and Peftilence; fometimes by Fire, which confumed our Goods and wafted our Eltates; and fometimes by Storms and Tempests, which destroyed our Substance, and many of us, and weakened our Publick Defence against our Enemies; yet thou haft always in thy Judgments remembered Mercy; and haft not punished us according to our Deferts, nor left us without fome fpecial Marks of thy good Providence. More particularly, O Lord, I blefs and praise thy holy Name for the Mercies which we this Day commemorate.

But above all thy Bleffings and Mercies, I render most humble and unfeigned Thanks to thee, moft gracious and merciful Lord God, for thy diftinguishing Fa vours to thefe Kingdoms, in that thou haft long fince brought us out of Heathenish Darkness and Error, to the clear Light and true Knowledge of thee, and of thy Son Jefus Chrift, and to a free Profeffion of thy true Religion and Worship.

For the free Ufe of thy Holy Word in our Mother-Tongue, which alfo is preached unto us in Simplicity and Purity by the Paftors and Minifters of thy Church whom thou haft preserved in a conftant Succeffion to teach and explain to us, in these latter Days,

Days, thy holy Will, and to ftir us up to an Obedience thereof.

I thank thee for the free Ufe of thy holy Sacraments, and for all other the Means of Grace which we enjoy.

And for that thou haft delivered us from Popish Superftition and Error; and from fundry Attempts that have been made to bereave us of thy true Religion and Worship established among us.

For thefe and all other Bleffings thou art pleased to give and continue to us, bleffed and praised be thy holy Name, our Lord and Governor, who art excellent in all the Earth.

And, O Lord, I beseech thee to hear the Prayers and accept the Praises which have been this Day offered up unto thee, by the People of this land; and give us all fuch a Senfe of thy great Goodness, as may engage us to a true and fuitable Thankfulnefs: fuch as may appear in our Lives by a holy and obedient Walking before thee all our Days.

Suffer us not to wax wanton or proud, careless and secure, and to forget thee the Lord our God, who haft wrought fuch mighty Works for us; and let this be the bleffed Fruit of all thy gracious Dealings S

toward

toward us, that we may turn from the Evil of our Ways, and live as a People whom thou haft chofen, in fo many remarkable Inftances, to be the peculiar Care of thy Providence.

Make us truly fenfible, O Lord, that it is thou, and thou only, that haft done thefe great Things for us; and O let us never affume any Thing to ourselves; but from the Confideration of thy great Goodness towards us, walk humbly before thee, and fo behave ourselves in our feveral Places and Stations, with that Love to thee, and Charity to one another, with that dutiful Subjection to his Majefty, with that Zeal for thy honour and Glory, and with fuch a stedfaft Perfeverance in thy pure and undefiled Religion, that thou mayeft rejoice over us to do us Good, and mayeft continue to us, and our Pofterity, the Bleffings we now enjoy, and add to them fuch other Mercies as thou in thy great Wisdom and Goodness feeft needful for us, through the Merits, and for the Sake of thy Son, and our alone Saviour Jefus Chrift. Amen.

A Prayer

A Prayer for a Perfon under Affliction.

Moft Gracious God! who doft not afflict willingly, nor grieve the Children of Men, I flee unto thee for Comfort and Support under the Troubles thou haft laid upon me: I know, affuredly, that this is thy Hand, and that thou, Lord, haft done it. I acknowledge thy Judgments are right, that thou of very Faithfulness haft caufed me to be troubled, and that my Sins have deserved more grievous Punishments than I now fuffer. I am fully convinced, that the Events of this Life are not left to Chance or Uncertainty, but are all under the steady and wife Difpofal of thy good Providence.

To thee, therefore, O my God, do I direct my Supplications; befeeching thee, O gracious God, who haft a tender Love for all thy Creatures, and more efpecially for thy faithful Servants, who repofe all their Hope and Confidence in thy Mercy, to have Pity upon me, and to deal with me not according to my Sins, but after thine own great Mercy. Pardon, O Lord, all my paft Sins; reftore me to Peace and Favour with thee; confider my Weakness, S 2

and

and let not my Troubles be more heavy or lafting than what thou feeft profitable and neceffary for the Good of my Soul.

Make me truly and deeply fenfible of my -Condition, that I may fee the Rod, and who hath appointed it; that I may be truly fenfible of the Evil of Sin, as well as feel the Smart of Punishment. Humble me under thy Corrections: awaken me thereby to a more confcientious and zealous Performance of my Duty, to a Senfe of my fpiritual Wants, to a Hatred of every Thing that is difpleafing in thy Sight: and fo fanctify my prefent Affliction, that by the Help of thy good Spirit, it may bring forth in me all the Graces and Virtues of a Christian Life, and accomplish the End for which it was fent.

Let the Experience of thy Love and Favour towards me, throughout the whole Course of my Life paft, teach me to refign myfelf entirely to thee, to choose thee for my only Support and Comfort; to rely ftedfaftly on all thy Promifes; and to wait with Patience till thou fhalt fee fit to deli

ver me.

Direct and enable me to ufe all proper and honeft Means for freeing myself from my present Troubles; but however griev

ous