ment with us? How justly mightest thou withdraw thy tender mercies from us, and pour out upon us thy wrath and indignation to the uttermost! How justly mightest thou leave us to feel what an evil and bitter thing it is to trespass against thee and make us to experience the same, in that place of torment, where is weeping and wailing, and gnashing of teeth, and from whence there is no redemption.

But thou art a God of wonderful patience to bear with sinners; and a God of infinite goodness and mercy to forgive them, when they are truly penitent. Thou hast said, that if the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and return to the Lord, thou wilt have mercy upon him, and abundantly pardon. We humbly beg, therefore, that thou wilt be graciously pleased to stretch forth thy powerful hand, and to loose the chains of sin wherewith we are tied and bound. Let it be thy good pleasure to deliver us from every weight of sin, and from every yoke of bondage; that our souls may be fitted to serve thee with that sincerity and readiness and gladness, which thou requirest of thy people. O help us so to see and feel, so to hate and bewail, so to confess and forsake, our sins, that we may have a well-grounded hope of thy forgiveness, and a comfortable persuasion that thou hast accepted us in the Son of thy love.

And for his sake, grant thou us, O Lord, an increase of thy grace, and such aids of thy holy Spirit, as may enable us to mortify our sins, and

fit us for all the duties of thy service. Make us, O our God, to serve thee sincerely, without hypocrisy cheerfully, without dulness; universally, without partiality; and constantly, without falling away, or being weary of well-doing. Thou art not weary in doing us good; O let us never be weary in doing thee service. But as thou hast pleasure in the prosperity of thy servants, so let us take pleasure in the service of our Lord, and abound in thy work and in thy love and praise evermore. O fill up all that is wanting, and reform whatever is amiss in us, and perfect that which concerns us; making us such in our hearts, and in our lives, that we may obtain peace in our souls, and be made partakers of thy heavenly glory. And be thou pleased to grant us now (out of the riches of thy grace) the comfortable sense of thy gracious acceptance of us, and of thy merciful intentions towards us. O speak peace to our consciences, and say to each of our souls, I am thy salvation; that so we may look upon thee as our reconciled God and Father in Christ Jesus.

[In his great name, and prevailing mediation, we enlarge our petitions, in behalf of the whole race of mankind. O that all the ends of the world may remember themselves, and turn unto the Lord, and see the salvation of our God! Do good, O God, in thy good pleasure, unto Zion, and build thou the walls of Jerusalem. Continue thy mercies to this guilty land, whereof we are sinful members. Teach us to know the meaning of thy dispensations towards us; and help

us to improve by all thy dealings with us. O turn all our hearts to thee, as the heart of one man and reform all our lives, according to the holy pattern and precepts of our Lord; that thou mayest cause thine anger towards us to cease; and mayest go on still to take the charge of us, and never leave nor forsake us.

Bless abundantly the king's majesty who now sways the sceptre of these realms. O Lord, preserve his life, prolong his days, and prosper his government. Give him the hearts of his subjects, and subdue his enemies before him. Make him the rejoicing of thy people, and a terror only to evil doers. O continue him long a zealous defender of the faith, a promoter of thy fear, and an asserter of our rights; that under his shadow we may be in peace and safety; enjoying the liberty of the gospel, and the free profession of thy holy religion. And grant unto all magistrates and ministers continual supplies of thy holy Spirit, for the conscientious and comfortable discharge of their several duties. O bring all our neighbours near to thyself; and be thou a friend to all our friends, a father to the fatherless, a husband to the widow, a refuge to the oppressed, a physician to the sick, a helper to the friendless, and a God of consolation to the distressed and sorrowful, whatever be their trouble and affliction. O bless to us, whatever thou art pleased to allot us, and every thing that befals us. Make all to work for our good, to build us up in thy grace, and to help us on to thy glory.]

And as thou hast been good and kind to us the day past, and throughout our whole lives (for which we desire, Ŏ Lord, humbly and thankfully to adore thy name), so we beg that we may experience the continuance of thy goodness to us, and of thy fatherly care over us, this present night. O preserve and defend, and bless and keep us, that no evil may befal us, nor any plague come nigh our dwellingGive us sleep and rest, to refresh and strengthen us for thy service, and for the performance of all our duties and prepare us, O Lord, for our last sleep in death, and for that great account that we must give at the judgment-seat of Christ. O instruct and assist us, in that great work of preparation for our everlasting state; that we may (in this only time of preparation) finish the great work which thou hast given us to do, before the night of death overtake us, wherein we cannot work: that whenever thou shalt be pleased to give us the summons of death, we may find nothing to do but to die, and cheerfully resign our spirits into thy gracious hands. Hear us, we entreat thee, through the riches of thy grace, and the worthiness of thy dear Son; in whose merits alone we trust, and to whom, together with thyself and the Holy Ghost, the one God of our salvation, be all praise, and honour, and glory, ascribed by us, and by all thy people, from this time forth for evermore. Amen.

Fifth Evening Prayer.

O LORD, we desire to seek thy face, and to wait upon thee in the duties of thy worship; and we entreat thy gracious favour that we may be enabled to call upon thee with our whole hearts. To whom should we make our application, but unto thee, the Father of mercies, and the fountain of all goodness, who art able to do exceeding abundantly for us, even above all that we can ask or think; and who hast declared thy willingness to be importuned by us; and thy readiness to hear, and help us. Ŏ let our prayer be now set before thee as incense, and the lifting up of our hands be as the evening sacrifice pleasing to thee our God, in the Son of thy love. It is in his blessed name alone, that we have encouragement to approach thee, and boldness to ask of thee those things which thou knowest to be needful and expedient for us. There is in ourselves no good thing to recommend us to thy favour; but a proneness to every thing which is displeasing to thy Majesty, and destructive to our souls. We are even by nature children of wrath, a seed of evil doers, the sinful offspring of rebellious parents; and ever since we began to act we have been daily trespassing against thee, and adding to the heavy score of our offences. There is nothing in us, O Lord, but what may well provoke thee to reject us: but there is enough in thy beloved Son to procure for us the