of Christ needs no addition
from my doings,
that his oblation is sufficient satisfaction
for my sins.
If future days be mine, help me to amend my life,
to hate and abhor evil,
to flee the sins I confess.
Make me more resolute, more watchful, more prayerful.
Let no evil fruit spring from evil seeds my hands have sown;
Let no neighbour be hardened in vanity and folly
by my want of circumspection.
If this day I have been ashamed of Christ and his Word,
or have shown unkindness, malice, envy, lack of love,
unadvised speech, hasty temper,
let it be no stumbling block to others,
or dishonour to thy name.
O help me to set an upright example that will ever rebuke vice,
allure to goodness,
and evidence that lovely are the ways of Christ.


 
JESUS MY GLORY
O LORD GOD,
Thou hast commanded me to believe in Jesus;
and I would flee to no other refuge,
and wash in no other fountain,
build on no other foundation,
receive from no other fullness,
rest in no other relief.
His water and blood were not severed in their flow at the cross,
may they never be separated in my creed and experiences;
May I be equally convinced of the guilt and pollution of sin,
feel my need of a prince and saviour,
implore of him repentance as well as forgiveness,
love holiness, and be pure in heart,
have the mind of Jesus, and tread in his steps.
Let me not be at my own disposal,
but rejoice that I am under the care of one
who is too wise to err,
too kind to injure,
too tender to crush.
May I scandalize none by my temper and conduct, but
recommend and endear Christ to all around,
bestow good on every one as circumstances permit,
and decline no opportunity of usefulness.
Grant that I may value my substance,
not as the medium of pride and luxury,
but as the means of my support and stewardship.
Help me to guide my affection with discretion,
to owe no man anything,
to be able to give to him that needeth,
to feel it my duty and pleasure to be merciful and forgiving,
to show to the world the likeness of Jesus.


 
 
THE LOVE OF JESUS
O FATHER OF JESUS,
Help me to approach thee with deepest reverence, not with
presumption,
not with servile (ie slavish) fear, but with holy boldness,
Thou art beyond the grasp of my understanding,
but not beyond that of my love,
Thou knowest that I love thee supremely,
for thou art supremely adorable, good and perfect.
My heart melts at the love of Jesus,
my brother, bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh,
married to me, dead for me, risen for me;
He is mine and I am his,
given to me as well as for me;
I am never so much mine as when I am his,
or so much lost to myself until lost in him;
then I find my true manhood.
But my love is frost and cold, ice and snow;
Let his love warm me,
lighten my burden,
be my heaven;
May it be more revealed to me in all its influences
that my love to him may be more fervent and glowing;
Let the mighty tide of his everlasting love
cover the rocks of my sin and care;
Then let my spirit float above these things
which had else wrecked my life.
Make me fruitful by living to that love,
my character becoming more beautiful every day.
If traces of Christ's love-artistry be upon me,
may he work on his divine brush
until the complete image be obtained
and I be made a perfect copy of him, my master.
O Lord Jesus, come to me,
O Divine Spirit, rest upon me,
O Holy Father, look on me in mercy for the sake of the well-beloved.

 
MORNING NEEDS
O GOD, THE AUTHOR OF ALL GOOD,
I come to thee for the grace another day will require
for its duties and events.
I step out into a wicked world,
I carry about with me an evil heart,
I know that without thee I can do nothing,
that everything with which I shall be concerned,
however harmless in itself,
may prove an occasion of sin or folly,
unless I am kept by thy power.
Hold thou me up and I shall be safe.
Preserve my understanding from subtilty of error,
my affections from love of idols,
my character from stain of vice,
my profession from every form of evil.
May I engage in nothing in which I cannot implore thy blessing,
and in which I cannot invite thy inspection.
Proper me in all lawful undertakings,
or prepare me for disappointments;
Give me neither poverty nor riches;
Feed me with food convenient for me,
lest I be full and deny thee
and say, Who is the Lord?
or be poor, and steal, and take thy name in vain.
May every creature be made good to me by prayer and thy will;
Teach me how to use the world, and not abuse it,
to improve my talents,
to redeem my time,
to walk in wisdom toward those without,
and in kindness to those within,
to do good to all men,
and especially to my fellow Christians.
And to thee be the glory.

