dition. O give me such health and wealth, and so much of the world's good, as shall be for my good. And while I have a life to be nourished, let me not want the supports and comforts of it. Give me skill and ability to provide for myself; and still add thy blessing to my endeavours. Where I cannot supply all my own necessities, O do thou raise up friends and means to help me, that I may never be destitute of what is sufficient to sustain me: and be it ever so poor and mean, yet let me acquiesce in the distributions of thy good providence; and having food and raiment, be therewith content. In prosperity, keep me from forgetting thee: and in adversity, keep me from concluding myself to be forgotten of thee: O keep me from all unnecessary cares, and unprofitable dejections; and teach me how to want, as well as how to abound. Add to me, O my Father, what thou knowest me further to need; and bless to me what already I have. That the bodily comforts may not be to my soul occasions of falling, but encouragements to my duty, and engagements on my heart, to abound in thy love and praise, and in the work of the Lord. And in the want of all cther supplies and succours, be thou, O God, my all in all, in life and death, and evermore. Amen.

WE

For Rain.

E confess, O Lord, that we have so greatly abused the comforts of thy good creatures, that thou mightest justly withdraw them from us, and make the heavens over us as brass, and the rain of our land dust, and the land itself to mourn, and all that grows upon it to wither. But O thou Father of mercies, who in judgment re

memberest mercy, consult 1.0t now our merits, but thy own mercies, how to use us. Thou that hast the bottles and treasures of heaven at thy command, be pleased now to open the windows of heaven, and cause the rain to come down in its season; making grass to grow for the cattle, and herbs and fruits of the earth for the service of men. And however thou art pleased to deal with us, O suppress all our repinings at any of thy dealings: and let them all amend and better us: and make us a people prepared to receive the mercies which we want, and wait and beg for, at thy gracious hands, upon the account of Jesus Christ. Amen.

L

For Fair Weather.

ORD, if thou shouldst turn a fruitful land

into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein: yet righteous wert thou, and just would be thy judgments, and we must not open our mouths to reply against God; but bear the indignation of the Lord which our sins have so much deserved; when our iniquities have turned away the blessings, and withholden the good things from us. But, O Father of mercies, spare us, and forgive us, for thy own mercy's sake; and put a stop to the calamity that threatens destruction to the works of thy hands; that the rain which is thy blessing may not be turned into a curse; nor descend from heaven to corrupt and spoil the fruits of the earth. O cause the overflowing showers to cease, which damp the joy of the harvest, and endanger the blasting of our blessings. And as thou hast given us plenty, and caused our land to yield its increase, so give us, we pray thee, a seasonable time to gather in the fruits which thy bounty has pro

vided for us; that in the use of them we may joyfully and cheerfully serve thee; and not consume them upon our lusts, but live to thy glory, as we do upon thy bounty. And when thy judgments are in the land, O that we, who inhabit it, may learn righteousness! nor let our concernments be so great for our bodies as for our souls; that however we fare here, it may go well with us forever. O let us not labour so for the meat that perisheth as for that which endures to everlasting life; which everlasting provision for our unchangeable condition, above all we beg at thy hands, O Lord God our heavenly Father, for the sake of Jesus Christ our only Saviour. Amen. Prayer and Praise for a Public Thanksgiving-Day.

LESSED Lord, the only living and true God, who art of thyself, and givest being and preservation to us, and to all things else that are in the world! we live by thee; our whole dependence is upon thee, for all the good that ever we have or hope for. And above all thy mercies, have we cause to admire and bless, and praise thee our God, for those mercies, which in so large a measure, and especial manner, thou hast been pleased still to vouchsafe unto us, who are the work of thy hands, and the purchase of the blood of thy Son; whom thou hast made and redeemed to show forth thy praise, and to glorify thy name. And we desire to pay unto thee that tribute of homage, and service, and prayer, and praise, which thou hast made us capable of, and so many ways obliged us to; we desire to perform the same in such a manner, that thou mayest mercifully accept us, at the hands of Jesus Christ.

Worthy art thou, O Lord our God, to receive all honour and glory, all thanks and praise, and love and obedience; as in the courts of heaven, so in all the assemblies of thy servants here upon earth; for thou art great and dost wondrous things; thou art God alone; and thy goodness is equal to thy greatness. Thy mercy is over all thy works, and endureth for ever. Thou, Lord, hast been favourable to thy land, and dealt exceeding graciously with us; for which we desire to bless thy name, and to give thee all the glory. For it is of the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, because thy compassions fail not ; and that we are here alive to praise thee, and in any condition to keep a thanksgiving-day. That we are not now nothing, or worse than nothing, we must acknowledge it to be of thy free grace, O Lord, and thy mere mercy. That all the evils which have threatened us, have not befallen us; and that those evils which have come upon us, have not utterly destroyed and undone us; it is because thou Lord, art gracious and merciful, and patient and kind, and still doing good to poor sinful men, who deserve nothing but evil at thy hands.

O how much have we to say of the goodness of the Lord by our own experience, and thy help at hand still in all the times and cases of our need! how sweet and wonderful is it to recount all the instances of thy patience with us, and thy bounty to us! how from time to time thou hast signalized us with thy mercy, and made us remarkable for thy blessings and favours, most kind and precious, of many sorts! thou hast cast our lot in a land of light, where we live under the influences of thy gospel; and thereby are

called to obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. And for all the happy advantages and good things of this life which thou hast given us plenteously to enjoy, thou hast made us the envy of our neighbours, and the particular objects of thy kindness. Though many times we have provoked thee to stretch forth thy hand, and to shake thy rod over us, and threaten to destroy us, yet in judgment still thou hast remembered mercy towards us; and after the clouds and darkness gathered about us, the dread and distress were on every side of us, thou hast caused the heavens again to clear up, and smile upon us; and returned with the visitations of thy love, and the joy of thy salvation.

In the late dangers, thou hast been to us a tower of defence; and in the time of our need, and perplexity, thou hast showed thyself graciously and powerful on our behalf. Thou hast helped us for the glory of thy name, and redeemed us for thy mercy's sake; not because we were worthy, but because thou hast a favour unto us! and therefore to thy name alone be all the praise. O what shall we render to the Lord for all his benefits! what can we give to thee our God, but the glory of thy own gifts and goodness unto us! Olet not our hearts be shut and straitened towards thee, whose hand has been so wide open unto us. But do thou possess and enlarge these hearts of ours, with more and greater love and thankfulness to the gracious Giver of all our good things. And make us more sensible of thy goodness and love bestowed upon us, that we may give thee thanks from the ground of the heart, and have our mouths filled as with marrow and fatness, when we praise our God with joyful lips.