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Prayers of the Puritans
THE GREAT GOD
O Fountain of all good,
Destroy in us every lofty thought,
Break pride to pieces and scatter it to the winds.
Annihilate each clinging shred of self-righteousness,
Implant in us true lowliness of spirit,
Abase us to self-loathing and self-abhorrence,
Open in us a fount of penitential tears,
Break us, then bind us up;
Thus will our hearts be a prepared dwelling for our God;
Then can the Father take up his abode in us,
Then can the blessed Jesus come with healing in his touch,
Then can the Holy Spirit descend in sanctifying grace;
O Holy Trinity, three Persons and one God,
inhabit us, a temple consecrated to your glory.
When you are present, evil cannot abide;
In your fellowship is fullness of joy,
Beneath your smile is peace of conscience,
By your side no fears disturb,
no apprehensions banish rest of mind,
With you our hearts will bloom with fragrance;
Make us fit, though repentance, for your indwelling.
Nothing exceeds your power,
Nothing is too great for you to do,
Nothing too good for you to give.
Infinite is your might, boundless your love,
limitless your grace, glorious your saving name.
Let angels sing for sinners repenting, prodigals restored,
backsliders reclaimed, Satan's captives released,
blind eyes opened, broken hearts bound up,
the despondent cheered, the self-righteous striped,
the formalist drive from a refuge of lies,
the ignorant enlightened,
and saints built up in their holy faith.
We ask great things of a great God.
THE PRECIOUS BLOOD
Blessed Lord Jesus,
Before your cross we kneel and see
the heinousness of our sin,
our iniquity that caused you to be 'made a curse',
the evil that excites the severity of divine wrath.
Show us the enormity of our guilt by
the crown of thorns,
the pierced hands and feet,
the bruised body,
the dying cries.
Your blood is the blood of incarnate God,
its worth infinite, its value beyond all thought.
Infinite must be the evil and guilt that demands such a price.
. . .
Yet your compassions yearn over us,
your heart hastens to our rescue,
your love endured our curse,
your mercy bore our deserved stripes.
Let us walk humbly in the lowest depths of humility,
bathed in your blood,
tender of conscience,
triumphing gloriously as heirs of salvation.
THE BEST ROBE
O God of grace,
You have imputed my sin to my substitute,
and have imputed his righteousness to my soul,
clothing me with a bridgegroom'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 clothed in filthy garments,
and by grace am always receiving change of raiment,
for you 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 you are always bringing forth the best robe.
Every morning let me wear it,
every evening return in it,
be married in it,
be wound to 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 glory of Christ,
the exceeding beauty of holiness,
the exceeding wonder of grace.
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