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moved from them a, are not dead, but sleepb: and that they shall rise again, that they may not sorrow as those that have no hoped. And enable them to trust in the living God d, the rock of ages, and enjoy the fountains of living waters e, when creatures prove broken reeds and broken cisterns g.

Be a father to the fatherless, and a husband to the widows, O God in thy holy habitation h. With thee let the fatherless find mercy i, keep them alive, and let the widows trust in thee, that they may be widows indeed, who being desolate k, trust in God, and continue instant in prayer night and day 7. And where father and mother have forsaken, let the Lord take up the children m, and not leave them orphans, but come to them a.

7. When we pray with, or for those women that are near the time of travail, or in travail.

Lord, thou hast passed this sentence upon the woman that was first in the transgression o, that in sorrow she shall bring forth childrenp. But let this handmaid of thine be saved in child-bearing, and continue in faith, and charity, and holiness, with sobriety q. Enable her to cast her burden upon the Lord, and let the Lord sustain herr; and what time she is afraid, grant that she may trust in thees, and may encourage herself in the Lord her Godt. O let not the root be dried up from beneath, nor let the branch be withered, or cut off; but let both live before thee u. Be thou her strong habitation, her rock and her fortress, give commandment to save herv. And when travail comes upon her, which

a John xi. 23, 25.
d 1 Tim. vi. 17.

h Psal. lxviii. 5.
/ 1 Tim. v. 5.
o 1 Tim. ii. 14.
r Psal. lv. 22.
u Job xviii. 16.

b Mat. ix. 24.
e John iv. 14.

i Hos. xiv. 3.

m Psal. xxvii. 10.
q Gen. iii. 16.
s Psal. lvi. 3.
v Psal. lxxi. 3.

c 1 Thess. iv. 13. g Jer. ii. 13. k Jer. xlix. 11. n John xiv. 18.

1 Tim. ii. 15. t 1 Sam. xxx. 6.

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she cannot escape a, be pleased, O Lord, to deliver her O Lord, make haste to help her: Be thou thyself her help and deliverer, make no tarrying, O our God b; Let her be safely delivered, and remember the anguish no more, for joy that a child is born into the world, is born unto thee c.

8. When we pray with, or for those that are recovered from sickness, or are delivered in child-bearing, and desire to return thanks to God for his mercy.

We will extol thee, O Lord, upon the account of those whom thou hast lifted up, whose soul thou hast brought up from the grave, and kept them alive, that they should not go down to the pitd. Those that were brought low thou hast helped, hast delivered their souls from death, their eyes from tears, and their feet from falling. Now give them grace to walk before thee in the land of the living, to offer to thee the sacrifice, of thanksgiving, to call upon thy name, and to pay their vows unto the Lord e.

The grave cannot thus praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee, they that go down to the pit cannot hope for thy truth, but the living they shall praise thee, as we do this day g. Lord, grant that those who are delivered from death may not be as the nine lepers h, who did not return to give thanks, or as Hezekiah, who rendered not again according to the benefit done unto himi; but that they may so offer praise, as to glorify thee, and so order their conversation, as to see the salvation of Godk.

Those whom the Lord has chastened sore, yet has not delivered over unto death, O that they may therefore praise him, who is become their salvation l.

9. When we pray with, or for those parents, whose children are grief to them, or such as they are in fear

about.

a 1 Thes. v. 3.
d Ps. xxx. 1.3.
h Luke xvii. 18.
/ Psal. cxviii. 18.

b Psal. xl. 13. 17.
e Ps. cxvi. 6,8,9,17,18.
i 2 Chron. xxxii. 25.
21.

c John xvi. 21.
g Isa. xxxviii. 18,19.
k Psal. 1. 23.

Lord give to parents the desires of their souls concerning their children, which is to see them walking in the truth a; form Christ in their souls b. O give them betimes to know the God of their fathers, and to serve him with a perfect heart, and a willing mind c. Let the children of youth, that are as arrows in the hand, be directed aright, that those parents may have reason to think themselves happy that have their quiver full of them, and that they may never be arrows in their hearts d.

Let those foolish children, that are the grief of the father, and the heaviness of her that bare them, that mock at their parents, and despise to obey them, be brought to repentance; and let those that have been unprofitable e, now at length be made profitable g. O turn the hearts of the children to their fathers h, even the disobedient to the wisdom of the justi, that they may be made ready a people prepared for the Lord. O show them their work, and their transgressions, that they exceeded k, and open their ear to discipline l.

10. When we pray with, or for those that are in prison. Those that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron, because they rebelled against the word of God and contemned the counsel of the Most High, give them grace to cry unto thee in their trouble m, and in a day of adversity to considern.

In their captivity give them to bethink themselves, to humble themselves, and pray, and seek thy face; to repent, saying, We have sinned, and have done perverseÎy, and to return to thee with all their heart and with all their soulo: and bring their souls out of prison, that they may praise thy namep: bring them unto the glorious liberty of the children of God, out of the bondage of

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corruption a. Let the Son make them free, and then they shall be free indeed b.

'Those that are wrongfully imprisoned, be thou with them, as thou wast with Joseph in the prison, and show them mercy c. Hear the poor, and dispise not thy pri soners d, but let their sorrowful sighing come before thee, and according to the greatness of thy power preserve those that are unjustly appointed to died.

11. When we pray with or for condemned malefac tors, that have but a little while to live.

O look with pity upon those, the number of whose months are to be cut off in the midst of their sinse: O give them repentance unto salvation g, as thou didst to the thief upon the cross, that they may own the justice of God in all that is brought upon them, that he has done right, but they have done wickedly h. O turn them, and they shall be turned, that being instructed they may smite upon the thigh, and may be ashamed, yea, even confounded, because they do bear the reproach of their own iniquity i. O pluck them as brands out of the firek: let them be delivered from the wrath to come l.

Enable them to give glory to God by making confessionm, that they may find mercy n, and that others may hear and fear, and do no more presumptuously o.

Lord Jesus, remember them now, thou art in the kingdomp; O let them not be hurt of the second death q: Deliver them from going down to the pitr; though the flesh be destroyed s, O let the spirit be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. The God of infinite mercy be merciful to these sinners t, these sinners against their own souls u.

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12. When we pray with, or for those that are at sea. Let those that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters, observe the works of the Lord there, and his wonders in the deep a: And acknowledge what a great God he is whom the winds and the seas obey b; who hath placed the sand for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over c.

O preserve them through the path of the sea d, and in perils of waters, and perils by robbers e. If the stormy wind be raised which lifteth up the waves, so that they are at their wit's end, deliver them out of their distresses, make the storm a calm, and bring them to their desired haven: And, O that those who are delivered may praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men g.

CHAPTER VII.

Of the conclusion of our Prayers.

We are commanded to pray always, to pray without ceasing, to continue in prayer, because we must always have in us a disposition to the duty, must be constant to it, and never grow weary of it, or throw it up; and yet we cannot be always praying, we must come down from this mount: nor may we be over long, so as to make the duty a task or a toil to ourselves, or those that join with us. We have other work that calls for our attendance. Jacob wrestled with the angel; but he must

a Psalm cvii. 23, 24. d Psalm viii. 8.

b Matt. viii. 27.
e 2 Cor. xi. 26.

c Jer. v. 22.
g Psal. cvii. 25-30.

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