dering; Fearlessness, or venturing on any Thing, though we know it will offend him; Common Swearing; Perjuring; Profaneness; Disobedience.

Sins against our Brethren at large, which are Sins of,

Injustice; as Murder; False Witness; Slander, i. e. defaming them with false Things; Lying, Unfaithfulness, or Breach of Promise; Theft, Oppression, i. e. wronging one that cannot cope with us in Contention; Extortion, or depressing in bargaining; Circumvention, or going beyond our Brethren.

Uncharitableness; as Wickedness, i. e. a Delight in doing Mischief, and making Work for others; despising and hating them that are good; giving Scandal to weak Brethren, i. e. laying in their Way an Occasion of Sin; Envy, rejoicing in Evil; Uncharitableness in Alms; Suffering false Stains to stick upon others, when it is in our Power to vindicate them; Evil speaking, or divulging any Ill we hear or know by them; Censoriousness, i. e. a Proneness to blame and condemn them; Backbiting, Whispering; Railing; Upbraiding them with our Kindness; Reproaching them with their own Faults. Mocking them for their Infirmities; Difficulty of Access; Afronting them; Uncourteousness, Uncondescension; Unhospitableness towards Strangers; Surliness; Malignity, or putting the worst Sense on what is said or done by others; Unquietness; Unthankfulness; Anger, Variance; Bitterness; Clamour, Hatred and Malice; Implacableness, or Difficulty in being appeased after any Offences; Revenge, or returning Ill for lll ; Cursing Enemies; Hastiness and Rigour in exacting Punishments.

Discord; as Unpeaceableness, Emulation, or provoking one another; Pragmaticalness, or being Busy-bodies, Talebearing; not satisfying for Injuries; Contentiousness; Division and Faction ; Heresy; Schism; Tumult.

Sins against our Brethren, in particular Relations. Sins against Sovereign Princes; as Dishonour, Irreverence; speaking Evil of Dignities; Refusing Tribute and Taxes; Traitorousness; neglecting

HEADS OF SELF-EXAMINATION.

to pray for them; Disobedience to them; Resistance and Rebellion.

Sins against Bishops and Ministers; as, Dishonour of them, especially for their Works Sake; Irreverence; not providing for them; Sacrilege, or taking away either by Force or Fraud those just Dues which were given by God for their Support; not praying for them; Disobedience.

Sins of married Persons; as, Unconcernedness in each other's Condition; not bearing each other's Infirmities; provoking each other; Estrangedness; Unfaithfulness to the Bed; publishing each other's Faults; not praying for each other; Jealousy. Of the Husband against the Wife; as not maintaining her with convenient Supplies; not protecting her from outward Annoyances; Imperiousness, or a harsh or magisterial Exercise of Commands; Uncompliance with her reasonable Desires, and Uncondescension to her pitiable Weakness. Of the Wife against the Husband: as, Dishonour in inward Esteem and Opinions; Irreverence in outward Carriage; Unobservance in not forecasting to do what may please him; Disobedience to his just Commands; casting off his Yoke, or Unsubjection.

Sins of Parents and Children: as Want of nătural Affection; not praying for each other ; Imprecation. Of the Parents against the Children : As not providing for them; Irreligious and Evil Education; provoking them to Anger by imperious Harshness and needless Severity in governing. Of the Children against the Parents: As Dishonour in their Minds; Irreverence in their Behaviour; being ashamed of them; mocking them; speaking Evil of them; stealing from them; Disobedience to their lawful Commands: Contumacy, or casting off Subjection to them. Sins of Brothers and Sisters: As Want of natural Affection; not providing for our Brethren; not praying for them ; praying against

them.

Sins of Masters against their Servants: As not maintaining them; not catechising or instructing them: unequal Government, or Injustice, shewn in

requiring unlawful, Wantonness in requiring superfluous, and Rigour in requiring unmerciful Things of them: Immoderate threatening; Imperiousness, or contemptuous haughty treating of them; Defrauding or keeping back the Wages of the Hireling. Of Servants against their Masters: As Dishonour; Irreverence; publishing or aggravating their Master's Faults; not clearing, when they can, his injured Reputation; Unfaithfulness in what he intrusts with them, shewn either by their Wastefulness, i. e. spending it for their Pleasure, or by Negligence, or Purloining, i. e. diverting it to their own Profit and secret Enrichment; Disobedience; Non-observance; Answering again; Slothfulness; Eye-Service; Resistance; not praying for him; praying against him.