 
THE SPIRIT'S WORK
O GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT,
Thou who dost proceed from the Father and the Son,
have mercy on me.
When thou didst first hover over chaos, order came to birth,
beauty robed the world, fruitfulness sprang forth.
Move, I pray thee, upon my disordered heart;
Take away the infirmities of unruly desires and hateful lusts;
Lift the mists and darkness of unbelief;
Brighten my soul with the pure light of truth;
Make it fragrant as the garden of paradise,
rich with every goodly fruit,
beautiful with heavenly grace,
radiant with rays of divine light.
Fulfil in me the glory of thy divine offices;
Be my comforter, light, guide, sanctifier;
Take of the things of Christ and show them to my soul;
Through thee may I daily learn more of his love,
grace, compassion, faithfulness, beauty;
Lead me to the cross and show me his wounds,
the hateful natures of evil, the power of Satan;
May I there see my sins as the nails that transfixed him,
the cords that bound him,
the thorns that tore him,
the sword that pieced him.
Help me to find in his death the reality and immensity of his love.
Open for me the wondrous volumes of truth in his, 'It is finished'.
Increase my faith in the clear knowledge of
atonement achieved, expiation (or sacrifice) completed,
satisfaction made, guilt done away,
my debt paid, my sins forgiven,
my person redeemed, my soul saved,
hell vanquished, heaven opened, eternity made mine.
O holy Spirit, deepen in me these saving lessons.
Write them upon my heart, that my walk be sin-loathing,
sin-fleeing, Christ-loving;
And suffer no devil's device to beguile or deceive me.

 
PENITENCE
O LORD OF GRACE,
I have been hasty and short in private prayer,
O quicken my conscience to feel this folly,
to bewail this ingratitude;
My first sin of the day leads into others,
and it is just that thou shouldst withdraw thy presence
from one who waited carelessly on thee.
Keep me at all times from robbing thee,
and from depriving my soul of thy due worship;
Let me never forget
that I have an eternal duty to love, honour and obey thee,
that thou art infinitely worthy of such;
that if I fail to glorify thee
I am guilty of infinite evil that merits infinite punishment,
for sin is the violation of an infinite obligation.
O forgive me if I have dishonoured thee,
Melt my heart, heal my backslidings,
and open an intercourse of love.
When the fire of thy compassion warm my inward man,
and the outpourings of thy Spirit fill my soul,
then I feelingly wonder at my own depravity,
and deeply abhor myself;
then thy grace is a powerful incentive to repentance,
and an irresistible motive to inward holiness.
May I never forget
That thou hast my heart in thy hands.
Apply to it the merits of Christ's atoning blood whenever I sin.
Let thy mercies draw me to thyself.
Wean me from all evil, mortify me to the world,
and make me ready for my departure hence
animated by the humiliations of penitential love.
My soul is often a chariot without wheels,
clogged and hindered in sin's miry clay;
Mount it on eagle's wing and cause it to soar upward to thyself.
 
 
SHORTCOMINGS
O LIVING GOD,
I bless thee,
that I see the worst of my heart as well as the best of it,
that I can sorrow for those sins that carry me from thee,
that it is thy deep and dear mercy to threaten punishment
so that I may return, pray, live.
My sin is to look on my faults and be discouraged,
or to look on my good and be puffed up.
I fall short of thy glory every day by spending hours unprofitably,
by thinking that the things I do are good,
when they are not done to thy end,
nor spring from the rules of thy Word.
My sin is to fear what never will be;
I forget to submit to thy will, and fail to be quiet there.
But Scripture teaches me that thy active will
reveals a steadfast purpose on my behalf,
and this quietens my soul, and makes me to love thee.
Keep me always in the understanding
that saints mourn more for sin than other men,
for when they see how great is thy wrath against sin,
and how Christ's death alone pacifies that wrath,
that makes them mourn the more.
Help me to see that although I am in the wilderness
it is not all briars and barrenness.
I have bread from heaven, streams from the rocks,
light by day, fire by night,
thy dwelling place and thy mercy seat.
I am sometimes discouraged by the way,
but though winding and tying it is sae and short;
Death dismays me, but my great high priest stands in its waters,
and will open me a passage,
and beyond is a better country.
While I live let my life be exemplary,
When I die may my end be peace.
 
