verance for me, not because I was worthy, but because thou aboundest in mercy.

I was in peril; death was on every side. Then didst thou, O Lord, interpose between me and the threatening mischief; and didst reveal thy glorious arm to pluck me out of the jaws of destruction; and didst set me in safety from my dangers. Thou hast kept me alive, not taking me away in the midst of my days, nor cutting me off from the land of the living; but sparing me in mercy, and giving me, as it were, a new life from the dead. Thou hast chastened me, but not given me over unto death. When my foot slipped, thy mercy, O Lord, held me up. Thou art the God that doest wonders; wonders of power, and wonders of mercy. Yea, thy kindness and thy help at hand, in the time of my need, has been greater than I am able to express.

Thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work; I will triumph in the works of thy hands. I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy. For thou hast been my support and my refuge in the day of my trouble. Unto thee, O my strength, will Í sing; for thou art my defence, and the God of my mercy. O Lord God, merciful and gracious; I will extol thee, who hast not suffered the trouble and

danger to overwhelm and ruin me. In my distress I

cried unto thee, and thou hast enlarged me. O blessed be my God, who has not cast out my prayer, nor taken his mercy from me. But, dearest Lord! I cannot without amazement look back upon the perilous state that I was in, and the brink of death to which I was brought. And that I should escape as I have

done: O how marvellous is it in my eyes! What cause have I for thy praise, that I am here alive to praise thee! O my God, it is thy good hand that hath wrought so wonderfully for me, and thy fatherly kindness that has shown such extraordinary favour to me. O! if I had been snatched away unprepared, how dreadful a change should I have found! But in mercy and love to my soul thou hast made a way for my escape: and I am preserved, a living monument of thy unspeakable goodness.

O what shall I say unto thee, whose name is exalted far above all blessing and praise! and what shall I render unto thee, to whom my goodness will not extend! I can never answer the obligations which thy love, dear Lord, has laid upon me; but let me admire and love and bless and praise thee, with all the faculties and powers which thou hast given me. And O that thou wouldest imprint so deeply on my heart a sense of thy mercy, that I may never forget, never slight, never abuse, the great goodness that thou hast shown me, and the signal deliverance which thou hast wrought for me: but may ever give thee thanks with all my heart; and walk as becomes me all the days of my life; not secure and careless, because I have so escaped; but the more watchful and diligent, in proportion to the mercies vouchsafed unto me: approving my thankfulness in such a manner, as that thou mayest graciously accept me through my blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Let it please thee to bless and save those who are lying in pain and danger, from a wounded body. Grant healing to body and soul. Sanctify this event

to every one who has been concerned in it. And glorify thy great and holy name, for Christ's sake. Amen.

PRAYER, ON THE OCCASION OF NUMEROUS DEATHS.

On Land cr Sea.

O THOU ever-living and all-disposing God; in whose hands our breath is, and whose summons we must all obey! What are we; what is man, even at his best estate, but altogether vanity? What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? The great and the mean, the wise and the foolish, the evil and the good, all yield up the ghost, and go down to the grave. Thou art pleased, O my God, to spare me, whilst many around me are taken to their long home. Thou leavest me yet a living monument of thy goodness, long-suffering, and forbearance. O what am I better than others, that I should have escaped this imminent peril, when others have the things which belong to their peace for ever hid from their eyes? Why have I not long since experienced the common lot of all men? Why have I not been called to give up unto thee an account of my stewardship? O let me not be as the brutes that have no understanding, without mindfulness of my mortality, or consideration of my latter end: but in the death of others, let me see, as in a glass, my own frail and uncertain state. Let me see that there is but a step between me and death; and that, however my days may be prolonged on earth, I must at last go to the place appointed for all

men living. O let me begin to answer the great end of life; and so live as one that surely expects to die. And when my own turn shall come, may I depart in peace, and sleep in Jesus; having my soul safe in thy hands, and my body resting in hope of gloriously rising at the last day; through him who is the resurrection and the life, our blessed Saviour and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Amen.

PRAYER FOR A DYING MAN.

On Land or Sea.

O THE Hope of Israel, the Saviour thereof in time of trouble! when all other hope and help fails, it is not in vain to seek unto thee for succour, who canst bring back from the mouth of the grave, and quicken the very dead; and where thou art not pleased any further to prolong the temporal life, yet canst deliver us from eternal death, and bring us safe to blessedness and glory. We think it too late to beg the recovery of thy servant, O Lord, now that he seems to us going the way of all flesh, and just launching forth into his everlasting condition. But though the time of his departure appears to be at hand, yet we cannot think it too late to beg thy mercy for him, as long as his life is in him. And as we cannot but be greatly concerned for him, so we know not how better to express this our concern for him, than in beseeching thee to be good and gracious unto him.

O Lord our God, leave him not, nor forsake him; but support and assist him now in his sorest extremities, in his last agonies, when he is to conflict with

the king of terrors: let him find the most sweet and seasonable aids from thee the God of his salvation; and take him not out of this life till thou hast fitted him for a better. O thou ever-living God, stand by him in the dying hour; and secure him in thy hands from the enemies of his soul: and finish the work of thy grace upon his heart. Freely and fully pardon and deliver him from all his sins; and fit him to appear with comfort and rejoicing in thy blessed presence, through the righteousness of Christ. O make his departure easy and full of peace and hope. Carry him safe through the valley of the shadow of death, and let him find a joyful admission into the everlasting kingdom of his Lord. Into thy hands, O Lord, we commend his spirit: 0 thou Father of mercies be merciful to him, and receive his departing soul; and when he is numbered among the dead, let him also be numbered among the redeemed and blessed of the Lord, for his sake, who himself died for sinners and rose again, and lives, and is alive for evermore, and has the keys of death and of hell. To thy mercy in that blessed Saviour of the world, O most merciful Father, we now humbly recommend him; beseeching thee to be all in all to him, and infinitely better than we are worthy or able to ask for him. And let him be thine in life, and death, and for evermore, through the all-sufficient merits and mediation of thy dear Son, and most prevailing Advocate and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Amen.

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