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And there are hopes of it, and room for the prayer of faith, since there is a Mediator with him, a great and worthy Advocate, even Jesus Christ the righteous, who is the propitiation for your sins. Through him you may come to God, and beg, that for his sake he will blot out all your transgressions, as a cloud, which is dispersed by the sun and wind. (Isai. xliii. 25.) And that you really may be forgiven by God, you must heartily forgive others and yet perhaps you have little considered this in presenting this petition. Have you not often come before God, with an uncharitable malicious heart, with envious and revengeful designs? and yet have you not had the assurance to pray, Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us? O the deceitfulness of the human heart! How many hypocritical lying prayers are put up to God. Lord, teach us to take heed to our temper of mind, and pray with sincerity and hearty desire.]

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

EXAMINATION.

[Have you seriously considered the temptations of the world in which you live? Have you not been ready to view the world merely as a good and pleasant world, and not as an ensnaring and tempting one? Have you considered the temptations of riches, poverty, trade, and of every relation and condition of life? How soon, alas! and how easily does every thing draw us from God, and our duty to him! How little have we thought of that tempting devil, who goeth about seeking whom he may devour! How much evil is there in the world, the evil of sin, which provokes God, the evil of sorrow, and

punishment, which God inflicts for sin! How much is there in our hearts, to which he might deliver us up! With what humility then should we come and pray to God not to lead us into temptation, that he would save us from our sins, and from deserved punishment, and that he would please to preserve us, and bring us to his heavenly kingdom.]

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

EXAMINATION.

[As you should pray to God, so should you praise him. Do you admire his greatness and goodness? Do you love and thank him for what he has done for your body and soul? Do you ascribe the kingdom to him, who is Lord of all; and the power to him, who orders, manages, and disposes all; and the glory to him, for whose pleasure all things are and were created? Amen.]*

Minister. O Lord, save thy servant ;
Answ. Who putteth his trust in thee.
Minister. Send him help from thy holy place;
Answ. And evermore mightily defend him.
Minister. Let the enemy have no advantage
of him;

Answ. Nor the wicked approach to hurt him.
Minister. Be unto him, O Lord, a strong
tower,

Answ. From the face of his enemy.
Minister. O Lord, hear our prayer;
Answ. And let our cry come unto thee.

Thus consider for what you have prayed, how you have prayed, and how little you have prayed in spirit and in truth. Is this such praying as will please God, obtain his blessing, and do you good? O the vain, customary, heartless prayers, which are so often used before the holy God, and that too, in a Christian land by professed Christians, and in the use of the very words which Jesus Christ himsel. La tought us!

Minister.

LORD, look down from heaven, behold, visit, and relieve this thy servant. Look upon him with the eyes of thy mercy, give him comfort and sure confidence in thee, defend him from the danger of the enemy, and keep him in perpetual peace and safety, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

HEAR us, almighty and most merciful God and Saviour; extend thy accustomed goodness to this thy servant, who is grieved with sickness. Sanctify, we beseech thee, this thy fatherly correction to him, that the sense of his weakness may add strength to his faith, and seriousness to his repentance: that, if it shall be thy good pleasure to restore him to his former health, he may lead the residue of his life in thy fear, and to thy glory or else give him grace so to take thy visitation, that after this painful life is ended, he may dwell with thee in life everlasting, thro' Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.c

• Whenever the prayers of the congregation are desired for a sick person, some ministers use one or both of these prayers immediately before the Litany in the morning, and before the prayer for all conditions of men in the afternoon; and as it has generally had so good an effect, it is much to be wished that on such an occasion these were to-be used in all our churches: and that so laudable a custom were every where prevalent, as it has a tendency to edify the people, to impress their minds with compassion, and to give them a due sense of praying for their fellow creatures under affliction, and of gratitude to God for the preservation of their own health.

1 Then shall the minister exhort the sick person after this or the like form.

DEARLY beloved, know this, [or it is my duty to remind you,] that Almighty God is the Lord of life and death, and of all things to them pertaining; as youth, strength, health, age, weakness, and sickness. Wherefore, whatsoever your sickness is, know you certainly [or you may be assured that it is God's visitation. And for what cause soever this sickness is sent unto you; whether it be to try your patience for the example of others, and that your faith may be found in the day of the Lord laudable, glorious, and honourable, to the increase of glory and endless felicity; or else it be sent unto you to correct and amend in you whatsoever doth offend the eyes of your heavenly Father; know you certainly, or you may be assured,] that if you truly repent you of your sins, and bear your sickness patiently, trusting [for pardon with a true faith in God's mercy, for his dear Son Jesus Christ's sake, and render unto him humble thanks for his fatherly visitation, [desiring to please him in all things, and patiently] submitting yourself wholly unto his will, it shall turn to your profit, and help you forward in the right way that leadeth unto everlasting life. [For the Apostle acknowledges, that no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness unto them who are exercised thereby. Heb. xii. 11.]

a The words between the crotchets [thus] are intended to make this exhortation more clearly understood by those in the lower rank of life.

I If the person visited be very sick, then the curate may end his exhortation in this place; or else proceed.

TAKE therefore in good part the chastisement

of the Lord: for, as St. Paul saith in the twelfth chapter to the Hebrews, verse 6, &c. "Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what Son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection under the Father of our spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness."

These

words are written in holy Scripture for our com fort and instruction; that we should patiently, and with thanksgiving, bear our heavenly Father's correction, whensoever by any manner of adversity it shall please his gracious goodness to visit us. And there should be no greater comfort to Christian persons, than to be made like unto Christ, by suffering patiently adversities, troubles, and sicknesses. For he himself went not up to joy, but first he suffered pain; he entered not into his glory before he was crucified. So truly our way to eternal joy is to suffer here with. Christ; and our door to enter into eternal life is [to believe what he hath taught us, to do what he hath commanded, and so to follow his good example here, as] gladly to die with Christ; that we may rise again from death, and dwell with him in everlasting life.

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