Family devotions for Sunday evenings, throughout the year being practical discourses, with suitable prayers / by Theophilus Dorrington.

THE PRAYER.

O Most blessed and glorious God, the only perfect, and all-sufficient Being! Thou art, O Lord, thine own Infinite and Eternal Happiness, and thou givest being and happiness to all thy Creatures; thy infinite Good∣ness delights in our well-fare; and thou hatest nothing that thou hast made. We adore thee, O Lord, we bless thee, we praise thee, we magnifie thee, we give thee thanks for thy great and glorious Goodness, and for the bounteous Exercises of it to the Sons of Men. We thank thee that thou hast given us such a Being as we have, and hast made us so capable of happiness: That we have Bodies and Senses suited to this very rich and plentiful World about us, and capable to take delight in the good things here, and for that the Earth is full of thy Goodness. But we praise thee yet more for the Spi∣rit in Man, whereby we are capable of a rational and spiritual, and so a most Honourable and Angelical De∣light in the Objects of our Senses; that we can please our selves with their beauty, order, wonderful contri∣vance and subserviency to each other, and that we are capable to see upon them the impresses and marks of thy glorious Wisdom, of thy mighty Power, of thy infinite Fulness, of thy Majesty and Glory. And we thank thee, O Lord, most of all, for that thou hast been pleased to make us capable to know and meditate on thy Self; to chuse and love thee, to desire and enjoy thee, who art an Infinite, Eternal Good, and in whose presence is ful∣ness of Joy. Oh how ready should our Hearts be at all times to say, Whom have we in Heaven but thee, and there is none on Earth that we can desire besides thee! But alas! we are degenerated, we are fallen from our

Original Excellency, we are sunk into Sensuality: we need to be put in mind and told wherein our true Happi∣ness lies, and to be excited, urged, and exhorted to pur∣sue it: We hover here below, and seldom have any thoughts or desires moving upwards; the objects of Sense detain us with them, and we feed on Husks among Beasts, we stay and abide upon the lowest, and the smallest part of our Happiness. Lord, we are miserable, we are undone, and shall perish for ever, if thy pity do not rescue us from the Love of these low Things. Oh Pardon our guilty, and heal our distempered Souls. Discover thy self to us, and make us love thee; shed a∣broad thy Love abundantly in our Hearts; Make us to rise by the Creature to the Creator. Guide us by the streams to thee the Fountain of their Goodness, and make us as we ought to love thee above all things. Let us be governed by thy Love in the whole course of our lives, and readily deny our selves to please thee and keep thy Commandments. Let us firmly believe the glorious Things which thou hast prepared for them that love thee; and draw our Hearts after them to endeavour that our Treasure may be in Heaven in Immutable things. And direct us, we pray thee, so to pass through things Tem∣poral, as that we finally lose not the things Eternal.

Have mercy, O Lord, upon all Mankind. Let the Earth be filled with Knowledge of the Lord, as waters cover the Sea; and all Men be directed and led in the way to true Happiness. Give to all Nations Unity, Peace, and Concord. Pour down an abundant measure of thy Spirit upon thy Church, that the Gospel may run and be glorified from the rising of the Sun to the going down of the same. Let them prosper that love it, and let not the Gates of Hell ever prevail against it. We pray, especially for that part of it which thou hast graciously placed in these Nations, and hitherto wonderfully de∣tended; Lord, make it a very fruitful Vineyard, and purge out of it all that is contrary to true Doctrin and Godliness. Bless, we pray thee, our Gracious King and Queen, and the Royal Family, with all Spiritual and Eternal Blessings; and give them long and happy Posses∣sion of the Throne of these Kingdoms to thy Glory, and our Comfort. Bless all in Authority under them; help

them truly, and indifferently to administer Justice, to the punishment of Wickedness and Vice, and to the main∣tainance of thy true Religion and Vertue. Give grace, O Heavenly Father, to all Bishops and Curates, that they may both by their Life and Doctrin, honour thee, and guide thy People committed to them in the way of Bles∣sedness. Let all the Subjects of this Realm be subject to thee in Loyalty and Subjection, and due Obedience to those that are over them in Church and State; and let Piety, Love, Righteousness, and Peace, and Truth abound among us. We commend to thy Fatherly good∣ness all that are in any Distress and Affliction; all our Friends and Relations, we pray for our Enemies; do for all beyond what we are able to ask or think.

We humbly ask a comfortable and safe rest this Night, and that it may please thee to make the out-goings of the Morning to rejoice. Let thy word which we have heard this Day guide our Conversations, and let us bring forth in them the Fruits of the Spirit; let not the Cares of this World, or the Deceitfulness of Riches choke the Word, and render it unfruitful; but grant we may live to the Glory of thy Name, and to the Peace and Salvation of our own Souls by Jesus Christ, in whose most com∣prehensive words, we sum up our Requests, saying,

OƲR Father, which art in Heaven; Hallowed be thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that tres∣pass against us. And lead us not into temptation; But de∣liver us from evil. For thine is the Kingdom, the Power▪ and the Glory, for ever and ever. Amen.