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We are bound, and it is no less nor reasonable, to serve thee the Lord with all our soul, with all our mind, with all our strength, for we have all of these of thee allanerly (only); and they are upholden by thee: and therefore it is good reason that they should be employed for thee. But alas! the truth is, there is but little of them that is employed for thee: we can gather all our forces, and bend them wholly together, when we are about the committing of any sin, but when we are about the matters of thy service and worship, then the most part is withdrawn from it. Thou gets only a part of our mind, a part of our will, etc.; and that part is not rightly exercised neither. And therefore we beseech thee, O Lord, to pardon us of this, for we cannot deny but there are special and great infirmities in us, and the best thing that we have, it is not so perfect as it ought to be. And therefore, as we have reason to magnify and to extol thy praises for thy goodness towards us, so we have reason also to be humbled for our infirmities; and this were the sweetest life that could be, to see that there were continual matter of humiliation in us, and of thanksgiving to thee, the Lord, who is pleased to bestow any good thing upon us, or to make us to be the instruments of any good. Lord, we beseech thee to circumcise our hearts, and purge of these evils that cleaves fast unto us; and we beseech thee to increase faith into us, and make it continually to go on both in sense and knowledge, and in the apprehending of that which we know. It is faith that purifies the heart, and cleanses the life; we beseech thee to work that in us: and because the destruction of unbelievers is coming upon them very suddenly, and it will be very sore when it comes, Lord, give us faith that we may flee m, and shelter ourselves in the holes of the rock. And since thy promise is sure, and thou has sworn to it, give us grace to believe that; and let our souls be sprinkled by the blood of Jesus Christ, and then we shall be sure to be safe, though all the world should be destroyed. Be merciful, O Lord, to thy kirk in all the parts of the world. Hasten the calling of these whom thou has not yet called, and yet belongs to thy election of grace. We know that all thy promises are true, and must come to pass; and thou hast promised that there shall be but one sheepfold throughout the world, and they shall all depend upon the voice of one shepherd: Lord, hasten that1 And, Lord, we entreat thee that the afflictions of thy kirk may do her good; for we have heard of the troubles of thy kirk in other parts, but we have not heard of her reformation as yet:2 Lord, let us hear of that also. And, Lord, thou who has chosen a dwelling to thyself here, when we were lying in darkness, and has stayed still here when we would have had thee away; Lord, we beseech thee that thou will not depart now when we would have thee to stay. If so be that thou will abide among us, then we need to fear nothing; but if thou once remove, then all will be gone: but we trust that thou will dwell still in the land, in every congregation thereof, and that now and then at least, albeit thou think it not meet at every time, thou will kythe (manifest) thyself to the hearts of thy people; and when thou comes there, thou will discover both thy secrets and their own secrets to them, and thou will speak to thy own people, and hear these who speaks to thee. What a honour is this, that such a dignity should be bestowed upon men, that God himself shculd be so near to us, and yet that we should not be aware of him! There is no such dignity as this is, that we should come with our two or three words and speak to him, and then he should smile upon us, and take our bill out of our hand; and then we may be sure that we shall get an answer, although we get it not presently. O but this were a sweet and a pleasant life, to have God thus dwelling among us, and to meet with us, both in our kirks, and in our cabinets also, when we come to him quietly! if there be a heaven upon earth, surely this were it. And if so be that thou dwell among us, then we shall have wealth, peace, and safet from all our enemies. Lord, bless for this effect all these who are in authority,—our king, etc. Lord, we beseech thee to instruct our king’s majesty his heart in the right way, and let him not be drawn away by bad and evil counsel; but make thy statutes to be the men of his counsel. And give him a clear sight to discover clearly betwixt these who are seeking themselves, and the overthrow of religion, and these who are seeking to have religion set up but are not seeking themselves, but forsaking themselves for that end.3 And Lord, give him grace to prefer thy will in everything to his own will, or to the will of any mortal man. Lord, bless his Queen; we beseech thee, O Lord, to convert her soul from blindness and errour4 to the love and obedience of thy simple truth. If thou wilt, thou can make that to be the way of setting up thy truth here, or use some other mean; or if not, we beseech thee to do it immediately from heaven. And if so be that thou be pleased to put us to a trial here for our sins, Lord, do it, but in the meantime uphold us: for it is better that we should suffer here for our sins, than that we should suffer eternally hereafter for them.
Bless thou all thy people who has been seeking to thee this day, and grant unto them their desires which they have been seeking of thee in the name of thy Son Christ. And, Lord, we beseech thee to be merciful to us, and pardon us that we have not served thee as we ought to have served thee this day; and bring us once to the conscience of this, that we must serve thee as thou has commanded us, and not as we think meetest to do it; for except we give the whole man to thee, and labour to do all thy will, thou will not accept of us; but if we will study to do that, then we need not to care for anything. But this is our misery, that the best of us are but almost, and not altogether that which we should be; and therefore give us grace to be altogether that which thou requires us to be, at least to labour to it.
And Lord, we bless thee for this liberty that we have this day of thee. If so be that thou had rewarded us according to our deservings, we had been altogether miserable or now; but where there be but few who seeks to thee, thou accepts of these and hears them, and then gathers in the rest again in thy own time: blessed be thou for this. Lord, look in mercy upon this poor congregation; and look compassionately upon these who are in distress, and these who are in darkness, and in the valley and shadow of death, and are crying to thee, “O miserable man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death?” Lord, we beseech thee to relieve them.
And these who has professed to begin to shake off these bands, and to do anything that is good, we beseech thee to bring us on, pressing hardly (hard) towards the mark, till we come to the end of our faith, which is the salvation of our souls, purchased to us by Jesus Christ. To whom, etc.