A20762:2834
A guide to godliness or a Treatise of a Christian life showing the dutiesA guide to godlynesse or a Treatise of a Christian life shewing the duties
A guide to godliness or a Treatise of a Christian life showing the duties wherein it consisteth, the helps enabling & the reasons persuading unto it the impediments hindering the practise of it, and the best means to remove them whereunto are added divers prayers and a treatise of carnal security by John Douname Bachelor in Divinity and minister of Gods Word.A guide to godlynesse or a Treatise of a Christian life shewing the duties wherein it consisteth, the helpes inabling & the reasons parswading vnto it ye impediments hindering ye practise of it, and the best meanes to remoue them whereunto are added diuers prayers and a treatise of carnall securitie by Iohn Douname Batcheler in Diuinitie and minister of Gods Word.
London: printed by Felix Kingstone and William Stansby for Ed, 1622
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
A Prayer for the Family in the Evening.
A Prayer for the Family in the Euening.
O Lord our God, most high and holy, most dreadful and glorious in thy might and Majesty unto all creatures, terrible and like a consuming fire unto all impenitent sinners; but a most gracious and loving Father unto all those, who are reconciled unto thee in Jesus Christ. Thou hast commanded us to call upon thee in all our necessities, and hast encouraged us hereunto by thy most gracious and free promise, that where two or three are gathered together in the name of thy Son, there thou wilt be present amongst them by thy holy Spirit, to hear their suits, and relieve their wants. In obedience to which Commandment, and in some assurance of thy gracious promise, we thy poor and unworthy servants, do here, in the mediation of Jesus Christ, humbly prostrate our selves before thy Throne of grace and mercy, acknowledging our selves guilty of innumerable sins, and thereby liable to as many fearful punishments; but yet in the merits of thy Son, and in the truth of thy promises, pleading for pardon and forgiveness. We confess unto thee, that we were conceived and borne in sin, having all the faculties and powers of our souls and bodies so wholly defiled with original corruption, that we are utterly disabled for thy service, and prone unto all manner of wickedness; and have, in the whole course of our lives, multiplied against thee our actual transgressions, by breaking thy whole Law, and every Commandment thereof, in thought, word, and deed. We are naturally full of ignorance and blindness of mind, neither knowing thee, nor thy truth, and after that thou hast caused the light of the Gospel to shine unto us for many years, our minds are still full of darkness. We content our selves with a small measure of knowledge, and continue children in understanding, when we should be of ripe age, not striving after more perfection; neither according to the measure of our means, are we rich in knowledge, and in the fruits of new obedience. We are full of infidelity and doubting, and negligent in the use of the means, whereby our faith should be confirmed and strengthened; and are full also of impenitency, security and hardness of heart, and do both seldom and slightly bewail our sins past, and but weakly and unconstantly resolve and endeavour to amend our lives for the time to come.