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old, and yet renewing all things; ever in action, and yet ever quiet; heaping up, yet needing nothing; creating, upholding, filling, protecting, nourishing, and perfecting all things.

Thou lovest, and yet thou art not transported; thou art jealous, yet thou art void of fear; thou dost repent, yet thou art free from sorrow; thou art angry, and yet art never unquiet; thou takest what thou findest, yet didst thou never lose any thing; thou art never poor, and yet thou art glad of gain; never covetous, and yet thou exactest profit at our hands. We bestow largely upon thee, that thou mayest become our debtor; yet who hath any thing but of thy gift? Thou payest debts, when thou owest nothing; thou forgivest debts, and yet thou losest nothing. And what shall I say, O my God, my life, my, joy, my holy dear delight? or what can any man say when he speaketh of thee? And woe be to them that speak not of thee, but are silent in thy praise! for even they who speak most of thee, may be accounted to be but dumb. Have mercy upon me, O Lord, that I may speak unto thee, and praise thy name. Amen.

XVIII.

A general Confession.

Almighty God, I, a miserable sinner, do humbly confess, and am truly sorrowful for my many and great, my innumerable and intolerable crimes, of which my conscience does accuse me by night and by day, and by which I have provoked thy severest wrath and indignation against me. I have broken all thy righteous laws and commandments by word or deed, by vain thoughts or sinful desires. I have sinned against thee in all my relations and capacities, in all places, and at all times; I can neither reckon their number, nor bear their burden, nor suffer thy anger, which I have deserved. But thou, O Lord God, art merciful and gracious, have mercy upon me; pardon me for all the evil I have done; judge me not for all the good I have omitted; take not thy favour from me, but delight thou to sanctify and save me, and work in me to will and to do of thy good pleasure all our duty, that being sanctified by thy Spirit, and delivered from my sin, I may serve thee in a religious and holy conversation, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

XIX.

A Prayer against Temptations.

O God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, thy name is great, thy essence is infinite, thy goodness is eternal, and thy power hath no limit; thou art the God and Lord of all, blessed for evermore: look down in mercy and compassion from thy dwelling, hear my prayers and supplications, and deliver me from all temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Take not thy grace from me, let me never want thy help in my need, nor thy comfort in the day of my danger or calamity. Never try me beyond my strength, nor afflict me beyond my patience, nor smite me but with a father's rod. I have no strength of my own; thou art my confidence, my rock, and my strong salvation. Save me, O God, from the miseries of this world, and never let me suffer the calamities of the next. Rescue me from the evils I have done, and preserve me from the evils I have deserved; that, living before thee with a clean heart, and undefiled body, and a sanctified spirit, I may, at the day of judgment, be presented pure and spotless by the blood of the Lamb, that I may sing eternal Hallelujahs in heavenly places to the honour of God our Saviour, who hath redeemed our souls from death, our eyes from tears, and our feet from falling. Grant this, in the richness of thy mercy, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

XX.

A Prayer of Thanksgiving for any great Deliverance. O God, my God and Father, thou hast strangely preserved and rescued me from evil, and, for the glory of thy own name, thou hast diverted the arrow that was directed against me. What am I, O Lord, and what can I do, or what have I done, that thou shouldest do this for me? I am, O God, a miserable sinner, and I can do nothing without a mighty grace, and I have done nothing by myself but what I am ashamed of, and I have received great mercies, and miracles of providence. I sec, O God, I see that thy goodness is the cause and measure of all my hopes and all my good and upon the confidence and greatness of that good

ness, I humbly beg of thy sacred majesty to keep and defend me from all evil by thy wise providence; to lead me into all good by the conduct of thy Divine Spirit, and where I have done amiss give me pardon, and where I have been mistaken give me pity, and where I have been injured, give me thy favour and a gracious exchange: that I may serve thee here with diligence, and hereafter may rejoice with thee, and love thee as I desire to love thee, and as thou deservest to be loved, even with all the powers and degrees of passion and essence, to eternal ages, in the inheritance of Jesus, whom I love, for whom I will not refuse to die, in whom I desire to live and die to whom with thee, O gracious Father, and the Holy Spirit, be all glory and honour, love and obedience, for ever and ever. Amen.

