Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

Hopes and my Defires, upon those Joys that will never fade; upon thofe Pleasures, which are at thy right Hand for evermore.

And grant, O merciful Father, that every one of those who are Sharers with me in this Affliction, may be Partakers likewife of thy Support and Comfort; teach us all fo to number our Days, that we may apply our Hearts unto true Wif dom; and fo to fit and prepare ourselves for that great Account which we must one Day give, that when the Time of our appointed Change fhall come, we may look up to thee with Joy and Comfort, and may at last be received into that Place of Reft and Peace, where all Tears fhall be wiped from our Eyes, and all our Troubles and Sorrows fhall have an End; through the Merits and for the Sake of our bleffed Saviour and Redeemer Jesus Christ. Amen.

A Prayer for a Woman who has loft her Hufband.

Bleffed Lord, whofe Providence ordereth all Things both in Heaven and Earth; thou giveft, and thou takest away; thou lifteft up and thou cafteft down; whatever befals us is by thy wife

Appoint

Appointment; even the fmalleft as well as the greatest Accidents of our Lives are directed by thy Hand: Thou haft taken from me my dear Hufband, a Bleffing I was no longer worthy of; O, be thou merciful unto me, and for the Sake of my dear Redeemer, pardon the unworthy Returns I have made for the Bleffings thou hast been pleased to follow me with all my Life long; and give me Grace, I befeech thee, patiently to fubmit to the Afflictions which thou haft now brought upon me, and not murmur or repine under the Stroke of thy chaftifing Hand.

.

Suffer me not, O holy Father, to grieve like those that have no Hope, nor to entertain any hard Thoughts of thy Providence, because thou haft taken from me the great Comfort of my Life: I know thou canst abundantly make up this Lofs to me, by giving me Bleffings far greater and much more valuable, fuch as no Happiness in this World can compare with.

I defire therefore, O Lord, to fubmit to thy Will, and to repofe myself under the Care of thy good Providence, affuredly believing, that I can never be destitute whilft I have thee for my Friend, nor miferable fo long as thou art my Portion. 04

O be

O be thou then to me, whatever I may want of outward Helps: And though thou haft been pleased to take from me fo great a Temporal Bleffing, yet O let me never be deprived of thy fpiritual Mercies: Whatever Comforts thou denieft me, deny me not, I beseech thee, the Comfort of thy Love: but let that be my Portion and Inheritance, the Support of my Life, and the Relief of my Soul, under all the Troubles and Afflictions of this World.

Raife me up Friends, O Lord, that may affift me in all my Exigences; but efpecially do thou teach and inftruct me, that I that I may manage thofe Affairs which are now devolved upon me, with Prudence, Juftice, and Integrity.

Let not my Carriage and Behaviour, O Ο Lord, be vain and fantastic, light and foolish, but decent and modeft, fuitable to the Condition thou haft been pleased to bring me to, and fuch as becomes a Woman profeffing Godliness.

This is to be

Grant that I may educate emitted where the my Children in a holy and Woman has no religious Manner, and bring Children. them up in the Fear and Admonition of thee the Lord: And Oh! let thy Bleffing be always upon their Heads:

Give them Grace to hearken to wife Inftruction, and defend them from the Evils and Temptations of this World. O Lord, they are now caft upon thy Care, O be thou their Father; and never leave them nor forfake them; but let thy Providence be their Support, and thy Spirit their Guide and Counsellor.

And grant, O merciful Father, that both they and I may learn, from the Instability of human Comforts, to delight more in thyfelf, and lefs in earthly Things. Let us never think ourselves unhappy while we can enjoy thee, nor murmur or repine at any Loffes, fo long as we are the Objects of thy Love, and the Care of thy good Providence: And Oh! give us Grace fo to live, that we may comfortably look up to thee, at all Times, as our conftant Friend, and most tender Father; as our Life and our Health; our Reft and our Joy ;, thro Jefus Chrift our Lord. Amen.

An Office for Women with Child.

A Prayer to be frequently used by a Woman with Child.

God, who art the Author of our Being, the Fountain of Life, and of all Bleffings Spiritual and Temporal; Thou art great and doft wondrous Things, thou art God alone; I adore thy glorious Majefty, which has begun an excellent Work in me, which no Eye but thine fees, and no Hand but thy Almighty Power can finish.

Be pleafed, I beseech thee, in thy great Goodness, to perfect and complete that which thou haft now begun in me; give it its due Shape and full Growth, and preferve me from all Frights, or evil Accidents, which may caufe me to mifcarry.

And blefs it, O God, in Mind, as well as in Body; endue it with an Understanding capable to know thee, with a Heart ftrongly bent to fear thee, and with all thofe holy and good Difpofitions, that may make it always amiable in thy Sight. Oh! fanctify it, I beseech thee, from the Womb, and receive and reckon it for thy Child, as

foon

1

« AnteriorContinuar »