thou broughtest us to consider of our state and ways, and gavest us some relenting and contrition. It is comfortable to us to review the stirrings and victories of thy grace, the meltings of thy mercy, and the comforts of thy love. When we feared lest our sins would have been our damnation, and that thou wouldest never receive such wretched rebels, how freely didst thou pardon all; how graciously didst thou embrace us; delighting to show mercy, and overcoming our hearts with the greatness of thy love! O how many sins didst thou forgive; what work had thy Spirit to do upon these ignorant, proud, and selfish minds; upon these carnal, worldly, disobedient hearts; how many mercies, preservations, comforts, hast thou since that time vouchsafed to us; how many desires hast thou st given us, and then accepted from us; how many afflictions hast thou shortened or sanctified; how many joyful or profitable hours have we had with thee alone in secret, and with thee and thy people in the communion of saints! Many, O Lord, are thy wondrous works, and thy thoughts of mercy towards thy servants; if we would reckon them in order, and declare them before thee, they are more than can be numbered. And after all these, as priests to God, we are here to offer thee the sacrifice of praise; rejoicing in thee, our portion and salvation.

And when this short and troublesome life is ended, we have thy promise that we shall rest with thee for ever. If in this life only we had hope, we should be of all men most miserable. But thou wilt conduct us through this wilderness, and guide us by thy counsel, and bring us in season to thy glory. For thou hast not given us these faculties to see thee, and know thee, and love thee, and delight in thee in vain: thou wilt surely perfect nature and grace; and cause them to attain their end. The great undertaking, work,' and sufferings of our Redeemer, shall not be in vain. Thy sealed promise shall not be broken. Thy Spirit hath not in vain renewed us, and sealed us to that blessed day nor shall thy pledge, and earnest, and witness within us, prove deceits. These desires and groans shall not be lost; and these weak beginnings of light and love, do foreshow our full fruition and perfection. This seed of grace portendeth glory: and the foretastes of love do tell us that we shall be happy in thy love for ever. Our hope in thy goodness, thy Son, and thy covenant, will never leave us frustrate and ashamed.

We therefore bless thy name, O Lord, as those that are redeemed from death and hell; as those who are advanced to the

dignity of sons; as those whom thou savest from all their enemies, but especially from ourselves, and from our sins! We bless thy name, as those who are entering into glory; and hope to be with Christ for ever; where sin and sorrow, enemies and fears, shall be shut out, and shall molest our souls no more for

ever.

We foresee, by faith, that happy day. We see, by faith, the New Jerusalem; the innumerable angels; the perfect spirits of the just; their glorious light; their flaming love; their perfect harmony. We hear, by faith, their joyful songs of thanks and praise. Lately they were as low and sad as we; in sins and sorrows, in manifold weaknesses, sufferings, and fears; but by faith and patience they have overcome; and in faith and patience we desire to follow our Lord and them. The time is near; this flesh will quickly turn to dust, and our delivered souls shall come to thee; our life is short, and our sins and sorrows will be short; then we shall have light: we shall no more groan, and cry out in darkness, O that we could know the Lord!' then shall we love thee with pure, unmixed, perfect love; and need no more to groan and cry: O that our souls were inflamed with thy love! then shall we praise thee with thankful alacrity and joy, which will exceed our present apprehensions and desires.

O blessed streams of light and love, which will flow from thy opened, glorious face, upon our souls for ever! How far will that everlasting sabbath, and those perfect praises, excel these poor and dull endeavours, as far as that triumphant city of God excelleth this imperfect, childish, discomposed church.

Quicken, Lord, our longing for that blessed state and day! O, come, Lord Jesus, come quickly, and fulfil thy word, that we may be with thee where thou art, and may behold thy glory! Stay not till faith shall fail from the earth. Stay not till the powers of darkness conquer all the remnant of thine inheritance, and make this world yet like unto hell; nor till the godly cease, and the faithful fail, from among the children of men! O when shall the world acknowledge their great Creator and Redeemer, and abhor their idols, and cease from their unbelief! When shall the rest of the heathens and infidels be thy son's inheritance, and the kingdoms of the world become his kingdom? O when shall heaven be made the pattern of this earth, and men delight to do thy will? When shall the proud, the

worldly, and the sensual, renounce their deceits, and walk hume bly and holily with their God; and the fool, whose heart denieth the Lord, and calleth not upon thee, but eateth up thy people as bread, return unto thee, and fear thy name, and fight no more against his Maker! Hasten, O Lord, the salvation of thy people, and keep them in uprightness and patience to the end, Have mercy upon all the ignorant and unreformed churches in the world: deliver them from the eastern and western tyranny, which keepeth out the means of knowledge and reformation, and restore them to the primitive purity, simplicity, and unity, that their light may shine forth, to the winning of the heathen and infidel world whom now their pollutions drive from Christ. Preserve and repair the churches which are reformed, and revive among them knowledge, holiness, and peace. Bless these kingdoms with the light and power of the gospel, and with peace, O bless the king, and all in authority, with the wisdom, holiness, and prosperity, which are needful to their own and the common good; and keep the subjects in their duty to thee and their superiors, that we may live a quiet and peaceable life, in all godliness and honesty, Let all the congregations be blessed with burning, shining lights; and let the buyers and sellers be cast out of thy temple; and let not the malice of Satan, or the sacrilege of men, be able to hinder the Gospel of thy kingdom, nor alienate thy devoted, faithful labourers, from thy harvest work.

