is clouded, my affections are ungovernable, my whole foul is out of tune, and all my faculties in a great meafure difabled for a due attendance upon thy worhip, and the faithful obedience I owe to thy most holy laws. Convince me hereby, how weak and frail I am of myfelf; and in what continual need I ftand of thy help, without which I can discharge none of the offices for which I came into this world. If thou withdraweft my breath, I die; if thou denieft me the affistance of thy grace, I go on finning, and am utterly undone, if thou takeft away my comforts, I am fad and dejected, my. fpirits droop, and my heart waxes faint. And to thee therefore, my only refuge, I now betake myself for help. Refufe not to speak comfort to my difconfolate foul; but vifit me with thy falvation. Shew forth thy marvellous loving-kindness, thou that art the Saviour of them who put their trust in thee. Reftore me to a right ule of my faculties, a composure of mind, and a readinefs of compliance with thy Will in all things. Help me to the enjoyment of myself, and of thy favour and make me to hear of joy and gladness, that the bones which thou haft broken may rejoice. Save, Lord, and hear, O King of Heaven, when I call upon thee, through the merits of thy only Son Jefus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For a Woman in Travail.

I.

Eternal God, thou Father of lights, from whom comes every good and perfect gift, and who haft promised to hearken to thofe that call upon thee in their neceffities; hear the fupplication of thine handmaid, who feel my travail coming upon me, and cry unto thee in the anguifh of my foul. Watch over me for good; forgive my fins; and moderate my pains, if it be thy bleffed Will. As thou haft given me a power to conceive, grant me likewife

Ee 4

Atrength

ftrength to bring forth, and that I may be a joyful mother of a [or, of another] child, endued with a found and perfect body, complete in all its parts, and fitted for all its proper operations, and with an understanding capable of knowing thee, and thy ways, and with a will difpofed in due time to love and fear thee. And grant moreover, that it may live to ferve thee faithfully, and do good in its generation, thro' Jefus Christ our Lord, Amen.

II.

1

Lord, the fafter my pangs come upon me, the more I beg thou wilt exert thy ftrength for my eafe, that I be not overwhelmed with the weight of them. Confider my impotency, and support and deliver me. Be not wanting to me now that trouble is hard at hand, [or, lies heavy upon me;] and I have none that can give me eafe, or fafety, but thou alone. Forfake me not when my ftrength faileth me, when my fpirits faint, and I cannot bear the burden of my forrows without thy affiftance, Shew a token upon me for good, that they who are about me may praise thy Name, and may rejoice to fee, that thou Lord haft holpen me, and comforted me, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

III.

Forgive my fins, O Lord; and purge out of me

all inclination to whatever fort of wickedness. Be with me, and the child I labour of, and grant, O gracious Lord, that we may live to praife and honour thee. Grant we may be thy faithful fervants here, and, whenfoever thou fhalt fee fit to take either of us out of this world, be graciously pleased to make us partakers of thine everlafting kingdom, for the love of Jefus Chrift our Lord; to whom with thee, and the Holy Ghoft, be all honour and glory, now and for ever. Amen.

After

HOU haft, of thy great goodness, O Lord, carried me fafely thro' the great pain and peril child-birth. And now that I have recovered me measure of ftrength after my hard labour,] I fire to pay my moft humble acknowledgments, ad profoundest adoration, to thee, my Saviour and eliverer! Lo! Children, and the fruit of the womb, e an heritage and gift that cometh of the Lord. o thee therefore be the praife, that another child is orn into the world, that thou haft preserved me, its other, under the forrows with which I was encomaffed, and that thou haft restored me to fome deree of health at prefent, and giveft me hope of havng it perfected in a little time [or, present ease, and be hope of a recovery]. Go on, O Lord, to complete nd establish it, if it feem good in thy fight, and may be for thy glory; and incline my heart to fhew orth thy praife, not only with my lips, but by the nolinefs and uprightnefs of my life in all refpects. Let a fenfe of thy goodnefs be always upon my mind and raise in me fuch unfeigned, love and gratitude to thee, that I may never cease to found forth thy praifes, thro' Jefus Chrift our Lord, Amen.,