 
THE GREAT DISCOVERY
GLORIOUS GOD,
I bless thee that I know thee.
I once lived in the world, but was ignorant of its creator,
was partaker of thy providences, but knew not the provider,
was blind while enjoying the sunlight,
was deaf to all things spiritual, with voices all around me,
understood many things, but had no knowledge of thy ways,
saw the world, but did not see Jesus only.
O happy day, when in thy love's sovereignty
thou didst look on me, and call me by thy grace.
Then did the dead heart begin to beat,
the darkened eye glimmer with light,
the dull ear catch thy echo,
and I turned to thee and found thee,
a God ready to hear, willing to save.
Then did I find my heart at enmity to thee, vexing thy Spirit;
Then did I fall at thy feet and hear thee thunder,
'The soul that sinneth, it must die',
But when grace made me to know thee,
and admire a God who hated sin,
thy terrible justice held my will submissive.
My thoughts were then as knives cutting my head.
Then didst thou come to me in silken robes of love,
and I saw thy Son dying that I might live,
and in that death I found my all.
My soul doth sing at the remembrance of that peace;
The gospel cornet [i.e., a three-valve instrument resembling a trumpet]
brought a sound unknown to me before
that reached my heart - and I lived -
never to lose my hold on Christ or his hold on me.
Grant that I may always weep to the praise of mercy found,
and tell to others as long as I live,
that thou art a sin-pardoning God,
taking up the blasphemer and the ungodly,
and wash them from their deepest stain.
 
 
SLEEP
BLESSED CREATOR,
Thou hast promised thy beloved sleep;
Give me restoring rest needful for tomorrow's toil.
If dreams be mine, let them not be tinged with evil.
Let thy Spirit make my time of repose
a blessed temple of his holy presence.
May my frequent lying down make me familiar with death,
the bed I approach remind me of the grave,
the eyes I now close picture to me their final closing.
Keep me always ready, waiting for admittance to thy presence.
Weaken my attachment to earthly things.
May I hold life loosely in my hand,
knowing that I receive it on condition of its surrender;
As pain and suffering betoken transitory health,
may I not shrink from a death,
that introduce me to the freshness of eternal youth.
I retire this night in full assurance of one day awaken with thee.
All glory for this precious hope,
for the gospel of grace,
for thine unspeakable gift of Jesus,
for the fellowship of the Trinity.
Withhold not thy mercies in the night season;
thy hand never wearies,
thy power needs no repose,
thine eye never sleeps.
Help me when I helpless lie,
when my conscience accuse me of sin,
when my mind is harassed by foreboding thoughts,
when my eyes are held awake by personal anxieties.
Show thyself to me as the God of all grace, love and power;
thou hast a balm for every wound,
a solace for every anguish,
a remedy for every pain,
a peace for all disquietude.
Permit me to commit myself awake or asleep.
 
 
CHRISTLIKENESS
FATHER OF JESUS,
Dawn returns,
But without thy light within no outward light can profit;
Give me the saving lamp of thy Spirit that I may see thee,
the God of my salvation, the delight of my soul,
rejoicing over me in love.
I commend my heart to thy watchful care,
for I know its treachery and power;
Guard its every portal from wily enemy,
Give me quick discernment of his deadly arts,
Help me to recognise his bold disguise as an angel of light,
and bid him begone.
May my words and works allure others to the highest walks
of faith and love!
May loiterers be quickened to greater diligence by my example!
May worldlings be won to delight in acquaintance with thee!
May the timid and irresolute be warned of coming doom
by my zeal for Jesus!
Cause me to be a mirror of thy grace,
to show others the joy of thy service,
May my lips be well-tuned cymbals sounding thy praise,
Let a halo of heavenly-mindedness sparkle around me
and a lamp of kindness sunbeam my path.
Teach me the happy art of attending to things temporal
with a mind intend on things eternal.
Send me forth to have compassion on the ignorant and miserable.
Help me to walk as Jesus walked,
my only Saviour and perfect model,
his mind my inward guest,
his meekness my covering garb (or attire).
Let my happy place be amonst the poor in spirit,
my delight be the gentle ranks of the meek.
Let me always esteem others better than myself,
and find in true humility an heirdom to two worlds.
 