XXI.

A Prayer to be said by a Prisoner in behalf of himself.

O Almighty God, the merciful Father of all that put their trust in thee, look down from the beauteous throne of thy glory with much mercy and compassion upon thy servant, who is a child of misery, full of sin and full of calamity; whose only hope is in the mercies and loving-kindness of the Lord. O do thou pardon all my trespasses and debts, by which I am in arrear to thee, put them upon the accounts of the cross; for our blessed and most gracious Lord hath paid our price to redeem us from the eternal prisons, and be thou pleased to enrich me with thy Holy Spirit, that I may be strong in faith, abounding in hope, established in a holy patience, and rich in charity, expecting with meekness and submission, when the times of refreshment shall come from the presence of the Lord, our blessed Saviour and Redeemer Jesus. Amen.

XXII.

A Prayer to be used by those that are at Sea.

O Almighty God and Father of heaven and earth, who settest bounds to the sea, and restrainest the waves thereof by a heap of sand, by mountains and rocks, by thy word and by thy spirit, saying, Hither shall thy proud waves pass and no further;' look upon thy servant, whose life is in his hands, and I dwell in the shadows of death night and day: I know,

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O Lord, and confess, the floods and waves of passion do frequently overrun me; and we are drowned in the storms and overwhelmed with iniquity. The oaths, blasphemies, impieties, irreligious actions, of which I stand guilty before thee, are louder than the fiercest winds, and call aloud upon thee for vengeance; and many of us in our greatest danger provoke thee with the greatest unreasonableness and violence of impiety. But, O God, our God, be gracious unto thy servant who accuseth himself, and confesseth his guilt, and acknowledgeth thy justice, and begs thy goodness, and prays to thee for safety and defence, for deliverance and for pardon, for thy conduct and thy blessing. Keep us, O God, from storms and quicksands, from pirates and rocks, from errors and impieties, from all evil contingencies and all evil actions; let this voyage be safe to my person and goods, let it be blessed by thy providence and thy Holy Spirit, that I may return with comfort and with advantages of success, and thy servant may glorify thee in the land of the living, in the church of the first-born, the congregation of thy redeemed ones, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

XXIII.

In a Storm, or Danger of Pirates, or Shipwreck.

O eternal and most holy Saviour Jesus, who, in the days of thy flesh and thy infirmity, didst command the winds and rebuke the seas, and they obeyed thee: and thou art exalted far above all principalities and powers, above all heavens and all angels, and art the king of the world, and hast commanded us to come boldly to the throne of grace with promise of help in time of need: look down upon thy servant, who, in the abyss of the seas, and the more uncomfortable abyss of our trouble, invocate the abyss of thy mercies. O refuse not to hear the prayers, and to consider the cries, and to behold and pity the need of me who call upon thee, who put my trust in thee, who have laid up all my hopes in thee, and thy infinite and eternal goodness. I have no strength of my own, but thou art my confidence; be thou also my portion and guide, my defence and shield, a star in the night, and a covering by day.

XXIV.

Strengthen my faith, O God, and increase my hope, that, in the greatest danger, I may against hope believe in hope, and with faith and love expect the salvation of the Lord, and may find thy goodness rescuing me from this present fear, and defending me in all our difficulties, and sanctifying every accident, and sweetening every event of providence, and consigning me by these blessings to a final delivery from all my sins, and from the evil which my sins deserve, to the glory of God, to the salvation of my soul in thy day, in thy glorious day, O eternal, and most holy Saviour and Redeemer Jesu. Amen.

XXV.

A Prayer wherewith to conclude all our Devotions.

Almighty God, who hast promised to hear the petitions of them that ask in thy Son's name; I beseech thee mercifully to incline thine ears unto me, who have now made my prayers and supplications unto thee: and grant that those things which I have faithfully asked according to thy will, may be effectually obtained, to the relief of my necessity, and to the setting forth of thy glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Blessing.

The peace of God, which passeth all understanding; the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; the virtue of Christ's blessed cross and passion; be with me now, and at the hour of death.

Amen.

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