1

Be pleafed to continue, increase, and fanctify, thy mercies to thine unworthy fervant, that I may live to thy honour, by whofe good Providence alone it is that I live at all. Perfect what thou haft thus far wrought in me, and fo establish my health, as that I may be fitted to praife and ferve thee. Prest ferve me from the power of the tempter, and the corruption of mine own evil heart, that I mis-spend none of the time thou granteft me for better pur poses, but my whole ftudy may be to obferve thy ftatutes, and to be every day improving in my obe dience to them. Lead me by thy counfels here, and

hereafter

hereafter receive me into glory, thro' our Lord Jefus Chrift. Amen.

III,

AND caft an eye of pity upon my poor infant, who is not able to pray for itfelf; and, fince thou haft brought him [or, her] into the world, may it please thee to preserve h in it, that he [or, the] may be an useful inftrument of thy glory, by ferving thee faithfully, and doing good in h generation, Grant h the benefit of baptifmal regeneration, that being born in fin, and a child of wrath, it may be renewed and made a child of grace; and, being received, into covenant with thee, may be ftedfaft in faith, joyful thro' hope, and rooted in charity; and may fo pafs thro' the waves of this troublesome world, that finally it may come to the land of everlafting life, there to reign with thee, world without end, through Jefus Chrift thy Son, our bleffed Lord and Saviour. Amen. 1

For a Young Person that is Sick.

I.

God, whole never-failing Providence ordereth all things both in heaven and earth, tho' thou haft laid thy hand upon me, and caft me upon the bed of fickness, yet nevertheless my hope is, and fhall be, in thee. Be thou my Deliverer, and cure my disease, which lies fo hard upon me. Spare me, I befeech thee; and take me not away before I come to years of discretion, and to a right understanding of thine infinite love to me, and the love and duty I owe, to thee. May it please thee to restore me to my former health; and give me grace to spend what time thou shalt allow me more, to thofe great ends for which thou alloweft it! Or elfe take me to thyfelf into thofe bleffed regions, whither my Saviour Chrift is gone before, to reign with thee in blifs and felicity. This I beg for the fake of the fame thy Son Jefus Chrift our Lord. Amen.

II.

HEAR me, O God, and be merciful unto mes oh remember not the fins and offences of my youth; but, according to thy mercy, think thou upon me, O Lord, for thy goodnefs. If thou wilt, thou canft make me whole; or if, thou calleft me hence, thou canft make me happy, Dispose of me as shall feem beft in thy fight; and prepare me, I beseech thee, for whatfoever thou defigneft for me. Thou art my Helper and Redeemers make no long tarrying, O my God, Amen.

For one of Middle Age.

Almighty and everlafting God, thy goodness to me has been wonderful in giving me a being, in preferving me hitherto; in fupplying me with the neceffaries of this life; but efpecially, and above all, in giving thine only-begotten and dearly beloved Son, to become incarnate, and fuffer, and die, in my ftead, to open a paffage for me to another and better ftate. And, though thy hand lies heavy upon me at prefent, I cannot doubt but it is in mercy, and for my good. For which reason I beseech thee to fanctify it to me, that it may be a means of weaning my affections from this fhort life, and its tranfitory enjoyments, which, I plainly fee, are utterly unable to preferve either life, or health, when thou cafleft.for it; and must certainly leave thofe in a helpless condition, who have nothing better to truft to. Let it alfo make me truly fenfible of the real value of that Health I now want, and of all the other bleffings thou haft given me to partake of; and put me upon perfecting my repentance, before it be too late. I am at this time in the prime of my age and ftrength, but as easily to be cut down by thy hand, as the grafs by the hand of the mower. Suffer me not to fet my affections upon any thing here below, but upon the eternal enjoyment of thee, and thine ineftimable re

wards