This is a one of a kind special Pocket Edition that I put together. I had this printed and thought it was fairly error free. After proofing it yet again, there were a few small things, but they are now taken care of for the larger volume and the paperback. Below is the story behind all this.
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Two years ago I set out to learn how to pray. I knew how to pray extemporaneously, but aside from the Lord’s Prayer I didn’t know the formal prayers of our Church’s past. That was the problem! And that is the challenge that we face in our modern age.
I discovered the rich prayers of the Puritans. Sorry! They left me self-loathing and fixated on myself. No! We naturally realize how small and inadequate we are when we come to the presence of the holy God. I wanted prayers that magnified God and lifted me up to meet Him. I wanted to extend that love to my family and others.
Then I remembered John and Charles Wesley and began to wonder, “What would the Wesleys do?” As I searched I found John Wesley’s revision of The Book of Common Prayer and was surprised at his affection for the formal order of service. I felt a tremendous burden to preserve Wesley’s presentation of The Book of Common Prayer and to bring it back into light. While I was studying and working on that project I found the treasure of John Wesley’s Tracts on Prayer. That was it! That was what I was looking for! And so now we have this book.
I hope that you enjoy what John Wesley has prepared. Realize that he put this together for his own part of the world. I encourage you to use these prayers in your own life. When you come to prayers for the King and his Government, feel free to substitute the Government and Authorities that preside over you as part of your Christian Duty.
Overall, I pray that you will be enriched and that this book will spur you on in your personal growth and your relationship to God your maker.
Rev. Jonathan H. Johnson
August 26, 2017
Editor’s Notes: The contents of this book are John Wesley’s Tracts on Prayer similar to those found in The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, A. M. – Volume Xi. London, 1733. 203- 272, (which was used for the first edition of John Wesley’s Tracts on Prayer). For this edition I sought out the original booklets that still had substantive capitalization commonly found in early 18th Century works. The main difference in this book and the original booklets is the modern text-type; the Caslon type was too difficult to read. Other than that this book keeps much of the original style (especially the European English spellings).
These editions are preserved here because I felt they are more in flavour with John Wesley’s Prayer Collection. They have nice little surprises like Wesley’s Preface, not found in the greater volume; that was found in the individual Third Edition of A Collection of Forms of Prayer For Every Day in the Week. Little touches like that keep this book from being redundant with other collections of John Wesley’s work. Also found in this book are Hymns added to the collection of Prayers for Children. At the last minute I added a tiny delightful booklet called GRACES perfect to make this book complete.
