the power, and fruftrate the malice of all that fet themselves against the Lord and his Chrift.

Pity poor finners that are in an evil and dangerous condition: convince them of it, and turn them from it; father of mercies have mercy on them give them the repentance unto life; forgive their fins, and glorify the riches of thy grace in recovering and healing their miferable fouls. Save thy people, O Lord, and bless thy inheritance: feed them alfo, and lift them up for ever. O may they profper and multiply, and replenish the earth, and make the way ftill more frequented that leads to

heaven.

Continue, Lord, thy wonderful patience and goodness to the finful nation, whereof we are finful members. O that all thy gracious dealings with us may produce fome better effects, than yet have been feen upon us. That we may not carry on the provocation of our fins, to pull down thy judgments; but better remember ourfelves, and turn to the Lord, and walk as a people fo spared, and delivered, bleft and obliged, (time after time,) as we

have been.

May the queen's pious example ftill honour the faith of Chrift, and her royal authority defend it. As the reigns by thee, fo let it be for thee; to promote thy holy religion, the peace and welfare of the nation, her people's prefent good, and everlasting falvation.

Let not magiftrates bear the fword in vain; nor minifters be flack and faithlefs in their facred function: and let neither fail of the defired fuccefs; but be inftrumental to fuppress disorder, vice and wickedness; and to advance unity, virtue, holiness, and the falvation of many fouls.

The poor and oppreffed, the difeafed and pained, Lord, raise them up friends and means; and fend

them

them fuitable help and relief. Yea, be thou their helper and comforter, to fanctify and ease the cross to them; and make hafte, (in thy good time) to remove and take it away from them. Deal gracioufly, O Lord, with our friends, and be good to all that have done us good. O let them receive infinitely better at thy hands, and find everlasting favour in thy fight.

And thou, Lord, who only makeft us dwell in fafety, fhelter us under the fhadow of thy wings this night. Defend us from all things hurtful to us; and give us fuch repose, as fhall fit us for our duty, and engage us to give thy name the glory. And for the mercies of this day, and of all our days, (Mercies to us, and to all thine) unto thee, O Lord our God, be all the glory rendered by us and them, with the most thankful hearts, now and for evermore. Amen.

Tenth CONSIDERATION.

Heb. ix. 27. Once to dye; but after this the judg

ment.

HOW faft am I hafting away to my grave, and how foon fhall I be there? no avoiding the ftroke of death: nor yet any ceafing to be, when I die. No fleeping for thee, my foul, when my body falls into its laft fleep. But thou wilt fubfift in thy immortal frame, and be then more awake than ever. O what have I dreamt of a long vacation after death; and put off my laft accounts to the world's end? No fuch prorogation; but quick work fhall I find, and at my very death, my eternal ftate determined, by which I must for ever abide : and the last general judgment will only declare and confirm what has paft before; and bring my body in alfo for its fhare.

O then, what an alarm is here; to think, that this year, this month, this night, my foul may be required, that ftill I am on the brink of eternity; and the time is as nothing, till I fhall there be taken in most certainly! How fhould this deaden me to all things in the prefent world; and make me very little regard its fmiles or its frowns; which now are, and fo quickly will be no more? I am ftupid and mad, to be keen and eager upon any thing here; and the while, forget or difregard what fhall be my portion world without end.

O how impertinent will it be for me, in the very next moment after death, to reflect where I lived, or what I had, or how I pafs'd here on earth; when I am cut off from it, and fhall never have any thing more to do with it; but be taken up in an amazing ftate, extremely different from all that's here to be found?

O gracious God! Open my eyes, and engage my mind, fo to fee and ponder it now as to stand me in ftead, and do me good for ever: that I may be cooled to the prefent world; and while I am in it, may fhew my greatest concern: to defend myfelf from it, and to do all the good I can, with what I have of it. That when call'd to account for my ftewardship, I may receive a comfortable fentence from my eternal judge. O father of mercies, have pity upon me, and enter not into judgment with me thereafter as I have deserved from thee: but let me find mercy from thee in that great day, when I fhall appear before thee. And for the fake of thy dear Son, the bleffed Saviour of poor loft finners, Lord, fhew me thy mercy, and grant me thy falvation. Amen.

The

The Fourth EVENING PRAYER.

LORD God, moft high and everlasting! from whom we derive our being and life, and all the good and comforts of both and at whofe hands we hope to receive infinitely better things, than any that we are capable of enjoying in this world. We do here caft ourselves at thy footstool, thankfully acknowledging all thy continual mercy and goodness to us; and humbly confeffing our own ill defert, of any favour that we have received at thy hands. Because we have fo ill ufed all the kindness and bounty wherewith we have been fo much, and fo long engaged already: for thy ways, O Lord, have been ways of mercy and lovingkindness to us, even when we have gone on perverfely, in the ways of our hearts; ftupidly forgetful of thee, or wickedly rebellious again thee. And have not only been careless to obferve thy pleasure, and negligent in the performance of our duty, but bold to go on in our fins, against thy exprefs charge; and to break through all the prohibitions and denunciations of thy word, which thou haft given out, to check and deter us from the error and evil of our ways.

And these fo great and frequent fins are enough to fpoil all the good fuccefs of our prayers: when fo evil we have done, and fo full of offence our lives have been, and still we have fo much defective in us, amifs with us, and provoking upon us; that we have the greatest need of mercy at thy hands; and come now to beg relief, according to all the neceffities of our fouls. O that we may find it, for our bleffed Lord Redeemer's fake: though we have finned, as poor frail impotent creatures, gracious God, forgive us, and fhew thy favour to us,

as a moit merciful father, in the son of thy eternal love.

And may the mercy of God that pardons our fins, alfo promote the renovation of our minds, the fanctification of our fouls, and the reformation of our lives. Wherein foever our hearts condemn us, for doing wickedly, preferve us, we pray thee, by thy grace, from fuch provocation of thy heavenly majefty. O help us, Lord, to break up the fallow ground of our hearts, and fo to fow in righteousness, that we may reap in mercy. Let us not be barren and unfruitful; but bear still more and better fruit, to glorify our heavenly Father, and adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour. To this end, put thy laws in our inner-parts, and write them in our hearts. Yea, fo renew us in the fpirit of our minds, after thy holy image, that we may resemble our father in heaven, and be followers of God as dear children; fo intent upon our heavenly eternal concerns, as to take us off all eagernefs after these poor earthly things; which are fo empty and unfatisfactory, fo perilous and tranfitory. And help us, even in our greatest profperity, ftill to retain our firm affiance in thee, our whole dependance upon thee, and all our expectation from thee; to be guided by thy council, till received into thy glory.

And thou, O God, who art good to all, remember in mercy every one of thy poor creatures, who are now upon their trial, in this land of the living. Turn and conquer the hearts of thy enemies; and bring even ftrangers and foreigners to be fellow-citizens with the faints, and of the houshold of God. And may all profeffors of the christian faith, shew their faith by their works; even fuch works as may fhine before men, to the glory of thy name.

Let