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O Lord, we are now, after a special manner, in thy sight and presence: thine eye, which seeth and knoweth all things, is now beholding us. And when thine eye beholdeth us, we are sure that our ignorance will be seen by thee to be great; our manifold wanderings, our great imperfections, our unbelief and manifold corruptions, we are sure will be seen in us. We, O Lord, when we have entered into the examination of our own hearts, have seen somewhat there that has been wrong; but we know not our own hearts, for the heart of man, it is hid from himself and from all others but only from thee; but there is no corner thereof that is hid from thee. And if then our consciences have convinced us and condemned us, (and how can we say or think that we have consciences, if so be that they have not convinced us?) then how much more must thou convince us and condemn us, who is far greater than our consciences! We acknowledge, O Lord, thou hast a controversy against us into this land, especially because we have not taken to heart thy loving kindness towards us, which thou hast shewn to us so many ways; that we have not discerned the day of our own visitation, that so we might know the things that belonged to our peace, which day hath continued so long with us; that light is come into the world, and we have delighted to walk in darkness rather than light. We acknowledge, O Lord, that this may put us into the greatest fear of thy wrath, that the greatest part of us does not as yet know thee, the Lord, but are strangers to thee and to thy son Jesus Christ; and we are continually fighting against the Holy Ghost in the use of the means that thou sendest to us. If the Gentiles, who had not such means as we have, were justly condemned by thee, because they did not walk in that little twilight which they had by nature, then how great must the condemnation of hardhearted sinners be, who have neglected the great salvation revealed to the world by the preaching of the gospel! Lord, we are not able to answer to thee for one of a thousand, no, not of ten thousand of our sins. It would be the blackest, ugliest, and fearfulest sight that ever we yet saw, if so be that our sins were set in order before us. And there is nothing that puts us into a greater fear, than that boldly we have renewed our covenant with thee, and have not considered of it, or of our ways since; there is little reformation seen in the most part of our lives, and it is to be feared that there is little renovation in our hearts. That is sure—if thou hast established us to be a people to thee, and thou wilt be a God to us, there will be a change in us; and this change, it will be first begun into the heart, and then it will be seen outwardly into the life and conversation. Lord, thou who hast honored us thus so many ways, that in thy patience thou hast spared us so long, in thy providence thou hast given us this good day, and of thy great mercy has made us to enter in a covenant with thee, Lord, we beseech thee that as yet thou wouldst do the rest of the work, and cease not till thou put the capstone upon it. And because we are come here this day to honor thee, Lord keep us that we do not dishonor to thee now; for this indeed will be a lamentable case, if we multiply sins upon our own heads, when we profess to be come to seek pardon of them. We are come here for salvation; let us not get a further seal of our damnation. Lord, therefore accompany the means by thy Spirit, and thou who hast given unto us natural life and ability to bring us here, give us also a supernatural life, and make it sensible to us now that we have some measure of spiritual life. And thou who makest the sun to shine into the firmament, make the sun of righteousness to shine in into our dark souls, and the light of thy countenance to shine in into the darkest corners thereof, that so we may see these things which we have not yet seen; that if we be yet in nature, we may take fright at that filthy and ugly estate, and hasten out of it, and if we see ourselves to be in the state of grace, we may rejoice in that, and go on into it. And thou who makest the wind to blow, and it bloweth where it listeth, and no man seeth it, but heareth the sound thereof, make thy Spirit to enter into our souls, that so we may get refreshment and consolation thereby from above, and direction how to walk. And as the wind blows where it will, so doth thy Spirit enter where it will, therefore let us find it into us; for if we have thy Spirit, then we have Christ also, and if we have thy Spirit and Christ, that will be an evidence to us of our election here, and that we shall be possessed in that rich and glorious inheritance hereafter. And because all depends upon our sanctification, Lord, look upon our blind and wandering minds and hard hearts, and give unto us present and seeing minds and soft hearts. Satan, he is ready to withdraw our minds from thy service; there are none who can hold their minds present, except thou be pleased to compass us about, and hold them in; Lord, therefore we beseech thee to do it. And because our unbelief is the cause of all the ill and mischief that comes upon us, and now we are about the means how to get faith, O if we could now find the hand of God rooting up this filthy weed, and sawing in the precious seed of faith, that so we might believe the promises of the life to come; for if we had these, then we might find a change both within and without. Lord, if thou be pleased to hide thyself from us now, and expose us to the craft, malice, and cruelty of our enemies, then we will be undone. Alas! Shall Satan, when we are come to seek and serve thee, hinder us from that, and from getting good to our own souls in these means? Lord, go betwixt us and his temptations: thou hast promised to be a sun and a shield to us; Lord, let us find the perfecting of thy promise, both in preserving us from all our enemies, and in bestowing every good thing upon us. And we entreat thee, Lord, to bring our souls to this, to apprehend of the things that are to come; for, in truth, we acknowledge that we are greatly bewitched with things present: thou, Lord, can quicken our sight, draw our eyes therefore off these things which are perishing, to look to things that endures for ever. We will go all of us out of this world in a short time, and it is not long since we came here; and shortly there will be others filling our places again. O if we could consider that we are now upon the stage, acting our part, and strive to know what is our duty, and do that; that so we may in our short time here be acceptable to thee, and profitable to our own souls, and may at last receive the recompense of reward purchased to us by Jesus Christ. In whose, etc.