 
 
SPIRITUS SANCTUS
O HOLY SPIRIT,
As the sun is full of light, the ocean full of water,
Heaven full of glory, so may my heart be full of thee.
Vain are all divine purposes of love
and the redemption wrought by Jesus
except thou work within,
regenerating by thy power,
giving me eyes to see Jesus,
showing me the realities of the unseen world.
Give me thyself without measure,
as an unimpaired fountain,
as inexhaustible riches.
I bewail my coldness, poverty, emptiness,
imperfect vision, languid service,
prayerless prayers, praiseless praises.
Suffer me not to grieve or resist thee.
Come as power,
to expel every rebel lust, to reign supreme and keep me thine;
Come as teacher,
leading me into all truth, filling me with all understanding;
Come as love,
that I may adore the Father, and love him as my all;
Come as joy,
to dwell in me, move in me, animate me;
Come as light,
illuminate the Scripture, moulding me in its laws;
Come as sanctifier,
body, soul and spirit wholly thine;
Come as helper,
with strength to bless and keep, directing my every step;
Come as beautifier,
bringing order out of confusion, loveliness out of chaos.
Magnify to me thy glory by being magnified in me,
and make me redolent (ie, having or emitting a pleasant ordor) of
thy fragrance.
 
 
CONTINUAL REPENTANCE
O GOD OF GRACE,
Thou hast imputed my sin to my substitute,
and hast imputed his righteousness to my soul,
clothing me with a bridegroom's robe,
decking me with jewels of holiness.
But in my Christian walk I am still in rags;
my best prayers are stained with sin;
my penitential tears are so much impurity;
my confessions of wrong are so many aggravations of sin;
my receiving the Spirit is tinctured with selfishness.
I need to repent of my repentance;
I need my tears to be washed;
I have no robe to bring to cover my sins,
no loom to weave my own righteousness;
I am always standing in filthy garments,
and by grace am always receiving change of raiment,
for thou dost always justify the ungodly;
I am always going into the far country,
and always returning home as a prodigal,
always saying, Father, forgive me,
and thou art always bring forth the best robe.
Every morning let me wear it,
every evening return in it,
go out to the day's work in it,
be married in it,
be wound in death in it,
stand before the great white throne in it,
enter heaven in it shining as the sun.
Grant me never to lose sight of
the exceeding sinfulness of sin,
the exceeding righteousness of salvation,
the exceeding glory of Christ,
the exceeding beauty of holiness,
the exceeding wonder of grace.
 
 
BLESSINGS
THOU GREAT THREE-ONE,
Author of all blessings I enjoy, of all I hope for,
Thou hast taught me
that neither the experience of present evils,
nor the remembrance of former sins,
nor the remonstrances of friends,
will or can affect a sinner's heart,
except thou vouchsafe to reveal thy grace
and quicken the dead in sin
by the effectual working of thy Spirit's power.
Thou hast shown me
that the sensible effusion of divine love in the soul
are superior to and distinct from bodily health,
and that oft-times spiritual comforts are at their highest
when physical well-being is at its lowest.
Thou hast given me the ordinance of song as a means of grace;
Fit me to bear my part in the music ever new,
which elect angels and saints made perfect
now sing before thy throne and before the Lamb.
I bless thee for tempering every distress with joy;
too much of the former might weigh me down,
too much of the latter might puff me up;
Thou art wise to give me a taste of both,
I love thee
for giving me clusters of grapes in the wilderness,
and drops of heavenly wine
that set me longing to have my fill.
Apart from thee I quickly die,
bereft of thee I starve,
far from thee I thirst and droop;
But thou art all I need,
Let me continually grasp the promise,
'I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.'

 
 
YET I SIN
ETERNAL FATHER,
Thou art good beyond all thought,
But I am vile, wretched, miserable, blind;
My lips are ready to confess, but my heart is slow to feel,
and my ways reluctant to amend.
I bring my soul to thee;
break it, wound it, bend it, mould it.
Unmask to me sin's deformity,
that I may hate it, abhor it, flee from it.
My faculties have been a weapon of revolt against thee;
as a rebel I have misused my strength,
and served the foul adversary of thy kingdom.
Give me grace to bewail my insensate folly,
Grant me to know that the way of the transgressor is hard,
that evil paths are wretched paths,
that to depart from thee is to lose all good.
I have seen the purity and beauty of thy perfect law,
the happiness of those in whose heart it reigns,
the calm dignity of the walk to which it calls,
yet I daily violate and contemn its precepts,
Thy loving Spirit strives within me,
brings me Scripture warnings,
speaks in startling providences,
allures by secret whispers,
yet I choose devices and desires to my own hurt,
impiously resent, grieve
and provoke him to abandon me.
All these sins I mourns, lament, and for them cry pardon.
Work in me more profound and abiding repentance;
Give me the fullness of a godly grief that trembles and fears,
yet ever trusts and loves,
which is ever powerful, and ever confident;
Grant that through the tears of repentance I may see more clearly
the brightness and glories of the saving cross.