Amidst all which disorders, I find no other refuge nor remedy, than to return to thee, my Deliverer, and fure help in time of need; to offer my foul to thee, moft merciful Creator, and in the profoundest humility of a diftreffed creature, with a broken and a contrite fpirit, to implore thy mercy and

reconciliation.

O that my head was water, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for my my manifold fins! I acknowledge my tranfgreffions, and my fin is ever before me; but thou art my Father, even the father of mercies, whose love and compaffion has neither limits nor meafure: therefore, hide thy face from my fins, and blot out all my iniquities. Make me a clean beart, O God! and renew a right Spirit within me. Let all my wishes be ever conform'd to thy will; and let my hopes ftill rely upon thy mercies. O let it

be my chief aim, to live according to thy divine laws, and my only fatisfaction to meditate on thy love. Grant that I may not delight in any temporal pleasures, to fuch a degree, as to difengage my affections from glorious thoughts and speculations; let me not rest in them as my foveraign, nor pur

fue

fue them as my principal good, fince they are too vain and uncertain, too uncapable and unworthy to quiet and content my foul, which aims at a higher mark; which hopes one day (not thro' any merits of mine, but thro' thine infinite mercies, and for the fake of my dear Redeemer) eternally to behold thy amiable countenance, and to contemplate thy lovely perfection without weariness; to enter into thy kingdom, and be there joyfully transported with the unveiled glories of thy divinity.

And, now, O thou Preferver of mankind! I offer unto thee my foul and body, this day and ever. I moft thankfully ac knowledge that thou haft been my defender ever fince I was born, and hast particularly manifested thy provident care, in the preservation of me the night past. To thee therefore I commit my self this day, befeeching thee that I may publish thy praise not only with my lips, but in my life; by giving up my felf, from this very moment, to thy fervice, and by walking before thee, this day and ever, in fuch a defire of promoting thy glory, and my own eternal welfare, as never more to adventure

the

the lofs of thy grace, by the committing of one wilful fin.

Hear me, most merciful God, and imprint these important resolutions with indelible characters in my heart; that I may bring forth the fruit of good living, to the honour and praise of thy name, thro' the merits of Jefus Christ, who, with thee and the Holy Ghoft, liveth and reigneth, one God, world without end, and in whose words I conclude this imperfect prayer.

Our Father, &c.

A Prayer for Thursday Evening.

God, thou divine and unlimited foun

tain of all knowledge! Pardon me, that I have not hitherto obeyed thy righteous laws and commandments; that I have not regarded the beauty of my foul, and the great importance of thy promises and threats. Pardon me, I most humbly befeech thee, that I have fo feldom confidered the ftate of my confcience, and fo refolutely persisted in a finful courfe. O Lord! have mercy upon me: I am guilty, I am guilty, and have nothing to plead for myself buť Fff

VOL. III.

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the blood of Jefus, that all-fufficient propitiation for the fins of the whole world. O Lord! I do earnestly repent, and am heartily forry for these my misdoings; the remembrance of them is grievous unto me, the burthen of them is intolerable. Have mercy upon me, have mercy upon me, most merciful Father, and, for Jefus Chrift his fake, forgive me all that is paft, and grant that the sense of these my miscarriages, may render me more careful and vigilant for the future. Withdraw not thy grace from me, neither refuse to help me; and tho' all days have been spent in fin and vanity; yet vouchsafe to affift me abundantly with thy grace, and the more ftrongly to draw me to thee; that, making more hafte, I may recover my time before I go hence and be no more feen. O Lord! I befeech thee that death may not take me out of this world, before I arrive to that degree of holiness, which thou requireft of me; that is, till I am united to thy holy Spirit by a pure and perfect life.

my

O my God! how infinite is thy goodnefs, how manifold thy bleffings, how innumerable thy benefits, temporal and fpiritual! and can I fufpect that thou, who haft done fo much for me, will not accomplish what is behind? 'Tis true, O

Lord!

any

Lord! my fins are many, and grievous; I confess it, and am confounded and affrighted at the remembrance of them: But is there blemish fo foul, which my Redeemer's blood can't cure? Thy mercies and merits, dear Saviour, are fo immenfe, that should confcience alone be burthen'd with the fins of the whole world, thy mercies are infinitely greater: I will therefore remem ber thy facred wounds, O Saviour, and there will I hide my felf till my iniquities are pass'd over.

my

I praise, magnify, and adore thy great and holy name for all thy inftances of comfort and providence, especially for that most meritorious facrifice of thy felf upon the cross, for the fins of the whole world, and that thou haft left us, as a lively memorial of thy bitter passion, the holy facrament to our great and endless comfort. O invincible King of glory, let every tongue bless thee, and every creature celebrate thy bounty, for this inestimable bleffing. I know, O dear Jefus, in thee is all I need, all I can defire, my health and safety, my hope and ftrength, my honour and glory. Quicken therefore and cherish the foul of thy fervant, for unto thee, O bleffed Jefus! do I lift up Fff2

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