Give us the necessaries of this present life, and a contented mind with what thou givest us; and kill in us our worldly love, and fleshly lusts.

Teach us to live daily by faith on our Redeemer and by him let us have continual access to thee; and the daily pardon of our daily sins; and a heart to love and pardon others.

O save us from all the suggestions of Satan, and from the snares of this world, and the allurements of sinners, and from all the corrupt inclinations of the flesh; and give us not up to sin, nor to our own concupiscence, nor to the malice of Satan or ungodly men, nor to any destructive punishment which our sin deserves.

O teach us to know the work of life, and the preciousness of our short and hasty time, and to use it as will most comfort us at our last review. Teach us so to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom, and not, like fools, to waste in

vain those precious hours on which eternity dependeth, and which all the world cannot call back. Let us do thy work with all our might, especially in our particular callings and relations. Let us make our calling and election sure, and spend our days in the delightful exercise of faith, hope, and love. Keep us still watchful, and in a continual readiness for death and judgment, and longing for the coming of our Lord. Let our hearts and conversations be in heaven, from whence we look for our glorious Redeemer; in whose words we sum up all our prayers.

Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; thy will be done, on earth, as it is done in hea ven. Give us this day our daily bread: and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil; for thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen,

A shorter Form of Praise and Prayer for the Lord's Day,

GLORIOUS Jehovah! While angels and perfected spirits are praising thee in the presence of thy glory, thou hast allowed and commanded us to take our part in the presence of thy grace. We have the same most holy God to praise; and though we see thee not, our head and Saviour seeth thee, and our faith discerneth thee in the glass of thy holy works and word. Though we are sinners, and unworthy, and cannot touch these holy things, without the marks of our pollution, yet have we a great High Priest with thee, who was separate from sinners, holy, harmless, and undefiled, who appeareth for us in the merits of his spotless life and sacrifice, and by whose hands only we dare presume to present a sacrifice to the most holy God, And thou hast ordained this day of holy rest as a type and means of that heavenly rest with thy triumphant church, to which we aspire, and for which we hope. didst accept their lower praise on earth, before they celebrated thy praise in glory. Accept ours also by the same Mediator.

Thou

Glory be to thee, O God, in the highest; on earth peace; good-will towards men. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who wast and art to come; eternal, without beginning or end; immense, without all bounds or measure; the infinite Spirit, Father, Word, and Holy Ghost. The infinite Life, Understanding, and Will, infinitely powerful, wise, and good. Of thee, and

through thee, and to thee, are all things. To thee be glory for evermore. All thy works declare thy glory, for thy glorious perfections appear on all; and for thy glory, and the pleasure of thy holy will, didst thou create them. The heavens, and all the hosts thereof; the sun, and all the glorious stars; the fire, with its motion, light, and heat; the earth, and all that dwell thereon, with all its sweet and beauteous ornaments; the air, and all the meteors; the great deeps, and all that swim therein: all are the preachers of thy praise, and show forth the great Creator's glory. How great is that power, which made so great a world of nothing; which, with wonderful swiftness, moveth those great and glorious luminaries which in a moment send forth the influences of their motion, light and heat, through all the air, to sea and earth. Thy powerful life giveth life to all; and preserveth this frame of nature, which thou hast made. How glorious is that wisdom which ordereth all things, and assigneth to all their place and office, and by its perfect laws maintaineth the beauty and harmony of all! How glorious is that goodness and love which made all good, and very good!

We praise and glorify thee, our Lord and Owner; for we, and all things, are thine own. We praise and glorify thee, our King and Ruler; for we are thy subjects, and our perfect obedience is thy due. Just are all thy laws and judgments; true and sure is all thy word. We praise and glorify thee, our great Benefactor; in thee we live, and move, and are; all that we are, or have, or can do, is wholly from thee, the cause of all; and all is for thee, for thou art our End. Delightfully to love thee is our greatest duty, and our only felicity; for thou art love itself, and infinitely amiable.

When man, by sin, did turn away his heart from thee, believed the tempter against thy truth, obeyed his sense against thy authority and wisdom, and forsaking thy fatherly love and goodness, became an idol to himself; thou didst not use him according to his desert. When we forsook thee, thou didst not utterly forsake us. When we had lost ourselves, and, by sin, became thine enemies, condemned by thy law, thy mercy pitied us, and gave us the promise of a Redeemer, who in the fulness of time did assume our nature, fulfilled thy law, and suffered for our sins, and, conquering death, did rise again, ascended to heaven, and is our glorified Head and Intercessor. Him hast thou exalted to be a Prince and Saviour, to give us