To all which add these other Sins, which are peculiarly so among Christians, viz. the Neglect of Baptism, and absenting from the Lord's Supper: and Want of Faith in Christ as our Mediator.

Since it is possible this Book may fall into the Hands of those that may be destitute of Helps for Family-Devotion, I have added a Morning and Evening-Prayer for such Occasions.

A MORNING PRAYER FOR A FAMILY. ALMIGHTY God! Father of all Mercies, we thine unworthy Servants present ourselves with all Humility before thy divine Majesty, to offer thee this our Morning Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving for all thy Goodness and loving Kindness vouchsafed to us thy sinful Creatures. We bless thee for creating us after thine own Image and Likeness, for making us capable of loving thee and enjoying thee eternally. We bless thee for preserving us from innumerable Accidents and Dangers through the whole Course of our Lives till this Time; for refreshing our Bodies the Night past with comfortable Rest and Sleep; for bringing us safe to the Light of this Day. We bless thee for our

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Food and Raiment, for our Health and Friends, and for all the Comforts and Accommodations of this Life. But above all we praise and magnify thy holy Name for thine inestimable Love in the Redemption of the World by our Lord Jesus Christ, for the Means of Grace, and for the Hope of Glory ; that it hath pleased thee to regenerate us with thy Holy Spirit, to receive us for thine own Children by Adoption, and to incorporate us into thy holy Church and we beseech thee to give us such a Sense of thy great and manifold Mercies bestowed upon us, as may engage us to a true Thankfulness, such as may appear in our Lives, by an humble, holy, and obedient walking before thee all our Days.

We acknowledge, O Lord! that we have rendered ourselves unworthy of thy Favours and Blessings, by our great and many heinous Sins: But we do with Shame and Sorrow confess our frequent Breaches of thy holy Laws, in Thought, Word, and Deed; that we have left undone those Things thou hast commanded; and done those Things thou hast forbidden; and it is of thy Mercy alone that we are not Consumed. Our Sins have cried to Heaven against us, and our Iniquities justly call for Vengeance upon us: But, O most mighty and merciful God, who hast Compassion upon all Men, and hatest Nothing that thou hast made, who wouldest not the Death of a Sinner, but that he should rather turn from his Sin and be saved; mercifully forgive us our Trespasses, receive and comfort us who are grieved and wearied with the Burden of our Sins: Thy Property is always to have Mercy; to thee only it appertaineth to forgive Sins; spare us therefore, good Lord, spare us, whom thou hast redeemed; enter not into Judgment with thy Servants, who are vile Earth and miserable Sinners; but so turn thine Anger from us, who meekly acknowledge our Vileness, and truly repent us of our Faults; that by thy Pardon and * Peace, we may be cleansed from all our Sins, and may serve thee with a quiet Mind all our Days. Raise up, O Lord! thy Power, and come among us,

and with great Might succour us, that whereas through our Sins and Wickedness, we are sore let and hindered in running the Race that is set before us, thy bountiful Grace and Mercy may speedily help and deliver us, tags

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And thou, O God! who art the Protector of all that trust in thee, without whom Nothing is strong, Nothing is holy, increase and multiply upon us thy Mercy , that thou being our Ruler and Guide, we may so pass through Things temporal, that we finally lose not the Things eternal. We acknowledge, O Lord! that through the Weakness of our mortal Nature, we can do no good Thing without thee; grant us, therefore, the Help of thy Grace, that in keeping thy Commandments, we may please thee both in Will and Deed. And thou, who never failest to help and govern them, whom thou dost bring up in thy stedfast Fear and Love, keep us, we beseech thee, under the Protection of thy good Providence, and make us to have a perpetual Fear and Love of thy holy Name. And thou, who preparest for them that love thee such good Things as pass Man's Understanding, pour into our Hearts such Love towards thee, that we loving thee above all Things, may obtain thy Promises, which exceed all that we can desire.

Give unto us, O Lord! the Increase of Faith, Hope, and Charity; and that we may obtain that which thou dost promise, make us to love that which thou dost command. Thou hast taught us, that all our Doings without Charity are nothing worth; send, therefore, thy Holy Ghost, and pour into our Hearts that most excellent Gift, the very Bond of Peace and of all Virtues, without which whosoever liveth is counted dead before thee: And since thou hast given thy only Son to be unto us both a Sacrifice for Sin, and also an Example of godly Life, give us Grace that we may always most thankfully receive that his inestimable Benefit, and also daily endeavour ourselves to follow the blessed Steps of his most holy Life. LL 2